For RZA's directorial debut it is well written and executed. The fight scenes were definitely a highlight of this movie. Though the plot could have been better Russell Crowe did a good job and RZA was decent. All in all it's not that bad but people won't watch this movie for the acting. I wouldn't recommend it unless you like Kung Fu movies or mindless action.

This is a goofy yet serious kung-fu genre film. I'm not entirely sure of what RZA's influences were, however, I got the sense that he was going for a hyper real anime feel to the film. Love it or hate it I was entertained. Definately for those who enjoyed ninja scroll, kill bill, or even Charlies Angels. The last Is the easiest to compare this too, it's like the Charlies Angels with the Wu tang, asians, and Mr. Fighting around the world Russel Crowe.… Expand

The Man With The Iron Fists, is just not that good. It's sleek but really gory. The RZA sucks at making movies. Don't let the Queten Tarantino Presents logo fool you. 4/10 because of some cool scenes. Worse than A good day to die hard.

I have occasionally enjoyed this wave of grindhouse pictures, like--"Planet Terror" and "Hobo with a Shotgun." But a lot of them have been disappointments. I'm talking about the boring and overwritten "Death Proof" and the oh-so-irreverent "Machete." "The Man with the Iron Fists"--Wu-Tang Clan member RZA's first shot behind the camera, is an exercise in visual and structural ineptitude. The RZA, starring alongside an obese Russell Crowe, in this rather poor grindhouse homage to old Kung Fu movies, narrates the simplistic story of a black blacksmith (RZA) who must protect his village from a deadly band of assassins. Not even a halfway decent final battle sequence, (if you can make it that far), can compensate the insurmountable problems that makes this so laborious to watch. Truthfully, I wanted to enjoy the movie for what it is--an over-top-bloody, action sequence extravaganza--but couldn't. The movie tries to maintain a edginess throughout---graphic fight scenes, blood spatter, etc. but falls short. Levels of debauchery that are simply unpleasant at times (including a disturbingly obese Russell Crowe ripping anal beads from out a prostitute in a bath tub) for example. The last half of the film takes place inside the brothel, and there is not a single shred of female nudity in the film. The film was entirely filmed in China, and whose original duration exceeded four hours. The RZA suggested dividing the work into two films, however, and not surprisingly, his proposal did not receive any support, thus forced to reduce its length to just over an hour and a half. Therefore, when you remove 145 minutes of a 240 minute film, the first thing that suffers is the story itself. What's left of the story is a mess and no real sense of direction. Characters are in and out of the story line so quickly, the audience doesn't have a chance to be clear on their motivations and alignments.The martial arts sequences consist of a saturation of close-ups cables, and computer generated effects, that denies the viewer the chance to appreciate the exchange of martial techniques. Considering the background and motivations of the director--and his talented cast--such a waste of unused talent is incomprehensible.
The RZA's directorial debut is not terrible--and yes that's a compliment. For a grindhouse homage it's rather boring at times-- and the scant 95-minute running time seems painfully long. Further evidence that supports the fact that grindhouse trailers are almost always more entertaining than the movies themselves.… Expand

Not a picture to be taken seriously, but Rza has made a pretty good homage to the old Kung Fu films by the Shaw brothers. It's a genre mix-up that works surprisingly well, kung fu with hip hop? Who would have known? Produced by Quentin Tarantino, with a surprisingly robust cast for a film of this type.

Fun, cool, stylised, in grindhouse/ploitation fashion . I understand why Tarantino put his name on this, for the reasons previous. If being a fan of this genre would probably appreciate this film and keep in your collection. Having some very credible names to make good on its style. This was this directors first work and while it could have used a better polish in places, it certainly had appeal throughout. I never felt this film intended to be realistic, but rather it was made to stylised, and in line with its genre of which it certainly delivered. Old dirty B's and the WU Tang rap, awesome. Need I say more, but cool.… Expand

I as well went to see this as i thought it was a Quentin Tarantino directed movie ( not produced). RZA did his gangster hood rat narrating. WTF was that, hard to take that seriously. I should have left after the first 10 minutes and demanded a refund. Instead i wasted 90 min of my life that i will never get back. I was with a 7yr old so i was their with good intentions, to show him a cool Kung-Fu action movie. Unfortunately after the horrible taste it left in my mouth after leaving i couldn't help but throw up. Not even the Asian's spoke Asian. If it was not narrated by RZA and had subtitles when the Asians spoke. I could have stomached it a lot more. If your reading this and have not seen it yet, save you $.… Expand

RZA did a decent job with this one. There were some good fight scenes, however, many were too short. In my opinion, there were way too many important people to be trying to focus the film on. The Blacksmith's history was very irrelevant as well as many other people's bits of history. He should have focused on one or two main characters and developed it that way to make the plot more sensible, connective, and strong.… Expand

From the opening scene, The Man with the Iron Fists feels at once familiar, and strange. It has the ridiculous hair of the eighties, various fighting styles that defy logic, and a soundtrack to match, but TMIF strikes a fine balance of genre's that somehow works. A rare specimen, TMIF may not be for everyone, but it's destined to become a cult classic, at the very least!

P.S. No "Kill Bill" reference needed… Expand

This movie was so bad everything just became funny. Even where it tried to be cool, it was just funny.

None of the characters were likeable.The title character wasn't even developed properly and the iron fists played a minimal role. In fact, none of the characters were developed. Their deaths had no emotion even when the direction and music tried to make it emotional simply because they weren't developed, they weren't likeable and it was predictable. The directing was horrible and random in places (using random transitions and effects). The rap and whatever music they used broke the setting of the entire movie. The endless escort/lewd scenes were unnecessary and added nothing to the movie.

The final battle, sure it was obvious what the outcome would be, but the deaths were so poorly executed and cheap. The villains always had the upper hand but pretty much let themselves lose for the sake of it.… Expand

This movie was terrible.. it tried to be Tarantino and failed.. it tried to be a campy Kung-Fu movie and failed... It really just didn't do anything well. Sure, it had action, but it was so poorly directed it made me feel bad for the time and effort put in to this movie.

The fight scenes are insane and well choreographed, the blood and gore are astounding and it has an amazing soundtrack featuring music from artists like Wu-Tang Clan and Kanye West but some thing's missing. Oh yeah, the story and plot make no sense. Also, the editing was a little too rubbish. See it though, even if just for the action scenes.

The action goes from well-choreographed to cluttered and messy, a sign of a first time director. Overall, incredibly uneven. But the one constant is that outstanding soundtrack.

Produced (not directed or written) by Quentin Tarantino (so you know it

I went to see this because of two(2) misapprehensions. 1. I thought it was written by Quentin. It isn't. Written by RZA. 2. I am a Shaw Brothers fan, have most of their movies on HDD, thought this would be a return to that campy/violent goodness. First 5-7 minutes of the film was exactly that, even had exposed tendons. After that...just f#$5ing BORING.

If the name "Shaw Brothers" doesn't mean anything to you, you probably aren't going to like this movie. The Man With The Iron Fists was made with a very specific audience in mind. It isn't likely to win any Oscars, or be remembered as an enduring achievement in the art of film making, and it probably won't grow to the same cult status as many of the movies that inspired it. Frankly, it has some pretty cringe-worthy acting, occasionally goofy dialogue, and spends a little too much time on exposition and not enough on kung fu. That said, if you are a fan of RZA or old school kung fu movies, you will still get a kick (see what I did there?) out of this.

"Iron Fists" emulates its source material so brilliantly that other than the occasional CGI blood spurt, it's almost impossible to distinguish from its predecessors. "Come Drink With Me" and "Return of the One Armed Swordsman" in particular compare most closely to Iron Fists' blend of intrigue, plot twists, and over the top kung fu cheesiness. There are almost too many references in this movie to count, although some will be obvious even to non-fanatics. There's a cameo by Gordon Liu (most of you will recognize him from the Kill Bill movies, but fans know he's been kicking butt much longer than that) that is absolutely perfect, and really pays a fitting tribute to his long career. Another scene will be recognizable to anyone who has seen Enter The Dragon.

All things considered, The Man With The Iron Fists is a pretty good kung fu flick. Given how much of a pet project it was (RZA is to Iron Fists as Tommy Wiseau is to The Room), it could have turned out much, much worse. For a movie made on only 15 million dollars by a 43 year old hip hop producer from Staten Island, it is quite impressive.

Bottom line, if you like kung fu movies, go see the Man With The Iron Fists.… Expand

If you have a hankering for some 60's and 70's Asian cinema, then this is the movie for you. I really have nothing bad to say about this movie. All of the actors performances went extremely well with the source material. Even Bautista can act, was very surprised about that. Just a fun, crazy, awesome action epic that never at any point takes itself too seriously. It really seems like everyone had a blast masking this one.

If you like a lot of blood, people flying around with crazy ass weapons then this is the flick for you. You should not be disappointed.… Expand

One of the worst movies I have seen in a long time. I have no idea what Crowe and Liu were thinking when they signed up to "star" in this piece of junk.. The fight scenes were over the top Kill Bill type of fights without any of the "Kill Bill" cleverness. This movie reminded me of vintage Kung Fu movies where the sound effects were all wrong. I have no idea what Tarentino's role in this film was other then lending his name to help a friend. Maybe this movie was suppose to be a spoof of Kung Fu movies, if that was its purpose it wasn't even a good spoof. Sae your money, this should have been a straight to DVD movie sold in 7 Elevens… Expand

I like QT, RZA, Kill Bill Etc... but this movie was HORRIBLE. I literally walked out after wasting an hour... my popcorn was the best part. The movie had a great trailer... fooled again!

I saw this film and was impressed with the imagery, camera angles and most of the limited action. I expected more action and was not impressed with the story line and/or dialogue. I'm proud of RZA but he should have casted someone else in his place. Maybe Michael Jai White. Otherwise I supported this film because I'm a fan of the Wu along with QT!

I think the critics who gave low scores to this movie don't really know what a Kung-Fu movie is supposed to be. This was a pleasant surprise and follows the mold of those that came before it. If you like Kung-Fu movies this is a movie for you, if you don't know the genre, you probably won't get it.

To correct vpkraja, this movie is not chinese made, it just has asian actors. Anyway, if you're like him and have never seen a movie like it, don't go see it, go rent some old school kung fu movies and see if you like them before you give up the 11 dollars to see this.

I like the old school martial arts movies and you can tell that RZA is a huge fan of them. The good are the visuals, the fight scenes and (some of) the music. I was a little perplexed with a "reggaesque" track during one fight sequence...not sure it worked. What's bad are the writing, the acting and did I say writing. There was too much RZA in the movie. Bad move.

As others have said, this movie is a nice rehashing of the old Kung Fu films. The plot is threadbare, but did you really expect more? The imaginative weaponry and choreography is where this film really shines. Go in expecting violence (there is a lot) and enjoy the ride.

Good old school Kung-Fu flick. If you remember when kung-fu movies used to come on Sunday afternoons this a that type of movie. The "Kill Bill" soundtracks forced the Rza to go all "mainstream" with his creativity, thankfully we don't have those issues here. It is a mix of funk, jazz, rock, & bluegrass. The story is easy to follow and get you right into the action. Great movie cant wait to see more from the Rza!… Expand

An homage to the Kung Fu Theatre movies we watched as kids, but suffers from actually taking itself too seriously. RZA needs to learn more than two facial expressions if he wants to be a professional actor. Action was top notch but a couple of the long fight sequences are actually missing the rap music soundtrack which is supposed to be what sets this movie apart. All in all, makes you actually miss badly dubbed English over Chinese: here we just get bad English period. Russell Crowe steals the show as a womanizing assassin. Good for some modernized nostalgia if nothing else.… Expand

Kill Bill action. That's Ll you need to know. It's not for the story or anything, just awesome kill bill action. What else do you need to know? If you love cheesey blood, gore, and action, this is the movie for you and it won't disappoint.

Kill Bill style action movie. Nothing you have not seen before but a lot of stuff you liked when you saw it in other movies. If you are in the mood for sword fighting, fantasy blood spewing, eyeball flying fun this will satisfy your appetite. Batista does a good job. Soundtrack lyrics have nothing to do with the movie? Not too long like so many other movies made this year.