Ninja Champion (1986)

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Ninja Champion (1986)

Another lesson in retarded filmmaking from B movie tycoon Godfrey Ho who barely attempts to add any kind of logic to this cut and paste cash-in. The film accidentally features people like Dragon Lee and Richard Harrison only because of an ingenious editing job. In one part of the film, we have a victim of a rape exacting her revenge on the culprits with the help of her ex-husband, then on a separate tape we have Bruce Baron dressed up as a white ninja in the bustle of Hong Kong fighting red ninja Pierre Tremblay and his trio of underlings …

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Two Great Cavaliers (1978)

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Two Great Cavaliers (1978)

A convoluted hotbed of kung fu movie talent. This Ming Dynasty fable shows a clan of resistance fighters squabble among themselves in an attempt to confront some Manchu bounders led by snarling super villain Chan Sing, who can emit poisonous blows from his dirty palm strikes. John Liu wants out of their futile plan so he can shack up with his fiancé but an endless rabble of halfwitted assassins keep dragging him back into the game. By the end the film completely loses the plot and it becomes impossible to decipher good from bad. The film’s only saving grace is …

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Chase Step by Step (1974)

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Chase Step by Step (1974)

A good kung fu movie with the great Hsu Feng who plays the platonic love interest and kung fu sister of Wang Kuan-hsiung. They both leave their circus school by royal decree to help protect 1,000 taels of gold heading to Lung Shan province to help the victims of a drought. Things don’t run entirely smoothly as every two-bit bandit wants a piece of them, offering the filmmakers a chance to exploit some crafty wire stunts and kung fu shapes. The love/hate relationship between the two leads is actually quite sweet for a film clearly made on a terrible budget.

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Flash Legs (1977)

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Flash Legs (1977)

Promising more boot than you can shake a kwan at, Flash Legs does everything it says on the tin. The titular flash legs belong to Dorian Tan who gets to show off his entire repertoire of fancy kicks. The premise seems tedious enough – eight bandits are singlehandedly bumped off by police chief Tan for stealing a sacred treasure map – and makes you wonder how it lasts the distance. Its probably got something to do with all those fight scenes, which fly in thick and fast in this relentless kung fu fest.

AKA: Deadly Kick; Shaolin Deadly Kicks

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Kung Fu Arts (1978)

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Kung Fu Arts (1978)

Crude indie flick from Taiwan which forces Carter Wong into the unfortunate situation of being upstaged by a monkey. He plays a disgruntled imperial guard who is framed for an assassination attempt on the Emperor and as he flees, he accidentally poisons the Princess with a lethal dart. In an attempt to save her life, he straps the antidote to his pet monkey (played by “Sida, the French Monkey Star!”) who adheres to the rules of the Royal Seal and saves her life, accepting her hand in marriage as a reward. In a bizarre twist which questions both the sanctity …

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Profile: Gary Daniels

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Profile: Gary Daniels

Full name: Gary Edward Daniels

Date of birth: May 9, 1963 (Working, Surrey, England)

Occupation: Actor, producer, action director, instructor, professional kickboxer

Style: Mongolian kung fu, kickboxing, taekwondo, Muay Thai

Biography: Daniels was influenced to pursue a career in martial arts after sneaking into a screening of Enter the Dragon at the age of eight. He trained in the hybrid style of Mongolian kung fu before studying taekwondo, acquiring a black belt under Master Rhee Ki Ha. Daniels taught taekwondo at three schools in England. In 1980, following disqualification for excessive contact in competitions, Daniels relocated to Florida to pursue a full-contact kickboxing career. …

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My Lucky Stars (1985)

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My Lucky Stars (1985)

Jackie Chan loses his cop partner Yuen Biao to some shady thugs in a Japanese amusement park and calls upon a few close friends to help him out. Enter Sammo Hung and his crooked friends, causing a frenzied slapstick pile-up which continues until the brainless crew reach Japan. This is fundamentally a comedy, and not a bad one, but when Jackie appears (albeit infrequently) the action takes over. He dons a bigheaded baby mascot uniform and sword-slices some Samurai bad guys, before battling Dick Wei in an extended final showdown where all involved get to strut their stuff. Japanese bodybuilder …

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Fist of the North Star (1995)

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Fist of the North Star (1995)

The grisly Japanese comic book and anime Hokuto no Ken was always going to be a tough concept to bring to life, what with its epic post-apocolyptic scope, larger than life characters and extreme violence. Herein lies the crux of the film’s problem. Inevitably, Randel gives us a gory He-Man; a cheap studio based fantasy with shoddy sets and two-bit caricatures. Randel’s lowkey lighting and Malcolm McDowell narration are not nearly as atmospheric as they ought to be, coming across more like crass sci-fi clichés. The film’s singular grace is a collection of semi decent scuffles, particularly near the end. Daniels …

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Black Dynamite (2009)

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Black Dynamite (2009)

Spoof blaxploitation from the brains and brawn of Michael Jai White, who rejoices in the sub-genre’s cheap thrills while adding a post-modern twist to the archetypal 1970s Black action hero. As the sharp suited Black Dynamite, White marries the kung fu chops of Jim Kelly with the moustache of Fred Williamson in a pointedly accurate homage to his boyhood heroes.

Decent spoofs derive from a place of respect rather than ridicule, and Black Dynamite is no exception. Here, the devil is in the detail. Production values are kept to a minimum with grainy film stock ensuring ultimate authenticity alongside shaky camerawork and bad …

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Interview: Gary Daniels

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Interview: Gary Daniels

He has worked with Jackie, Stallone, Snipes and Seagal. Now Surrey’s favourite high-kicking export is enjoying another Hollywood revival.

KFMG: So, Gary Daniels, are you ever going to come back to England?

GD: I used to come back a couple of times a year. Whenever I was shooting in Europe I would get tickets via England. I’ve done a couple of exhibition fights for Clash of the Titans over the years, and I came home to be there when Manchester United won the treble in 1999, but I don’t really go back much now. When I have free time I go to …

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