NOTE: This film was recommended to me by Daniel Baldwin for "Steve Pulaski Sees It." You can write on an ant's genitals how much I know about martial arts or martial arts in film, so with that in mind, I'm the wrong person to review and analyze Circle of Iron right off the bat. If I needed an introduction to martial arts on film, perhaps I should've went directly to the films of the genre's master Bruce Lee or even the contemporary works of Thailand-born director Tony Jaa rather than a film directed by the same man who was the cinematographer for Annie. Or, perhaps to evoke more drastic sentiment, the relationship between me and Circle of Iron was never meant to be.This is a tedious spectacle, glitz with some really strong cinematography (go figure, given Moore's history) but some seriously bad acting, and surprisingly unremarkable fight scenes. The film revolves around martial arts fighters who are competing to challenge Zetan (Christopher Lee), a wizard who posses a special book of untold power of enlightenment that houses all the wisdom of the world. Cord (Jeff Cooper) is a brash, arrogant man who winds up defeating all of those before Zetan, yet is disqualified for fighting dirty one too many times. Nonetheless, he winds up following the tournament's winner Morthond (Anthony de Longis), who is also searching for Zetan. Together, the two can hopefully indulge in the winner's wisdom and also find a greater purpose for themselves outside of fighting.There's also a recurring character played by David Carradine, a blind flute-player that turns up quite frequently during their trip. Along the way, we also see character actors like Eli Wallach playing a man stewing in a cauldron of oil in the middle of the desert in hopes to dissolve the lower half of his body in order to nullify all sexual arousal and urges in order to experience enlightenment. The scene begs religious interpretation I'm sure you can subscribe for yourself.The problem with Circle of Iron is there are too many scenes like this, that either don't need an explanation or don't really warrant one. The characters in the film are fairly flat and the dialog is spouted in a wooden manner, with echo and emphasis that reminds of the voice-over narration on a CD-i video game. The look of the film saves it from becoming a totally boring affair, largely because Moore, who has had ample experience with cinematography on films of varying genres, makes the most out of a minimalist setting. He takes the stark contrasts of orange sand and ocean blue skies and makes them kiss and produce an eye-appealing visual palette, in conjunction with the film's official cinematographer Ronnie Taylor.While Carradine, Lee, and even Wallach, for his momentary cameo, clearly give performances that incite evidence of at least a wee bit of inspiration, our two leading men, Cooper and de Longis, aren't very engaging leading men. Their chemistry is largely elevated or brought to life when one of the aforementioned men come on screen and liven things up. Other than that, it's almost a totally cold and unmoving slog.This is especially sad after taking note of what Circle of Iron's production history was exactly. A passion project of Bruce Lee's for many years, the film wasn't completed until five years after the man's death. Lee wanted the film to be a real segway and informative piece about the idea of Zen, communicating its principles while infusing what Lee combat, martial arts, and other things that Lee loved in addition. While we'll never quite know what the master of martial arts thought of his film, I can at least state that I'd want my legacy and my beliefs touted with a lot more confidence and substance than what is found in this particular film.Starring: Jeff Cooper, Anthony de Longis, Christopher Lee, David Carradine, and Eli Wallach. Directed by: Richard Moore.

Circle of Iron is an extremely interesting and worthwhile movie that even non-action movie fans can easily enjoy.From a story by Bruce Lee, Lee worked on the screenplay with James Coburn and Stirling Silliphant (both students of Lee's), and Lee was supposed to have starred in the film, but then he made Enter the Dragon (1973), got famous, and died. The script was then reworked, but it retained all of the Zen philosophy that Lee wanted to include.Set in a timeless, mystical land, Jeff Cooper plays Cord, a martial artist who becomes a Seeker, a man on a quest to find The Book of Knowledge, and the man who wields it, Zetan. On his quest, he must go through many trials and tribulations, and he meets many people along the way, most of them played by David Carradine. My favorite of Carradine's four roles in the film is The Blind Man, who is a Zen master who fights with his flute, and has a lot of great quotes ("A sword cannot cut itself", "You cannot step on the same piece of water twice", etc.).Cord's relationship with him is stormy because Cord doesn't always understand The Blind Man's mysterious ways. The other three roles interpreted by Carradine are Death, who has a minimal part in the film, The Monkey Man, whom Cord must fight as one of his trials, and Chang Sha, the leader of some kind of traveling show, and a relationship with one of his wives, Tara, provides some more food for the interplay between Cord and The Blind Man, as Cord becomes less of a musclebound meathead and more of an enlightened human being.Perhaps feeling that Jeff Cooper as Cord wasn't quite enough as the main hero (Imagine a cross between John Saxon and Sam Neill with long blonde hair, who is shirtless the entire film), Circle of Iron is littered with welcome, famous faces, including Roddy McDowall, Christopher Lee, and in an especially memorable role, Eli Wallach. His "Man in Oil" is reminiscent of Bunuel's Simon of the Desert (1965), and, in fact, the whole film has a vaguely Bunuel-esquire quality.If you were to put Conan the Barbarian (1982), Deathsport (1978), The Holy Mountain (1973), Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching, a book of Zen quotes, and the few Bruce Lee movies made, and put them in a blender, and poured the result into your DVD player, the result would undoubtedly be Circle of Iron. NOT to imply the film is a hodgepodge; it's definitely not. The movie flows beautifully, and has some great matte work, cinematography, and amazing Israel locations.Circle of Iron is action, but different. You will be involved in the film and it will make you think. Far from your average beat-em-up or chop socky outing, I would strongly recommend Circle of Iron for the discerning action movie fan, or anyone who wants a different, intelligent, engaging movie.For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

Wasn't sure what to expect with this one. It was either going to be great or awful.It's awful.Bruce Lee fans will no doubt love the Zen philosophy aspects to this pretentious fantasy film that at least boasts amazing locations, but the whole thing is just a mess. David Carradine is very irritating in this whether with it's his fortune cookie words of wisdom , god awful acting in about 4 roles or with his terrible martial arts 'skills'. The whole film feels like an ego boosting project for him really. Christopher Lee and Eli Wallach just embarrass themselves by appearing in this, even though they give good performances in their small roles. At least Roddy McDowell gets away a bit more lightly as his appearance is a 'blink and you'll miss it' job.Mind you if you want to watch David Carradine lurching about playing a kung fu chimp it's a must see. If my memory serves me correctly no other motion picture can boast David Carradine lurching about playing a kung fu chimp. That's right, a Kung Fu Chimp.Monkey magic. not.Give it a wide berth. Very poor indeed.

The main character Cord played by Jeff Cooper seems to be playing the same part he played in many late seventies and eighties TV shows "a guy who just dashed out of a hairdressers and is trying to find his Porsche". David Carradine seems to be trying to do a Peter Sellers, playing multi characters. What used to be his signature slow motion kung-fu, in this, seems to be the actual speed he moves at. The philosophy seems to be out of a box of cheap fortune cookies. The Israel locations do add a bit to this, but overall a fairly bad movie. If only Bruce Lee had made this the martial arts certainly would have been much better.