AMC's martial arts adventure Into the Badlands premieres on AMC at 9 p.m. today. Think of it as Kill Bill meets Karate Kid.
Or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon meets David Carradine's Kwai Chang Caine in a future feudal society. Or something.
AMC is really proud of this expensive and lavishly produced limited series (six episodes). It's being incessantly hyped in commercials and will debut immediately following the network's crown jewel, The Walking Dead.
I've seen the first episode, read all the interviews with the producers and actors, checked all the behind-the-scenes extras on the website and the news releases on the press-only press site and here's what I've learned.
This series is not for the squeamish. Let's start with that. You'll figure that out 14 seconds into the first episode.
If the sight of blood makes you ill, then go watch The Royals, which has its Season 2 premiere at the same time on E!
Coincidentally, The Royals is rated TV-14 for intensively suggestive dialogue, strong coarse language and intense sexual situations. Into the Badlands is rated TV-14 for strong coarse language, intense violence and intense sexual situations.
It appears the difference is that they just talk about it more on The Royals and slice and dice more on Badlands.
Into the Badlands was highlighted at the AMC panel session during the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour.
"Into the Badlands is an exciting moment for us," Joel Stillerman, president of original programming for AMC and SundanceTV, told the critics. "Martial arts is not only a new genre for an AMC series, but also one that has been largely absent from television for 15 years.
"The team behind Into the Badlands, led by showrunners Al Gough and Miles Millar, is comprised of some of the best martial artists and martial arts filmmakers in the world, and they have crafted a show that over-delivers against two big goals we set for the show: to create a compelling character drama, and to introduce the highest caliber of martial arts filmmaking to a weekly, ongoing series."
Martial arts fans will find all the familiar components here: laconic hero; tremendous odds; good vs. evil; gravity-defying aerial moves.
The show's tagline: "In a world without guns, fighting is an art." Previous tagline: "There is no god in the Badlands."
Here are the basics without giving too much away.
The series is set centuries in the future in an age when guns have been banned and a feudal society has emerged. The feudal society, by the way, sure looks a lot like plantations around New Orleans.
The strongest and most brutal seven barons rose to power in the Badlands and rule with iron fists. They control the resources necessary for daily life and enforce their rule with the aid of armies of loyal minions known as Clippers.
Think of the Clippers as mercenaries. They enjoy status and comforts far beyond ordinary citizens. They live large, but they die young. Few make it to their 30th birthday.
Chief among the Barons is the cruel and ruthless Quinn (Marton Csokas, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King), and chief among Quinn's Clippers is Sunny (Daniel Wu, Tai Chi Zero), who demonstrated a masterful lethal ability in martial arts to rise in the ranks to become Quinn's Head Clipper and most trusted adviser.
Masterful? At three minutes into the first episode Sunny is surrounded by nine heavily armed thugs in a classic martial arts circle of death. You already know how it ends.
For decades, Quinn has had things his way, but there's a new Baron in the Badlands and things are about to get tense.
The Widow (Emily Beecham, 28 Weeks Later), has boldly begun staging attacks on Quinn's transport vehicles trying to goad him into a fight.
One of those attacks leads Sunny to M.K. (Aramis Knight, The Dark Knight Rises), a teenage boy who was the lone survivor of a deadly ambush. Sunny soon realizes that M.K. harbors a dark, dark secret that explains the large bounty on his head from The Widow.
What keeps Into the Badlands from being just a series of fight scenes where one person slashes his/her way out of being surrounded by a dozen foes is that the destinies of Sunny and M.K. become entwined.
In their evolution as teacher and student, each will discover his true purpose. Together, they will embark on an odyssey that could mean the difference between chaos and enlightenment for everyone in the Badlands.
Sounds intriguing, grasshopper.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Style on 11/15/2015