Seen any good Kung-Fu flicks of late?

[QualityChimp]

Don't get me started on shelves groaning under the weight of kung-fu DVDs!

I've got a terrible habit of popping into CEX shops and seeing what's on the Martial Arts shelf.
I was in Northampton last week and ended up leaving with (HKL) Iron-Fisted Monk and (DD) The Legend of Fong Sai-Yuk.
Both were a fiver each and feature the usual extras including the deal-clinching Bey Logan commentary.

Along with these, I seem to have a crazy backlog. I've got all of these bad boys waiting on DVD for me to watch.
Casshern
Volcano High
The Tube
Kill Zone
Paper Marriage
Tiger Cage II
Angry Ranger
Above the Law
On the Run
Ninja Assassin
Shanghai Express (which I just bought off somebody on eBay who was moving house, Shinobi)

Not to mention the shedload of classics Prin hooked me up with!

Spent most the weekend boarding the loft, but managed to watch (in chunks) Sammo Hung in Pantyhose Hero.

It was pretty hard work, to be honest. There's a great opening shootout, but the couple of fights in the middle were a bit pedestrian and choppily edited for Sammo.
The main problem was the plot though. Basically, Sammo and Alan Tam (Armour of God - "Forget me, unlucky man") go undercover in a block of flats to find out who killed a pair of homosexuals.
This means they have to learn to mince and act like women. People call them "AIDS brothers" and all the gays in this are wimpy poofs or sexual predators! Even the title assumes that all homosexuals are cross-dressers!


The murderer comes to kill Sammo, but he doesn't mention it because he's upset Alan stole his girl. What?!

Thankfully, the end fight sequence in a construction site saves the movie. He uses the scenery brilliantly and is really inventive. The section where Sammo fights whilst tied to a giant spool for wire is great.

Overall, I came away a little let down by it all.

Pretty spot-on review here:
http://filmjournal.net/mjocallaghan/...ose-hero-1990/

[monel]

Some HK comedy is quite a bit dodgy, and very non-pc. I've seen some jaw dropping stuff, so I'm probably desensitised to it now.

Some of the films in your to-watch list are pretty damn good, though.

With some of Sammo's films, you have to put up with a lot of comedy to get to the fight scenes. I don't really mind most of it but it's an acquired taste. Although, on repeat viewings I often find myself skipping to the fights.

Did you see the stunt in Pantyhose Hero where Sammo crashes through the car glass?

[prinnysquad]

Those screen grabs made me chortle.

I too like Sammo's comedy. lol, if you think Sammo's fights are choppily edited and a bit pedestrian, you want to try a Taiwanese wuxia pian from the late 60s. These stories are so slow, it's like a scripted chess match. The fighting is so cumbersome and deliberate, slow and uncomplicated, that you really have to accept them for what they are and get into the spirit of things. Otherwise you'd switch off after 10 minutes. They are the very definition of an acquired taste!

[QualityChimp]

With some of Sammo's films, you have to put up with a lot of comedy to get to the fight scenes. I don't really mind most of it but it's an acquired taste. Although, on repeat viewings I often find myself skipping to the fights.

That's the case with a lot of Sammo's films. I thought some of the Lucky Stars action scenes were amazing - well choreographed and dramatically shot - but the comedy is only worth sitting through once!

Having said that, I skip to the fight scenes on some of my faves anyway. That's the beauty of Kung-Fu flicks, you can re-watch the action again and again. That's why most my DVD collection is kung-fu!

Did you see the stunt in Pantyhose Hero where Sammo crashes through the car glass?

You know, I did and quite enjoyed that scene, but was it really Sammo?
He says that it was him and he was in hospital for 4 weeks, but I'm not the only one who wasn't sure it was him.

Amazing stunt either way - he goes flying!

[monel]

I love the Lucky Stars films, they're brilliant, some of the jokes I actually rewatch (not all of them). Edit-the original English dubs (not on the HKLs) made the films genuinely hilarious at times.

Interesting, slightly disturbing fact-the UK version of My Lucky Stars is cut, including dialogue where they start talking about raping the female character. This is the good guys .

After the initial shock factor, I just laugh at how wrong it is.

But I'll never get over the constant appearance of rape themes in certain HK and Japanese films. WTF?

[monel]

After seeing hardcoregaming101 mentioned in the retro forum, I remembered that I hadn't visited it for a very long time. After spending a few hours browsing the excellent articles, I came across a Jackie Chan videogames feature. I knew of quite a few of them, but not this one:

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/jackiechan/jackie3.htm

This has given me an excuse to install Mame again. I can't wait to play this, it even has the beautiful lady from Death Games in it.

[Mad Gear]

Wow that looks terrible/amazing. To the Mame-mobile!!

[prinnysquad]

The Loot (1980)

Quite a complicated plot for a kung fu. David Chiang plays an opportunist bounty hunter, who is hired by ex-bandit Kwang Yung-Moon to protect himself and his family, which includes Lily Li-Li and Phillip Ko, from the mysterious Spider. Spider is an anonymous killer, who seems to have resurfaced years after being double crossed by his gang of bandits. Norman Chu sneaks around too, playing another bounty hunter who has been impersonating the Spider.

The story is sometimes quite difficult to follow, with some inventive use of item-fades to shoot from scene to scene, including flashbacks. But on the whole, it's fairly straightforward to understand who is doing what and why. Anyway, enough about the story. I liked it but it wasn't massively different from a load of other films I've seen. No, this film is all about the action. Which is top class.

Chiang shows himself to be very versatile, with good punch and block work, and a useful mantis style. His monkey stance is very good, with quick and flexible movements. Chu also nails a decent pace, and throws out a very competent technique. Easily the best screenfighter on show, though, is Phillip Ko. Early on, he lays down the guantlet with a fight against two assassins. Using a flute-stick, he utterly owns them. His style is linked to his horse-boxing from Fearless Dragons/Two on the Road, with seemingly-random movements forming to create a quality spectacle. He'll fling out his feet and hands away from the opponent, presenting a proper shapes style, where he'll use quick and stylised movements to advance forward. Later, he takes on Chiang with one hand. They're both great in this scene. The end fight has Ko and Li take on Chu and Chiang. Ko wields a spear to excellent effect, nearly matching his 8 Diagram Pole Fighter performance. He takes on two at once in an amazing scene, full of grace and technique. All other fighters in this film are very good, but none are as technical, versatile or entertaining as Ko. When this guy is on screen in this film, you want him to fight.

The film contains a great deal of humour, but it never tips the balance into farce. There's humour involved in some of the deaths. There's an amusing scene where Chu and Chiang keep a guy alive by punching his chest, so he can spill the beans. There's some very good buddy humour between the lads, and a bizarre, entertaining final scene that takes the piss out of Shaw Brothers endings.

Good stuff.

[monel]

The Loot is a great film, I noticed an air of quality of about it, if that makes any sense at all.

I think Eric Tsang directed it which really surprised me.

Picked up The Challenger after seeing The Loot, since it's the same crew but I didn't like it as much. Then I lent it to someone who lost it and I haven't seen it since.

Philip Ko and Dick Wei are two of my favourites, they are both in my bad mf category.

[QualityChimp]

That's a nice link, Shinobi. I didn't realise there were so many (cash-in) Jackie Chan games! The whole article is an interesting read. I always wanted a PC Engine and Jackie Chan's Action Kung-Fu was a big draw (and the snazzy white console itself!).

It's interesting that Kung-Fu Master is called Spartan X in Japan because JC was more famous than Bruce Lee at that time and Kung Fu Master is clearly copying the plot to Game of Death, especially the recently discovered footage that's on the HKL release, which is h'amaze.



Mad Gear, I wish you really did have a Mame-mobile!

Sounds like you enjoyed The Loot, Prin. A good balance between action and humour.

I finally saw Ninja Assassin on Sky this week. It's directed by James McTeigue who was assistant director on Matrix 2 & 3 and Star Wars 2, but I was quite impressed with some of the action in his directorial debut, V for Vendetta, so I've been looking forward to seeing his take on what is essentially an 80's ninja film.

I came away pleasantly surprised by it!

It's got quite a lot going for it - J. Michael Straczynski is the writer and makes a good job of the "Wait - what do you mean "ninjas are real"?" storyline.

Rain is pretty good in this too. In Speed Racer he was fairly underused, but credit where it's due, he's totally ripped in this and makes a convincing martial artist for a Korean Pop Star!

There's wirework, but not obviously so like Romeo Must Die or The Medallion, I couldn't spot and specific scenes where it was in use. The cast is all pretty good, including Sho Kosugi and Naomie Harris.

Some of the cinematography is nice too, with sword fights in burning dojos and embers drifting around the fighters.

Lastly, the effects are really well done. Not only are the shadowy movements of the ninja similar to Shadow Dancer on the Mega Drive, but the amount of gore on display is of Ninja Gaiden II levels! Seriously, there's an arm off or people cleaved in twain every time somebody pops a katana, but the blood effects are perfectly realised (unlike the shocking CGI blood in Fatal Move) and despite there being lashings of it, pretty realistic (as opposed to the almost-comedy gore of the Babycart films).



Ninja Gaiden II is a good example because there's a nice mix of ninja weaponry (no Vigoorian Flail though, sadly) and Rain's character favours the kusari-gama chain weapon, with CGI subtley enhancing the whirling of the chains.

So, for an American martial arts film, it was pleasingly entertaining!

I kept thinking Rain would pop some 'chuks out, but I was thinking of Jay Chou...

[QualityChimp]

Might keep an eye out for Yuen Biao's Kung Fu Master and Sammo Hung in The Shaolin Warriors.

[monel]

QC, what confuses me is the PC Engine game was sometimes known as Drunken Master, I guess that was a mistake though.

I've loved the design of the PC Engine ever since I first saw it, it's a beauty.

That Yuen Biao film is an edited down version of a long tv series, it probably mentions that in your link but I din't check it.

[prinnysquad]

The Loot is a great film, I noticed an air of quality of about it, if that makes any sense at all.

I think Eric Tsang directed it which really surprised me.

Picked up The Challenger after seeing The Loot, since it's the same crew but I didn't like it as much. Then I lent it to someone who lost it and I haven't seen it since.

Philip Ko and Dick Wei are two of my favourites, they are both in my bad mf category.

I reckon I'll be watching The Challenger soon.

Phillip Ko ... legend. Never a big star but always bang on. You feel cheated when he appears and doesn't fight.

Duel of 7 Tigers ... karate badass
Fearless Dragons ... Horse boxing don
8 Diagram Pole ... stick fighting legend
Tiger Over Wall ... shapes beast
The Loot ... All rounder
Invincible Armour ... white haired fox
Shaolin Intruders ... Abbot Whupass

[QualityChimp]

On The Run

Shinobi recommended this Yuen Biao vehicle to me as one to check out and I thought it was really good.

First things first, this isn't a Martial Arts film, despite featuring Yuen Biao (Wheels on Meals), Charlie Chin (My Lucky Stars), Yuen Wah (Eastern Condors) and Philip Ko (Eastern Condors). It's a thriller. Not only that but it is a dark thriller.

Biao's character starts off a clean-cut policeman, but by the end he's a shell of his former self after everything he goes through. He's brilliant in this and it's nice to see him getting his teeth into a serious acting role after usually being Sammo and Jackie's goofy pal. Some of the dramatic scenes are acted superbly where a lesser actor would have ruined it with over-acting.

There's a bit of action along the way with a few stunts, but most the action is John Woo-style gunplay. It's pretty gory too with eye sockets being shot, brains blown out and limbs lopped off.

The fight towards the end doesn't have the usual acrobatics that Biao would normally display, but it does feel like a very believable fight between two very desperate people.

The ending is more abrupt than the laserdisc version, but it does the job.

So don't go watching this if you're expecting to see Biao's trademark flipping and fighting or if you're wanting a cheery actioner.

Do watch this if you'd like to see a well-acted thriller with real emotional impact.


In other news, I've subscribed to Jade Screen magazine, which is the sister magazine to the Jackie Chan-specific Screen Power magazine. There's only 4 issues a year, but I thought it'd be worth a punt. I got the December issue and it's a little bit like a fancy fanzine, but that doesn't matter as it's nice to read other people's thoughts on a bit of Eastern Action.

Interesting take on Donnie Yen in Chen Zhen: Return of the Fist as they were severely underwhelmed by the fight cinematography and the randomness of the plot. Chen Zhen knows all these people are going to be assassinated, but ends up just letting it happen, whereas they could've done a reverse Kill Bill and protecting people on the hitlist!

[monel]

QC, On The Run is one of my favourite films, I agree it's not a kung fu film really, almost a HK Noire.

I think Biao was disappointed that he didn't get more recognition for his performance, it was a great role for him I think.

Some really sad moments in the film, though.

Great film.

I might subscribe to Jade Screen too, if you like it. Can you link me to that Sammo book, and is it any good?