Director: Marc Price

Writer: Marc Price

Cast: Jean-Paul Ly, Adam McNab, Nicky Evans, Rosanna Hoult, Richard Sandling, Kaitlyn Riordan, Mica Proctor, Hung Dante Dong, Nicholas Aaron

Running Time: 100 min.

By Martin Sandison

Hot on the trail of his self-directed short The Division, Jean-Paul Ly (Jailbreak) has achieved the seemingly impossible: starred and choreographed in a low budget, great British-made martial arts film, Nightshooters – ok, ok, it’s not a purists martial arts film – it incorporates comedy, gangster and horror elements, a hybrid of the sort we’re seeing more of these days. In fact, I just went to see the Scottish zombie-horror-comedy-musical Anna and the Apocalypse, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and is making waves internationally. You’ll notice I called the latter Scottish and the former British. Here at COF we don’t get political on your asses much, but let me tell you as a Scotsman (of the sentimental kind, Mr. Bramhall), we need to get the fuck off this sinking ship. Anyway, to Nightshooters…

Donnie (Ly) is a stuntman/actor working on a guerrilla shoot. His director Oddbod (Nicky Evans, Shameless), crew members and another actor, Harper (Doug Allen, Band of Brothers), are struggling to finish before the morning, when the building they’re shooting in is set to be demolished. Camera operator Jen (Kaitlyn Riordan, If I Were You) captures a crime occurring across the way in a parallel building, gangsters burning a man alive. Led by Tarker (Richard Sandling, Zapped), the goons go after our heroes, leading Ly to use his martial arts skills to maximum effect.

A one location action film premise certainly worked for The Raid, and to a lesser extent Jailbreak. Here this trope is explored in a maximally entertaining way, with real invention and tension. There is of course the audience involvement with guessing which characters will survive and which will be killed off; the movie succeeds in keeping you in that game right until the credits. A tight 100 minute running time leaves room for plenty of each genres styles, and surprisingly they all hit the mark.

Nightshooters is brimming with humorous lines and sight gags, such as an arm cut off to be thrown into a villains head, and the dialogue is very British in its sarcasm and profanity. Expect plenty of “fucks,” and the use of the dreaded C-word – I know you American folks don’t like that word much, in the UK (especially Glasgow, where I live), it’s a term of endearment! One Welsh gangster is consistently hilarious in his characters line delivery and ineptitude, and Oddbod serves up some nice comedic wordplay.

While leaving room for all of the aspects previously mentioned, the movie serves up a banquet of hard-hitting, wondrously choreographed fight scenes that are well placed in the narrative and serve as Ly’s calling card. Very much in the vein of modern low budget martial arts films, the fights are filmed in mostly wide shots with long takes, Undisputed 3-style. Ly’s form has never been in question – here he outdoes himself. All of the fights show more than significant improvement on Jailbreak and The Division, with a crisp, clean approach that gives the viewer true martial fulfilment. His enemies are superb fighters in all; Hung Dong gets a rematch with Ly after their bout in The Division that tops that encounter, with intricate knife fighting the icing on the cake.

Ly told me himself the film’s budget was so tight that some of the fight direction was choreographed on WhatsApp! (instead of flying Hung from London to Manchester). A short 2-on-1 with Ly taking on Hung and Marcus Shakeshelf (one of the stunt co-ordinators on Wonder Woman) is feverish in its intensity, and features some superb ideas in action choreography, such as Ly being flying kicked mid air by Hung. A great set up for the final match up made me anticipatory as fuck, with British stuntman Karanja Yorke making an effectively nasty villain who you want to see Ly mess up. The fight doesn’t disappoint. What marks Ly a class above some modern martial arts onscreen fighters is his approach to handwork. While maintaining an intricacy and 80’s Hong Kong-style, he manages to be completely fresh and exciting.

Another aspect I loved was seeing just how many references the filmmakers can cram in to the movie. Ly’s character being called Donnie is an obvious one. I noticed Evil Dead, Day of the Dead, numerous Jackie Chan films and there’s a nice joke reference to Scott Adkins, with whom Ly worked with on Doctor Strange. An immense strength of the film is how well drawn the characters are; you really care about the crew and want them all to survive. There is even room for development, especially Harper, who begins a coke-addled idiot who has his own picture as a phone cover (LOL!) and becomes a stoic, empathetic man as the situation worsens.

Acting-wise, most of the cast quit themselves well: Ly a likeable, humble hero; Adam Mcnab (The Summoner), as the boom operator (he uses it well as a weapon), emoting very convincingly; and strong central female performances from Riordan and Rosanna Hoult. Unfortunately, Sandling, as the lead villain, brings a touch of the amateur to the production. Tarker is a nasty, murdering piece of shit, but the way Sandling plays him comes across as a big teddy bear, who you can imagine enjoying a pint with. His performance isn’t all bad, as he handles the comedic elements well. Director Marc Price (Colin, a zombie film I now must see) shows a sure hand in direction, balancing all of these aspects brilliantly, and is destined for greater things on the evidence of this movie.

In the grand tradition of recent British cinema such as The Cornetto trilogy and Attack the Block, Nightshooters is a wildly entertaining slice of B-movie fun, made for peanuts compared to some soulless Hollywood fare we as audiences are so used to zoning out to. Sure it’s got some faults, but the film revels in and celebrates them, turning in on itself to plant itself firmly in the 21st century.

Jean-Paul Ly is at the vanguard of modern onscreen fighters and a sure sign that the film (and him) don’t take things too seriously – this is proven as he snorts a bag of cocaine before the final fight. It’s hilarious, and may be a “first” for a martial arts film. Nightshooters is out on limited edition Blu-ray from now until the 26th of December, so beg, steal or borrow!

Martin Sandison’s Rating: 8.5/10