Green Ghost & the Masters of the Stone (2021)

[Drunk Monk]

Nice to see my castmate Marco Zaror get top billing. And he’s the villain. Also starring Cain Velasquez as the mma master, Andy Cheng as the Kung Fu master and Danny Trejo as the drunken master (ironic because he’s a major spokesperson for aa). 

Green ghost = gringo. Get it? This is a major Latinx project and the central protag is a gringo and a buffoon.

It’s about an ancient Aztec or maybe Mayan power from space portals or some crap - frankly it spends way too much time inadequately explaining why characters can do qi blasts and such. Just get to the damn fights.

This is a total fast forward to the fight scenes flick.

Mario’s fights are good. He outclasses and out-reaches everyone. Cain is fast and has great structure. He sells those punches. There’s a Marko v Cain fight that’s nice. Andy is very disappointing as he’s a top notch choreographer and he seems to be just phoning it in. Maybe he was nursing and injury because this is way below par for him. 

Danny is comic relief. He’s been in so many cheesy grindhouse movies that he has no prententions and just has fun acting drunk.

I confess I fell asleep during this so I don’t know how it ended. I should e opened with that. Maybe the end is really good. Or bad. I just don’t know. I may have to go back for it. I will reserve D00M recommendations until that time.

[Drunk Monk]

Went back for it. The end was one big ol’ fight sequence. Each hero had a complementary villain and they all fought their duels out simultaneously. 

Then the ending dedication as the credits played explained everything. 

Marco is the ultimate villain that all the heroes have to unite against. He outreaches, out powers, out speeds, and out performs everyone else which is why they all have to gang up on him.

Only recommended for D00Mers who cherish cheesiness and well crafted gratuitous fight scenes.

[cranefly]

Talk about a dedication.  So Green Ghost is the gringo played by Charlie Clark, a name you ought to remember--or not.  He more than fills out his Lucha libre costume.  If I understand the dedication, he was abandoned as a child by his family, but taken in and raised by a Mexican mother.  Indebted for her kindness, he decided to pay her back by making this movie and dragging her to the premier.  She looks a mixture of appreciative, embarrassed, and overwhelmed.  Charlie Clark not only stars(?) in this vehicle but wrote it and produced it and other things--but not directed, perhaps for the better.  I think what he did is wonderful from a moral standpoint, but I do wish he had given Trejo a meatier role.  Trejo looks a little lost, having nothing more to do than sip from a flask, stumble around, and deliver master mumbo-jumbo lines.

Definitely Marco is the one to watch.  With his size, I don't think he can do such fightacrobatics for long.  A pleasure to watch him once more.

[Drunk Monk]

Yeah, the end credits explain everything about Clark. Got to hand it to him for putting this together. That's somewhat redeeming for a rather tepid flick, that and the Latinx representation.

Marko is in John Wick 4. We'll see how he does there. He's had a lot of opportunities but he still isn't recognized for his achievements. I'm hoping that JW4 will be his break through flick.