I got my hands on this fun and action packed film the other day courtesy of Ara Paiaya – called Skin Traffik.
The film follows a guy named Bradley, played by popular martial arts actor Gary Daniels. He’s a retired assassin who decides it’s time to step up and take down a local brothel.
After leaving with one of the girls, he decides to help this girl find her sister, who is lost in the world of prostitution under some dangerous criminals. So naturally Bradley goes after her and kills anyone who happens to come into his path.
Naturally our guy Bradley is a highly skilled fighter and martial artist so we get a nice blend of action featuring some excellent martial arts choreography and performances, backed by a star studded cast. That’s essentially the plotinaq nutshell.
There’s some talent in this film!
It’s funny, as a martial arts film enthusiast I was most excited about one of the lesser known names in this film, Gary Daniels. He has the ability to perform superbly in fight sequences whilst carrying the presence and acting ability to pull off the lead. But surprisingly there’s some really popular Hollywood names starring alongside him too.
You’ve got Mickey Rourke at the very beginning of the film playing a powerful crime boss, with other stars like Daryl Hannah and Michael Madsen popping up throughout the film in supporting roles.
Our main villain though is played by Eric Roberts who does a pretty good job at playing an intelligent bad guy with a fitting charisma to sell the character. Having these strong names around Gary Daniels’ lead made for a smooth overall performance by the entire cast.
One thing I appreciated too was seeing director and writer Ara Paiaya showing up for a fight sequence toward the end of the film showing off his impressive abilities also, as they guy has some very acrobatic and impressive martial arts to showcase.
The film keeps a reasonable pace
Some movies have a way standing still at times as you wait for the next fun and exciting thing to happen, Skin Traffik does a decent job of avoiding this, as we follow Bradley move from place to place meeting different characters and slowly unravelling the mystery of this young girls whereabouts.
It helps keep a smooth pace, although the movie does bounce a little at times, with some scenes involving Daryl Hannah and Michael Madsen appearing a little more frequently than is necessary and it gives you the impression more will happen with them then actually does. But this small blip on the radar is easily absorbed amongst the higher qualities of the film and is easily overlooked.
All in all, the film moves nicely and has some good entertainment value which sets up the action nicely.
Speaking of the action…
…there’s some really exciting stuff in this film!
Gary Daniels delivers some well choreographed scenes in this film which is spread really nicely and keeps the action junkies watching. The fights are frequent, well performed and entertaining.
Considering all things, I do feel the potential of the fights wasn’t quite reached and this movie falls short of being something really outstanding. The action is good but has some really impressive movements that seem over and done with a little too quickly. In particular, the multiple attacker scenarios are my personal favorite.
When Daniels’ character Bradley is surrounded by multiple attackers, the pace, movement and energy are quite high and are without a doubt the most exciting movements of any of the fights. The performance, the way they’re shot and the speed in which they’re presented are excellent and would make a good addition to any showreel. I do feel like the same standard dips slightly in the other areas of the choreography, although it’s still entertaining and of high quality.
Overall?
This film isn’t one of the greats and it’s not bad – but it does sit on an above average scale and is a solid 7 out of 10.
The overall entertainment value combined with high quality martial arts make this one of the better martial arts films out there and I do recommend checking it out if you get the chance.
Thanks for the review of skin traffik/, it sounds like a movie that i am looking forward to seeing. I love movies that have good martial arts skills.
It’s a decent film, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it!