The Art Of Self-Defense (2019)

When I did the last challenge, I kind of wish that I had Hulu cause they have stepped their game up for me over the past couple of months on films that I have wanted to watch. One of those is with Jesse Eisenberg (Zombieland) who is one of those actors whose generally played the same character or some sort of variation of it in almost every film and sometimes it works (e.g. Now You See Me) which is the frantic introvert. Then there are some instances where it has fallen flat and just isn't good (e.g. Batman V Superman). I however decided to check out one of his films that came out last year entitled The Art Of Self-Defense where he plays frail and fragile Casey, who after being attacked by a gang of motorcyclists decides that he is going to take karate lessons from a very charismatic and mysterious Sensei (Alessandro Nivola). What initially starts as a way to defend himself goes completely south for Casey in this dark comedy that also stars Imogen Poots (Green Room) as Anna, Steve Terada (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of The Crystal Skull) as Thomas, David Zellner (Damsel) as Henry, Phillip Andre Botello (Funny People) as Kennith, and the film was written and directed by Riley Stearns (Faults).

The movie really starts off looking like it's going to be this bleak dark comedy about someone who is a little weird to most, but decides top learn some karate. Then out of nowhere, it looks like the film is going to go dark and in a weird direction until it turns into a really dark crime drama all in a one and the half hour span. I honestly thought that this was going to be a comedic look at dudes that think they are cool for learning Karate, but don't get me wrong because I love the end result. It was kind of chaotic and that's what I liked about it because I sort of figured out part of the twist, but seeing that ending was like a breath of fresh air. Most of the pace of the film is very slow even though things seem to be moving quickly. I love what Matthew Lickona of the San Diego Reader wrote, "It's tempting to imagine that writer-director Riley Stearns caught a screening of the supremely feel-good The Karate Kid and thought, "Yeah, I can make the opposite of that."" I actually was thinking that the whole time I watched this film. What if this was a film about people who say The Karate Kid and took everything that was honorable and great about Karate and just shit all over it. Is it the best movie ever made? Well that's an easy answer and it's no, but it's definitely worth one watch and it's on Hulu. My point above is that Eisenberg is kind of like Kristen Stewart where they have the same look in every film, but I like Eisenberg. Witht hat being said, I am going to give this one an B- for a final grade.