Skin Trade (2014)

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Skin Trade (2014)

This really should be much better given the high calibre of talent involved. It’s the sort of clichéd cop thriller Dolph Lundgren would have made in the 1980s with much of its clunky dialogue, bad acting and exploitative content dating from the same period. Only Tony Jaa breathes life into a moody film with his refreshing lead role – his first in English, although he’s not required to say much. Lundgren is a cop on the hunt for the Russian family behind a global people-smuggling operation. He gets too close to Ron Perlman’s accented kingpin that his wife and child …

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Of Cooks and Kung Fu (1979)

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Of Cooks and Kung Fu (1979)

There are a number of kung fu movies championing crazy, innovative stylistic creations to differentiate themselves from bucket-loads of other titles, everything from Chess Boxing to Drunken Fist to spiritual fighters, ‘sleeping style‘ and ‘emotional kung fu‘. This champions the unique style of cooking kung fu – “known only to chefs!” according to the dubbed mid-Atlantic introduction. Jacky Chen throws his arms around shouting out popular dishes – “fish balls!”, “beggar’s chicken!”, “flying chopstick!” – aptly demonstrating his so-called ‘kitchen style’ kung fu taught to him by his moody granddad – the former King of Chefs. He was once the …

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Five Fighters from Shaolin (1982)

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Five Fighters from Shaolin (1982)

A kung fu movie in two halves. The first hour sees a laughing monk (Mark Long) recruit a traveling band of wastrels (a brother and sister duo; two annoying cooks; a fat guy with a cart) to join him in creating a self-sufficient Buddhist commune in the shadow of the Shaolin temple. The film picks up once the ensemble develop their kung fu skills. Chen Shan becomes star pupil, gymnast Yau Ming-yin works out on a pommel horse, and Lin Yu-zhen, being the only girl, is left to do all the house work. Then a white-haired Jack Long drops in …

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Seven Steps of Kung Fu (1979)

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Seven Steps of Kung Fu (1979)

There’s trouble brewing in a sleepy Chinese village. The Five Hand Gang are assembling, much to the chagrin of Master Li (Ga Hoi), who doesn’t care much for the gang and uses his plucky kung fu pupil Tiger (Ricky Cheng) for a spot of reconnaissance work. The baddies are in league with a governmental traitor played by Chen Shan in white hair and robes, so Li teaches Tiger the Seven Steps style (a sort of Snake Fist hybrid which requires Tiger to walk on his hands and crush eggs in a field) to methodically start picking off the gang one …

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Kung Fury (2015)

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Kung Fury (2015)

Swedish filmmaker David Sandberg’s retro-futuristic 1980s cop movie spoof was a huge international hit before it was even released. He used his own money to make the initial trailer, casting his friends in key roles and filming in front of a green screen in his office. The trailer became such a huge viral smash that when he decided to launch the concept for a 30-minute film version to backers on the crowd-sourcing website Kickstarter, Sandberg tripled his target of US$200,000 in less than a month. Created as an homage to the action movies he loved as a child, Sandberg’s spoof would eventually debut to …

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Tekken (2009)

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Tekken (2009)

Based on Namco’s hit Japanese video game, this live-action US film does little to support the franchise, providing a discounted dystopia as background for a clichéd tournament fight movie. Dwight H. Little (Rapid Fire, Marked for Death) never properly revels in the campy opportunities afforded to him, much unlike the Mortal Kombat films, for which this owes a slight debt. The stock dialogue and creaky acting doesn’t help matters. Yet it’s not all bad: the fight scenes, despite never shaking off their gaming roots, are still great physical showcases for the cast, most of whom have clearly been selected based …

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Interview: Mike Fury

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Interview: Mike Fury

Life of Action is the first book by film journalist Mike Fury. It’s a detailed analysis of action cinema told by some of the genre’s most famous names and features interviews with stunt coordinators, fight choreographers, directors and actors based around the world. The book includes biographical information and comments from leading industry figures like Donnie Yen, Dolph Lundgren, Tsui Hark, Cynthia Rothrock, Andy Lau and Scott Adkins, and acts to highlight the skill, determination and creativity required when working in this much-maligned genre. We caught up with Mike to discuss his love of action movies and what he hopes …

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Profile: Scott Adkins

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Profile: Scott Adkins

Date of birth: 17 June, 1976 (Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, UK)

Full name: Scott Edward Adkins

Occupation: Actor, stuntman, martial arts instructor

Style: Judo, kickboxing, Taekwondo

Biography: Scott Edward Adkins is a British martial artist and actor who was born in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, UK, to parents John and Janet Adkins. He has an older brother, Craig. Scott attended Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School in Sutton Coldfield and as a child he idolised Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jean-Claude Van Damme. He learnt Judo at the age of 10 with his brother and father, and later turned the family garage into a dojo where he would train as …

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Interview: Ricky Baker

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Interview: Ricky Baker

Ricky Baker was instrumental in bringing martial arts movies and Hong Kong cinema to the masses through his UK-based Eastern Heroes company. Along with kung fu movie expert Toby Russell, Ricky introduced the genre to a new, global audience through his company’s line of books, videos, DVDs, merchandise, events and documentaries. He provided many of Hong Kong’s leading lights with their first appearances outside Asia, hosting events with the likes of Donnie Yen, Jet Li, Chow Yun-fat, Gordon Liu and John Woo. Now, after an absence of ten years, Eastern Heroes is back. We talk to Ricky about what the …

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Warrior King 2 (2013)

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Warrior King 2 (2013)

Principal cast and crew return eight years later for this action-packed sequel which never quite settles into a steady groove and becomes overly reliant on distracting camera trickery. The gimmicks seem unnecessary for a film featuring two of Thailand’s best martial arts actors: Tony Jaa and Jeeja Yanin, supervised by fighting legend Panna Rittikrai and director Prachya Pinkaew, who last worked with Jaa on the prolific failure of the Ong-Bak prequels. The film is bolstered by great personalities, but every set-piece descends into convoluted chaos, and seemingly good ideas are made to look ghastly in post-production. A rooftop bike chase …

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