The Man with the Iron Fists
Universal Pictures | Release Date: November 2, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
51
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
8
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
The A.V. ClubNathan RabinNov 4, 2012
The Man With The Iron Fists has the same advantages of many musical debuts. It's the product of a man who has been storing up ideas, setpieces, characters, and gags for a lifetime, in preparation for the magic moment when he'd be able to unleash his full vision on the big screen. Read full review
70
Village VoiceNick PinkertonNov 4, 2012
If Iron Fists is sometimes badly made, it is refreshingly badly made. It has a homemade charm that comes from a sense of having gestated in a lifelong obsession. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyNov 1, 2012
A wildly whirling martial arts spectacle with an endless array of exotic knives, a penchant for Zen philosophizing and an unquenchable thirst for blood. It may just be one of the best bad movies ever. Read full review
70
Boxoffice MagazineJames RocchiNov 1, 2012
It's a real film, and a fun one, made with gonzo good humor and plenty of action from the opening brutal battle over which the sound of The Wu-Tang Clan's 1993 single "Shame on a N***a" roars. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyNov 1, 2012
It's all sufficiently well done and amusing enough to satisfy the appetites of fans who mainline this sort of thing, but it also sports a concocted, second-hand feel common to this sort of throwback homage. Read full review
67
The PlaylistGabe ToroNov 1, 2012
Makes sense as a picture focused on spectacle. The story almost seems secondary to the flights of fancy. Read full review
62
Paste MagazineScott WoldApr 3, 2018
The undertaking of an endeavor like this without prior feature film directing experience—as well as convincing a studio and many established talents to back him—is nothing short of extraordinary. But, in the end, The Man with the Iron Fists will have to settle for having crossed the finish line at all. Good hustle. Good hustle. Read full review
60
EmpireOwen WilliamsDec 3, 2012
Don't let the 'Quentin Tarantino Presents' tag deceive you, this is a mixed bag of lumpen dialogue and martial-arts magic that never quite coalesces into the delirious mayhem we'd hoped for. Read full review
60
Total FilmKen McIntyreNov 25, 2012
Grisly and goofy, this ode to the Shaw Brothers' '70s-era kung fu epics serves up 96 minutes of murder and mutilation and not a lot else. Sweet soundtrack, though. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNov 4, 2012
The movie plays things relatively straight, acknowledging clichés without the winking irony in which modern homages usually indulge. As such, it's giddy fun - a well-made genre picture that sends up its influences even as it clearly reveres them. Read full review
60
VarietyAndrew BarkerNov 1, 2012
As endearing as it is exhausting, The Man With the Iron Fists bears strong resemblance to a hyperactive puppy: sloppy, scatterbrained, manic and migraine-inducing, but possessing an earnest sense of excitement. Read full review
60
The New York TimesManohla DargisNov 1, 2012
As erratically enjoyable as it is consistently ridiculous, the martial arts pastiche The Man With the Iron Fists is the latest evidence that the vogue for neo-exploitation cinema shows no sign of flagging. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovNov 7, 2012
Let the brilliant, epic silliness of The Man With the Iron Fists engulf you in a tsunami of crimson cheese and you, like I, will have a super-happy-fun-big-smile-crazy-face-monkey-time. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineSteve MacfarlaneNov 1, 2012
The chop-socky wire-fu scenes are beautifully choreographed, but pretty crudely edited; despite its gourmet neo-grindhouse trappings, the film won't bring the heat like you've never seen before. Read full review
40
Time OutBen KenigsbergNov 6, 2012
Both the martial arts and the slightly dull narrative patchwork are too choppily edited to gain much of a foothold. Read full review
38
USA TodayScott BowlesNov 1, 2012
RZA's directorial debut is heavy on bloody kung fu action...and light on just about everything else. Read full review
33
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanNov 7, 2012
The movie wants to be deadly cool, but mostly it's just deadly. Read full review
25
New York PostKyle SmithNov 1, 2012
At 96 minutes it is exactly 93 1/2 minutes too long. If they're going to put this artifact in theaters, they'd better charge 1973 grindhouse prices: a dollar a ticket. Read full review
20
The GuardianPeter BradshawDec 11, 2012
It's leaden, boorish and dull. Read full review
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