Seen any good Kung-Fu flicks of late?

[112]

Not sure if it has been mentioned on here before, but I saw a film called 'The Man from Nowhere' which I enjoyed.

I had no idea what type of movie it was, as I was recommended by a friend. It is a Korean movie, which plays out for the most part like the classic Leon movie.

Worth a look, as some of the action sequences are quite brutal, and well choreographed. Id give the movie 7/10.

112

[prinnysquad]

Flashpoint (2007)

I have to confess that I found the story at the beginning a little bit confusing. Once the rhythm of the film has settled, though, there is plenty to admire. Early doors, there are very few action scenes - just a short rumble at a golf range and small carpark knifing. The scene where the cop gets rumbled notches things up a bit. Then it all kicks off. Donnie Yen dishes out some brutal whuppings in the final third of the film, in a couple of superb action sequences. The chase through the streets culminating in the street market fight is great, and the final scene oozes atmosphere. The boat exchange, leading to the wharf shoot out, then the hunt through the field, and the finishing duel in the deserted shack, are all great to watch.

Pleased to see a modern film with a few longer cuts and a lack of wires. Yen and Collin Chou/Ngai Sing are both excellent. The camerawork is quite snazzy, but there's maybe to many close-ups. Nevertheless, interesting to see so many MA styles in the final fight.

[monel]

112 - I don't really watch many Korean flicks, but I am going to check out the remake of A Better Tomorrow pretty soon.

prinny-what made you choose Flashpoint to watch? Not a bad choice at all but your post surprised the hell out of me. I agree with your review, the close-up shots at the end kind of spoiled the long end fight.

I think you would probably enjoy SPL more, although it is kind depressing depending on the cut you get (different endings).

You should check out the best of the 80s and 90s stuff, probably. Stuff like Flashpoint, SPL, and Ip Man are probably among the best post 2000 action from HK, though.

OH YEAH, WATCH ONG BAK!!!! Ahem, composed myself now, sorry about that...

[prinnysquad]

hehe, yep, will do.

I got it off Press Start To Begin, and had exactly 90 mins to spare the other day, so this was quick to hand and the perfect length.

['Press Start']

Big thumbs up for SPL here. Sounds amazing if you can get your hands on the DTS edition (assuming you have Home Cinema that is).

Never mess with a man's elephant!

[monel]

Yep, also Wu Jing's bit with the knife impressed me a lot in SPL, I'd seen him before but that was a standout moment. Shame he can't get his big break, he's gone back to tv series now.

[QualityChimp]

Ha ha ha, that surprised me too, Prin!

I think you've done another spot-on review. It is a good film with a few flaws and a few frustrating shot choices, but the fights are powerful and I love Yen's no-nonsense MMA takedowns!

Actually, I've had a Sammo double-bill the last few days with Kill Zone (Western name of SPL) and Skinny Tiger, Fatty Dragon. I have SPL, but wanted the Cine Asia release for the Bey Logan commentary.

There's some "making of" scenes with Bey chatting to Donnie, which is quite cool.

SPL is great, but it's a police thriller with some martial arts. Think of The Departed with fighting! Worth seeing for the Sammo Vs. Donnie finale alone.

Skinny Tiger, Fatty Dragon is a very different film! I just fancied seeing some Hung fight choreography and this delivers. I love all the Bruce Lee references and the stick fight stand out. To be honest, all the fights have the usual Sammo dynamics and elevate a fun but silly action comedy.

[QualityChimp]

So I saw Kickfighter (aka Final Run) this morning after Bey Logan mentioned in the Fatty Dragon commentary that a couple of the henchmen get a better chance to display their skills in it.

It was a ropey VHS rip with SAMPLE splashed in the corner throughout, but that and the dodgy dub added to the charm.

The film itself is hard going as the plot shifts really fast and is confusing thanks to the overly-complicated plot. Yes, a kung-fu film with an plot that is too busy!

The film starts with (from what I can tell) a rural government anti-drugs unit's leader, Sergeant Kau (director Phillip Ko) telling team member Yukari Oshima that there's a traitor in the ranks. Big boss drug dealer, General Wu (Ming Yan Lung), meets with his contacts and get his heroin flowing into Hong Kong.

The action then shifts to Hong Kong where we meet protagonist, Collin Cheung, and his family. One of the drug contacts turns out to be one of a pair of corrupt DEA officers who is an old school friend of Collin. He tries bribing him to turn the other way when the heroin comes in, but fails so the other officer has his family killed and Collin flees to Thailand.

Cut to Thailand where we watch a Thai kickboxing match where the winner (Dick Wei) is told to throw the next fight, but he refuses. The kickboxer just so happens to dating Collin's cousin and he turns up to hide out there.

Eventually you have the many plot strings tied up with a series of excellent fights. We have Collin, the kickboxer and Oshima to take out the gangsters threatening the kickboxer. Oshima, Wei and Mark Houghton are some of the great fighters in this section.

Finally, we move to General Wu's compound where everybody ends up fighting with somebody! Ridley Tsui is particularly good in this bit and, as Bey said, really gets to show his skills - all to the music from Aliens.

So basically, there's a lot of bad acting, confusing plot and melodrama to get through before we get to some solid action.

The end section is pretty good, but not really worth sitting through the first 75% of the film!

Here's the cast: http://www.hkcinemagic.com/en/movie.asp?id=1722

Can't seem to find any clips, but I'll look into more stuff with Ridley Tsui (Tiger Cage 3) and Yukari Oshima.

[monel]

I've had Final Run for a while but never watched it. I did see one fight though, and Dick Wei (one of my faves) and Yukari were kicking ass. QC, check out Angel/ Iron Angels with Moon Lee and Yukari. After that film they did a bunch of similar titles, most of which have at least some good action.

One standout for Yukari is A Book of Heroes, for at least one fight scene where she is awesome.

Sammo's Bruce Lee impersonation is excellent, he does it in a few films, Enter The Fat Dragon being the most well known.

If you like The Departed, have you seen Infernal Affairs, the film that inspired it?

['Press Start']

Internal affairs trilogy ! massive thumbs up!

One of the pillars of Hong Kong Cinema imo!

[monel]

Well, the first one is great but I didn't like the sequels much. Still had to watch them though because the first was so good. Press Start, have you seen all the John Woo/Chow Yun Fat films and also Bullet In The Head? I've been thinking and A Better Tomorrow is probably my favourite film ever. I just love that film. edit-why does the formatting not work unless I edit a post? Bizarre.

['Press Start']

Yeah I have seen a few:-
Hard Boiled
Better tomorrow (amazing!!)
Full Contact (Prinny has this now!) (is this woo? actually no Ringo lam isn't it! I'll leave it here anyway)
The Killer

I love John Woos story telling, in the 90s anyway. I have not seen bullet in the head though, good?

Chow Yung is the only man alive who ever wanted to make me smoke. He is one of the worlds coolest!

Ahhh its bringing back memories of God of Gamblers and other hong kong greats

[megatron]

A Better Tomorrow 2 > A Better Tomorrow

[monel]

Not in my opinion, the ending has great action but the story is nowhere near the original. Plus Tsui Hark did the final edit against John Woo's wishes and kind of screwed it all up.



Bullet In The Head-if you've seen the others this is a must watch.

[prinnysquad]

Devil Killer (1980)

Bizarre-o-vision hybrid flick from Robert Tai, and featuring Alexander Lo Rei in part.

Seemingly, an old punch and block from 1974, Best and Worst, was spliced up to form the skeleton for a new film, starring Lo Rei. As such, the story is all over the shop. Something to do with a guy witnessing a boss's son on the rape, then getting accused of doing the deed. He is rescued by a cop who grows suspicious, and the pair of the grab the son. The boss seeks help from some toughs and they rescue the son, killing the poor wrongly-accused guy and the cop. A replacement cop and a brother turn up on the scene to seek justice/revenge.

There's a level of disjointedness about the story that really grates. Yee Yuen seems to be in both films - and looks far different/younger in several scenes than others. There's two big fights where good guys take on bad guys, and you never see these characters again. They're completely random. The dub sort-of explains them, but they're clearly from elsewhere. There's so many characters that things get a bit confusing.

On the other hand, it makes for fascinating viewing:
- The difference in fighting styles. The punch and block is decent stuff, and there's some impressive cut-lengths. The modern/Lo Rei stuff is faster and more technical - shapes moments and some great weapons work with poles, swords and nunchakus. Lo Rei's work with the latter is tremendous, but only brief - possibly cut in the version I saw? The end fight was rather good, it has to be said.
- The difference in fight setting - the punch and block fights take-in some really traditional p&b settings, where they tried in the mid-70s to place them in more interesting areas - in particular, the mid-film fight on massive logs on a hill and on a river is neat to watch. The Lo Rei fights are in typical late-70s/ early 80s clearings.
- The dub's attempt to knit together the disparate randomness must have taken some doing. Blink and you'll miss the reasoning in some cases.

All in all, a frustrating yet fascinating effort. As usual, I'm interested in finding the pre-butchered 1974 film to check that out, but the Lo Rei stuff was pretty good, and not as cranked as usual.