The Dragon, the Hero (1979)

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The Dragon, the Hero (1979)

“Dying time”, exclaims Phillip Ko in a ridiculously deep overdub as he rotates mini egg timers before pounding the life out of an unfortunate adversary. It’s all in the name of progress, apparently; how else can he and his lunatic boss (Chan Lau) expect to sell on a stash of stolen antiques to some dastardly westerners? Luckily, Tino Wong and his friend Dragon Lee resist their onslaught, but they are still no match for Ko and his new recruit, John Liu. But John and Tino are united by a common purpose. Both are the last descendants of the Stone Rock …

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Blade II (2002)

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Blade II (2002)

Incredibly silly and perfunctory sequel. This exchanges the substance of the original film with bigger, faster thrills – more gore, more CGI, more kung fu. Most of it seems completely unnecessary, and the film is worryingly garbled and trashy viewing. Blade (Snipes) is recruited by the bitey critters he loathes to train the Blood Pack in their quest to take on a new monster which feeds on both humans and vampires. The writers seem to be making up the rules as they go along, and although the performances aren’t totally inept, the script lets things down. Not even Donnie Yen …

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Taoism Drunkard (1984)

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Taoism Drunkard (1984)

In the absence of Yuen Woo-ping, his brother Yuen Cheung-yan steps up to direct this third installment in the Yuen clan’s nutty Miracle Fighters series. The film retains the admirable insanity of the previous films even if this one is particularly disjointed, jumping between tricks at breakneck speed. The most memorable oddity in this demented film is a giant cannonball with legs, eyes, and a snapping jaw which traps its adversaries with extendable antennae and suction pads. It’s almost as mad as that kid in the urn from the first film, and the poisonous toad in Shaolin Drunkard. Yuen Yat-chor plays …

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Blade (1998)

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Blade (1998)

Judging by the hyper violence, the tortured antihero and the gruesome horror, it is abundantly clear that the story of vampire hunter Blade is comic book based. But this is much more than just an aggressive episode of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. It’s more Batman than Dracula, and given how the film’s gothic style predates movies like The Matrix, you could argue that Norrington’s wild supernatural action film was something of a trendsetter.

This gripping nightmare possesses all the hallmarks of a long-running franchise with much of the film’s substance deriving from the personal demons of our hard-bitten hero. The bloodletting and kung …

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The Black Sheep Affair (1998)

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The Black Sheep Affair (1998)

Pseudo political thriller that references both the Tiananmen Square protests and the Tokyo gas attacks of 1995, this disjointed escapade skims over any serious social commentary in favour of smoke and guns. Tony Ching’s wire fu choreography is used in the context of a contemporary setting with very little cohesion despite some fine work from the movie’s star, Vincent Zhao, who is every bit as capable as Jet Li but about as charming as wet cement. He plays a bulletproof Special Forces operative who is sent to Lavernia (Russia) to help out at the Chinese embassy when a crazy Japanese …

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Big Trouble in Little China (1986)

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Big Trouble in Little China (1986)

Colourful cult excitement from fantasy maestro John Carpenter. Jack Burton (Russell) wants his truck back. It has been nabbed by a clan of creepy Chinese kung fu magicians deep in the heart of San Francisco’s Chinatown, which resembles a Narnia-esque underworld led by age-old mystic Lo Pan (Hong) whose 2,000 year search for a sacrificial bride with green eyes may soon be at an end. He kidnaps the girlfriend of Burton’s kung fu buddy and also sneaks off with his green-eyed girlfriend Kim Cattrall, which pisses Jack off, so he attempts to rescue her. But Lo Pan’s forces are formidable; …

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Profile: Jimmy Wang Yu

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Profile: Jimmy Wang Yu

Date of birth: 28 March, 1943 (Shanghai, China)

Date of death: 5 April, 2022 (aged 79), Taiwan

Occupation: Actor, director, producer, screen writer

Real name: Wang Zheng-quan

Other names: Wang Yu, Wang Yue, Wong Yu-lung, Wong Jing-Kuen, Jimmy Wong Yu, Tiger Yang

Biography: Despite receiving no formal martial arts training, Jimmy Wang Yu predates Bruce Lee as Hong Kong’s first kung fu action hero. Born and educated in Shanghai, he grew up in a wealthy family – his father was a businessman – and he was very active as a child. He was also regarded locally as something of a troublemaker and would often get into …

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Ip Man 2 (2010)

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Ip Man 2 (2010)

This sequel, which quickly follows on from the 2008 original and reunites much of the same cast and crew, is a seething post-war potboiler which substitutes the original film’s Japanese aggressors with that of the colonial British in 1950s Hong Kong.

Ip Man (Donnie Yen, brilliantly understated) leaves war-torn Foshan to set up a Wing Chun school on the terraces of Hong Kong. But the subsequent story (rebel-rousing pupils cause trouble for rival kung fu masters) is the sort of recycled plot device you would expect to find in a Wong Fei-hung film from the 1940s.

There are fragments of Ip Man’s …

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Crime Story (1993)

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Crime Story (1993)

Based on the true story of a businessman who was kidnapped twice and held for a $6m ransom, Jackie Chan (in a role initially offered to Jet Li) plays an impulsive cop sniffing out corruption in the Hong Kong police force. The demolition of Hong Kong’s notorious Walled City is used to great effect in an explosive finale where a frantic Chan attempts to save the life of his crooked police partner (Kent Cheng). Kirk Wong directs with a gritty realism attacking the power and influence of Hong Kong’s triad organisations. It is also refreshing to see Chan play a straight …

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Gorgeous (1999)

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Gorgeous (1999)

Still sailing from the phenomenal success of his first major American hit (Rush Hour), Jackie Chan’s return to Hong Kong is an instantly forgettable rom-com designed as a cash cow for a Chinese New Year audience. Shu Qi plays a naive Taiwanese beauty whose quest for true love takes her on a journey to Hong Kong in response to a message in a bottle. This leads her into the open arms of Chan (Jackie Chan), a millionaire businessman who has “never had many friends”. Chan’s stock market interests lead him into danger with his corporate friend Lo (a great turn …

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