Pedicab Driver

Title: Pedicab Driver

Director: Sammo Hung

Released: 1989

Starring: Sammo Hung, Max Mok, Nina Li Chi, Fennie Yuen, Suen Yuet, John Sham, Billy Chow, Lau Kar-Leung, Sun Yueh

Plot: Lo Tung (Hung) and his friend Malted Candy (Mok) are pedicab drivers working in 1930’s Macao while hoping to win the hearts of their respective love interests which soon leads them into unwanted attention from the local gangster Master 5 (Sham)

Review: When I cast my mind back to the early titles which first got me into Martial Arts cinema there are the obvious classics like Jackie Chan’s “Police Story” and Bruce Lee’s “Enter The Dragon” but it was this film which first introduced me to the unlikely superstar Sammo Hung who despite being on first appearances looking like a parody of the traditional kung fu hero with his portly physique but as he proves throughout this film (not to mention his extensive career) he is more than capable of putting together some jaw dropping action scenes which is perhaps one of the reasons this film is held in such high regard by fans of Martial Arts cinema.

Blending comedic slapstick with hard hitting action scenes right from the start as Lo Tung and his friends engage in a tea house brawl with a group of rival pedicab drivers which includes light tubes being branded like lightsabers, while the number of people involved in this opening brawl is quite staggering when you look at how well choreographed the sequence is and only added to further by the brief appearance by Eric Tsang as the cleaver welding restaurant owner.

While the film certainly has it’s comedic elements largely provided by Hung as he battles the lecherous old baker Fang (Yueh) for the affections of Ping (Chi) who works for his aunts bakery. This plot line is perhaps played with alittle too much Benny Hill style humour which does make Ping suddenly falling for Lo Tung more than a little surprising especially when she doesn’t seem to really care for him. The darker elements however come with Malted Candy’s pursuit of Hsiao-Tsui (Yuen) who he doesn’t realise is also a prostitute owned by the gangster Master 5.

Considering how light hearted the film is in the first half its actually quite a shocking switch in tone that the film suddenly takes when it comes to Malted Candy’s romance, which at one point see’s him and his friends throwing drinks at her and generally treating her as being below them, even though she only became a prostitute to pay her sick father’s medical bills and now is trying to buy out her contract. Certainly on the first watch its a jaring shift in tone which does take you out of the film, especially considering how until this point the film has been playing things in a comedic slant.

As problematic as the plotting for the film might be the real draw is the action sequences which unquestionably more than deliver here. For those of you have never seen a Sammo Hung movie this more than showcases his talent with not one but three standout fight sequences for him as the first see’s him battling with poles the head of a gambling house played by another legend Lau Kar-leung who despite being setup for a return in the finale bizarrely never returns. We also get to see him battling Master 5 and his knife welding goons in the finale which also shows him demonstrating his usual surprisingly limber move set which is still jaw dropping to watch and worth watching the film for alone.

For some bizarre reason this film is notoriously difficult to find and only further argues the point for hanging onto so many of my VHS tapes, though why this film has not been given a better release is really quite baffling, especially when so many fans proclaim it as a high point in his career. True it might suffer from some sudden shifts in tone and questionable plotting but the action scenes alone make this one worth taking the effort to hunt down.

My Wife Is A Gangster

Title: My Wife Is A Gangster

Director: Jo Jin-Kyu

Released: 2001

Starring: Eun-Kyung Shin, Ahn Jae-mo, Park Sang-myn, Kim In-kwon, Jang Se-jin, Yeon Jung-hoon, Lee Eung-kyung, Kim In-mun, Gye-nam Myseong, Shin Shin-Ae

Plot: Eun-jin is a high ranking gangster in the Korean Mafia who suddenly finds herself being forced to find a husband to forfill the wishes of her dying sister who much like Eun-jin’s new husband has no idea of her ties to the criminal underworld.

Review: The first film in a trilogy, this action comedy is something of a double edged sword as here we get solid action sequences alongside the comedic attempts of Eun-jin to play both a wife and continue her role as a crime boss. Now this is not exactly the most original of plots especially as there have been a slew of comedies based around one party trying to hide their actions from their significant other, much less ones based around a character having to act against their general personality.

Opening to a rain drenched fight between two rival gangster clans we are introduced to Eun-jin or more her legend as Mantis who easily dispatches her gangster foes using her preferred weapon of choice can be best described as a pair of scissor blades.  Of course even without her unleashing bladed death Eun-Kyung Shin has just as much of an intimidating presence when she’s just drinking tea and reading the newspaper with Director Jo Jin-kyu thankfully playing things largely subtle as he prefers instead to play up her tough and largely cold persona which needless to say makes her attempts at finding her softer side only the more amusing.

Predictably a lot of the humor is derived from Eun-jinn attempting to play the dating game and find her softer side, initially though some interesting advice from the make up artist that her henchmen find to help her find a more feminine side to her look.  It’s a chance encounter though that she meets future Kang Soo-il (Park Sang-myn) who is astonishingly clueless about his wife’s criminal activities not to mention extremely accepting of her cold demeanor as any attempts her make to romance her usually end with him being kicked comedically across the room.

Adding to the comedic element are her loyal henchmen who are drawn into the attempts to find her a husband while at the same time mainly relying on the resources open to them as seen by them filling up the church with hostesses from their karaoke bars and fellow mobsters. Thrown into the mix is the cousin of her henchman, who fresh from the country has big ideas about being a mobster but zero clue of how he’s supposed to conduct himself let alone the fact that his preferred weapon of choice is a the shin bone from a horse really speaks volumes about him while at the same time largely being played for laughs.

Were the comedy tends to fail or perhaps just gets lost in translation are usually with the scenes between Eun-jin and Kang Soo-il with him trying to undress her while she is asleep or her suddenly being tasked with having a baby taking to essentially raping him as she forces him to continually have sex with her in her attempts to get pregnant. Thankfully the comedy and action of other scenes make up for these awkward moments which make it easier to stomach.

In a Jackie Chan vein the action sequences blend perfectly alongside the comedic moments with Eun-Kyung Shin showcasing some incredible fighting ability, while the variety of these set pieces choreographed by Kim Won-jin  which include a knife fight in a field being shot almost like a showdown between two samurai and a warehouse gang fight really giving the kind of action I wasn’t expecting from such a largely comedic film.

An entertaining watch if for a few tricky comedic moments, the blending of styles works perfectly here while ending on a sequence which had me eager to check out the sequel.

Come Drink With Me

Title: Come Drink With Me

Director: King Hu

Released: 1966

Starring: Cheng Pei-pei, Yueh Hua, Chan Hung-lit, Lee Wan-chung, Yeung Chi-hing, Ku Feng, Jao Li-jen, Wong Chung, Cheung Hei, Angela Pan

Plot: When a group of thugs kidnaps a young official in a bid to free their imprisoned leader Golden Swallow (Cheng Pei-pei) is sent to rescue him, while finding unlikely help in the beggar and secret kung fu master Drunken Cat (Yueh Hua)

Review: For a film which is seen as such an important milestone for martial arts cinema its somewhat frustrating that like the majority of films in the Shaw Brothers back catalogue that like the Godzilla series the lousy distribution has meant that bar a handful of titles few have made it over to region 2. True Amazon have now started to add some of these films but it still doesn’t answer the question as to why this film has been so frequently over looked while we can get 7+ releases of every Bruce Lee movie.

Noteworthy for being the first Martial arts film to move away from the Chinese opera inspired theatrics which had for the longest time been a staple of the Martial Arts genre, here director King Hu ushered in a brief era of serious minded martial arts movies which ultimately would meet its demise with the rise in popularity of the wire-fu movies. However its ideals would not be squashed entirely with the early 2000’s it was clear that they were instead merely dormant as the influence of this film can certainly be seen in the likes of Zhang Yimou “Hero” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” which saw Ang Lee bringing the star of this film Cheng Pei-pei out of retirement to play the villainous Jade Fox.

Despite only being 19 when she headlined this film Cheng Pei-pei confidently plays the role of Golden Swallow, a role she would play again in the sequel, but also setting her on the path of being one of the more identifiable Swordswomen in martial arts cinema which has seen her working almost continuously since. Here though she is captivating in the role from the first scene we see her in as she enters the local Inn looking for information on the bandits holding the official who is also her brother.

While more restrained in its action than other titles in the Shaw Bros. Back catalogue when we do get an action scene it is still entracing to watch her movements, especially with her fighting style being less based around power but instead focusing on graceful movements which plays to Cheng Pei-pei’s advantage with her background as a dancer much like Michelle Yeoh with her ability to memorise choreography here proving much key than the martial arts training she undertook prior to making the film. That being said Pei-pei already establishes herself as a badass before she even draws her sword warning a group of would-be attackers with the use of chopsticks and coins which she embeds in the walls of the inn with ease. My favourite of these subtle little movements though is the slight shift of her gaze to the side which would go on to be one of her trademarks.

Outside of Pei-pei’s scenes there is plenty of enjoyable sword play with the film opening to the bandits massacring the government official's guard. A scene which is surprisingly bloody even including a hand being almost comedically hacked off in the fray. At the same time we do get some surprisingly shocking moments of violence mixed in including the murder of a child monk by the villain Smiling Tiger (Lee Wan-chung) which comes seemingly out of nowhere and seeing how its so jarring compared to the rest of the film, I can’t help but wonder if this was as shocking back when the film was originally released.

One of the more jarring aspects of the film though is how Golden Swallow is pushed into the background when she gets hit with a poison dart around the halfway point with the focus instead shifting to Drunken Cat (Yueh Hua) the begger and martial arts master in hiding. Infact even our main villian at this point, the pancake makeup loving and generally theatrical Smiling Tiger is changed out for the evil abbot Liao Kung (Yeung Chi-hiung) who he attended the same Kung-fu school as Drunken Cat. There conflict providing one of the more fantastic elements of the film as the pair exchange magical blows as they battle for control over the bamboo staff of their master.

Seemingly this shift was down to King Hu doubting the abilities of Yueh Hua as a leading man, even though he does end up stealing most of the scenes he appears in, while Jackie Chan has noted the character was an inspiration for his own comedic and physical style of moment as Yueh Hua paints a very different idea of the martial arts hero, especially when compared to Golden Swallow.#

A enjoyable romp with some standout action sequences which alone are worth giving it a look, let alone the star making turn by Cheng Pei-pei

Lady Bloodfight

Title: Lady Bloodfight

Director: Chris Nahon

Released: 2016

Starring: Amy Johnston, Muriel Hofmann, Jenny Wu, Kathy Wu, Jet Tranter, Mayling Ng, Sunny Coelst, Rosemary Vandebrouck, Lisa Cheng

Plot: While attempting to escape her troubled homelife by backpacking in Hong Kong, Jane (Johnston) attracts the attention of Shu (Hofmann) when she is forced to fend off a group of thugs. Now under Shu’s training she enters into the all-female underground fighting tournament known as “The Kumite”.

Review: Originally created by writer / producer Bey Logan as a project to showcase the top female talent of Hong Kong martial arts cinema such as Maggie Q and Shu Qi only for the project to languish in development hell. Picked up by “Voltage Pictures” the film was instead turned into something for a more mainstream audience though surprisingly retaining a gritty edge to its action.

Directed by French director Chris Nahon who is no doubt best known for “Kiss of the Dragon” aswell as the live action adaptation of “Blood: The Last Vampire”. Here he once more brings a highly visual style to the film, though you might want to lower your expectations before you go into this expecting another “Kiss of the Dragon” arguably one of the best of Jet Li’s films. At the same time it should be noted that despite being given what essentially is a gender-swapped version of “Bloodsport” still manages to give us a surprisingly enjoyable brawler.

One of the big issues of this film really falls on the lack of plotting and character development which plagues this film throughout. Lets take Jane our heroine for example who arguably gets the most development of any of the cast and who we are introduced to working as a waitress were her zero tolerance for being harassed by pervert customers sees her being fired from her job and with only her slovenly chain smoking mother at home, she decides to find out what happened to her father who disappeared eight years previous while competing in the Kumite and well that’s about all we ever find out about her.

The other main plotline here involves rival masters Shu and Wei (Kathy Wu) who we see battling at the start of the film in the previous Kumite and from the large amount of time lapse photography spliced into their fight, we are lead to believe is also a fight which has gone on for hours, despite neither fighter seemingly any less dishevelled nor beat up than when they started. When the pair managed to ultimately fight to a draw they are tasked by the Kumite to each train a fighter to represent them in the following years competition which bring in Jane as the fighter of Shu while Wei finds her fighter in the thief and hoodrat Wai (Jenny Wu) who with her hotheaded nature could be seen as the closest the film really has to a villian outside of the psychotic Russian convict Svietta (Mayling Ng).

The fight scenes throughout are surprisingly brutal with this film certainly being more about attractive female fighters engaging in titillating catfights but rather them beating each other to a bloody pulp which is certainly the case for Jane who frequently comes off the worse in her fights. The fight scenes are further helped by the background of many of the actresses having a martial arts background which is certainly the case of Mayling Ng whose IMDB page features as demo real of her skills. Amy Johnston on the other hand has an extensive list of stunt woman credits and much like Zoe Bell who she also co-starred in “Raze” with makes the transition to actress with ease and believability here.

The downside to the action scenes comes from some seriously choppy editing and misguided attempts to include flashy camera work to heighten these scenes and add to the excitement. The other issues comes from Nahon shooting so close to the fight scenes rather than giving them the space to breathe and allow the audience to be able to see what is happening on the screen.

Despite being a DTV title certainly here on these rain soaked shores this film really fights above its expectations and while it might not be the most groundbreaking film of the year, while perhaps verging on blatant plagiarism of “Bloodsport” this is still an entertaining if slightly flawed brawler that’s still worth giving a look.

Police Story 4: First Strike

Title: Police Story 4: First Strike

Director: Stanley Tong

Released: 1996

Starring: Jackie Chan, Jackson Lou, Annie Wu, Bill Tung, Yuriy Petrov, Nonna Grishayeve, Terry Woo, Ailen Sit, Nathan Jones

Plot: Recuited by the CIA, Insp. Chan (Chan) to follow leads connected to a nuclear smuggling case, only to soon find himself on the trail of a missing nuclear warhead.

Review: Despite being the forth entry in Jackie Chan’s legendry “Police Story” franchise you really don’t need to have seen the previous three to enjoy this film and hence why it was sold to western audiences as just “First Strike” giving it the illusion of being a stand alone film especially to cash in on the success of “Rumble In The Bronx” which had introduced Chan finally to audiences not familiar with the Hong Kong cinema.

While this film takes perhaps alittle longer than his other films to get going with Chan engaging in some espionage antics before giving us the first of the films big set pieces on the snowy mountains of the Ukraine with Chan wearing little more than a humorous seal hat for warmth chases after a suspect and it what really sets the tone for the film as here we get to see Chan really working at the height of his powers as certainly highlighted by the now legendary ladder fight sequence whose painful screw ups really only demonstrate just how good Chan and his stunt team are. Its during the traditional mistake reel in the credits and you also see that Chan really wasn’t wearing anything remotely warm during the mountain sequences when snowboarding or being thrown into icy water that you may find yourself questioning the general sanity of Chan to put himself through such things.

Perhaps to the benefit of Chan for doing all those snow sequences the majority of the film takes place in Australia were he soon finds himself caught up with the sister of the suspect he’s been pursuing Annie here played by Annie Wu in her film debut. Of course the general plot is pretty thin and this is especially the case with her character whose only real purpose is to play the damsel in distress while the fact she works at the aquarium really is just to setup the finale. This isn’t a major issue thanks to the general charm of Chan’s performance aswell as the fact that most viewers will be here for the stunts and fights than the plot.

This is a great film for newcomers thanks to the light-hearted plot let alone how frequently ludicrious it is to have a film which features an aquarium of man eating sharks and a final showdown which takes place underwater. This of course is largely thanks to Chan’s performance as he’s essentially the every man rather than the bad ass, its just he also happens to be a martial arts master. At the same time he taps into the same slapstick action energy of Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd especially with the fight scenes being focused on using the environment around him and making one movement flow into the next. There is no better example of this than in this film when he is attempting to escape from a pair of Russian thugs, one being played by man mountain Nathan Jones.

As I mentioned already the action is really the star of the show here and while it might not top what we’ve seen in the previous three films in the saga it is still inventive and unquestionably better than his current output were its clear as he’s getting older he’s less willing to maim himself for his art especially when those bones don’t heal as quick as they used to, but hey this is the guy whose had so many injuries that he can no longer get insurance so you can hardly fault him for wanting to take it easier in these later years of his career. As such its fun to see a film like this when he was wanting to take those risks. Here Chan is clearly trying to give the audience something they haven't seen before which might explain the underwater fight finale, while the snowboard chase and the apartment escape which sees Chan repeatedly running into closed windows all make for fun highlights.

Frustratingly all the releases of this film bar the Japanese DVD are missing 21 mins from the film, while also dubbed which is less of an issue considering the style of film, but you would think that by now we would be able to get the original version of this film which sadly is still not an option.

A fun entry in the “Police Story” saga though while perhaps not the best film of this period it is still miles better from his current output, while providing the perfect start point for the newcomers to his extensive body of work.

Dragon

Title: Dragon

Director: Peter Chan

Released: 2011

Starring: Donnie Yen, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Wei Tang, Jimmy Wang Yu, Kara Hui, Wu Jiang

Plot: Liu Jinxi (Yen) is a papermaker living a quiet life in Liu village until one day when he kills two bandits attempting to rob the general store. Despite being regarded as a hero by the village he raises the suspicion of detective Xu Bai-Jiu (Kaneshiro) who begins to suspect that Liu is not who he says he is.

 

Review: While his name might leap out to most but Director Peter Chan certainly as a producer has been responsible for some of the best titles of 90’s and 00’s Hong Kong cinema including “The Eye”, “Three Extremes” and “The Warlords” he even produced the underrated John Woo movie “Heroes Shed No Tears”. Here though he equally proves himself once more to be no slouch in the directing chair either with this visually stunning martial arts movie which not only plays like Cronenberg’s “A History of Violence” set in 1917 but also provides yet another showcase for the jaw dropping martial arts skills of Donnie Yen who also handles the action choreography here.

While the film does have a pretty big twist, if you’ve seen “A History of Violence” you will know what to expect here, but just to cover ourselves lets just say *spoilers ahead*

As with its Cronenberg counterpart when we meet Yen’s character of Liu he is just a family man living a simple quiet life in the village with nothing to give us any indication that he is anything than just another villager working at the paper mill. Of course this is another story much like “First Blood” were it would be a much shorter film if it wasn’t was for the persistence of one sheriff in this case detective Xu who is seemingly half Rottweiler as once he gets it into his head that Liu might not be who he seems, he hounds him mercilessly. Even when the local magistrate tells him to let it go he continues his investigation which only becomes all the more ludicrous as it goes on with him believing that Liu is secretly a martial arts master and hence attempts to test him by knocking him off a bridge and hitting him with a knife believing that he would be able to defend himself using his Chi ability.

Of course when we do get the big reveal things quickly spiral out of control with Xu no doubt wishing that he hadn’t poked this beehive with Liu being revealed to be the former second-in command for the psychotic warrior clan the 72 Demons. Detective Xu’s belief that no criminal can change their ways brought about by an incident in his past really adds to this twist as from the audiences perspective we just want Liu to live his life hassle free but Xu at the same time maintains that nagging issues of if he could really have changed. Still Chan decides that the best way to show this in the film is by having Liu’s former clan show up looking for him which is also lead by his father played here by the legendary Jimmy Wang Yu who here is on top evil form.

Despite being a Donnie Yen movie, here the action is for the first half actually pretty restrained with his showdown with the two bandits being the sole action scene we get. This is hardly a disappointment though as like all the action sequences here it is stunningly shot and only added to by the replays we see Xu playing out in his head as he tries to figure out who Liu really is. When the 72 demons show up though the action seriously ramps up though despite seemingly being setup to have Liu and Xu taking on the 72 demons instead Donnie Yen restrains the action so that its kept to small groups and intricate choreography which really pays off while complemented further by some inventive camera work which only adds to these sequences.

The final showdown between Donnie Yen and Jimmy Wang Yu really is a piece of fanboy wish fulfilment to see these two masters finally squaring off. The fact that Yen is fighting him one armed really only adds to the sequence by giving us a homage of sorts to Yu’s role as “The One Armed Swordsman”. How he comes to loose said arm is perhaps one of the more random and baffling aspects of the film but by the time we get to this final showdown your hardly caring about such minor issues. Jimmy Wang Yu here though is on top evil form and the tension is really cranked up in the build up to this showdown which only make the pay off only the more sweet.

A fantastic martial arts movie combined with enjoyable thriller elements make this a film well worth checking out, while Peter Chan’s eye for detail and use of slow motion really only heightens the film above being just another run of the mill kung fu movie while making you wonder why Donnie Yen still hasn’t been snapped up by the Hollywood system the same way as his predecessors but then do we think he would get the freedom to make films like this there like he does within the Hong Kong studio system.

Return of the One-Armed Swordsman

Title: Return of the One-Armed Swordsman

Director: Chang Cheh

Released: 1969

Starring: Jimmy Wang Yu, Lisa Chiao Chiao, Chung Wa, Cheng Lui, Hoh Ban, Tien Feng, Ku Feng, Tung Li, Tong Gai, Lau Kar-wing, Lau Kar-leung, Yuen Cheung-Yan, Ti Lung, Wang Kuang-yu, Wu Ma, Fong Yau

Plot: Following on from the events of the first film Fang Gang (Wang Yu) the One Armed Swordsman has been living in peace with his wife, happily carving out a life for himself as a farmer. However its a short lived peace when the Eight Sword Kings a band of tyrannical sword masters arrive with plans to dominate the rival schools. Now recruited by the students of the local schools whose teachers have all been captured by the Eight Sword Kings, he must come out of retirement to stop them.

Review: Reuniting the original director and star of the Shaw Bros classic for this direct sequel to the original film which manages the rare accolade of being better than the original which spent most of its run time having Fang Gang trying to deal with losing his sword hand before mastering his left handed fighting style and ultimately defeating the long-armed devil.

With the setup handled by the first film director Chang Cheh wastes little time in throwing the audience into the action as we are quickly introduced to the members of the Eight Sword Kings who all come with their own unique weapon reflective of their name such as “Mighty Blade” who welds a giant to handed sword and “Thousand Blade” who is not only the only female member of the group but also welds numerous throwing knifes which she hides in the sleeves of her robe. The real strength of the villains of this film though is just how cunning they are with their planning, as they start by holding a tournament to capture and kill off the top fighters of the surrounding schools and essentially leaving them exposed. To further rub salt in the wounds of their enemies they demand that the students cut off their sword arms or risk their teachers being killed.

Of course despite all this happening Fang Gang is initially reluctant to pick up his sword again as he is content living a life of peace, only for the students to eventually convince him to take on the Sword Kings who soon come looking for him regardless as they dispatch the black and white swordsmen to take him out. From here though it seems that Sword Kings unleash a constant wave of henchmen at Fang Gang and the students as they make their way to the fort which the Sword Kings have captured for their base of operations as here Chang Cheh ramps up the energy of the film so that it feels that a fight scene is never far from happening at any given point in the film.

This increase in action and pacing really helps the film, especially when one of my main criticisms of the original film was just how plodding it felt throughout, which certainly isn’t an issue here, more so when the villains all have their own unique fight style making you wonder how Fang Gang will beat each one. At the same time many of these battles with the Sword Kings are mass brawls with numerous combatants fighting at the same time which somehow manages to still look clean without key characters being lost in the fray. For those who like their Kung fu bloody this film certainly has plenty to offer with the violence quota being cranked up from the first film and the heroes all dressing for some reason in white robes the violence is only accentuated where possible throughout the film and while you might think that you’d hot a point where seeing countless combatants being reduced to bloody heaps it surprisingly never comes.

While perhaps this might be far from the most subtle entry in the Shaw Bros. Catalogue its so much fun and packed with Chang Cheh’s usual style and energy that your hardly going to complain especially when it’s this much fun.

The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter

Title: The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter

Director: Lau Kar-leung
Released: 1983
Starring: Gordon Liu, Lily Li, Wong Yue, Alexander Fu, Kara Hui, Yeung Jing-jing, Wang Lung-wei, Chu Tiet-who, Ko Fei, Ching Chu, Lau Kar-Leung

Plot: When his father and brothers are massacred by the Khitan army after they are betrayed by the treacherous General Pun Mei (Lam Hak-ming). Now seeking sanctuary in the monastery in Mount Wutai Yeung Dak (Gordon Liu) soon adapts his spear technique for use with a pole before he is soon called back to face the Khitans when they capture his younger sister.

Review:  Another key title from the expansive Shaw Bros. library with this film being released in the final years of the studio before competition from the rival studio “Golden Harvest” forced them to move away from films and into TV instead. Director Lau Kar-leung though would be responsible for directing many of the studios most memorable titles including the “36th Chamber of Shaolin” trilogy aswell as the likes of “My Young Auntie” and “Heroes of the East”. Kar-Leung while certainly a noteworthy director not only for the Shaw Bros. but the Martial arts genre on a whole Kar-leung was also one of the main choreographers for the Shaw Bros. aswell as for director Chang Cheh on the likes of “The One-Armed Swordsman”.

Collaborating again with Gordon Liu here the relationship between with Kar-leung and Liu is probably one of the more overlooked director / actor pairings which is only the more surprising when you consider that they clocked up a whopping 18 collaborations together with this film unquestionably being yet another noteworthy addition to the list. The film plot wise of course is nothing too different than we have seen countless times before as we open to Yeung Dak alongside his father and brothers showcasing their impressive spear skills before being overwhelmed by the Khitans who have a special staff to counter their spear use. From here though it’s the usual develop winning fighting technique in this case the titular “Eight Diagram Pole Fighting Technique” before heading off to get his revenge on General Pun Mei.

However despite going through some familiar moves the fight scenes we get here are the real draw as Kar-leung crafts some truly draw dropping scenes with the monks of the film showcasing a defensive pole fighting style based around de-fanging wolves which they practice on a wolf statue. It’s a skill which comes in especially handy at the finale as we get a showdown between the Khitans lead by the general and Yeung Dek with his newly found monk brothers who put aside their non-violent ways to help him as the style they practice proves to be equally efficient against human foes in one of the more bloody finales as numerous henchmen find themselves toothless. While the fight scenes here might be less numerous than in other films in the Shaw Bros. Catalogue, Kar-leung limits himself to a mere 3 fight scenes, he makes them so memorable and integral to the plot itself that here less really is more while the flying headbutt in the finale is something to behold.

The journey however is really were the strength of the film lies as we see Yeung Dak go from a hot headed youngster to eventually finding his peace and heading off into the wild seemingly to continue the teachings he learns at the monastery than return to his violent ways. What only adds to this journey is the fact that he is initially turned away from the Monastery leading him in a memorable scene to suddenly shave his head with a blade and burn holes into his skull with incense sticks. Even after this act of self-mutilation they feel he is still too full of anger to become a monk leaving him to develop the titular fighting style off in a cave as he remains determined that he can get accepted by the monks.

An easy film to watch and well deserving of its status as one of the best titles in the Shaw Bros. back catalogue even if it did come during the dying days of their film productions this film at the same time equally provides a gentle introduction to those curious about the genre or the Shaw Bros. legacy.

SPL: Sha Po Lang AKA. Kill Zone

Title: SPL: Sha Po Lang AKA. Kill Zone

Director: Wilson Yip
Released:  2005
Starring: Donnie Yen, Simon Yam, Sammo Hung, Wu Jing, Liu Kai-chi, Danny Summer, Ken Chang, Austin Wai, Timmy Hung, Liang Jingke

Plot: Hong Kong Police Inspector Chan Kwok-chung (Yam)has spent most of his career trying to arrest triad boss Wong Po (Hung) and now dying from a brain tumour he recived following a failed attempt on his life by Wong Po’s assassin Jack (Jing) he now finds himself along with his team using ever more questionable methods to try and bring Wong Po down.  Now joined by his replacement Ma Kwun (Yen) a police detective with his own questionable past, they must soon decide what they are willing to do to take down Wong Po.

Review: The first of a series of films which along with “Dragon Tiger Gate”, “Flashpoint” and the “IP Man” trilogy which really elevated Donnie Yen from being a favourite amongst Martial arts fans to suddenly bringing him to the attention of mainstream audiences something which had failed to happen with the few roles he’s taken within the Hollywood studio system and putting in still impressive appearances in “Blade 2” and “Shanghai Knights”. At the same time this film marked the first film in a long line of collaborations with director Wilson Yip who would also direct all these breakout films for Yen who he would also give full control over the fight scenes by hiring him as the films action director aswell.

Unquestionably though it’s an impressive cast which director Yip has assembled here with Hong Kong legend Sammo Hung doning a questionable looking ponytail in a rare yet still completely convincing villainous turn as he plays the triad boss Wong Po whose wrath is handled by his personal hitman or his numerous followers. Simon Yam meanwhile is great to see as the morally conflicted Police Inspector who as the film go on becomes increasingly corrupt as his obsession with taking down Hung’s triad boss grows.

Surprisingly the weak link here is actually Donnie Yen, who as Ma Kwun gets the fantastical “Street Fighter” style introduction as he launches a drug dealer into the air with a single punch so that he lands with an impressive crash on the roof a nearby car. Much like Inspector Chan Kwok-chung he has his own personal issues to deal with having sworn off the any means necessary style of police work after he left a drug dealer mentally handicapped from a beating he gave them. A burden he now deals with by checking in on the former drug dealer and taking him to the arcade to ironically play fighting games as he atones for his actions. This of course puts him on a collision course to butt heads with Kwok-chung who he sees heading down a similar path to the one he was on. Maybe its because the rivalry between Inspector Chan Kwok-chung and Wong Po is already so intense the introduction of Yen's character does end up feeling for the most part like something which was bolted on than worked into the plot.

Perhaps also because of Ma Kwun’s desire to hold back and do things by the book I couldn’t help  but think of Bruce Lee’s “The Big Boss” which also held back the fighting till the hero is backed into a corner and forced to fight which is essentially what we get here with film teasing out its fight scenes. When we do get the fight scenes though they are certainly worth the wait with Yip giving us not one but two grandstanding fight scenes as Ma Kwun is forced to fight the hitman Jack before finally having his showdown with Wong Po.

Originally intended as a traditional police thriller before Donnie Yen joining the cast and causing the script to be reworked as he took on action director duties aswell in doing so he also brings to the film two incredible strong action sequences which are only improved by the fact that we get them back to back starting with an Alleyway fight scene which has become one of the more discussed sequences from this film and while largely improvised by Donnie Yen and Wu Jing. While this fight is unquestionably great I have to confess to having a major fanboy moment with the finale which see’s Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung facing off in a scene which surprisingly works despite Hung’s size (the questionable ponytail is something else) and Yen’s speed and makes me appreciate the fact we got a rematch in “IP Man 2” all the more as these two masters really work well together as clearly demonstrated here even if the ending left me with mixed feelings.

Quickly paced and with a healthy dose of great action there is a lot to enjoy here, especially with its three main stars all on great form. True it might not be the deepest of thrillers but the Donnie Yen choreographed action scenes really cover for a lot of the flaws. That being said for newcomers I’d sill recommend watching “Once Upon A Time In China 2” or “Iron Monkey” first to truly get why he’s such a noteworthy talent worth comparing to the genre greats.  

Boxer From Shantung

Title: Boxer From Shantung

Director:  Chang Cheh, Pao Hsueh Li

Released:  1972

Starring: Chen Kuan Tai, David Chiang, Cheng Young Hip, Ching Li, Wang Ching

 

Plot: Ma Youngzhen (Tai) and Xiao Jiangbei are a pair of labourers from Shantung who are struggling to find ther fortune in Shanghai. However when Ma encounters the local crime lord Tan Si (Chiang) he finds himself using his fighting skills to rise through the criminal underworld ranks.

Review: When it comes to naming influential directors especially in Hong Kong Cinema, Chang Cheh should be at the top of that list especially when he directed close to 100 films for the equally  legendry Shaw Bros including many of their key titles including Five Element Ninjas, The One-Armed Swordsman and the Five Deadly Venoms.

Joining “The Sexy Killer” which memorably remade “Coffy, this film plays essentially like the kung-fu version of “Scarface” even though it was shot nine years previous to the release of that film. However unlike Tony Montana; Ma doesn’t set out with any kind of plan to be a crime boss as he refuses a hand out from the honourable crime boss Tan Si after impressing him with his fighting abilities.  In an unusual twist it’s actually his own good intensions which see him still being drawn into the dealings of the local underworld, while soon seeing Tan Si almost as a mentor figure especially when he start imitating Tan Si’s style right down to his trademark cigarette holder.

As Ma’s power and influence rises he sound finds himself being targeted by the hatchet welding mobster lead by Boss Yang whose territory Ma and his followers are moving in on, as Ma refuses to muscle in on any territories run by Tan Si out of mutual respect. This of course leads to several large scale confrontations which is where the film especially gets interesting as Chang Cheh uses some great cinemography to elevate the film being just another kung fu flick, especially when he gives us moments such as Ma being surrounded by a group of knife welding mobsters, only to turn the camera away at the key moment they strike, almost as if he is interpretating the audiences reaction and forcing them to look away from a potentially gruesome scene.  Ma of course is a martial arts powerhouse as he frequently takes on multiple opponents with little hassle.

The fight scenes throughout the film are all certainly memorable with the highlights here seeing Ma take on a towering Russian strongman while ending on an absolute high with the Tea house showdown which plays not unlike the Scarface finale with Ma taking on overwhelming odds as he battles up and down the two floors of the teahouse with most of the fight spent with a hatchet embedded in his torso in what might be one of the bloodiest fight scenes I have ever seen especially when the bodies just appear to be piling up on the floor of the teahouse, with Cheh constantly managing to find new and ever more inventive ways to maintain the hold he has over the audience as the sequence plays out.

Working with a much longer run time at two hours than your standard kung fu movie, this film also avoids the usual revenge seeking student learning new styles path to instead give us a tale of a man trying to find his way in the world and generally do the right thing which is clear from the start as we see Ma and Xiao being forced to sleep on the floor of an Inn because they can’t afford a room and yet neither of them lets their situation beat them down, despite the innkeeper certainly taking a good shot at it. Its these humble beginnings which makes Ma’s corruption from power all the more believable especially when he suddenly goes from having nothing to suddenly having a tea house and a steady stream of protection money coming in. While this plot line is perfectly satisfying, it does however never take advantage of the relationship between Ma and the tea house singer Ms. Jin played here by Ching Li whose despite having some nice scenes never feels as if she is being fully used.

While perhaps alittle overlong for your more casual viewer watching this expecting some light hearted chock socky, but for those willing to brave the run time this is a rewarding experience, while the engrossing story really ensures that the runtime really doesn’t drag more so when each of the fight scenes seems to top the last with the finale which really has to be seen. This truly is the work of a master firing on all cylinders with this film really proving a highlight of his heroic bloodshed period which would go on to inspire both John Woo and Quentin Tarantino and here the influence is certainly clear.

Rumble In The Bronx

Title: Rumble In The Bronx

Director: Stanley Tong

Released: 1995

Starring: Jackie Chan, Anita Mui, Francosie Yip, Bill Tung, Marc Akerstream, Garvin Cross, Morgan Lam, Kris Lord

Plot: Keung (Chan) travels to New York to attend his uncle’s wedding, who has recently sold his supermarket to Elaine (Mui) only for her to soon find herself the target of a local motorcycle gang. Things only get more complex when the bikers occur the wrath of the powerful gangster White Tiger (Lord)

 

Review: After several failed attempts to break into the American market with films like “Battle Creek Brawl” and the ill-advised attempt at turning Chan into a tough cop in “The Protector”. A film which would ultimately end up being re-edited by Chan for the superior Hong Kong cut, while in turn inspiring him to make arguably his best film “Police Story”. Here though we get an interesting mixture of Chan’s usual slapstick and breath taking stunt work only now with attempts to make Chan more sexually appearing as gone is the Beatles haircut while he seems to now favour vest tops which emphasise his toned form more than in previous films, were he seemed to dressed to cover his physique to make him seem much more of an everyman.

In a story which seems to be a reworking of Bruce Lee’s “Way of the Dragon” Keung finds himself frequently having to defend the store against the local motorcycle gang, whose paths frequently cross with Keung including a surprisingly brutal sequence in which Keung is pelted with glass bottles while cornered down an alleyway. Things only get more complex when Keung discovers that Nancy (Yip) the sister of his disabled next door neighbour is also the girlfriend of the gang leader Tony (Akerstream). For the established fans of Chan’s work this film is essentially business as usual bar the slight aforementioned changes to his usual style of character and the change of location which sees Vancouver standing in for New York which for the most part works, bar the occasional shots where mountains are visible in the background. This however is really nit picking especially when it only becomes noticeable when highlighted.

While this might have been designed as a vehicle for Chan, fellow Hong Kong cinema favourite Anita Mui appears here, mainly for comic relief which might come as a disappointment to fans of her films like “Saviour of the Soul” and “The Heroic Trio” and despite initially being setup as a romantic interest. Introduced as the attractive business woman, she is bizarrely dressed down as soon as Keung starts getting involved with Nancy and her brother. Despite this sudden change of direction for her character she still manages to put in a fun performance throughout which at times seems to echo Maggie Chung’s performance as May in “Police Story”.

The story on the whole is pretty flimsy in places and isn’t helped by some over acted performances by some of the cast members, whose performances are only further hammed up with the questionable dubbing track which the studio decided to add for many of its English speaking cast. While the film starts off with Keung taking on the biker gang which would have worked fine, the fact that we get a second group of bad guys only seems to highlight the lack of faith in them being a believable threat. More baffling is how it only takes a beatdown at their hideout for them to suddenly make them allies, despite all the destruction they caused to the store and let’s not forget they also projectile bottled Keung earlier in the film, but he’s more than happy to let all that go, even hoping that their next meeting will see them drinking as friends. Ok true the last part is said in his native tongue and makes for a badass end to an equally badass showdown between Keung and the bikers

The fact that the plotting of the film is so questionable is not a huge issue thanks to some engaging performances from Chan, whose kung fu klutz style transfers well here while Chung provides some fun comic relief which helps to make up for the lack of action she gets here. The action scenes through are unquestionably the real draw here, with Chan crafting some memorable and as always creative fight scenes as he manages to turn any number of objects into surprisingly effective weapons, with a hijacked hovercraft chase providing an equally inventive finale including Chan making a leap which resulted in breaking his leg which like so many of the mishaps you get to see during Chan’s traditional end credits outtakes.

Thanks to Golden Harvest handling the production, Chan has clearly been afforded the same time to work on his fight scenes that he was afforded with his other Hong Kong productions which helped them to stand out from the American productions which regularly suffered from comparisons to the fights and stunt work seen in his earlier films, thanks largely to American studios not being willing to schedule Chan the kind of time he has become legendry for assigning to these sequences with his quest for perfection seeing Chan more than happy to shoot the same scenes over and over, which he wouldn’t be afforded with his American productions. This film clearly argues the case for Chan being assigned this time.

While perhaps not as good as many of his earlier Hong Kong productions, this is certainly one of the strongest of his later films and unsurprisingly would be the film which helped his break into Hollywood.

The Raid 2: Berandal

Title: The Raid 2: Berandal

Director: Gareth Evans

Released: 2014

Starring: Iwo Uwais, Arifin Putra, Tio Pakusadewo, Oka Antara, Alex Abbad, Cecep Arif Rahman, Julie Estelle, Very Tri Yulisman, Ryuhei Matsuda, Kenichi Endo, Kazuki Kitamura, Yayan Ruhian, Cok Simbara

Plot: Picking up the story several hours after the end of the first film, Rama (Uwais) meets with Bunawar (Simbara) the head of an anti-corruption task force who tasks Rama with going undercover to expose those at the top of the Jakarta criminal underworld, following the murder of his brother by self-made gangster Bejo (Abbad).

Review: While the threats of an American remake of the original film continues unabated, much like those which surround a remake of “Battle Royale” the original film remains even now a high benchmark for martial arts movies / action movies on the whole, let alone for Evans himself to try and top which arguably is exactly what he has done here with this ambitious sequel.

Expanding on the world he introduced us with in the first film, here he broadens the scope of the film to this time take in the whole of the Jakarta underworld as Rama’s story this time is just one of many in play in this gangland saga as Rama soon finds himself caught in the middle of a war between the two crime families. The Jakarta crime family run by Bangun (Pakusadewo) and whose hot-headed son Uco (Putra) Rama is tasked with befriending as an entry point into the underworld he’s been tasked with investigating. On the opposite side we have Boss Goto (Endo) who heads up the local Yakuza faction who in turn mix things up and like so many aspects gives us something else that audiences haven’t seen before. Originally envisioned as the first film in the series only for budget issues to force Evans to scale down the production to the claustrophobic corridors of the original while he put this script to one side, reworking it slightly when this film was given the green light, which in a strange twist of fate only seems to be for the better as this works a lot better as the middle film of a proposed trilogy than the first.

While the scope of the film and not to mention numerous plot threads in play can at times feel slightly overwhelming, Evans manages to bring it all together for the finale while the films generous run time helps each of the characters to be developed beyond being just cut out villains, though some of the more colourful henchmen such and the dual claw hammer welding Hammer Girl and the baseball bat welding Baseball Bat Man are given just surface colour to highlight their relationship with the majority of their appearances here being to highlight their particular and unquestionably brutal techniques. While this might not be a huge issue, it did however when it came to the Hobo hitman Prakoso played here by returning fight choreographer Yayan Ruhian who also memorably played “Mad Dog” in the first film and here gives the polar opposite of that character with his dishevelled clothes and beard he carries out hits for Bangun with deadly efficiently with his machete, while we see that he only does this work for his son who currently lives with his ex-wife a background teased by Evans in a scene showing the frosty relationship he has with his wife, who refuses him access to their son while belittling his appearance no doubt the result of any money he makes being given to his son. Even though he is a minor character he’s still one I would have liked to have seen more of.

This time we get to see more of Rama’s homelife to add to what we saw in the introduction of the last film, here used to emphasis the stress and loneliness that Rama has to fight while maintaining his cover, especially when he is originally promised that he will only be under for a couple of months which soon turns into a couple of years. Needless to say Uwais is more than capable of taking us on this emotional journey, rather than your usual action hero who care more about the action elements than selling the drama, something which was a concern with this film being more drama heavy than the first, but Uwais again gives a great performance so that we truly believe that he is gone through hell when we see his broken expression at the end of the film, not that it takes awhole lot of selling when you look at what he has to go through in the finale.

He action scenes are unquestionably once more the selling point for the film as Evans sets out to not only top what he did with the first film especially combined with such inventive and impressive camerawork, clearly aiming to ensure with each action sequence that he is giving us something that we haven’t seen before. This time not only increasing the spectacle of the fight scenes, which are noticeably one of the areas to increase in scale, while Evans also turns his hand to crafting several thrilling vehicle based sequences including a jaw dropping car chase involving multiple vehicles and a heated brawl taking place while this happens. As I mentioned earlier in this review fight choreographer Yayan Ruhian returns to give us yet another brutal demonstration of Silat, with Evans recently going on record to state that he is the only choreography he will work with and consider that somehow he has managed to craft scenes more brutal than the first film, as limbs are frequently broken or snapped. The scale of the fight scenes is also increased so that the majority of the battles are large scale affairs with the prison yard brawl featuring around 30 fighters is a dizzying piece of choreography while only added to when the whole thing seems to have been shot in one take.

The downside here though is that in upping the ante and trying to beat the already brutal bar set by the first film, there is often the feeling that things are being taken further than I felt comfortable watching especially when some sequences verge on raw sadism with the frenzied knife fight between Rama and “The Assassin” (Rahman) which I can only really describe as watching human dog fighting. Perhaps because unlike the insanely violent “Riki-Oh: Story of Ricky” this film is aiming for an element of realism which perhaps in turn makes it only seem the more brutal. However when you look at the fact that one character is using dual hammers and another a baseball bat, I guess there is no way to make their fights any less brutal.

While the film suffers due to its brutality levels there is no denying what Evans has achieved here as this is a film that the genre fans as well as fans of the first will no doubt adore, even if it is a different beast in many ways to the first film. With Evans looking to make a third and final film in the trilogy I'm now especially interested to see the direction he takes, more so when the bar has undoubtedly been raised yet again with this film.