Up next in 10
Danny, Blake, and Nathaniel look at a British action film that wears its influences on its sleeve. Knuckledust is about a police raid on a club with seven levels. There is one lone man left alive. As the movie progresses, it answers whether the man is a luck survivor or a remorseless killer. The guys discuss when a movie has too many references, good writing versus bad filmmaking, and the future of Guy Ritchie.
KNUCKLEDUST IS AVAILABLE FOR STREAMING. COMMENT BELOW TO WIN A CODE TO WATCH THE MOVIE FREE ON iTUNES!
Adventures in Movies! is hosted by Nathaniel Muir, Blake, and Danny. You can find Nathaniel on Instagram at nathaninpoortaste. Danny can be found on Twitter @default_player and on Instagram at default_player. Blake can be found on Twitter @foureyedhorror and on Instagram at foureyedhorror. You can reach us personally or on Twitter @AiPTMovies.
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Welcome to another episode of Adventures in Movies
0:13
Looks at Dot, Dot, Dot. My name is Nathaniel Mirror, and I'm the movie editor at AIPT
0:19
This week, I'm joined by the hosts of Adventures in Movies. I am Danny
0:26
I'm Blake. And this week, we are looking at knuckle dust. Knuckle dust is a British action movie that has a little bit of a mystery twist
0:37
Movie throws a lot of punches. Do they land or does the movie fall flat on its face
0:45
So this movie, lots and lots and lots of omages, does it get to be too much
0:53
Short answer, yes. Yeah, it's almost hard to keep track of all the stuff they're trying to cram into it
1:00
It's very, but it's fast-paced. It is fast-paced. And it's obviously intentional and tongue-in-cheek
1:06
I got tired of it really quick, though. I'd say initially you're kind of like, okay, I get it
1:13
I get it. I mean, name it. The Fight Club, obviously, Sin City
1:17
Once you get to the old boy part, it's like, all right. Guy Ritchie, a huge one
1:25
So actually, there's a question for you. So eventually, Guy Ritchie does have
1:29
to pass the torch. Is this the director he's going to be passing the torch too
1:35
I mean, maybe so. You don't think so? I don't think so. I mean, there's a lot of, you know what
1:39
for as ridiculous as it was, I thought there was some fun to be had through all the stuff. And, you know
1:45
I thought some of the action sequences were really well done with the music and stuff
1:51
Yeah, I agree, I completely agree with that. I do feel like this movie, what's a movie
1:58
the good times at Bad Real or whatever Oh yeah Good times at the Bad
2:02
El Real. Yeah and I feel like it was trying to do
2:06
It was trying to be this movie that had all these engaging characters
2:12
and interesting tidbits and the lore everything that we kind of want
2:16
in the movie and we've talked about it on the podcast and I guess on the show too
2:19
does it deliver I was like oh this is cool Oh, that was a halaciously great dramatic pause, Danny
2:32
I kind of agree with Danny here that there, and Blake you said some interesting stuff too
2:38
Like there is a lot of good in it. There is. I don't think that this is the guy that deserves the guy, Richie
2:45
I said baby. I said baby. You know what there is? I agree
2:50
There is a lot of potential there. There is a lot of potential there because, well, let's get it
2:55
So the dialogue, what did you? The scripting. What did you guys think
2:59
Aside from it being too cool for school. Yeah. Because it was constantly, like, have you guys seen that clip from the Madden game where someone says
3:07
tells the one guy like, you didn't put enough heart in it? And the guy responds back, I have a congenitive heart defect
3:14
Yeah. It was like that kind of stuff. The dialogue was exhausting
3:21
There was too much of it at virtually every turn. And it was just, there was just an incredible
3:27
amounts of information being spewed out constantly. You got a little exhausting. So to me
3:33
I thought this was a comic book movie trying to be a comic
3:37
yeah a movie trying to be a comic book not a comic book movie. So we had the cool guy
3:44
with like the cool dialogue which is the main character yeah I guess so you had the exposition that you get like should be you know a two spread or whatever It was just too much
3:56
And I do feel like this just ran too long. And, you know, Pat, you said that you got tired of it
4:04
I was like, all right, this is going to be, you know, pretty cool. And I think towards, like, I don't know, like, I kind of turned away
4:10
And I was like, oh, man, this movie's still going on. Like, I thought we're done
4:14
It's almost two hours. Yeah, yeah. It does go quick. I did think it went quick
4:20
So lots of characters. Lots of characters. And when I got tired of the characters, honestly, was right in the beginning
4:28
when they're all getting into the elevator, like at that point, I was already like
4:32
there's way too many characters. Bad slide for you for the rest of the movie
4:36
So each character, and almost all the characters are introduced with these neon-infused title cards
4:42
What did you guys think of that? I mean, like Danny said, it's kind of a very comic book, you very video game
4:49
Actually, the aesthetic is very much what I think you're going to see in cyberpunk
4:54
You know, neon and lots of that stuff. But there was an incredible, like, too many characters introduced non-sequentially
5:02
So you actually, it's very confusing as to who people are, even to the very end, which was, you know, distracting
5:10
I agree. Yeah, I agree with that. I feel like the neon lights
5:14
I wasn't sure what was going on at first because when they introduced the two, I guess, Hitman, whatever
5:19
I thought that was the name of the hotel they were outside of. And I was like, oh, yeah
5:24
I wasn't sure. Like, it's, I'm sorry. Like, there's a lot of movies that give you the clues and everything
5:31
This is not one of those that does that. It didn't. Zero clues
5:35
Yeah, zero clues. And, you know, sometimes with mysteries and everything, you kind of like, you
5:41
you kind of understand. what's going on. But here, like the storytelling itself, it kind
5:47
of like goes from like, here's that main arc. We're going to
5:51
give you the B arc. And now within B arc, we're also going to
5:55
give you a C arc. And there's also going to be a D arc. That D arc
5:59
is going to be your payoff. But it never goes anywhere. Doesn't quite come together
6:06
It doesn't do anything. And just, I guess I should have done this ahead of time
6:10
And no one is, we haven't said anything that would ruin your enjoyment of it. But spoiler warning, we will mention some things. We haven't yet, but we may well
6:18
say stuff that's pertinent to the plot. But it is a mystery. It is about a guy who, I guess the cops
6:24
raid a club, and they find a guy, and they're trying to figure out what's going on. And that's
6:28
kind of the extent of it. So I kind of thought that, you know, when they're trying, Brody
6:35
what his name, right? Heartate. When they're trying to, when they're trying to unravel his past
6:41
At times I found that interesting. The interrogation was interesting. Parts of that I felt were well done
6:47
Yeah, the only problem I had with that stuff, actually, because it was. I mean, there was lots of, I thought there wasn't some enjoyable moments, but those moments took me out of it because they tonally changed
6:59
It went from being this kind of kitchy, kind of tongue in its own cheek kind of thing to being very serious
7:05
And then it would go right back to like, not now Nigel, like, pissing his pants
7:09
It was like it was very those were very set very in weird times
7:13
I don't know. Yeah. The, the interrogate the being interrogations. Yeah. He that was just like the oddball and that's why I was saying like the B plot just didn't really fit
7:27
And I guess like for me was the the tongue and cheek parts were the things that kind of like stood out
7:33
But then it kind of like fizzles out as well throughout like the movie And you just like well okay I guess we going to continue with doing this Yeah So you mentioned it being tongue in cheek
7:47
We've talked about that. It's funny at times, but I thought a lot of jokes fell flat
7:53
But I did like so. I really liked the scene where they're first interrogating him and they're doing the whole good cop, bad cop thing
8:00
I found that hilarious. I like that. Yeah. Did you guys think that there were, that it was funny
8:08
There was there parts that made you laugh. I definitely laughed that a lot a couple times. Yeah, I mean, there were some clever stuff, but again, it was almost like rock star video game levels of nonstop, you know, delivery of said jokes
8:23
Good description. So, yeah. What did you, and Blake, you mentioned at the very beginning, and we kind of got away from it
8:29
You mentioned the music. What did you guys think of the soundtrack? I liked it. I enjoyed it
8:33
I enjoyed it. I thought it felt, it felt, it went with the movie very well
8:39
Yeah, I totally agree. I thought it was organic, kind of like what they would do in the wire
8:43
how it just kind of naturally blended into it. But I also felt like it didn't fit
8:48
It was like someone just had on a random radio station, and it kind of didn't enhance the movie
8:53
Now, it didn't take away from anything. No. But it didn't enhance it to me. It's funny when I think it was towards the end of the movie
9:02
We get a song that I was like, you know what it's been like this is a problem with inspiration like with indie films like you can't you don't
9:09
have the money for to do a lot of things and obviously not to get like the rights of certain songs
9:14
and i feel like they're trying to get a feel of another like i guess a mainstay song and that's what
9:21
the scene reminded me of and of course other things like i was like this would have been better
9:25
if they had the money um it to me it's kind of shitty to say this but
9:33
It didn't take away, but if you do ask a question, like, I'll say why it made me feel, like, makes me feel shitty to say that because they need the money for it
9:46
Yeah, it was kind of like bizarrely disguised as like a low budget movie
9:51
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's really weird. Yeah, it has all these fancy, you know, the title cards
9:56
And it seems like they did have money, but they obviously didn't. it's in a fight club
10:02
so what did you guys think of the actual fight scenes themselves well I like the fight scenes yeah and I
10:08
and I actually like the music in the fight scenes I thought I happened to be like looking away at some point
10:13
during watching it and like I could tell by the music that came on I was like
10:17
oh I better pay attention because there's about to be some it's a good part of this movie
10:23
and so yeah no I thought it added to it I thought the fight scenes were a lot of fun
10:27
I agree I thought very well choreographed. I like how the fights kind of built up, too
10:34
They started off kind of quick and to the point, and then they get a little more involved, a little trickier, and I really enjoy
10:40
Those were the best parts of the movie. The movie, it's like Danny mentioned, it is all over the place
10:45
like your present time, and then you're not flying, you're going back in time
10:49
Like, how was all that integrated into it? I thought very, very clumsy
10:54
Not great. Yeah, it had a hard time finding its, path. Or I
11:01
did. I had a hard time finding my path through this narrative
11:06
I lost it in the... I started losing it in the second act and I was totally lost
11:12
I feel like the movie doesn't start with the best explanation of it
11:17
at all. So I feel like it's a very like wonky thread
11:23
And the thread like you know it's still going through holes and it's trying to
11:27
get you to like close up you know to get something nice and like fine perfect movie But it just it loses itself with giving you all these different characters
11:38
the stories within stories, as I mentioned. Like, it is just like, very unsatisfying
11:44
And especially, like, the, the backstory, the animated backstories that you get
11:49
It's just like this. And that's the part where I felt like, oh, we don't have any more money
11:55
or we don't have enough homage so let's do Kill Bill now
12:00
yeah I just I felt like it was unnecessary all that those animated sequences were unnecessary
12:06
it didn't do anything to the story if anything it would have been better to have
12:11
the camera facing Brody or the lady person when you're I forgot her title
12:19
mom it was mom oh the chief chief inspector Keaton like I feel like
12:25
when we get those stories like give me give me the character that's talking in a monologue is better than giving me an animated a very poorly animated sequences
12:38
that's how you really feel oh I hated it so much I really hated it so much it was there's a part where she's explaining what's happening and the the little figurine just does a clip like there's just a
12:55
a visible clip and I was like you've got to be kidding me you're you are putting so much time
13:02
and effort and you see this thing and you know the editing in the whole movie the actual film is
13:07
fine but the editing in the in the animated sequence it's just so poor and it's so rough
13:15
it's just like it it didn't feel complete well and it was it was jarring because they only
13:22
use that animation for a couple characters. They do other flashbacks, like
13:26
actual flashbacks that could have also been animated, but they do not
13:30
I don't know. The animation threw me off. And at the end, I was like, okay
13:34
we get it. We gotcha, you know. Yeah, it really didn't belong
13:40
I didn't think. So final thoughts, I'll start with you. I'll start with you, Daddy
13:46
It's going to be available in digital. Actually, it's available right now
13:50
in digital. What do you think? rush out to stream it, take your time to see it, or completely avoid it
13:56
You know, take your, I had to, I'm working on a book right now
14:01
I had this in the background pretty much. Like, when I did look up, it was those fight scenes, the music cues
14:07
A lot of it, you know, when I did sit, just like, like, sit back and I was like, oh, I'm just going to try to enjoy this
14:14
It wasn't the best, but if you, again, if you have this in the background, it moves a lot faster
14:20
What about you, Blake, Final Thought? You know what? As not great as this overall
14:29
like film experience was, I enjoyed it for what it was worth
14:34
I didn't expect too much of it. And by the time it was over, I was like, okay
14:37
well, you know, I had to, I actually, I had to rewind the end a couple times
14:41
to be like, what the was that last part even? But I laughed a few times
14:46
The fight scenes are good. Check, stream it. You know, don't rush out or nothing, but check it out
14:50
Why not? Yeah, I agree with that. If you have the chance to stream it, I mean, it's super stylish, maybe too stylish
14:56
Great fight scenes. It'll remind you of better movies and you might watch those
15:03
Every week you can catch us here on YouTube where we talk about all kinds of movies
15:08
If you have an idea, let us know in the comments below. We do have an open review policy where we'll think about it
15:16
We'll talk to you next week. Don't forget to like and subscribe
#Humor
#Movies
#Spoofs & Satire
#Action & Adventure Films
#Animated Films
#Comedy Films
#Thriller, Crime & Mystery Films