Marko Zaror, also known as the Latin Dragon, is something of a diamond in the rough for fans of martial arts action flicks. He is one of those few actors whose skill in both martial arts and choreography combine to create genuine spectacles of interactive human kinetics, or, more simply put, great fight scenes. In addition to his martial talents, he can act. He’s not likely to win an Oscar for it, but his performances rank up there with several other mainstream action stars, like Bruce Lee or Arnold Schwarzenegger. He also defies a lot of martial arts film conventions in much the same way Jackie Chan has done in his prolific career.
Zaror’s movies are not all drama and fisticuffs. The humor in his film, Mirageman is comparable to the gags found in many of Chan’s early works, while Kiltro, billed as the first martial arts action movie to be made in Chile, contains nods to several great films and styles that have preceded it in the genre. Marko Zaror is also a little over six feet tall.
Uncommon Stature
There are a lot of archetypal martial arts film characters. Audiences are most used to the hero being small and quick, while large characters are commonly depicted as powerful but slow. Consider the most famous martial arts film stars, Bruce Lee, Jet Li and Jackie Chan. The tallest of these three men is Chan, at a not so towering five feet, eight and one half inches. At six feet and one half inches, Zaror stands a quarter foot or more over other popular martial arts stars.
In addition to being tall, Zaror is muscular, enough so that he was able to act as stunt double for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in The Rundown. There is a myth in the martial arts world that putting on muscle will slow down the artist. Marko Zaror gives the lie to this myth with his high flying split kicks and lightning fast punches. It is rare to see an action star that combines such honed physical power with the balance and speed found in Hong Kong classics.
The Low Down
Mandrill Films is young. The company, founded by Zaror, along with Derek Rundell and director Ernesto Diaz, is only a few years old, which means Zaror’s movies have relatively low budgets, about a million dollars or less. If that seems like a lot, consider that a major Hollywood film has a budget of anywhere from sixty million to upwards of one hundred million.
Because Mandrill’s films have such low budgets, sometimes the special effects suffer. While Zaror’s acting is good, the supporting cast may not all have the talent to forge a career in the performing arts. They are low budget films, and anybody considering renting or buying one should be prepared to watch a low budget film. Also, because Mandrill is a Chilean company, Zaror’s films are in Spanish, which can be off-putting to viewers that do not speak Spanish and prefer their movies un-dubbed.
Still, for martial arts fans, Zaror’s movies are a rare treat. Though they are made on small budgets, they are also made as well as they can be, by people who invest their hearts in the films’ making, and it goes without saying, of course, that they are packed with stunning fight scenes featuring some of Latin America’s most talented martial artists.
Sources
- Kiltro. Dir. Ernesto Diaz Espinoza. Perf. Marko Zaror, Caterina Jadresic, MIguel Angel De Luca. Mandrill Films, 2006.
- Mirageman. Dir. Ernesto Diaz Espinoza. Perf. Marko Zaror, Maria Elena Swett, Ariel Mateluna. Mandrill Films, 2008.
- The Rundown. Dir. Peter Berg. Perf. Dwayne Johnson, Sean William Scott, Christopher Walken. Columbia Pictures Corporation, 2003.
Beau Harmon - Beau is a Mensan and graduate of Oklahoma State University. His interests range from balloon animals and robots to the depths of ...
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