Fabien and the other members of Z Team, a martial arts
group, have won an award and have come to Hollywood to pursue their dreams of
making movies. But at Fabien’s birthday, which some friend is videotaping (and
which outside someone else is videotaping), one of the members says he’s
leaving the group to take a job in China because he’s impatient and because
it’s difficult to get money to make a feature film. But soon Fabien’s wife is
kidnaped, and the guys get a phone call from a man who has her tied up. He
begins giving them instructions, telling them if they don’t follow them
precisely, the girl will be killed. The first thing he has these four unarmed
men do is rob an armored truck. So four guys, without any plan or strategy, are
able to take out the guards of the truck, as well as policemen who happen by,
and make off with the money. Soon the villain tells them that he’s filming
them, using them to create an action film, and making them the stars they want
to be. Apparently, he has cameras set up everywhere. And I mean everywhere.
The whole idea and set-up of the film is absolutely
ridiculous, but it leads to some really good fight sequences. If you enjoy
martial arts and fighting, it might be worth getting this Blu-ray, and then
just fast-forward through the rest of the scenes. Because the only parts worthy
of anyone’s attention are the fights (mostly because they seem to be the only
parts that got any attention from the filmmaker). The plot is just so absurd.
Not only has this villain planted cameras everywhere, but he’s also hired thugs
to play villains, including several guys who have tied up a priest in a church
(unless, perhaps, the priest was also hired?). If the guy has this much money,
why didn’t he just hire the Z Team to do a real film? They’re hungry for roles,
and would have done it for less than scale. Then he’d have more control over
the environment and would have better-looking shots, better wardrobe, and also
a script. Imagine a script, and what wonders it could do for your movie. At one
point, the villain does say “It’s in the script” to one of his hired
thugs, but the thug is just as confused by this idea of there being a script as
we are. And later there are more references to this mysterious script. But it’s
not a script. What it is is a series of scenarios in which the Z Team gets into
danger and has to fight its way out. That’s it. That’s not a script.
And as they get into more serious danger, you wonder why
they don’t just walk away. Do they really care all that much about Fabien’s
wife? I certainly don’t. She was in the movie for like two minutes before being
kidnaped, and had no personality or charm whatsoever. I didn’t even realize she
was his wife at first. I thought she was just some girl at the birthday party
and that once the film got going, she would never be mentioned again. All the
members of Z Team had to do was refuse to play the game, and everything would
have been fine. But they jump through every hoop, even after one of them is
killed in a gun battle.
There is a twist near the end that does answer some of
the questions you will certainly have while watching, but this twist also is
kind of unbelievable and ridiculous. Basically, it’s a terrible film, but it
does have some excellent and impressive fight sequences.
Special Features
The Blu-ray includes a behind-the-scenes look, which
includes interviews with cast members Fabien Garcia (who also wrote and
directed the movie), Laurent Buson (who also produced the movie), Didier Buson,
Jess Allen and Dave Vescio. Fabien talks about the idea behind the film. And
they do talk about using their real names. They also talk about the movie’s
look and about some of the injuries they suffered while making it.
There is also a music video. Well, it’s actually just a
bad song accompanied by still images from the film. And the movie’s trailer is
included.
Die Fighting was released on Blu-ray on April 26,
2016 through MVD Visual.
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