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chai-borja
Reviews
Kampfansage - Der letzte Schüler (2005)
A good martial arts film
I was channel surfing at home early this morning when I came across this German film in Star Movies (it was dubbed in English). The thing that caught my attention was the fact that it was a martial arts movie which made use of the Filipino martial art arnis, and that the fight scenes were very well choreographed.
The movie centered on Jonas Klingenberg (Mathis Landwehr, who's being a hottie did not hurt one bit), an apprentice of a murdered martial arts expert who was keeping in his care a very valuable book which contained (apparently) many secrets to becoming a very powerful martial artist. The movie opened with a scene showing Jonas being shot from behind by a really hot-looking woman, and his master fighting against the villain, Bosco, and the antagonist, eventually, succeeding in stealing the precious book.
The setting of the movie was in 2050, showing a particular town (which I assumed was a metaphor for the whole world) to be a vast wasteland, controlled by the "evil" Bosco, who seemed to be concerned only with creating a powerful team of martial artists. Think Matrix meets Bulletproof Monk, meets Robin Hood (Jonas eventually became somewhat a defender of the masses by teaching most of the "homeless people" how to fight using his technique, and stealing from the bad, giving it to the poor...that kind of thing...).
I know, I know, this plot has been done, revisited, redone, and visited once again by sooooo many producers, scriptwriters, directors, and what-have-yous in the movie industry, you are starting to ask if it would still be a successful venture.
My answer: for this particular movie, yes. I fell in love with this movie. I'm not a big fan of martial arts flicks, but, somehow, this changed my mind. It had a good story line going, although the part where in there was some sort of a rave party going on after their group was successfully able to ambush most of the food ration trucks, was a bit off for me. But they were able to justify why that scene was there, as well as why Jonas had to make love to Maria outside their hide-out, and not in some secluded area in their sewer-hiding place.
All in all, this movie was worth it. I found it good enough for me to actually research it over the internet, and write up this comment.