Robin-B-Hood (2006)

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Robin-B-Hood (2006)

Benny Chan’s third Jackie Chan film – following Who Am I? and New Police Story – sees Chan play against type (sort of) as one half of a bumbling burglar routine with Louis Koo. Chan’s a gambling addict with an estranged father and Koo’s a philanderer with a pregnant wife. But the pair learn to take responsibility for their actions when they kidnap a baby from a wealthy HK family at the behest a warped billionaire who believes himself to be the child’s biological grandfather. At this point the film turns into a version of Three Men and a Baby …

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The Tattoo Connection (1978)

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The Tattoo Connection (1978)

Considered a sore spot on the respective careers of all involved (Jim Kelly was simply wasted after Enter the Dragon and you will find it hard to fathom how the director of Eagle’s Claw could stoop this low), The Tattoo Connection is a Z grade exploitation quickie armed with the IQ of a walnut. Funk music accompanies a nonsense script, loads of kung fu action and a host of naked breasts. That’s a strong cocktail for any film fan, but at least it’s hugely comic for irony’s sake. Kelly is sent from the States to investigate a diamond racket on the streets of …

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Death Dimension (1978)

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Death Dimension (1978)

Perhaps if Jim Kelly hadn’t taken so many bad decisions then maybe his action movie career may have progressed further into the 1980s and the era of the big guns. Kelly certainly had the right attitude, the good looks and the martial arts skills to make him a big star. If he had successfully avoided no brain turkeys like this one, then maybe his story would have been very different indeed. As usual he makes the best out of a bad situation, playing a police detective alongside a Bruce Lee wannabe who travels to Los Angeles to bring to justice a …

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Profile: Jim Kelly

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Profile: Jim Kelly

Date of birth: May 5, 1946 (Paris, Kentucky)

Date of death: June 29, 2013 (aged 67), San Diego

Full name: James Milton Kelly

Occupation: Actor, tennis coach, martial artist

Style: Shorin-ryu karate

Biography: Jim Kelly will always be fondly remembered for his breakthrough performance alongside Bruce Lee and John Saxon in the 1973 film Enter the Dragon – a role which was originally given to another actor – and his subsequent success as a prominent leading man in the blaxploitation sub-genre of the 1970s.

Born in Paris, Kentucky, Kelly’s father ran a locker rental service for US Navy sailors. At high school, Kelly enjoyed success in …

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Iron Monkey (1993)

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Iron Monkey (1993)

Excellent kung fu yarn set during the later Ching years and charting the adventures of a Robin Hood style superhero named Iron Monkey (Yu Rong-guang), whose concept of helping the poor by stealing from the rich doesn’t bode too well with the corrupt authorities who name ‘Iron Monkey’ as China’s most wanted criminal.

Behind the masked vigilante’s disguise is Dr. Yang, a highly respected herbal doctor whose latest patient is a preteen Wong Fei-hung (played by a young girl, Tsang Sze-man). Fei-hung is the latest victim of a cruel governmental attack which sends his father, Wong Kei-ying (Donnie Yen), on a …

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The Magnificent Butcher (1980)

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The Magnificent Butcher (1980)

Yuen Woo-ping works the same magic for Sammo Hung that he did for Jackie Chan two years previously with Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow and Drunken Master, by creating a specifically designed showcase for his leading man’s talents. The role of Butcher Lam Sai-wing – burly pupil of legendary sifu Wong Fei-hung – is a part he was born to play. The Butcher is unashamedly loyal, boisterous and trouble prone, not to mention a supreme martial arts talent. Sammo steers this classic headfirst into the kung fu movie hall of fame.

An extra layer of authenticity is added with character actor Kwan …

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Chocolate (2008)

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Chocolate (2008)

Panna Rittikrai‘s obvious attempt to launch a female Tony Jaa is incongruously revealed in one of Chocolate’s more contrived scenes, in which Jeeja Yanin is shown to have developed her ass-kicking capabilities after repeated viewings of Ong-Bak. But Yanin is so much more than simply Jaa in a skirt. Director Pinkaew hones a more sensitive side to the film which, although strikingly at odds with the gratuitous carnage, is never once unconvincing. Yanin plays Zen, a young autistic girl with a penchant for kung fu who, unbeknownst to her, winds up dropping her retired mobster mother – a former moll …

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In the Name of the King 2: Two Worlds (2011)

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In the Name of the King 2: Two Worlds (2011)

Barmy fantasy sequel in which retired one man army Lundgren returns home to find a medieval damsel in distress fighting hooded assassins in his kitchen, before they both escape through a time portal and rock up in a cheap episode of Game of Thrones. In this other realm, Dolph Lundgren is considered to be the Chosen One (ha!) who must rescue the peasant folk from an evil tyrant. The film culminates in a dodgy CGI dragon fight. It’s the kind of film where people don’t die but instead “pass from this world”. The ‘olde’ English script is a mess of …

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Command Performance (2009)

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Command Performance (2009)

A Dolph Lundgren vanity project disguised as an action film and designed as an exercise in showcasing his drumming abilities. The incongruous premise sees Lundgren as the drummer in a rock band who uses his maiming skills to take down Soviet terrorists who hold the Russian President hostage at a charity concert. There are equal measures of violence and music but far less acting.

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Ong-Bak 3 (2010)

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Ong-Bak 3 (2010)

The culmination of Tony Jaa’s historical Thai opus is underwhelming, given the butchering it has received at the hands of producers hoping to recoup profits from on an overblown budget. The extra segments are glaringly obvious, added as an attempt to compensate for the serious lapses in story-telling and acting to further muddle the film. Picking up from part two – which ended in incoherence – this follow-up shows Tien’s capture, torture, rescue, reincarnation and recuperation in the arms of his Buddhist mentors and childhood sweetheart, retraining his broken bones through dance and without the aide of a chiropractor. The …

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