No Rest for the Wicked

Starring Ray Park, Zachary Levi, Malcolm McDowell and Kane Hodder

Written and Directed by Ryan Schifrin

This short film is actually an adaptation of a graphic novel written and directed by Ryan Schifrin, the son of Lalo Schifrin, composter of Enter the Dragon and Rush Hour, and composes this film as well. The story picks us up in the middle of an adventure as Basil (Park), a queens guard during the day and thief at night, is in the middle of a heist with his partner Moebius (Levi) who both want to steal a device for an unknown entity named the Collector. What ensues is a fun little romp that seems as if it is a test reel for a bigger film–one I think should get made. Ray Park is great as Basil, and plays him with just the right mix of bravado mixed with a simple mind, but I wasn’t really convinced in Zachary Levi as a British gentleman. He came off sounding pretty generic. The fight scenes are shot fairly well except for a few spots where Ray kicks and the camera is too close to capture it correctly. The kung-fu monkey scene really takes the prize here, and overall is a pretty decent film that has potential.

Legend of the Mighty Soap

Directed by Andrew Bond

Yes, I loved it to death. I’m not sure if everyone will, as in some respects it does look like a Sesame Street short, but whatever. Mighty Soap tells the story of a young man who lives in world where everything is dirty because the clean Queen was defeated by the Goddess of Dirt long ago, and now everything lives in perpetual dirt. That is, until said young man finds a special bar of soap called the Mighty Soap, a living soap that teaches the man how to be clean, and then said clean warrior must face off with a bunch of dirt goons and the Dust Brothers before facing the Dirt Goddess himself. There is a lot of Japanese anime-inspired moments, and some okay kung fu, but it has some great humor, and it all fits together really well. Mixing being clean with a classic kung fu story just stood out to me. Just a really fun short film.