The Man with the Iron Fists

Professed Chinese martial-arts movie aficionado and Wu-Tang Clan founder RZA directs, co-writes (with Eli Roth) and stars in this self-regarding chopsocky pastiche set in nineteenth-century China. He even narrates, with a voiceover so flat you wonder if his metalworker character has shot himself with a poisoned dart. The convoluted plot finds RZA’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. As suits a Tarantino-endorsed production, the anachronisms, one-liners and clashing acting styles are part of the fun, but both the fights and the slightly dull story are too choppily edited to gain much of a foothold.