The Man with the Iron Fists | Movie review

Professed wuxia aficionado RZA directs, cowrites (with Eli Roth) and stars in this self-regarding pastiche; he even narrates the proceedings with a voiceover so flat you wonder if his metalworker character has shot himself with a poisoned dart. The convoluted plot finds the Wu-Tang founder’s blacksmith joining forces with an outcast heir (Rick Yune) and a British visitor (Russell Crowe) who at first shows more interest in the women and opium at Lucy Liu’s brothel than in taking on Byron Mann’s usurping clan leader. The anachronisms, one-liners and clashing acting styles are ostensibly part of the fun, but the martial arts and slightly dull narrative patchwork are too choppily edited to gain much of a foothold.