Seen any good Kung-Fu flicks of late?

[QualityChimp]

No probs mate. Fixed that link, by the way.

Have you ever seen "She Shoots Straight"? Produced by Sammo and starring his wife, I think.

Might have to add that to "The List"...

Still looking for some sources other than you that list some of the great 80's/90's modern-day martial arts flicks!

[monel]

She Shoots Straight, I have seen that, years ago. It was supposed to make Joyce a star but from what I can remember it's got more of a stronger storyline / drama element than outright action. I need to watch it again to give you a better idea but it's not packed with fights (maybe more shootouts) , it's more a crime drama kind of thing. Sorry, can't give a more accurate answer.

[QualityChimp]

Wow, I've managed to watch another kung-fu flick! Angry Ranger.

I've had it on my list for a while after Shinobi suggested it, but the last version I had didn't seem to have subs. This one did as it was the Legendary Collection DVD version.

Stats:
Directed by Johnny Wang Lung Wei (actor: Project A Part II, 36th Chamber, Flying Guillotines, 5 Deadly Venoms, 8 Diagram Pole Fighter)
Starring Ben Lam (Police Story, Flash Point, Project A Part II)
Producer: Jackie Chan
Stunts: The Jackie Chan Stunt Team
Release Date: 1991

Oh yes, this was another corker that hit the mark! Ticks all my boxes - Modern day setting, kinetic fighting etc.

A 1991 actioner from Golden Harvest, Angry Ranger was produced by Jackie Chan and directed by famous screen villain Johnny Wang Lung Wei, with the support of Chan's team of stuntmen. The story revolves around former convict Peter (Ben Lam, then boyfriend of Anita Mui), who intends to turn over a new leaf after spending eight years in prison for assault charges. However, he is forced to resort to violence again when he is framed for murder by a gang boss, whose girlfriend is having an affair with Peter...

In a classic tale of an eye-for-an-eye, Peter's release from jail sees him return to his neighbourhood only to find it's being run by a local gang. When he trashes a gang general's car, events start spiralling out of control as they start taking revenge on each other. However, it's the cardinal sin of dating the girlfriend of another gang's boss that leads to a terrible series of attacks.

Obviously, having the Jackie Chan stunt team onboard meant there was some great fighting in this. They don't use props as much as you'd expect and the scenes aren't as inventive as, say, the Police Stories or Project A series, but they do pack a serious punch. I found myself not only enjoying a street brawl with Macau Wah, but realised I was smiling at how much I was enjoying it! Classic fight scene.

The story pootles along, but it's just a vehicle to hang some great fight scenes off. Part of you thinks if Peter left, the revenge attacks would stop, but the other part thinks if he doesn't stand up to these thugs, who will?

The other actor I recognised was Benny Lai, who was the mute superkicker in Police Story 2. He even gets to perform his signature triple-kick again.

Overall, I really enjoyed this small-scale, but exciting actioner!

[monel]

I was watching a bit of Angry Ranger the other day after you mentioned it, I do like it quite a lot. Ben Lam should have been a big star, I think he had all the talent plus the looks they tended to demand for the lead roles but he mostly got supporting roles and played villains a lot. He was great in Legend of the Wolf, I thought. Angry Ranger has a certain look to it that reminds me of the vibe of a lot of late 80s / early 90s Japanese beat em ups, for some reason, due to the street brawling gang vibe thing probably. prinny might be interested to know Sun Chien, the Venoms kicker, features in Angry Ranger in one of his last HK acting roles.

[prinnysquad]

Snake and Crane Secret

70s shapes-fest starring Tan Tao Liang and Meng Fei.

There's a lot of cliched material here, but a lot to like too. In an early flashback, three brothers are involved in various scuffles, as one convinces another that the third is a bad un. They turn on the third brother, killing him. The fallen man's kids are next for the chop, but the second brother pleads with the first to let them go. The first, however, is unrelenting, and it becomes clear that he is the real goddamn bastard. He is a Ching lickspittle, and aims to secure a manual to learn Snake-Crane style. He is about to kill second brother and the kids, when a monk intervenes. The two kids are split up, one off to the temple, and one off to pastures unknown. The second brother escapes, and is left to rue the day he sided with his corrupt brother.

Temple boy grows into cocky Meng Fei. He has in his possession the Snake-Crane manual, and (much older now) third brother sends out fighters - including escort chief Dorian Tan Tao Liang and Dean Shek (in a straight-bad guy role) - to retrieve it. Meanwhile, Ming Patriots are attempting to defeat Third Brother, and second brother tries to right the wrongs he inflicted. The paths of one and all cross as the truth is finally revealed about the brothers.

It's all very standard and traditional, with the odd bit of humour, but mostly straight-laced delivery. The shapes work is classic - though to the detriment of more bootwork from Flashlegs, which is a bit of a shame. The dub is ****e, it's unintentionally hilarious when the tone of the scene is meant to be serious. I'd like to see a subbed version of this in original language, as the dub does it no justice whatsoever.

[monel]

I must be losing my memory, as that title is very familiar to me but I can't remember seeing that film at all. I went through a John Liu and Flashlegs phase once, trying to watch as many of their flicks as I could. It's always weird seeing Dean Shek in a straight role for me, like something's not right.

[prinnysquad]

Oh, do piss off angelfire. Grow some balls and allow pics to be linked from elsewhere.

[monel]

I know there's an angelfire linked image in that post but I can't see it... Pretty sure I have seen this film but can't recall it at all, it's the title that gives it away.

[QualityChimp]

Sorry for the double post, I watched Burning Ambition (1989?) later tonight, it was extremely enjoyable viewing. I'd seen some scenes ages ago but never quite got round to watching it properly. It has a great cast, with quite a few stars / heavy hitters. Seeing Kara Hui and Yukari Oshima fighting together in the car park scene was awesome, like when a couple of your favourite musicians collaborate on a great song.

The storyline starts quite off cliched, with something about a large Triad kind of family, with separated partners, step brothers, god daughters, godfathers, everyone all involved in a feud / power struggle. In the end it beats the usual storylines with some kind of message about the cost of power.

Some of my favourites didn't make it to the end, actually not many characters do- .

The action scenes are short but explosive, quite inventive and reminded me of some of Sammo's modern work. Guns are employed too, traditional weaponry, a bit of shapes, some acrobatics, a bit of brutality- it has everything. They even made sure to tick off the 'arrogant westerner who insults the Chinese' box!

The car park fight scene compares to the ones from Licence to Steal and Righting Wrongs, it's that good, although a bit shorter.

I had two different bootleg versions, both seemed to be wide-ish with a 16:10 aspect ratio I think, but the problem is that a word or two were cut off the subs sometimes, so I wonder it really was a widescreen source or if there's a better version out there. I'd buy this in a heartbeat if there's a better version, I wonder if it's had a recent release in China? I know QC mentioned there was a feature on this film in Impact magazine, I'd love to read that someday, perhaps there's a remastered release?

I'm trying not to rate films these days, as I'm not Edge, but I'd give this an 8 easily. Top notch stuff, I needed to watch something like this.

Yes, Burning Ambition was the kung-fu flick of choice over the weekend, and as Shinobi says, it's excellent!

You're right about everything you've said about it, including the high death count and the musicians quote. Kara Hui and Yukari Oshima's fight scene in the Japanese restaurant and car park was, indeed, brilliant. My fave bit is where they're in their private room, dodging in and out of the doorway to take thugs out when two rush the door. Kara sweeps low and to the left, Yukari kicks high and to the right, then they kick the downed opponents the other just took out. Amazing! I wanted to make an animated gif out of if, but can't be bothered. If you want to see the clip I mean, it's at 1:56 on this YouTube clip.

I'm glad you mentioned the high mortality rate in this as I was primed for most people to get taken out throughout the film and it was less painful when they did!

There was a nice mix of locations to fight in too, some seen before and some more unusual like the waterslides and amusement park.

I'm hoping Cine Asia do get hold of a good print of this and release it as I'd love to hear Bey Logan's thoughts on it. All of the fighters are great in this, but the stand out for me was Yukari Oshima, who's quickly becoming my favourite female martial artist. I loved her in Outlaw Brothers, Final Run and Iron Angels.

Shinobi, have you seen much of her other work? I might check out Framed, The Big Deal and anything else she gets some good screen fighting time in. She retired to promote tourism in Japan for a while, but she returned to the screen in 2011's Legendary Amazons, but I don't know if she gets to fight in it.

Here's a montage of some of her scenes:

[monel]

I've only seen a small portion of her films, I actually lost a few of her and Moon Lee's films last year. Been meaning to watch more of her work but as the Impact article stated, she ended up in a lot of b-movies for whatever reasons. She has a great scene in Book of Heroes.

[QualityChimp]

I like her in this scene from Framed, for some reason...

[monel]

I should have seen most of her films by now but I just haven't got round to it, she comes across a bit like a female Bruce Lee if that makes any sense, with her intensity on-screen. I think that's what they were hinting at in the Outlaw Brothers ending. Never seen Framed, thanks for posting that, hmmmm.

[prinnysquad]

I like her in this scene from Framed, for some reason...

The reason is ...

You're a pervert.

[Finsbury Girl]

Shaolin - the one with Andy Lau and Jackie Chan. What can I say, Andy Lau was a very bad casting choice, his kung fu is awful and you could clearly see he used a double for 99% of his fight scenes. Donnie would've been a far better choice. As for Chan, how the mighty have fallen, I was looking forward to his fight scenes but they are truly disappointing, again reckon he used a double for most of it. Terrible coreography - never really been a fan of Corey Yuen.

[monel]

Corey Yuen made some cracking films (maybe not recently), but never really liked Andy Lau. He has an army of fans but there's something about him which means I'm willing to ignore a lot of good films simply because he's the star. I watched Mirage again, it's become one of my favourite films for sure even though I wish it had some slightly longer fights. Brilliant film.