The man with the iron fists

LEAD CAST: Russell Crowe, Cung Le, Lucy Liu, Byron Mann, RZA, Rick Yune, David Bautista, Jamie Chung  DIRECTOR:  RZA.  SCREENWRITER:  RZA, Eli Roth  PRODUCER:  Eli Roth, Marc Abraham, Eric Newman, Thomas   EDITOR:  Joe D’Augustine  MUSICAL DIRECTOR:  RZA, Howard Drossin  GENRE:  Action/Adventure  CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Chi Ying Chan  RUNNING TIME:  96 minutes  DISTRIBUTOR:  Universal Pictures  LOCATION:  China

Technical assessment:  3

Moral assessment:  1.5

CINEMA rating:  Not for public showing

MTRCB rating:  R 18

Gold is being stored in a village, and in the basement of the local brothel. The emperor is concerned about it. The villain has killed his master for it. The master’s son arrives bent on revenge. The madam has schemes to hold on to it. The local blacksmith (a marooned American slave) makes weapons that can defend it. An Englishman rides into town and teams up with the goodies. A sinister emissary also turns up to secure the gold.  And a big man who can produce bronze armor over his skin as needed does some dastardly deeds.

The slave is the title man—who has lost his arms but has been able to produce and connect hands, arms and, especially, fists of iron while working as a blacksmith. He is played by rapper RZA who co-wrote the film with Eli Roth (Hostel) and directs. It is a Chinese production, but also presented by Quentin Tarantino (echoes of the Kill Bill films).  That outline doesn’t necessarily spoil the action for potential audiences. All that plotline does is provide the occasion for martial spectacle.—(Excerpted from Fr. Peter Malone, Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting)

CINEMA rates this movie "NPS", or Not for Public Showing. 

The Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA) has rated it "R", or Restricted "for bloody violence, strong sexuality, language, and brief drug use"?  In the USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) website, a review is published by Catholic News Service which states,  "the film contains excessive bloody violence, gruesome images, graphic sexual activity, implied aberrant sex acts, a prostitution theme, drug use, an anti-Catholic slur, much rough language and a few crude or crass terms" and classifies it as "O"—morally offensive.

The following notes taken from various various Canadian Film Classification boards add this information to explain why The Impossible has earned their "R" rating.

Violence:

- Frequent hand-to-hand and weapons violence, with blood and detail shown.

- Explicit depictions of evisceration and dismemberment.

- Detailed gory and grotesque images.

- Frequent and prolonged portrayals of graphic violence.

- Disturbing scenes.

- Depictions of beating, shooting, stabbing, dismemberment, torture and decapitation.

Sexual Content:

- Infrequent portrayals of sexual activity with no nudity, but some detail.

- Simulated and implied sexual activity.

- Sexual references and innuendo.

- Embracing and kissing.

Language:

- Infrequent use of the sexual expletive and variations in a non-sexual context.

- infrequent use of scatological slang.

- Ethno-cultural slurs.

Drugs and Alcohol:

- Infrequent references to drug use.

- Tobacco use.

(Editor's note:  Due to a miscommunication error, the MTRCB rating on this movie was earlier cited as PG 13.  The correct MTRCB rating for "Man with the Iron Fists" is R 18).