CONTOUR (2006) – Eric Jacobus and The Stunt People
May 4th, 2012 by Mr. C
Director: Eric Jacobus
Fight Choreographer: Eric Jacobus
Stars: Eric Jacobus,Ed Kahana Jr,Andy Leung,Dennis Ruel,Stephen Reedy,Tyler Wang,Ray Carbonel,Vlad Rimburg
Genre: Low budget-martial arts,action
Martial art – action fans lets bring on Eric Jacobus and the Stunt People! If you haven’t heard of Eric and his crew then you’ve just tapped into a whole new resource of talented individuals looking to bring the R-A-W back with the old school – HK influenced – no nonsense fighting and stuntwork updated with a modern flare. The Stunt People brought back that high voltage wow factor in films that we’ve come to reminisce about just like those throwback HK action movies from the 80’s & 90’s that have changed the game! Now, don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying that all the films put out by the Stunt People and Eric Jacobus are flawless pieces of work with story scripts destined for the Oscars but I AM saying that the action and fight sequences designed, performed, and executed by Eric Jacobus and the Stunt People have a certain ebb and flow to them backed up by some thunderous techniques delivered with some serious intent is definitely a force to be reckoned with!
Contour is a quirky and hokey film about a thug for hire named Law (Eric Jacobus) who takes on drug heists, bank robberies, and beating up immigrants. When not a hired gun, Law is busy running his tour guide shtick taking his clients around the sights of San Francisco. Among his clients includes lesbian Renee (Tyler Wang), a Prince from Uruvia – Alfonso de la Rosario (Ed Kahana), and Lei Tak (Andy Leung) his bodyguard. Little did these tourists know that they would be slowly let on to be involved with some of Law’s night job antics. But also, little did Law know that this tourist bunch would be highly skilled in their forms of fighting including the deadly style of TAE PHO! When not intercepting drug deals, Law would be hired for a job worth $2 million dollars to find a “special moments” VHS tape lost by the King of Uruvia!?
The fighting choreography is where it’s at in this film involving long drawn out chess like battle sequences usually with multiple opponents as they exchange fisticuffs, jaw dropping kicks, & acrobatic moves turned into deadly aerial assaults. Weapons such as baseball bats, sticks, guns, knives, & a steel chain will make contact with flesh as well!
Fight scene 1: Wonderful sequence of Law (Eric Jacobus) vs gang of 5 in a warehouse. Guns start popping off but bodies soon start to scatter between the aisles to avoid being turned into swiss cheese. Mostly focused on long range fighting but a few throws and elbow locks & reverses make their way onto the scuffle. The introduction of the main villains, Esteban (Dennis Ruel) and his co-hort (Ray Carbonel) will show themselves!
Fight scene 2: An awesome scene between Law vs Lei (Andy Leung) in the Hap Ki Do school. Beautiful exchanges of kicks on kicks, backflip turned kicks, sweeps, & other really aesthetically pleasing aerial moves! Probably my favorite fight scene in the movie.
Fight scene 3: No batta’, batta’ – a pretty wicked scene with Esteban & his assistant getting jumped with 6+ with baseball bats, but the numbers would soon find the weapons turned against them as Esteban & friend use the bats with filipino like stick fighting techniques. Esteban does this awesome aerial 3 kick combination while also showing us some aikido/hap ki do like immobilizing locks and throws. Pure awesomeness!
Fight scene 4: Is what I call the ‘find the tape scene’ as the dorky Alfonso de la Rosario finds himself fighting a masked bunny in the streets in his dream? Alfonso surprises us with some fluid kung fu moves as he connects with a flying fist as he dispatches the masked one in no time. Alfonso’s second opponent, a mime that looks & moves like Jet Li with a white mask on wearing a white lab coat?! They both exchanged long range fighting techniques which flowed like kung fu.
Fight scene 5: Last serious and LONG fight sequence has everyone back at the warehouse with Law squaring off vs Esteban and Lei vs Esteban’s assistant (Carbonel). Guns are poppin’ off and some serious hand to hand and foot to foot combat is being made! The mighty Alfonso is also going rage against the machine as he goes ape on the villains! The lesbian chick makes her presence known as well by poppin’ (guns) and lockin’ (joint locks) her opponents down! Carbonel shows off some wing chun like hand movements while also throwing down some intercepting kicks a la jeet kune do style. A wildcard is thrown in as a pissed off cross-dressing chubby dude joins in on the action, tag teaming with Lei to take down Ray Carbonel! Funny-funny scene! Andy Leung displays some serious shaolin/kung fu licks here as the northern kicks are in effect! The use of the long pole also added to the bulls on parade! A hint of drunken style and the flow of Jackie Chan in Drunken Master 2 – final fight scene can be used to describe the attitude with Andy Leung here as he uses the whip chain to slay his foes! Awesome display of the chain!
Meanwhile, Law (Eric Jacobus) is in a serious battle with Esteban (Dennis Ruel). They batter each other from aisle to aisle, fist to face, kicks to body – Jackie Chan style as the final countdown would come down to a deadly weapon — a neck tie! A real exhausting fight scene in the warehouse I must say!
Contour is recommended viewing for the serious action fan, no doubt! But to those that like to nit-pick about story lines and acting performances or that there’s not enough twists to the plot, you best pass this up! The outtakes after the film are also a hoot to watch! Blooper reels, deleted scenes, the hilarious TAE PHO instructional video, Contour Training videos, and the Stunt People Demo reel are in itself worth the price of the CONTOUR DVD! Check it out folks!
I’m really looking forward to the new Eric Jacobus/Stunt People film – DEATH GRIP. We first saw a glimpse of the trailer from last years San Diego Comic Con during Ric Meyers’ Kung Fu Extravaganza event. The film looked action packed!
More information can be found about Eric Jacobus here: http://www.ericjacobus.com/
The Stunt People here: http://thestuntpeople.com/
Tags: contour, eric jacobus, stunt people
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