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Review by Andrea Valluzzo, Arts Editor
Directed by Mark Safian, Joel McDersall, and Les Wu, “Duked” is a grotesque action film that zigzags between zombie apocalypse and the silly, slapstick comedy of a single demon. It follows the relationship between the siblings Ward and Cicci, played by Safian and McDersall.
Both are roommates in LA with a big bank account. Cicci doesn’t work, making his bad-boy ways of partying, drinking, and smoking a constant companion. Ward is an employed singer, dancer, and actor, but suffers from extreme lack of self-esteem. His story arc is a coming-of-age comedy laced with elements of nihilism and gross-out horror.
Set in present-day LA, the action takes place in the last days of Halloween. Ward and Cicci face various demonic and zombie-esque beings, including the Immortals, the Huds, and evil spirits. Each zombie-esque being is played by either a host of or a minion, a dark-clothed harem of skull-faced creatures all gathered together to force the main characters to be their sex slaves.
Safian and McDersall’s comedic timing is on point, with their fantastic physicality and intense gesticulation. They perform superbly off each other, and have a strong chemistry in spite of their relative newcomer status.
Visually, the movie is well executed. It is clear that the cinematographer Mark Chung and the production design crew worked with realistic, gritty textures in mind.
The dark colors and gritty textures, along with the constant use of jolts of bright or occasional blood, darken the often colorless, grey-shaded environment, giving the film a gritty, otherworldly quality.
The sequences with the Slasher-style killers are extremely well shot, with the carnage being precise and appropriately choreographed. As I said in my “Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance” review, the single camera-type shots in action films can oftentimes go astray when the movie is trying to make the audience “feel” the suspense or the adrenaline rush. In fact, I am not sure if this is just the case here or if Chung and the production team just managed to get some of the best shots in a single take.
KONGOR’S MUST-HAVE SUPERPOWER IS FRIENDSHIP
I cannot stress enough the importance of my grade of “A” being my sole recommendation for Kongo’s gem of a movie. Without Kongo’s friends, he is nothing.
Unfortunately, the movie’s weak storyline often gets in the way of its solid action sequences, taking away from the riveting performances that are on full display. You can tell that the actors actually give it their all, making this movie enjoyable to watch.
Even with that said, the movie’s biggest “cheats” are its animated bits, which occasionally break the drama up into much shorter segments that work better to send off a post-credit scene.
Still, those short bits of animation are a fun diversion that adds to the overall ride that this monster movie provides.
If you are not sold on my recommendation at this point, you should probably watch the original, better-quality Godzilla (2014) first, since that movie features a much more action-filled and faithful version of the King of Monsters.
Either way, watch this movie! You are in for a treat!
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