User reviews

Got this film along with a couple of other direct to DVD martial arts films.

This film showed great promise but, alas, it sucked. The cast were good but most of the most talented guys seemed under used and McKidd and the hobbit were seriously miscast (come on guys cast fighters as fighters not actors as fighters and fighters as actors).

The biggest flaw about this was it's use of slow motion... god if they'd taken all that out the film would have been 5 mins long!!! Everything about this film is wrong... the direction, casting, shots, production... it just feels cheap and fake.

Strangely I ordered another UK action film at the same time that shared cast members like Gordon Alexander, Brendan Carr, Chirs Jones, Ashley Beck, Oliver Hollis and others called 'Left For Dead'. Whilst that has a seriously reduced budget in comparison, for all it's faults, it was head and shouters above this piece of tosh! 'Left For Dead' used the action stars to the best of their abilities and whilst the Purifiers attempted to rip of the Warriors (and looked cheap doing it) 'Left For Dead' ripped off everything from payback, Fist Of Fury and others and whilst it does occasionally look cheap at least the story, action and way it embraced its budget far exceeded this film.

I rated 'Left For Dead' as a 8 whilst this gets a 2. What does this mean? Occasionally all you need is talent, invention and excitement rather than budget, names and sloooooooooooow moooootiiiiioooon! In brief : if your gunna watch one Uk martial arts film this year don't get this. get 'Left For Dead'.

To say that this filmed sucked would be an understatement. This film was dreadful. Supposedly, this took place in the future...though I'm not sure when in the future. There was never any mention of the year. There was a little cheesy acting and a lot of unnecessary martial arts. Apparently, in the future, we will resort back to ancient Asian fighting tactics. No weapons but our hands and feet. There were several times where there would be two different sequences taking place on split screen, which makes it impossible to see everything that's happening. And, again, I must mention the unnecessary martial arts. The story had no structure to it, so to fill in the void...fight sequence. The acting was mediocre at best. The story was completely absent. The fighting was crap. All in all...2/10.

Wow. Just . . . Wow. It's movies like this that make me wonder how some people even began to think they could get anywhere in the business.

This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Ever. The way this movie was directed has "omg, I think I'm a freaking genius" splotched all over it, but sadly, nobody but this lame director will agree with that.

The absolute *worst* part of this film is the editing. It's atrocious. Shots that should be longer are WAY too short, and shots that should be shorter are WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY too long. I mean... I'm seriously astonished here. What were they thinking? The second worst part of this film is the fighting - if you call it fighting. It's sad. Really. It will make you depressed.

Man, and to think I wasted almost an hour and a half of my precious time on this. Reader, do yourself a favor and don't even go near this... This "film", as it claims to be.

This film is pretty bad. Directed by 16 Years Of Alcohol's Richard Jobson this film tries hard to be a modern retake on The Warriors but ends up more like a film version of the ZX Spectrum computer game Renegade (but with worse graphics).

Getting past the glaringly obvious inaccuracies in the story, the films biggest flaw is the fact the every action scene is in slow motion. The logic behind this is baffling. It takes what would be a 40 min film and makes it clock in at a rather boring hour and a half. And even then what is left is badly put together and brings back memories of poor 80's action films (step up Don Wilson) But beyond even that no one seems to care.

Alexander sleep walks through the film, 'Lord Of The Rings' Monaghan just looks bored and the talented support cast hardly get a look in.

In short this film is just appalling and has the privilege (in my opinion) of being the worse film funded by the UK lottery fund yet… and that's saying something!

This movie is so horrible, it makes Rollerball with Dean Cain look like a masterpiece. In an over-stylized and underacted martial arts debacle, Richard Jobson manages to torture the audience for an hour and twenty minutes with slow motion fight sequences nobody cares about but him. I won't get into the plot since it speaks for itself. Not a lot of thought went into it and can be summarized as follows: in some city run by rival karate gangs, only one gang has the guts and morality to stand up to the evil Moses, the gang boss bent on uniting the gangs for evil purposes. I don't exaggerate when I say that's as deep movie went into it as well.

With some of the worst martial sequences ever defecate onto film, this movie is sure to leave you kicking the DVD out of your player long before the final credits. The fight sequences are at times shown on a split a screen, with so much cutting and slow motion, you can't tell who's fighting who. Luckily, you don't really care. There is actually narratives by the main character, an inside look into his philosophical musings, that are actually so cheezy and out of place, it's sadly comical. I think SOMEBODY takes themselves too serious. Definitely not worth using a free rental for.

I really wanted to like this film. On one hand, the idea of a 'Glasgow kung fu film' had the alarm bells ringing, but Jobson's enthusiastic introduction and plea for more genre movies in Scottish film- making assuaged my fears, albeit temporarily, as he went on to say 'story isn't so important' (it's EVERYTHING, imho). I've read the other reviews to try and find the positives, to see if I missed anything. Apart from Dom's sexual magnetism, I don't think I have missed anything. The story, when it appears, is a rip-off of The Warriors, the dialogue is stilted (McKidd's Moses spouting the most clichéd guff), the fight scenes hackneyed (far too much slow- motion). It wouldn't be fair to comment on the acting as the writing gave the actors nothing to work with. There are some scenes where the director is tipping his hat to famous kung-fu movies (e.g. the fight in the restaurant), but instead of the intended tribute, they smack of insults.

I know this was low budget, but with a script as bad as this it should never have been made in the first place. I like Jobson and I want to get behind Scottish filmmakers; I'm hoping 'Sixteen Years of Alcohol' will be a better film. It can't be worse.

I was casually shelving movies at my work today (a blockbuster store) and I saw a movie that caught my eye as I saw the words "From Lost" on it. So I picked it up, expecting it to have some minor character from lost in it considering I had never heard of the movie before when … A movie with Dom in it about martial Arts… How could it not be awesome!?!?

Well… Unfortunately, to tell the truth, I thought it is pretty bad. I wanted to like it, and I tried my best, but it was just so boring!

To tell the truth I only watched 3/4 of it… I just could not make myself watch the end it was that bad. I could probably bring myself to watch the end or the whole movie again... but only if every single other movie in the world decided to spontaneously combust.

I know everybody had their own opinion but honestly… and I am not just saying this but I do not think any body would like this film. I think this is the reason I had never heard of it… cause it is was not that successful.

-Annika

I don't normally DO action or martial arts films. I'm a girly girl. But every so often you have to relent and let the boyfriend watch something HE wants.

The Purifiers was it. He followed the production of this in magazines in the UK like Impact and Combat along with another UK action feature. We had a double bill of this and Richard Jobson's 'Purifiers'.

Comparing the two is like chalk and cheese (although they both share similar actors and stunt men and where made around the same time). One is interesting. Enjoyable. Fun. And exciting. The other is The Purifiers.

If you have the choice of watching one or the other Left For Dead is the one to go with.

This film is just dull, pointless and badly acted toss. Alexander should be shot for crimes against acting. Oh well could be worse... at least I had the momory of Left For Dead to erase this!

I liked it. It starts right in with the "look at me I'm a martial arts movie" and just keeps on going. It stuck in just enough Bladerunner-esque stylings to establish itself as being futuristic without getting too caught up in making things different and technologically advanced. If you've visited Milton Keynes then you'll recognise much of the outdoor locations as clearly not Glasgow, it was the interiors where Glasgow popped it's head in more with a couple of scenes filmed in the Arches and in the underground system. The plot is simple and they keep it simple, the best plan in a pretty short action movie (85 mins). There are a couple of dubiously explained moments where someone is called upon to do something stupid like wander off on their own in order to better set up the next fight sequence but on the whole it's a simple 'these people want to beat up these people cause they won't play along'.

The Purifiers themselves are a straight split of three men and three women, we get a little background on one (Moz?) and subplot on Dom's character Sol and John's love-interest Frances. The hero and leader of the gang, John, is played fairly straight, his main plot point being his previous friendship with the now bad-guy who wants to take over the city, Moses (played by Trainspotting's Kevin McKidd) and the ubiquitous honor and refusal to compromise of most hero's.

The fighting is very nicely done, most of the cast are very experienced martial artists excepting Kevin McKidd (the only one who was occasionally body doubled iirc) and Dom (who gets his ass kicked mostly by women). It's not a very violent movie, there are only a couple of moments that might make you cringe a little. For the most part the fight sequences are stylish and very dance-like with lot's of back flips and interesting high kicks. All of which were performed as is, there was no wire work.

The acting was for the most part fine, a few shaky moments; the lead was strong, the bad guy was strong, Dom was Dom, some of the more minor players were a little awkward on occasion.

In summary. I scored it excellent on the little card they gave us, but that was influenced by Dom's presence. It's always easier to get into a movie in which you have an existing interest. Without Dom I still would have liked the movie but it would only have been good. It's an easy watch, attractively filmed, the score is good, the editing is just interesting enough without becoming gimmicky. Worth a cinema visit but not so big and flashy it won't work fine on video or DVD. Go and see it, lie back and enjoy it, don't ask too much of it. It is what it is and it does it well.

I won't give away any plot cause I do recommend you try to catch this yourself. They are hoping for a more general cinema release next year and there will be a DVD release.

And did I mention Dom wore a vest at the start? Cause he did.

The plot isn't without a few holes, and the acting was so-so in some scenes, but it's still a fun film.

The fights are some of the best i've seen as far as real martial arts go. They are stylized enough to show off the fighters' talent, but are also simple enough to be performed on the streets. The scene with the nunchaku was one of the coolest things i've ever seen.

The sets, and cinematography are incredible, the lighting is awesome. It doesn't look like a low budget film.

Well put together little film, only problem I have with it is the plot is a lot like the screenplay I am currently writing.

I would advise AGAINST watching this...there's better things to do with your time and/or money. If, for some reason, you ARE gonna be subjected to this, don't expect ANY elements of many sci-fi/action films - no realistic martial arts; no gore; no sex, no logic - virtually no attempts to string together something that is a passable movie. So, it's a no-no, all the way. Rigid acting; illogical continuity (a girl goes off to find a phone box to make an emergency call, telling the guy who see has just seen using his mobile phone), inexplicable jump cuts are common (why did one guy just teleport on to the middle of an ice rink, in another example a girl surrounded by a biker gang suddenly appears on the outside of their ring?). The plot is simple: Copy 'The Warriors', just add a bid of poor martial arts (i.e. four glow sticks are thrashed around in a otherwise black screen to represent a fight, absolute childish crap!) and no one will know the difference, nah! The films title doesn't seem to make any real sense until after watching this movie you'd wish your mind could be purified of the memory of it! I WILLED it to end... from the 90 mins of the Purifiers, you easily have 30 mins of characters running around the place with annoying bad music, including the director singing with his almost forgotten pop band the Skids. That leaves, say, 60 mins of attempting to clone 'The Warriors', but done so badly your jaw will remain hanging throughout this sorry affair. This is not a movie. This is not an essay about a movie. This does not bear any resemblance with entertainment or cheesy fun or anything connected with the movie business. There are some movies which are so bad you can find them amusing, fun, easy to follow because of their badness... well, fascinating stuff. The only fascinating thing here is the will of the director to show us how badly he can try to rip off a classic which he wrongly believes people have forgotten, total boredom is the honest result. This is probably one of the only movies in all movie history where a blank screen can be a better spectacle...Yes it really is that bad!

Lots of lovely shots of urban wastelands and futuristic cityscapes generate initial promise. BUT one would expect a fighting movie to be realistic...if you're going to bother making a British MA movie the fights have to look good. As they are trying to emphasize "fancy" moments they ruin it because in slow motion tricks of how they did stuff (eg. Stand in's) is sadly revealed and fighting in slow motion does not look all that pretty if it's not up to standard (only Jet Li and Bruce Lee are masters of it). I would expect a better job on that to be a prerequisite of a MA (martial Arts) movie. In a nutshell it's a painfully simplistic remake of that old gang movie "The Warriors" but with MA added, the writing though is very poor and has very few good lines, mostly just a load of half-baked re-hashed ideas but chances are you aren't watching this movie for the plot! No, most of us came for the fighting and, in that regard the film is not worth seeing. Jobson, (the director) focuses on showing us the difficult moves by using slow-mo occasionally but what he forgets to do is inject any of the fights with any real excitement, tension or passion – even the last fight seems rather by the numbers in terms of watching it; I observed it rather than got into it! His material is weak, I guess he enjoyed himself making this movie more than I or anybody else watching it will! The other supporting fighters are OK but wasted, few really make an impact or are just to paper thin for you to care about, it's just a shame that plotting, dialogue, structure, tone and acting are pretty much mediocre at best, I really, no desperately wanted this film to work!

Overall I guess the quasi-political pretensions of this film, more than anything else, killed it dead for me, you know the kids can look after themselves type (Summer Holiday mentality) stuff that died in the sixties, why resurrect it...naff, it seems to be the curse of all British filmmakers that they believe they must make worthy films? The fights lack passion and excitement but are quite fun to watch in a comical way if you compare them to the similarly themed recent film from Asia, Volcano High, which was thankfully much more tongue-in-cheek. I saw Jobson's first film at the festival last year, it showed real promise, if being heavy viewing, his laziness now though has caught him out with this one; not a really bad all told, but not much cop neither. To sum up - The plot: is empty, if not silly. The arch of the story was really not going anywhere. Character depth: nonexistent. The fight scenes: The one - and only - thing I really wanted to see work were cumbersome and unrealistic. Without it seemed any camera movement (could they not afford tracks?)loads of quick editing failed to hide the fact that the fights were just not very good, all of it, just embarrassing. But there is worse, I guess. There was some effort put into the costumes and the attempt to keep up the semblance of a story. But it was just too shallow and empty beneath to redeem this movie. Good, though, if you have other things to do and just want something to run in the background when it eventually makes it to free TV. You can just look at the movie from time to time and are certain not to miss anything of importance. So disappointed I could spit!

This movie sucks!!!! i saw it at the video store and it has the guy from "lost" and LOTR Dominic Monahan, so i thought " maybe it'll be good." From the very beginning i thought it was going to be like a modern day "THE WARRIORS" but with some martial arts. not! i've seen better special effect and martial arts watching the "POWER RANGERS".It just really made no sense.After about 20 mins i realized i had wasted my money.The best acting was done by the guy playing MOSES.But who really cares about Scottish kung fu gangs? Rent"THE WARRIORS" you'll see what this movie tried to be.this isn't a "b" movie it's a "p" movie , meaning P U cause it stinks!!

I had a urge to watch this film since I saw the awful trailer for it online. I know, I know, I am a glutton for punishment but I have always enjoyed the laughable badness of B-movies so decided to give it a go, especially since "Lost" actor Dominic Monaghan is in it.

How can I describe my experience watching it? I was bored, I laughed quite a bit, I got confused when action jumped to strange places, and I thought, "What the hell was this director thinking?" as the film's end titles rolled with the awful music accompanying them.

I won't even want to mention Monaghan's performance in this film because I am sure this is a film he hopes disappears off his resume, especially now he is on "Lost". I will just say that he seemed to do the best he could in this bad movie and leave it at that.

This film was a big old mess. It dragged in the action which is bad for a martial arts film. The fight scenes were awful, the dialog was awful, the John character spouting poetic at the beginning and end of the film was awful, and even the clothing was awful. It was a bad rip-off of the movie "The Warriors" simple as that....and a bad attempt to copy the film.

I did think that the film had beautiful lighting and the colours were very beautiful as well. High definition digital can be beautiful to look at. Too bad the movie wasn't good itself.

I tortured myself twice because after I watched the film through, I thought "What the hell was the director thinking?" so watched the film with his commentary. It seems he is fully aware he is making a bad B movie and that is what he set out to do. He was so earnest about it that I found myself liking bits of the movie after he talking about the "Whys" of them. This is why I gave the movie a "3" in rating. The director did do his very best to make a bad movie with the limited budget he had.

But, it is a bad movie so if you don't want to be bored, and don't find amusement in awful films, give this film a pass and rent something better.

with the obvious homage to The Warriors, the Purifiers is a fast-paced indie action film that will at times leave the audience breathless and waiting for more. although the acting at times can be a little dodgy the obvious skill of the performers shines through.

the choice of the locations shows us a side to Glasgow that we rarely see. as the director said this may not be a good movie, but it most certainly is a cool one. he certainly had a point. we need to see more of these movies on general release.

I don't recall how long ago I first watched The Purifiers. I do know that it would be Top Shelf in any movie collection category I put it into. This like David Byrne described CBGB in his Paris concert video, it ain't no disco, etc.- ( Stop Making Sense)- also, ROCK SOLID. DB/SMS THAT IS. :) One doesn't go from 30 seconds of movie straight to the ending. That is my summation of most of the Reviews , wannabe reviews, I saw here today. You will invest your time to see t his if you choose to, .. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU NOT PASS IT BY based on all those other jealous reviewers' comments. IT'S A WINNER.

It is not as bad as I make it sound with the summary.

To be honest, I rented this movie strictly because Dominic Monaghan was in it. I had read some bad reviews and was expecting a less than mediocre film. All the same, Dom had looked good in the previews and I figured that if nothing else Dom would be pretty.

Dom was pretty. He also did a really good job playing the bad guy. At the end of the movie both my friend and I (we're both big Dom fans) were waiting for somebody to kill him and they did, thank you very much. He is not the main character, but I loved the main character, John. Gordon Alexander did a fantabulous job portraying John as the man who will always stick to what he knows is right and fight what is wrong. There is something of an artistic way this film is done and sometimes it works...other times it doesn't. I still like it a lot and plan on buying on it. It is not what most people would expect when they see the preview, but it is worth a watch.