Bodyguards and Assassins (2009)

Posted in Reviews
No Comments
Bodyguards and Assassins (2009)

Although the story of how Sun Yat-sen led a republican uprising which would eventually see the end of dynastic rule in China is quite well known, this highly romanticised and emotive film has been designed as a tribute to those forgotten martyrs who paid the ultimate price. The film may not work in a scholastic sense but it is always entertaining. At times, Teddy Chan makes the 1906 arrival of Dr. Sun in colonised Hong Kong look like a taut heist thriller, and the battle for his protection descends into relentless kung fu carnage with flying daggers and arrows, teams …

Read More

King of Beggars (1992)

Posted in Reviews
No Comments
King of Beggars (1992)

Stephen Chow’s first period-set comedy went up against Police Story 3 at the Hong Kong box office and smashed it convincingly. He plays the privileged idiot son of a Ching dynasty general who falls immediately in love with Sharla Cheung, who has been working undercover as a prostitute to lure out the evil Mr Chiu (Norman Chu), a Manchurian magician determined to kill the Emperor and put his own evil cult in power. In order to win her heart, Chow embarks on a quest to win a nationwide martial arts competition. But he is found to have cheated on the …

Read More

John Wick (2014)

Posted in Reviews
1 Comment
John Wick (2014)

Chad Stahelski and David Leitch’s directorial debut (the founders of 87Eleven Action Design) is one of the best action movies of recent times. They land the audience in an established criminal underworld with minimal histrionics and a superb lightness of touch. The film hints at a wider, expansive ‘universe’ beyond its rather simple cat-and-mouse premise, and although the plot may be simple, it is executed with great wit and style. Their distinguished careers as fight choreographers and stunt coordinators informs every frame in this beautifully made film, equally indebted to the gun fu of John Woo, the brutality of The Raid, …

Read More

Who Am I? (1998)

Posted in Reviews
No Comments
Who Am I? (1998)

Jackie Chan plays part of a Special Forces unit sent into deepest Africa to kidnap scientists working on a volatile new weapon formed from meteorite fragments. The raid is a disaster and the team perish in a helicopter crash, except for Chan, who is taken in by a nearby tribe and nursed back to health. Once he has recuperated, Chan is discovered to have developed amnesia, and a quest to uncover the truth begins. Shot in South Africa and Holland (the truncated tribal section is a particular highlight), this globe-trotting Jackie Chan adventure is one of his better nineties outings. …

Read More

Shaolin vs. Lama (1983)

Posted in Reviews
No Comments
Shaolin vs. Lama (1983)

Fantastic kung fu movie from Lee Tso-nam (Eagle’s Claw, The Hot, the Cool and the Vicious), highly regarded in fan circles not only for its sublime action but also its notable story centred around the quest for spiritual (and physical) enlightenment. It can also be read as a study on the contradictory role religion plays in the balance of admonishing evil and the need to show mercy. Similarly to the Christian divide of Catholic and Protestant, the film depicts a violent opposition between Chinese Shaolin monks and a rebel group of Tibetan Buddhists; although the film is never in doubt as …

Read More

Skin Trade (2014)

Posted in Reviews
No Comments
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 …

Read More

Of Cooks and Kung Fu (1979)

Posted in Reviews
No Comments
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 …

Read More

Five Fighters from Shaolin (1982)

Posted in Reviews
Comments Closed
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 …

Read More

Seven Steps of Kung Fu (1979)

Posted in Reviews
1 Comment
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 …

Read More

Kung Fury (2015)

Posted in Reviews
No Comments
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 …

Read More
« Previous Page
Next Page »