X-Men Origins: Wolverine

 Released Year: 2009

Directed by Gavin Hood

Casted by:

Hugh Jackman as James Howlett / Logan / Wolverine
Liev Schreiber as Victor Creed
Lynn Collins as Kayla Silverfox
Taylor Kitsch as Remy LeBeau / Gambit
Daniel Henney as Agent Zero
Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson
    Scott Adkins as Weapon XI / Deadpool

 Story:

In 1845, James Howlett, a young boy living in northern Canada, sees his father killed by groundskeeper Thomas Logan. The trauma activates the boy's mutation: bone claws protrude from James' hands, and he kills Thomas, who reveals with his dying breath that he is James' real father. James flees into the forest along with Thomas's son Victor Creed, who is thus James' half-brother. They spend the next century as soldiers, fighting in the Civil War, both World Wars, and the Vietnam War. In 1973, Victor attempts to rape a local village woman, but is stopped after killing a senior officer. James defends his brother, and the two are sentenced to execution by firing squad, which they survive. Major William Stryker approaches them, now in military custody, and offers them membership in Team X, a group of mutants including marksman Agent Zero, swordsman Wade Wilson, teleporter John Wraith, invulnerable Fred Dukes and electropathic Chris Bradley. They join the team, but the group's questionable actions and disregard for human life cause James to leave.

Six years later, James, now going by the name Logan, lives in Canada with his girlfriend, Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins). Colonel Stryker locates Logan and warns him that someone is killing members of the team; both Wilson and Bradley are dead. Shortly afterward, Victor murders Kayla and attacks Logan. Stryker offers Logan a way to beat Victor; Logan undergoes an operation to reinforce his skeleton with adamantium, a virtually indestructible metal. Before the procedure, Logan asks for new dog tags inscribed with "Wolverine", based on a story that Kayla told him. Once the procedure is complete, Stryker orders Logan's memory erased, but Logan overhears and fights his way out. As Logan runs, Zero tracks him down, but is killed.

Logan locates Wraith and Dukes and asks them about the location of Stryker's new laboratory, referred to as "The Island". They tell him to find Remy "Gambit" LeBeau, who escaped and knows the location of The Island. Logan and Wraith locate Gambit in New Orleans, but when Logan asks for the Island's location, Gambit suspects he was sent to recapture him and attacks. Outside, Logan finds Victor, who had just killed Wraith and the two fight. When Logan is about to kill Victor, Gambit interrupts, and Victor escapes. Logan and Gambit fight before Logan convinces him he is not working for Stryker. Gambit takes him to Stryker's facility on Three Mile Island. After learning of Stryker's mutant son and believing that he is too emotionally close to the situation, General Munson tries to shut Weapon XI down, but Stryker kills him.

There, Logan learns that Kayla is alive and conspired with Stryker in exchange for her sister's safety. Enraged, Logan leaves. Victor then arrives, demanding the adamantium bonding promised for his service, but Stryker refuses on the basis that Victor would not survive the procedure. Victor attempts to kill Kayla, but Logan hears her screams and returns. Logan defeats and nearly kills Victor. Meanwhile, Stryker activates Weapon XI, a "mutant killer" with the abilities of other mutants bonded to Wade Wilson's body, which Stryker refers to as "the Deadpool".

Kayla and Logan free the imprisoned mutants, and on their escape they are found by Deadpool. Logan holds Deadpool off while the mutants flee. During the escape, Kayla, mortally wounded, decides to stay behind while the party led by Scott Summers is greeted by Professor Charles Xavier, who offers them shelter at his school.

Logan lures Deadpool to the top of one of the plant's cooling towers. Logan is almost killed until Victor intervenes. After a lengthy battle, Logan manages to decapitate Deadpool and kick him into the base of the cooling tower. As he falls, the head fires optic blasts that cause the tower to start falling apart. Victor departs and Logan is saved from the collapsing tower by Gambit. After Logan finds Kayla, Stryker shoots him in the forehead with adamantium bullets, rendering him unconscious. Kayla uses her persuasion powers to make Stryker drop the gun and commands him to "walk until [his] feet bleed" before dying from her wounds. Gambit returns as Logan regains consciousness, but the brain damage caused by the bullets has triggered amnesia. Gambit tries convincing Logan to come with him, but he declines, wanting to go his own way.

  L² Scored: 10/10

L² Comment:

This should be my most favorite X-men movie up to date. This talks about how Wolverine came from and of course some other minors characters including Cyclops and Gambit. Liev Schreiber totally stole my breath away by acting in Victor. Hugh Jackman's nice ass is an attractive point but the character wise is not as attractive as Liev. Overall its a movie which you should never miss if you are a big fans of X-men.

Undisputed III: Redemption

 Released Year: 2010

Directed by Issac Florentine

Casted by:

Scott Adkins as Yuri Boyka
Mykel Shannon Jenkins as Turbo
Mark Ivanir as Gaga
Marko Zaror as Raul 'Dolor' Quinones

 Story:

 The film picks up several years after the Yuri Boyka's fight with George "The Iceman" Chambers. Boyka, humbled and resigned to his fate inside the prison system, has become the facility janitor and spends time mopping the hallways and sewage system. Due to his nearly crippling knee injury from his fight with Chambers, he has taken solace in religion and tried to ignore fighting—the one thing that he really loves—altogether. His former manager has begun to expand his previous enterprise of prison tournaments to extend the first ever inter-prison competition, gathering the best prison fighters from around the globe to compete for a chance at a cleared record and early release. As Boyka hears the preliminaries taking place within his prison, as well as failing in his parole, he begins training privately to bring his knee back into fighting shape. Just when the prison champion is declared, Boyka challenges him on the spot, which both the warden and his former manager, Gaga, agree to out of mutual respect and a belief that Boyka is attempting suicide and wants to die with dignity. When he easily defeats the current prison champion, they enter him as a longshot in the inter-prison tournament, while Boyka tries to hide his significant knee pain.

Boyka is transferred to Gorgon prison in the republic of Georgia where he is joined by a diverse group of prison fighters from around the globe.The eight inmates are from Russia,USA,Colombia,Brazil,France,Greece,Croatia,and North Korea. An American fighter, "Turbo," quickly identifies himself as a brash and insubordinate prisoner, to the chagrin of the prison warden and to Boyka, who is reminded of Chambers through the loud-mouthed American. Though the fighters are allowed one hour each day for training, they are still grouped into general population for "fresh air and general exercise," or hard labor, which Boyka uses to conceal his injury and train his leg by offering it to be chained to a rock. When a fight almost breaks out between Boyka and Turbo, they both notice that one fighter, Dolor, is getting preferential treatment. Later, the Warden privately gives Dolor both illegal drugs (presumably steroids and opiates) and private sparring sessions, showing that he is being groomed as the predetermined champion.

During the first round of fighting, Turbo wins his first match, revealing his superb speed and use of "dirty" boxing; while he has very little grappling skill and no ability to kick, he is able to defeat his opponent using elbow blocks and strikes to break the bones in his opponent's hands. As Boyka starts his first round fight, he appears to be back in top form, and he quickly defeats his opponent with his speed and agility—making him a crowd favorite immediately. Dolor also wins his fight, using a fast and brutal style. The losers are later escorted out of the prison under the guise of being transferred back to their home penitentiaries; however, they are summarily shot by waiting guards, revealing that losing fighters will be treated as loose ends.

As hard labor continues the following day, Boyka is chained to Turbo for the duration, where Turbo successfully provokes a fight. After a quick scuffle in which Boyka finishes dominant in grappling, they are broken up and put into isolation by the guards. Still within earshot, Turbo continues to verbally jab at Boyka's confidence, having saying Boyka's sneak attack was a "Bitch Move" and by stating that Boyka shouldn't be here. However, as the isolation continues, Turbo begins to wear down mentally while Boyka wears down physically; forced to stand, Turbo is psychologically distraught when he realizes that he has to defecate while standing and that he cannot see the rats moving around at his feet, whereas Boyka, who is used to the dirt and darkness, struggles more with the pain in his knee, which he cannot elevate to relieve.

The two are eventually released due to some manipulations by their managers, Gaga and Farnatti, who are old friends and rivals. When the managers find out about how their fighters are being treated, they (now thoroughly enraged) confront the warden. Rezo, the chief mastermind behind the tournament, who is also present explains to the managers that the tournament has always been fixed to ensure the "highest profit at the lowest risk." Though the managers are upset, having believed this to be a straight, sporting tournament (and thinly concealing their own concern for their respective fighters), Rezo recommends with complete honesty that they liquefy their assets and bet on Dolor to walk home rich men. The managers, realizing that their loyalties to their fighters only extend to their payout, agree to this arrangement.

Slowly, Turbo and Boyka begin to trust each other during hard labor, as they are often chained together and forced into cooperate. At first they direct their anger towards fighting again in the ring, but later start to turn their attention toward beating Dolor. The two begin training alongside, each using the other for motivation. As their prowess gets noticed, they are put to more hard labor and deprived of food to ensure the "fix" for the fights. As Turbo starts to wear down, Boyka reveals his strategy for turning the situation around: use the hard labor as part of the training. With Turbo's attitude eroding, he starts showing signs that his ego evolved from a highly disciplined past as a US Marine. In addition to reciting, "Improvise, Adapt, Overcome" as part of his training, he recommends some holistic medicine for Boyka to soothe his knee.

In the semi-finals, Boyka defeats the contender Rodrigo Silva from Brazil in a much more difficult match. After winning by submission, for the first time he helps his opponent up from the mat and states, "Good fight." Unfortunately, Rezo and the warden realize that Boyka and Turbo are stronger than predicted. In a preemptive strategy, they isolate Turbo and provoke him into attacking the warden so that the guards have a justification in beating him before his match with Dolor.

When the prisoners are taken for the next round of hard labor, Boyka tries to convince Turbo into escaping rather than face Dolor wounded. Knowing that Turbo used to be in the military, the plan is to escape to the forest where the security is lightest and survive long enough to eventually get in touch with the black market. Turbo initially disagrees, until another prisoner reveals that the losers are executed. Caught trying to break their chain, the two fight off the guards who are armed only with clubs long enough to get a key. Freed, Turbo heads for the forest.

Boyka is returned to the prison where he is confronted by Rezo, the warden, and Gaga. Knowing for certain that he has lost all support, he commits himself to ruining their wagers by defeating Dolor in the newly-improvised final round. Dolor takes an early lead with his exceptionally quick hand blocks and strikes, as well as exacerbating the problems with Boyka's weak knee by using a submission hold on it. Deprived of his kicking ability and agility, Boyka recovers first by relying on his endurance and pain tolerance, persevering past some devastating hits. It looks like the fight is over when he is kicked out of the ring, but when he catches a glimpse of the bucket and mop used for sopping up blood after the bouts, which bears a striking resemblance to his mop and bucket used during his training, he gets back into the ring before the ten-count. Remembering Turbo's mantra, "Improvise, Adapt, Overcome," he takes the pad off the mop and ties it around his knee. Forced to adapt, he begins using a new style mixing in elements of grappling, dirty boxing head-butts and elbows, wrestling, and wu-shu. Dolor, in a final moment of rage, breaks his shin against Boyka's knee block, ending the match.

Desperate and despondent, Farnatti confronts the warden and shoots Rezo over the money that he's lost before being shot by the warden himself. Despite winning the tournament, Boyka is not allowed to go free because the guards have not found Turbo. Because Boyka was responsible for his escape, the arrangement is that Turbo will remain free while Boyka will be transferred back to his original prison, to which Boyka responds that he does not care—he has proven his point. Like the other prisoners, Boyka is instead taken out to be shot, but he is rescued at the last minute by Turbo in a moment of surprising marksmanship. The two retreat to a waiting car where Gaga sits inside with a load of money. He reveals that he always knew Boyka was the best fighter in the world, especially when he was angry, so he bet all of his money on him all along and deceived the other managers—even going so far as to rescue and hide Turbo when he escaped. Boyka decides to part ways, finally revealing his first name, Yuri to Turbo. In turn, Turbo confesses that his real name is "Jericho," not realizing that Boyka has a special appreciation for religious references. In gratitude, he thanks Turbo for "bringing down the walls" and setting him free. Turbo then requests a match with Boyka in future and Boyka accepts. The movie ends with Boyka running and laughing with a sign that says "Bon Voyage".

 L² Scored: 9/10

L² Comment:

Whoa, this is a nice action movie i have watch recently. The fighting scenes are so cool that i have continuous watch it twice. Scott Adkins as ever, his body is so incredible and yummy~ :) I wonder how he work out every time. The storyline is good too, none of the scene is too much in the movie~ really nice, who got the first 2 movies?

Ninja 2009

Released Year: 2009
Directed by Issac Florentine

Casted by:
Scott Adkins as Casey
伊原剛志 Tsuyoshi Ihara as Masazuka
肘井美佳 Mika Hijii as Namiko
Todd Jensen as Det. Traxler
伊川東吾 Togo Igawa as Sensei
Story:

A westerner named Casey, studying Ninjutsu in Japan, is asked by the Sensei to return to New York to protect the legendary Yoroi Bitsu, an armored chest that contains the weapons of the last Koga Ninja. But this has pissed off the sensei's student, Masazuka. Masazuka used his Ninja act to kill the sensei and try to grab the Yoroi Bitsu.

In New York, Masazuka joined force with a guy name Temple to chase after Casey & the sensei's daughter, Namiko. On an attack in the train, Casey & Namiko manaed to defeat their rivals but was arrested by the NYPD. While in the police station, Masazuka attacked and kidnap Namiko.

Casey went after and try to save Namiko. Casey wear the last Koga Ninja suit and fought with Masazuka. 2 ninjas fight against each other, but Namiko was hurt and dead. Casey remember he got a potion which can call back life and let Namiko drink it. Miracle happened and Namiko was alive again. In the end, Casey defeated Masazuka and slashed off his head with a Ninja knife.

L² Scored: 5/10

L² Comment:

The storyline is ok and the actors & actresses are fine as well, just that i'm not really drawn into the whole movie. This British actor Scott Adkins is so damn hot~ just look at his body, i bet your nose will bleed instantly :P

Kinda love the way Mika Hijii speak in english, very fluent and the way she pronounce is not bad too. I wonder how long does it takes her to train her english~ but anyway, i have googled, she's not very popular in the big screen, but you can see her in a few tv drama instead.