War (2007)

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War (2007)

Yakuza thugs and Chinese triads cross swords in a bitter feud which escalates from the underground nightclubs of San Francisco to Mexico, Japan and back again. Rogue (Jet Li) is a silent assassin who is so damn ruthless he straps explosives to rottweilers and has his own signature titanium bullets (for a marksman dealing in secrecy, this is something of an oversight). Crawford (Jason Statham) is a ballsy, hot-tempered FBI agent who is trying to quit smoking but still talks like Bruce Willis on a forty-a-day habit. Both are completely incomprehensible and rely on their muscle to communicate. They are …

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Bodyguard from Beijing (1994)

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Bodyguard from Beijing (1994)

Nothing too special here; a conventional action thriller borrowing themes from Hollywood hit The Bodyguard. Jet Li is the titular bodyguard who is sent to Hong Kong to protect a key witness in a murder trial (played by Christy Chung), who subsequently tops every assassin’s hit-list in the run up to her day in court. A relationship blossoms between protector and protected, but it’s nothing to get too excited about. Similar to the action, which consists mostly of stylised gunfights.

AKA: The Defender

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Kung Fu Cult Master (1993)

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Kung Fu Cult Master (1993)

Here we go, then: Jet Li falls off a cliff and is cured of his ‘Jinxed Palm’ injury after learning the ‘Cosmic Solar Stance’ from a bearded monk chained to a giant rock. He then flies around the Seven Kingdoms with Chingmy Yau exacting revenge on the Evil Sect masters responsible for the suicides of his parents (his father dies following a spontaneous heart explosion). The villains are Master No-Mercy – a kung fu mistress with a sacred glowing sword who kills just about everybody she encounters – and the elegant but treacherous Chao Min, who flies in and out …

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Fong Sai-yuk II (1993)

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Fong Sai-yuk II (1993)

Rushed sequel made the same year as the original film, this follow-up focuses on Adam Cheng’s appointment as the new head of the Red Flower Society rather than the charming relationship between Fong and his mother. There’s an important box out there detailing the true identity of the Red Flower leader and Fong is chosen to retrieve it, doing battle with some Japanese Samurais and Manchurian guards in the process. Amy Kwok plays a new love interest. She’s a Manchurian daughter who weds Fong in sly pursuit of the coveted box. Josephine Siao returns to relay some matriarchal dominance over …

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Kung Fu Jungle (2014)

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Kung Fu Jungle (2014)

In shades of Silence of the Lambs, convicted murderer Donnie Yen is sprung from prison three years into a five year jail term to help no-nonsense homicide detective Charlie Yeung get into the deranged mindset of kung fu serial killer Wang Bao-qiang, who has flipped his lid and started bumping off rival martial arts masters. It takes an obvious suspension of logic to go along with the film’s barely conceivable premise, and Teddy Chan does brilliantly well to keep the tension palpable despite the absurdities in the plot. It’s the sort of story you would find in just about any …

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Profile: Chang Cheh

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Profile: Chang Cheh

Date of birth: February 10, 1923 (Qingtian county, China)

Date of death: June 22, 2002 (aged 79), Hong Kong

Birth name: Chang Yi-yang

Other names: Cheung Kit, Chang Che, Chang Cheuh, Chang Chueh, Chang Yik-yan, Chin Chien, Cheung Chit, Chang Chit, Chang Chih

Occupation: Director, producer, writer.

Biography: Chang Cheh is known as the Godfather of Hong Kong action cinema. He was one of martial arts cinema’s most prolific directors with over 90 films to his name (70 of which were filmed in only 15 years). Although the quality of his films vary, much of his best work is regarded as classic examples of the …

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Fong Sai-yuk (1993)

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Fong Sai-yuk (1993)

Jet Li revives another classic Chinese folk hero for modern audiences with a spirited performance as Fong Sai-yuk, the real-life happy-go-lucky kung fu wunderkind whose life was serialised in wuxia literature and later on-screen by the Shaw Brothers. Despite their strong moral compass and expert martial artistry, Fong is far removed from Jet Li’s other cinematic alter-ego, Wong Fei-hung, popularised by Tsui Hark in his Once Upon a Time in China series. Fong Sai-yuk is mostly played for laughs, and succeeds effortlessly in all departments.

Plots run parallel. One, in which Fong enters a kung fu tournament at the behest of …

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Swordsman II (1992)

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Swordsman II (1992)

Tsui Hark overhauled his initial concept for this wuxia franchise following the difficulties making the first Swordsman film. Instead, he follows up with a hyperactive sequel complete with a new cast and crew encouraged by the overwhelming success of Once Upon a Time in China. Tsui borrows many of the players from that franchise for this movie, including Jet Li, Rosamund Kwan and Yen Shi-kwan. He even recruits wire fu auteur Tony Ching Siu-tung to direct and the results are majestically irreverent, even by Tony Ching’s esoteric standards (he did, after all, make A Chinese Ghost Story).

Ling and Kiddo return …

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The Swordsman (1990)

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The Swordsman (1990)

Before Tsui Hark’s Once Upon a Time in China series sparked a resurgence in kung fu pictures in Hong Kong, it was Tsui Hark’s The Swordsman which would rejuvenate the stagnant wuxia genre with vibrant wire-work, fast editing, schizophrenic story-telling and more than a little song and dance. Taking a year to complete, this dogged production – loosely based on Louis Cha’s novel The Smiling, Proud Wanderer – saw original director King Hu leave the production after only a few weeks following disagreements with Tsui, leaving Tsui and his team to take over in the director’s chair. He relocated the crew from …

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Once Upon a Time in China III (1993)

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Once Upon a Time in China III (1993)

Although this is nowhere near as good as the other two, part three of this amazing franchise does have some great moments, although few and far between. The Empress dowager tries to restore national pride by holding a lion dance competition, only to have it quashed by martial madman Chiu Tin-bai (Chiu Chin) who is keen to annihilate the competition. Wong Fei-hung steps in after his father is beaten down by Chiu’s nutty henchman Clubfoot (played by former Jet Li stunt double, Hung Yan-yan) and the stage is set for a big kung fu showdown. The lion dance sequences are …

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