Travis:

‘Kiltro’ was certainly a leap into the bizarre and unexpected. We stumbled upon this little film while browsing the walls at Blockbuster and the DVD cover caught our attention, promising ‘Kiltro’ would be the next big action movie… how easily we were deceived.

Zamir is the leader of a pseudo-slacker gang called the Kiltros. Zamir is caught within a complicated web of emotions with the high school girl Kim with whom he has been obsessed with ever since he saved her from being raped. Kim is the daughter of a prominent Tae Kwon Do master and has no interest in Zamir other than merely enjoying his efforts as entertainment. At one point, Kim actually suckers Zamir into fighting the entire class of Tae Kwon Do students in her father’s dojo all at once. Amazingly, Zamir defeats them all and catchesthe attention of Kim’s father. When Zamir is asked who taught him martial arts, Zamir replied that no one taught him… he learned to fight on the streets.

The antagonist of the story manifests itself in the character of the evil Max Kalba, a rival martial arts master and enemy of Kim’s father who returns from the dead as a powerful spirit to claim revenge against Kim’s father. Once Kalba shows up at the dojo, he quickly dispatches the students and nuetralizes Kim’s father before Zamir makes repeated failed attempts to take Kalba out. Zamir then learns of his connection to a secret martial arts sect that holds great power. He decides he must follow his destiny and become a true warrior in order to save the lives of those he loves. Zamir endures his training and becomes a more powerful fighter, ultimately resulting in the “final” showdown between him and the vengeful Max Kalba.

I do have to give this movie some credit, being the very first martial arts action movie to come out of Chile. Yes, you read this correctly… the country of Chile has produced a martial arts action flick, written and directed by first-timer Ernesto Diaz Espinoza. The film stars Marko Zaror (stunt double for The Rock in ‘The Rundown’) as Zamir, sporting a sort of Brandon Lee look and attitude. In brief, the fight choreography is decent but not great… tolerable would be the word of choice, I think. I would describe the acting in about the same way, but Miguel Angel De Luca, who plays Max Kalba, does such a terrible job that the villain in ‘Kiltro’ is ruined.

It’s the story and the “look” of the film that has it stand out as something more than just another action b-movie. The set and production design is especially colorful and wild while the cinematography is primarily hand-held, it exemplifies the cinema verite’ style of so many other South American films. The training sequences are very dream-like and offer a strange visual element that adds spice to the scenes. Espinoza has managed to make his mark on South American cinema with a visual flair of his own and Marko Zaror could still prove to be a decent action b-movie star, but I’m withholding any serious predictions until I see their second outing called ‘Mirageman’.

Overall: 2.5 Stars