Seen any good Kung-Fu flicks of late?

[QualityChimp]

Jailbreak (2017 via Netflix).

The first Cambodian film to be acquired by Netflix and one of those less-prominent titles I really enjoy mining for on there.

So, it's a pretty cheap actioner set in a jail when an escort mission goes wrong.
We're talking about getting some local guys to play the prisoners and guards.
Some of the guards look about 12. I swear one has stubble painted on.

It's a pretty shallow story and the action is a bit relentless, by the end, but you really have to give credit that this is a thrilling, action-packed martial arts flick.

There are loads of setups where you know they're going to have to face some hard bastard locked up in isolation for eating other inmates, or the guy who knows some moves.

It's massively influenced by The Raid films (think the prison fights in 2 stretched to 90 minutes), but that's a good thing because the fights are bruising and brutal, but the filming and editing is really inventive, tracking people as they fall or mimicking the panic of a riot with a one-take-looking sequence. cameras falling as people are knocked out or FPV shots of someone stunned.

There are even outtakes in the end credits like a Jackie Chan film, where the cast look like it's hard work but fun.

I was pleasantly surprised by this small-budget actioner.

Embedded Tweet

[prinnysquad]

On the list now. Good stuff.

Did you see that there’s a wuxia film festival in Manchester? It’s called Flying Fighters of Taiwan and looks to be showing some late 60s/early 70s stuff.

https://homemcr.org/event/flying-fighters-of-taiwan/

[QualityChimp]

Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised how good the action scenes were.

Not seen that wuxia festival. Nice to see these things getting a bit of coverage.

[QualityChimp]

Everyone's checking out the new Predator and Lightyear flicks this weekend, but I'll be over here watching Carter on Netflix:

Embedded Tweet

[QualityChimp]

I saw Everything, Everywhere All At Once (via Prime) and I really enjoyed it.
I know it's not technically martial arts, but with Michelle Yeoh as lead and the Martial Club boys doing the action, I reckon it can go here.

One of my fave fights was actually with Ke Huy Quan (Short Round/Data!) using a fanny pack/bum bag to deadly effect!

I had vibes of The Matrix and The One at times, but it was a seriously quirky and fun curio that's well worth watching.



On my pile of unwatched and watched-but-forgotten-what-happened discs was Heart of Dragon, which I wanted to rewatch after it was featured on the Hong Kong Stuntmen documentary I watched recently. There's a scene where a bunch of them are literally blasted from an under-construction high rise and none of them wanted to do it as it's so risky.

It's jam-packed with some top screen fighters from the era! Jackie and Sammo lead, but there's Lam Ching-ying, Yuen Wah, Fruit Chan, Mang Hoi, Dick Wei, Melvin Wong, Blackie Ko, Wu Ma, Corey Yuen, Chung Fat, Chin Ka-Lok and so on. A lot of faces you'd recognise if you like 80s HK action, basically.

There are a couple of great fight scenes. My fave being the final sequence with Dick Wei being his usual formidable self, looking like he could kick you into next week:


There's also a decent car chase, with Jackie driving his Mitsubishi awl o'er the shop:


As always, Director Hung always knows how to capture the action, with the camera following the actors, or stepping into frame at just the right moment.
Loved this shot of Jackie racing to check a downed enemy, then realising he's not alone and this machete comes into shot:


Story-wise, this is a real curio for Chan's career at this point. Him and Hung wanted to show their dramatic abilities, not just fighting. There were a couple of additional fights that were cut, but have made it to the 88 Films release, but I watched the HKL version.

In some ways it's aged really badly in that Jackie looks after his brother who has the mental age of a child, played by Sammo. When he takes Sammo home after needing help, when some women laugh at them holding hands, JC walks along repeating "he's my brother" for fear that people think he's gay. Likewise, Hung's disability is sometimes used for comedic reasons, but usually for pity.
Although outdated, I can't say these attitudes are completely eradicated today.

Deffo worth a watch, but be prepped for drama with action, rather than vice-versa.

[QualityChimp]

Watched Heart of Dragon on again but with the commentary track and then the Sammo Hung interview and cut scenes from the extras.

One is a few seconds long where JC fights a guy with a pickaxe and kills him with it - I'm guessing it's a censor thing.

The other two were a couple of extra fights that were added for the Japanese release, where they insist on more action and outtakes in the credits. One fight is the culmination of a scene where the cops upset a group of martial arts instructors at a restaurant and the the other (slightly better) one is set in a drug rehab clinic where we see JC taking an addict for his methadone, but there are gangsters disguised as doctors and it all kicks off.

I believe the 88 Films version has reinstated these on their Blu-Ray, but for the HKL version, they're SD extras.
I'm fine with that as Hung was trying to make it less of an action film, but more of a drama.

[QualityChimp]

Another from the pile of unwatched discs this week was Tiger on the Beat.
It was OK, but it's not like Hard Boiled or The Killer, it's Chow Yun Fat in comedic mode, apart from the part where he tortures a woman informant. It's reeeeeally dated in that way.

Conan Lee is good in the fight sequences, but they're a bit truncated as he wasn't the best at screen fighting.
Also he wanted loads of cash to be interviewed, so they didn't bother, so he remains with a career that never quite took off.

The final section is worth it, though, with some clever twists on classic fights like sword v pole, but it's bayonetted shotgun vs. M16 and the traditional sword fight is replaced with the notorious chainsaw fight.

[CMcK]

Coming in December from Eureka -

https://eurekavideo.co.uk/movie/yes-madam-huang-jia-shi-jie/

I‘ve never seen Police Assassins/Yes Madam! Looking forward to this release.

[QualityChimp]

I watched Game of Death 2 aka Tower of Death.

I'd always been sceptical about this as the original Game of Death was a painful way to use the footage Lee had finished before his death (he left mid-production to do Enter the Dragon). Only the rediscovered temple fight is any good IMHO, so every time I saw this HKL disc, I gave it a swerve.

Changed my mind when I heard all that were involved - Sammo Hung did a scene cut from GoD, Yuen Biao has a stick fight with a temple sensei and doubles "Bruce Lee", Hwang Jang-Lee is an arrogant master and Yuen Wu-ping does the choreography.

First section does have lots of shots from behind, interspersed with footage of Lee from his other films (fairly well done, to be fair) and scenes where he smashes the lightbulb so you can't quite see him clearly, but the final 2/3rds of the film follows Kim Tai-chung take over as Lee's brother and he fights like Bruce, but doesn't have to hide his face.

The film is nuckin' futs though.

There's this one bit, where he's getting charmed by a lady of the night, but refuses.
She gets nekkid and he changes his mind.
Then she tries to poison him with a needle-ring.
Then a lion bursts in and he has a fight with the goddamn lion.

Lots of challenges of masters along the way, culminating in a bit of a swerve and a finale in a baddy's secret underground base!

There's a decent commentary track by Bey Logan and one of the stars, Roy Horan, who sadly passed away in 2021.

Embedded Tweet

[prinnysquad]

Class film. Really liked it.

[QualityChimp]

Could've been really poor, but ended being decent after ditching the Bruce Lee bits.
Then end section felt like a different film as he battles through the secret base, dispatching henchmen and then bosses like it's beat 'em up!

[QualityChimp]

Dragon (2011 via DVD)

Thought this was really crisp, despite "only" being DVD, so well worth the £2.40 on eBay!

Yeah, I liked this one!
I particularly liked the start where we see Donnie Yen's character hiding whilst some thugs collect their protection money from a poor butcher, then finally takes them on. He's really lucky to escape alive and only their clumsiness saves him as they slice each other or bang their heads.

Then the Governor's Inspector arrives and starts putting the pieces together and we see the same sequence, but if he was a martial arts master, using the attackers and the environment against themselves.

So is he an unassuming worker in a small village or does he have a history of violence?

Yeah, I think you can take a guess...

Yen is great as always, straddling the line between disguising himself as an oaf and a deadly martial artist.
You can see him change at times and he's brilliant.

Jimmy Wang Yu, known for his "One-Armed Swordsman" series, play the Big Bad and he's a rotter.

There are some excellent action scenes and a great rooftop chase, inspired by Crouching Tiger.
I particularly enjoyed the kinetic movements of fighters and camera in this opening fight:

Embedded Tweet

I probably enjoyed Tower of Death more as it's so bonkers and more old-skool legit, but I'm glad Woovember has pushed me towards watching a couple of enjoyable Fu films.

[QualityChimp]

I meant to watch Top Gun: Maverick with my son, but couldn't log into NowTV, so instead I put in the disc for Rumble in the Bronx.

A combination of this sitting in licencing purgatory and the video below, meant I was up for watching this and a good entry point for my son to watch some US Chan. I'd forgotten how much swearing there was though, oops!

You have to suspend disbelief for a lot of it and if you overanalyse it, a lot of it feels just like an afterthought or loose plot scaffolding around the action setpieces, but that doesn't stop it being a blast and containing some of the best action filmed.

I've mentioned elsewhere, but I was lucky enough to see this in a rammed cinema around the 100th anniversary of film and it's easily one of THE best times in a cinema. I normally like it quiet, but the whole crowd where cheering and oofing throughout, so I'll always have a soft spot for it.



The fights are phenomenal, even with US actors, and the use of the environment to fight with is amazing here.

Showed my son the outtakes where we see Chan jumping across two rooftops and the bit where he jumps onto a moving hovercraft, breaks his ankle, then makes a rubber mould that looks like a trainer, so that he can finish filming the water-skiing section!

[Atticus]

Top stuff QC! I saw RitB in a packed cinema at the time too. I’ll never forget it. Even just seeing Jackie Chan on the big screen, compared to ropey vhs tapes, was huge.

[QualityChimp]

The bit where Jackie punches the ponytailed bad guy (Richard Faraci) and he doesn't flinch, then he hits him with an American football helmet and still takes it, then he threatens him with a big wrench and he begs for mercy, that had the audience howling with laughter!