Eastern Condors (1987)

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Eastern Condors (1987)

Hong Kong’s finest turn out for surely Sammo Hung‘s crowning achievement; a savage, intense action film that, despite blatant nods to other popular Vietnam war movies, still plays like nothing you’ve ever seen before. It’s a Dirty Dozen-style adventure in which an all-star cast play Chinese-American convicts sent by US intelligence into Vietnam on a suicide mission to destroy a stash of weapons before it falls into enemy hands. The mission is secretly cancelled at the last minute, so the team find themselves behind enemy lines, fighting for survival against the Vietcong. But assistance soon arrives. They befriend a dedicated trio …

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KFMG Podcast S02 Episode 23: End of Year Show 2017 with Mike Fury

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KFMG Podcast S02 Episode 23: End of Year Show 2017 with Mike Fury

Welcome to the Kung Fu Movie Guide’s End of Year Show 2017, featuring the action movie expert and author Mike Fury. Listen as we reveal our Top 5 martial arts films of the year – and also share our thoughts on our worst film of the year. We also discuss the top martial arts movie news from 2017, from Jack Ma’s kung fu debut in Gong Shou Dao, to Wolf Warrior II becoming the highest grossing Chinese film of all time. We also discuss what Steven Seagal has been up to, Jackie Chan‘s step back into the Hollywood spotlight with …

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Captain America: Civil War (2016)

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Captain America: Civil War (2016)

This continuation in the unfolding Avengers saga suffers from superhero fatigue with too many costumes vying for screen time, but at least it has some crunchy fight scenes courtesy of the John Wick creators and 87Eleven founders, Chad Stahelski and David Leitch. The story looks into the consequences of the Avengers’ trail of destruction, which is so often overlooked in their many adventures. A decision is made by the US government to have them sign an accord which will put them under the lawful control of the United Nations, but Captain America sees this as restriction of their liberty. This …

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Cyborg 2: Glass Shadow (1993)

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Cyborg 2: Glass Shadow (1993)

Like most films based around dystopian male fantasy futures, this deals with the concept of sex robots. A greedy US robotics corporation in 2074 designs a sex robot full of high explosives as a ploy to infiltrate and blow up the offices of their Japanese rivals, only for the cyborg in question to find out the truth and leg it out the building. She is aided by her martial arts instructor, Colt (Elias Koteas), who falls in love with the merchandise and seems happy to risk “solitary confinement until death” for the opportunity to live happily ever after with the …

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The Foreigner (2017)

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The Foreigner (2017)

Measured British thriller from GoldenEye and Casino Royale director Rob Marshall, based on the book The Chinaman by Stephen Leather. The film is both a study on the political jostling between the British and Irish governments following the Northern Irish peace process and the need to control a new, violent, youth-led republican movement, who start letting off bombs all over London. But it is also a Death Wish-style vigilante action film which sees a haunted Jackie Chan play an ex-special forces restaurant owner who takes matters into his own hands when his daughter is killed by an IRA bomb. Pierce Brosnan …

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Beyond Skyline (2017)

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Beyond Skyline (2017)

Utterly bonkers sequel to 2010’s Skyline, an alien invasion movie from visual effects masters The Brothers Strause. The siblings take producer credits for the follow-up, and the first film’s writer, Liam O’Donnell, steps in to write and direct the sequel. It is relentless and nutty and always entertaining. We are introduced to drunk single dad Mark (Frank Grillo) and his wayward son Trent, who are both a lost cause in need of a quest, when a spaceship arrives and obliterates Los Angeles, unleashing giant aliens firing blue light, abducting people and sucking out their brains. Mark and his makeshift group of …

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Mission of Justice (1992)

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Mission of Justice (1992)

Jeff Wincott plays a tough karate cop who turns in his badge in protest to mismanagement in the force. He’s a good cop, but it’s the system that sucks. A glamorous mayoral candidate called Dr Larkin (Nielsen, ice-cold and fabulous) is gaining popularity due to her hard-line stance on crime. But as soon as she introduces her bodyguard brother, played by Matthias Hues, it’s pretty obvious that she’s not totally on the level. She runs an elite team of street-fighting vigilantes known as the ‘Peacekeepers’ who are a bit like a pseudo-religious martial arts cult. This slightly bizarre initiative (particularly …

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Top Knot Detective (2016)

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Top Knot Detective (2016)

Remarkably detailed Australian-made homage to bonkers Japanese television from the 1980s and 90s, filmed in the ‘mockumentary’ style of something like Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace or Spinal Tap. This constantly blurs the line between truth and spoof, featuring input from real people like Dario Russo (creator of the similarly mad throwback comedy Danger 5), film writer Des Mangan (who also narrates the film), and vox pops with “fans” from Comic Con events, interspersed with actors playing characters who are also playing characters. Like the subject matter, its a bit of a head-spin, and at times the made-up narrative is so accurately portrayed …

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Terminator Woman (1993)

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Terminator Woman (1993)

An awesome title, but this has nothing to do with the Terminator franchise. It’s a valiant directorial debut from Michel Qissi (Tong Po in Kickboxer), who provides a decent showcase for real-life martial artists Jerry Trimble and Karen Sheperd despite budget limitations. They play tough karate cops Jay Handlin and Julie A. Parish (“the A is for attitude”), who are stationed in South Africa to investigate a drug baron called Gatelee (Qissi), and appear to be in the midst of a lovers’ tiff which is only tangentially explored. They are rarely in the same scenes together. As Jay starts to …

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Blade of the Immortal (2017)

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Blade of the Immortal (2017)

Now having reached supposedly his 100th film, Takashi Miike is still a director seemingly incapable of producing a straightforward genre piece. On the face of it, this supernatural Samurai slasher – evidently based on a manga series – could easily have only dealt in crowd-pleasing schlock and splatter (and it definitely does do that). But it is also a meditation on the nature of revenge; a study of a young girl’s lost innocence; and an existential look at human fallibility, redemption and death. For a film which features an immortal Samurai who is brought back to life by ‘bloodworms’ that …

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