Undisputed II:
Last Man Standing
Undisputed II:
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Martial arts and action movies make a natural pair. But just because they fit together doesn’t mean the union is always harmonious. There’s no guarantee that the two worlds can stand on equal footing in one motion picture. That’s what makes director Isaac Florentine’s Undisputed II: Last Man Standing such a welcome surprise. He’s allowed the parts to mesh almost seamlessly, creating an instant classic from what should have been another direct-to-DVD workhorse. Black Belt recently spoke with Florentine and the film’s stars, Michael Jai White and Scott Adkins. What we got was a snapshot of the inner workings of moviemaking and a glimpse of how the trio collaborated to craft a film that not only reveals their deep appreciation for the arts but also conveys it to the audience.
The hero of Undisputed II is played by White, who’s no stranger to Black Belt readers. He appeared on the cover of the February 2002 issue, as well as in a December 2003 story about the making of Kill Bill. (His scenes were cut before the movies were released but can be seen on the DVD.) The hard-driving kyokushin karate stylist relishes his work and the challenges it offers him. He has a contagious sense of humor and seems comfortable being an ordinary guy, despite holding seven black belts in various arts. At this point in his career, White is standing at a crossroads: He’s making a name for himself in acting, but in early 2006 he took the plunge and started his own production company, Goliath Entertainment. The secret of White’s success in fight films, he says, is staying true to the values he learned as a martial artist and letting everything else fall into place. It’s those values that have bolstered his strong opinions about the movie industry and his place in it. “I read scripts all the time with fundamental storytelling errors, not to mention the martial arts-themed movies that I get offered,” he says. “If I’m going to be involved, I owe it to the martial arts community to represent it with integrity. That’s why I started Goliath.” Undisputed II’s heavy is Adkins, a British-born actor with extensive experience in judo, wushu, Krav Maga and other arts. His most recent role was in Holby City, England’s version of ER, but like White, he’s drawn to action flicks. “I’m pretty much a stuntman in the East,” he says. “I’ve worked with Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Yuen Woo-ping, to name a few. I currently teach kickboxing for the Professional Kickboxing Association in London. I also do a lot of gymnastics training, which helps me with the flashy side of martial arts.”
Underdog Energy There’s no overstating the symbiotic effect of having such similar mentalities working together on the same project. It’s one of the reasons Undisputed II transcends its DVD roots and plays like a film fit for the big screen. “I took Undisputed II because I saw a character that I could do something with,” White says. “I knew expectations were low on the film, but Nu-Image allowed me a lot of creative input. I told them, ‘I can do something here with a character that you won’t normally see in a martial arts film.’ “Hollywood doesn’t understand what a martial artist truly is. They think it’s somebody who beats up other people, like a gladiator. Martial arts are designed to make a person a complete and better human being. A martial artist in a film has to grow; he has to become humble and learn something.” Florentine was also fortunate to have the support of people who knew what he was capable of and what he was trying to achieve. “At first, Nu-Image wanted to do it as a boxing movie,” he says. “However, my heart was in doing it as a martial arts film. Luckily, I’ve done enough films for Nu-Image to make them trust me—especially my producer, Boaz Davidson, who had a pivotal role in making this film. He understood me and let me go with what I was passionate about.”
Playing Uri Boyka, a brutal fighting machine of a man, Adkins faced a few difficulties on the set. Among them was, How do you come across as a ruthless killer when your main opponent is taller and more muscular than you? “My big challenge was to put on as much size as I could to play a convincing villain,” Adkins says. “Mike adjusted his diet so that he dropped some weight and made it easier for me to look as big as him. In a lot of takes, he walked around with no shoes to help me out with the height difference. “As far as the fights go, I think we worked very well together. We had no worries about going full out with the fight choreography, and often we hit each other harder than we probably should have, but we wanted to make the best fight scenes we could.”
The same equation works in cinema, he’s discovered. “You have such a fantastic spectacle within the martial arts, but all the concentration is on the martial aspect and not the storytelling. That’s a big mistake. If you focus on the internal qualities and tell those stories, you can tap into what the fans really want.” Surprise Ending With all the experience and creative energy going into the production, it should come as no surprise that audience reactions have been stellar. “Hollywood decides if a film is good or bad through scientific audience testing,” Florentine says. “Undisputed II scored 84 percent, which is extremely high—right up there with the new James Bond movie. Also, women loved it as much as men. Many people are already asking me about another Undisputed film. I guess it all depends on how the DVD does when it’s released on January 16, 2007.” White has also witnessed evidence of audience attitudes. “When New Line bought it before we shot, the people at Nu-Image were overjoyed, but I had mixed emotions,” he admits. “Once they actually saw it, they said, ‘Wait a minute, this should go to theatrical release.’ They tried to buy it back.” At one screening of the movie, White reports, women poured out of the room asking, “How did I wind up crying at an action movie?” “That’s really what I went for; that’s why I took [the role],” White says. “I wanted to prove that these things can be done.” About the author: Edward Pollard is the managing editor of Black Belt.
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