Kiltro

Kiltro is the world's first Chilean martial arts movie. Marko Zaror plays Kiltro, a thuggish young man who uses violence to express himself. He is obsessed with a girl he once saved and stalks her everywhere, beating up any man who shows an interest in her. This behavior isn't winning her over, unsurprisingly.

There are a couple of serious problems with the movie, and Kiltro's personality is the first. He's childish, rather stupid, and a bit of an ass. He does mature somewhat during the movie, but he's definitely not easy to admire. The movie could have gone another way and made him a badass anti-hero but instead he ends up somewhere in between; it's not easy to like him or respect him. It's a tough beginning to build on and it didn't feel like the movie had managed to recover from it by the end.

The second major problem is with the fights themselves. Marko Zaror is incredibly fast and acrobatic for a man his size, and when he's allowed to cut loose on camera without added special effects he looks truly impressive. It's unfortunate that as the movie advanced the director chose to concentrate more and more on special effects, editing, and wirework to enhance the fights rather than simply letting the viewer watch such a talented performer do what he does best. The budget of the film clearly wasn't enough to make the special effects convincing, and what the director was aiming for simply wasn't within his reach.

In addition the storyline winds up being a fairly typical one of betrayal and revenge. Some characters in the film have a complicated past that is told in part through flashbacks. These flashbacks feel a bit clunky when they interrupt the rest of the story and probably weren't necessary.

Even with these issues Kiltro is still fairly enjoyable to watch. I recommend it to martial arts fans who are interested in something a bit different; while the core of the movie is still very much in line with most martial arts films, it has a certain South American flair. I think director Ernesto Díaz Espinoza and star Marko Zaror have tremendous potential—perhaps the most frustrating thing about Kiltro is glimpsing that potential but not seeing it fully realized.

Hopefully they'll have gotten the exposure and budget they need (and deserve, in my opinion) from Kiltro; I'm looking forward to seeing their new film MirageMan.