Fantastic Fest Review: Redeemer (Redentor)
As opposed to my first film from today (The Tale of Princess Kaguya) my second film, Redeemer, is exactly the type of movie you come to Fantastic Fest to see. So much so because this is the third time directory Ernesto Diaz Espinoza and star Marko Zaror have premiered their collaboration here. They bring to the world the greatness that is some Chilean Martial Arts and in this one a very heavy and powerful tale. Let me tell you about their fourth outing together here.
The titular character (Zaror) is a man haunted by his past that we get bits and pieces of throughout the film, but to put it softly: he was a bad man who lost all he cared about. The man that took his loves from him, The Scorpion (Jose Luis Mosca) left him in the middle of a desert with a revolver with a single bullet to end his suffering. He survived though, and has since dedicated his life in using his deadly talents to now help those in need in service to God who he feels saved him so he had this chance to redeem himself in helping others. He helps many people with small gangs and issues until he comes to a town being controlled through fear by startup drug lord, Braddock (Noah Segan) who wants to be Chile’s most reputable crime and drug lord. It’s up to the Redeemer to put an end to his violent reign, protect those that he is trying to help, and deal with an unstoppable force of anger that trails him.
There’s no point in avoiding this but the film as an all out brutal martial arts film of the highest regard. Zaror always puts on a great show with his skill and strength but also thanks to their great stunt team that takes his assault (sometimes with real contact) incredibly well following his choreography terrifically. It’s no small feat to do what they do and the only other recent film I can recall doing it this well are the films in The Raid series. Marko had said in the Q&A after the premier that he had studied a lot of MMA fighting and brought that style of ground work and leg locks to this film. This really mixes things up in relation to his past work where there was a lot more focus on aerial work, kickboxing and fast punching, though that still makes an appearance here along with some gun play. It’s also notably more violent than their last few films, with some brutally violent and gorey takedowns that will have you cringing a bit while shouting out joyously at the display. It’s what a martial arts action movie should be (with or without the gore) and honestly that is what’s greatest here.
Reelization:
I will always applaud a well shot martial arts movie with good choreography, so I do always love the movie’s these two do, but this may be their best. The quality of the cinematography and the upped violence, gore and seriousness of the film really make it a great complete package. The good heart and skillfully executed humor is still there as is the norm for them, but this one truly feels like they have used all they have learned and seen over the years leading to a fantastic final product.
1 Notes/ Hide
- raecn liked this
- moviereelizations-blog posted this