The Scoundrels: JC Lin, Nana Lee, Kang Ren-Yu (2018)

[DragonClaws]

 

A down and out Taiwanese basketball player, Rui, is now a street parking fee ticket collector. When he see's a unconcious young woman in a van, he soon finds himself embroiled with a crime he didnt commit.

 

 

[DragonClaws]

 

What are peoples thought, on the trailer for this one?.

[Frank Bolte]

Looks good ! Will watch it for sure!

[DragonClaws]

On 9/3/2018 at 3:23 AM, Frank Bolte said:

Looks good ! Will watch it for sure!

 

The trailer features some solid looking action, will it be a straight up non-stop fight-fest? or will there be some room for story/character developement. The preview focus's a lot on the action.

 

[DragonClaws]

 

Still no word on a Western release date, for this title?.

 

Quote

"No angst, no ambiguity, plenty of action"

'The Scoundrels' ('Kuang tu'): Film Review | Busan 2018: By Elizabeth Kerr 10/8/2018

Link- https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/scoundrels-kuang-tu-film-review-busan-2018-1149977

 

 

 

 

 

 

[laagi]

Giving this another push as I thought the trailer looked pretty entertaining. I'm with @DragonClaws any update on a western release?

[DragonClaws]

58 minutes ago, laagi said:

Giving this another push as I thought the trailer looked pretty entertaining.

 

Hi @laagi, in the U.K, we get big budget Chinese cinama fodder, such as 7 Guardians of The Tomb on DVD/BR. Without much of a wait, then stuff like this just gets ignored. Useally to be picked up by a VOD/Digital service only, if that.

 

It's worrying, when Martial Arts movie trialers dont get a response, on a forum dedicated to the genre. Now if they look really bad, I can understand people just wanting to ignore them. This however, did look promising, and appears to have some decent fight choreo to boot.

[laagi]

I agree this looks very promising. But somehow didn't really get any attention.

Also weird to see that these chinese productions seamlessly get a physical release. While I do see some entertainment in them I wouldn't really wanna own a disc of e.g. 7 Guardians of the Tomb. The budget might have increased but the quality is still lacking and not just talking about the sometimes laughably bad CGI.

I'll see if I can get some info from the distributor on their fb page...

[DragonClaws]

1 hour ago, laagi said:

Also weird to see that these chinese productions seamlessly get a physical release. While I do see some entertainment in them I wouldn't really wanna own a disc of e.g. 7 Guardians of the Tomb. The budget might have increased but the quality is still lacking and not just talking about the sometimes laughably bad CGI.

 

To me, many of the big budget Chinese films, look as cheap if not cheaper than The Scoundrel's. It just didnt have the star power, or a former Hollywood actor to gather more attention.

[whitesnake]

The Scoundrels has its European premiere at the 2019 Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy.  It will be shown on April 29th.  Screen Anarchy puts it in "a gallery of 10 new films (and one classic) we are most excited about, plucked from this year's fantastic programme".  The short synopsis - "After being mistaken for the notorious Raincoat Robber, a hapless former basketball player tracks down the mysterious criminal and the odd couple forms an uneasy partnership in this slickly executed crime caper."  From https://screenanarchy.com/2019/04/udine-2019-11-films-not-to-be-missed-at-the-21st-far-east-film-festival-gallery.html   More about The Scoundrels from the Far East Film Festival site - https://www.fareastfilm.com/eng/film/the-scoundrels/?IDLYT=7505

[One Armed Boxer]

For those that missed it, the English subtitled Taiwanese DVD hit last month -

https://www.yesasia.com/global/the-scoundrels-2018-dvd-english-subtitled-taiwan-version/1074296106-0-0-0-en/info.html

[laagi]

Pretty entertaining 100 minutes. Some decent fights, it's a lot of brawling however. I did like the camera work they applied, it makes you feel as you're part of the action! Main action scenes (approx. 3) are scattered throughout the movie. Not to say the movie is boring.

The story is really the center of the movie, Ray a former professional basketball player is part of a car thief scheme. They use GPS trackers to steal cars and re-sell it. After already being down on his luck he runs into Ben one night, who carries a wounded woman in the back of his car. From there it's back and forth, Ray faces his own dilemma. Having a criminal record and being judged not only by society but also his surrounding. You can really feel for the poor bastard...

It's an above average movie thanks to the lead performance and his desperation to change!? My only problem, sometimes it's unclear what it wants to be; crime, thriller, drama, action, comedy... A more focused narrative would've benefited it. For what it is, you still might want to check it out.

[DragonClaws]

On 7/1/2019 at 6:14 PM, laagi said:

It's an above average movie thanks to the lead performance and his desperation to change!? My only problem, sometimes it's unclear what it wants to be; crime, thriller, drama, action, comedy... A more focused narrative would've benefited it. For what it is, you still might want to check it out.

 

Appreciate you posting your comments @laagi, shame to see inferior movies get more attention than this one.

[One Armed Boxer]

I recently got through watching this one, and weighed in with a full review over at COF.  Check it out via the link below - 

https://cityonfire.com/the-scoundrels-2018-review/