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HONG KONG ACTION MOVIES!!! Kung Fu and John Woo!
Raybies666
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
After some off topic business in the Street fighter IV thread, I decided to start a thread on classic Hong Kong action cinema.
Kung Fu first, John Woo is further down
My exposure to these movies started early. My Dad has been teaching Tae Kwon Do since before I was born so Martial Arts were an influence in my house and we'd see the occaisonal MA movie, but unfortunately all I got to see was crap like a movie about guys reacting to Bruce Lee's death. Picture 90 minutes of guys running up to each other and havin this conversation "Bruce lee is dead!""Aw man, that sucks" and rarely having a kung fu fight, except these guys were rubbish. Booooo.
Then our local video store got in 3 jackie chan movies and my brother got 2 videos. This was a big deal back in the day, you could not get Jackie Chan movies for love nor money. I knew who Bruce Lee was, but had not seen him in action. It was this way until the early nineties, and more of these movies started becoming available, and Bruce Lee Movies were censored. Then DVD hit in a big way and the rest is history.
I'm going to start with Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Baio. Nick named "the three brothers" or the "three dragons", they were educated at Yu Jim Yuen's Peking Opera School, they learned to sing and dance, stage kung fu, acrobatics and practical kung fu. Yu was a harsh master, beatings were common and mistakes were punished. Other members of the school include Yuen Wah (Landlord from Kung Fu hustle and Bruce Lee's acrobatic double) and Corey Yuen Kwai (Worked with everybody above, did a lot of work with Jet Li also). The school performed peking opera under the troupe name The Seven Little Fortunes (a revolving cast including the names above) and were loaned out to movies, always taking a stage name including the name Yuen as a tribute (some of which kept that as a professional stage name, not to be confused with Yuen woo ping et al).
Sammo Hung was the first to get into the industry as his own man, mostly with action choreography. Sammo was the big brother in the school, which eventually became his nickname in the industry (a title which translated as big brother big, or the biggest of big brothers). He got Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao to follow him into choreography and stuntwork (they can be seen as extras in early Sammo movies, and they all appear in minor roles in Enter the Dragon).
Sammo became well respected, Jackie Chan bacame a phenomenon and Yuen Biao is more of a fan favourite than a big star. They would learn actual Martial arts to be used or co-opted into fictional martial arts. While all three were adding comedy to their movies, their trademarks were distinct. Sammo had power, and is a pretty fat guy, which makes some of his moves astounding. Jackie had comedy built into his fight choreography itself, and was a crazy stuntman too. Yuen Biao was the real acrobat of the three, which is saying something, which made him get some unbelievable moves into his work.
These guys are the fucking masters of fight choreography. Yeun woo ping et al are great and all, but run second to the opera school boys. Bruce Lee was very impressed with Sammo Hung and wanted to work with him before his untimely death.
Here's a few quick clips:
The Prodigal Son: Yuen Baio learns wing chun from Lam Ching Ying and Sammo Hung. Starts off jokey then gets ass kickingly good
Lam ching ying versus Frankie chan
Yuen Baio versus Frankie Chan
Warriors Two: Casanova Wong and Sammo Hung learn Wing Chun from Leung Kar Lan. The wing chun is always grounded, but there are some overexaggerated Iron Vest, Monkey Kung fu and praying Mantis style
Lung Kar Yan versus a gang
End fight, Casanova and Sammo versus Fung Hak On
The Young Master: Jackie Chan's brother betrays the Kung Fu school and Jackie goes to get him back from the bad crowd he fell in with. And then gets the shit kicked out of him for about 14 minutes by Wong in Sik
End fight
Part 2
Police story: Jackie chan takes on a criminal gang as part of a tem, then becomes A MAN ON THE EDGE!!!!
End fight Police story 2: Bad guys are blowing up the city, Jackie Chan assumes its the bad guys from the first movies, but ends up having to handle two sets of crims.
Jackie versus old gang in playground
The Victim Leung Kar Yan is on the run from his dickhead brother, then reluctantly takes Sammo Hung as a student after much personal tragedy. Sammo starts off as a jokey asshole taking on all comers and being a real dick about it.
Sammo kicking someones ass with weapons and being a dick about it
End fight: Leung Kar yan fights siome asshole with a real flowery Kung Fu style, then fights EVERYBODY!
Dragons Forever: Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao are bad seeds in their own way, but end up fighting a criminal organisation, including Jackie versus Benny Urquidez
End fight parts 1
Part 2
Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars: The lucky stars movies have Sammo with 4 comedians, and there'll be a plot which necessitates some combination of Jackie and Bioa just appearing fo fight scenes.
Here's a montage of Yuen Biao in this movie, pay close attention ot about 00:50
Also check out:
Drive: Mark Dacascos has a bio engine in his chest which allows for him to be a kung fu bad ass
Millionaire's Express/Shanghai express: Small town in early 1900's China, Sammo Hung stops a train with lots of rich folk on it to make money for the town. A group of bandits who were going to rob the train comes to the town and mayhem ensues. Anybody who was anybody in HK film at the time is in this movie: Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Lam Ching Ying, Jimmy Wang Yu, Bolo Yeung, Hwang Jang Li (bad guy from drunken master), Yasuaki Kurata (old guy that fought jet li in fist of legend), cynthia Rothrock, Richard norton and it just goes on..... If you watch any HK movies, you will spot someone you know in every scene.
On a side note, Forbidden Kindom with Jackie Chan and Jet li is pretty good, but the scene where Jackie and Jet throw down is great, but the whole movie is not that quality
Old hands throw down the gauntlet to new action movie heroes
OKEY DOKEY FOLKS: Discuss at will, I don't know anything about Shaw Brothers movies, have seen exactly 2 of them. I'll get into John Woo, Bruce Lee etc at some point but if anyone wants to start for me, go right ahead
Kung Fu first, John Woo is further down
My exposure to these movies started early. My Dad has been teaching Tae Kwon Do since before I was born so Martial Arts were an influence in my house and we'd see the occaisonal MA movie, but unfortunately all I got to see was crap like a movie about guys reacting to Bruce Lee's death. Picture 90 minutes of guys running up to each other and havin this conversation "Bruce lee is dead!""Aw man, that sucks" and rarely having a kung fu fight, except these guys were rubbish. Booooo.
Then our local video store got in 3 jackie chan movies and my brother got 2 videos. This was a big deal back in the day, you could not get Jackie Chan movies for love nor money. I knew who Bruce Lee was, but had not seen him in action. It was this way until the early nineties, and more of these movies started becoming available, and Bruce Lee Movies were censored. Then DVD hit in a big way and the rest is history.
I'm going to start with Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Baio. Nick named "the three brothers" or the "three dragons", they were educated at Yu Jim Yuen's Peking Opera School, they learned to sing and dance, stage kung fu, acrobatics and practical kung fu. Yu was a harsh master, beatings were common and mistakes were punished. Other members of the school include Yuen Wah (Landlord from Kung Fu hustle and Bruce Lee's acrobatic double) and Corey Yuen Kwai (Worked with everybody above, did a lot of work with Jet Li also). The school performed peking opera under the troupe name The Seven Little Fortunes (a revolving cast including the names above) and were loaned out to movies, always taking a stage name including the name Yuen as a tribute (some of which kept that as a professional stage name, not to be confused with Yuen woo ping et al).
Sammo Hung was the first to get into the industry as his own man, mostly with action choreography. Sammo was the big brother in the school, which eventually became his nickname in the industry (a title which translated as big brother big, or the biggest of big brothers). He got Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao to follow him into choreography and stuntwork (they can be seen as extras in early Sammo movies, and they all appear in minor roles in Enter the Dragon).
Sammo became well respected, Jackie Chan bacame a phenomenon and Yuen Biao is more of a fan favourite than a big star. They would learn actual Martial arts to be used or co-opted into fictional martial arts. While all three were adding comedy to their movies, their trademarks were distinct. Sammo had power, and is a pretty fat guy, which makes some of his moves astounding. Jackie had comedy built into his fight choreography itself, and was a crazy stuntman too. Yuen Biao was the real acrobat of the three, which is saying something, which made him get some unbelievable moves into his work.
These guys are the fucking masters of fight choreography. Yeun woo ping et al are great and all, but run second to the opera school boys. Bruce Lee was very impressed with Sammo Hung and wanted to work with him before his untimely death.
Here's a few quick clips:
The Prodigal Son: Yuen Baio learns wing chun from Lam Ching Ying and Sammo Hung. Starts off jokey then gets ass kickingly good
Lam ching ying versus Frankie chan
Yuen Baio versus Frankie Chan
Warriors Two: Casanova Wong and Sammo Hung learn Wing Chun from Leung Kar Lan. The wing chun is always grounded, but there are some overexaggerated Iron Vest, Monkey Kung fu and praying Mantis style
Lung Kar Yan versus a gang
End fight, Casanova and Sammo versus Fung Hak On
The Young Master: Jackie Chan's brother betrays the Kung Fu school and Jackie goes to get him back from the bad crowd he fell in with. And then gets the shit kicked out of him for about 14 minutes by Wong in Sik
End fight
Part 2
Police story: Jackie chan takes on a criminal gang as part of a tem, then becomes A MAN ON THE EDGE!!!!
End fight Police story 2: Bad guys are blowing up the city, Jackie Chan assumes its the bad guys from the first movies, but ends up having to handle two sets of crims.
Jackie versus old gang in playground
The Victim Leung Kar Yan is on the run from his dickhead brother, then reluctantly takes Sammo Hung as a student after much personal tragedy. Sammo starts off as a jokey asshole taking on all comers and being a real dick about it.
Sammo kicking someones ass with weapons and being a dick about it
End fight: Leung Kar yan fights siome asshole with a real flowery Kung Fu style, then fights EVERYBODY!
Dragons Forever: Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao are bad seeds in their own way, but end up fighting a criminal organisation, including Jackie versus Benny Urquidez
End fight parts 1
Part 2
Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars: The lucky stars movies have Sammo with 4 comedians, and there'll be a plot which necessitates some combination of Jackie and Bioa just appearing fo fight scenes.
Here's a montage of Yuen Biao in this movie, pay close attention ot about 00:50
Also check out:
Drive: Mark Dacascos has a bio engine in his chest which allows for him to be a kung fu bad ass
Millionaire's Express/Shanghai express: Small town in early 1900's China, Sammo Hung stops a train with lots of rich folk on it to make money for the town. A group of bandits who were going to rob the train comes to the town and mayhem ensues. Anybody who was anybody in HK film at the time is in this movie: Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Lam Ching Ying, Jimmy Wang Yu, Bolo Yeung, Hwang Jang Li (bad guy from drunken master), Yasuaki Kurata (old guy that fought jet li in fist of legend), cynthia Rothrock, Richard norton and it just goes on..... If you watch any HK movies, you will spot someone you know in every scene.
On a side note, Forbidden Kindom with Jackie Chan and Jet li is pretty good, but the scene where Jackie and Jet throw down is great, but the whole movie is not that quality
Old hands throw down the gauntlet to new action movie heroes
OKEY DOKEY FOLKS: Discuss at will, I don't know anything about Shaw Brothers movies, have seen exactly 2 of them. I'll get into John Woo, Bruce Lee etc at some point but if anyone wants to start for me, go right ahead
Beat me on Wii U: Raybies
Beat me on 360: Raybies666
I remember when I had time to be good at games.
Beat me on 360: Raybies666
I remember when I had time to be good at games.
Raybies666 on
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I'll give you a few to start with:
All Bruce Lee movies. You may see them as cool or crap, depends on the person, but Bruce Lee is awesome.
The Big Boss
Fist of Fury
Way of the Dragon
Enter the Dragon
Game of death is not essential, finished after Bruce Lee died, they cut up his existing footage and made a new movie around it with doubles an stand ins. Some dvd's do have the full uncut footage that Bruce Lee shot as an extra. That part is essential in itself.
Jackie Chan, in this order:
Snake in the Eagles Shadow
Drunken Master (apparently drunken master 2, made 15 years later is superfuckawesome, but I havent seen it.)
The Young Master
Police Story
Police story 2
Police story 3 (also known as supercop)
Sammo Hung:
Iron Fisted Monk
Warriors Two
The Victim
Yuen Baio:
The Prodigal Son
Jackie, Sammo and Biao:
Wheels on Meals
Project A
Dragons forever.
Jet Li:
Shaolin Temple series
Once upon a time in china 1,2,3,Once upon a time in china and america.
THis is just a quick short list. All the Bruce Lee movies, Police Story and the 3 Jackie/Sammo/Biao movies listed are all modern fighting as opposed to classical kung fu. All are worth watching.
Hong Kong Legends released most of these movies on Region 2 and 4, which is where I got them. Apart from that Dragondynasty.com have a good line up too.
Beat me on 360: Raybies666
I remember when I had time to be good at games.
I is disappointed.
Beat me on 360: Raybies666
I remember when I had time to be good at games.
I should ban you all for your ignorance.
Jesus, it's at the end of the first post that I'd be getting there!
So. John Woo hit gold with "A better tomorrow". Previously he'd made unsuccessful comedies, romances and kung fu movies. While this movies may not have invented heroic bloodshed with gunplay, the pbulic went crazy for it. Followed with 2 sequels from Woo, and some other movies of this type.
Chow Yun fat was a successful TV actor, but box office poison. Chow was 2nd/3rd billed originally, but as mentioned above, completely stole the show. One word describes Chow: Cool. Fucking Cool. Really Motherfucking Cool. Apart from a comedy (Once a thief) with some action elements, Woo and Chow made A Better Tomorrow, The Killer and HardBoiled.
These movies are very melodramatic, very character driven and oh yeah... REALLY FUCKING VIOLENT!!!!!
If you've seen a movie where someone dives through the air sideways firing 2 guns, this is where it started. Action scenes are frequent, balletic, flowing and completely fucking awesome.
A quick note about their US movies: Chow was in Replacement Killers and The Corrupter, both trying to create the same sort of action, somewhat successfull. Woo directed Van Damme in Hard Target, Nic Cage/Travolta in Face/Off, Mission Impossible 2, Windtalkers.
If you've seen any of these movies and not the HK ones, maybe thought they were crap wioth some good stuff in them, check out the HK movies. They are on another level altogether.
A Better Tomorrow: Ti Lung is a gangster who just got out of jail, Leslie CHung is his little brother who is a cop and CHow Yun Fat is his old triad mate. A deal goes bad, ending with Ti in Jail and CHow lame (after trying to avenge the shoddy deal). Ti is being hassled after and it ends up with shootouts tragedy and shootouts.
Trailer:
THe Killer: CHow Yun Fat is a hitman who accidentally blinds a bystander during a job. WHile he watches over her (she does not know he blinded her), Danny Lee is a cop who is hunting Chow after witnessing a hit. Chow is also being hunted by the Triad boss who ordered the last hit. Explores themes of brotherhood across moral lines and SHOOTOUTS!! THe next step up, action wise.
Opening Shootout, Chow is on a hit.
Chow gets attacked while meeting his handler, who he has started to suspect:
It starts to hit the Fan, the cop the hitman and the girl versus a small army.
How Danny Lee gets on Chow's trail, and CHow gets betrayed
END SHOOTOUT, SERIOUSLY IT'S THE END OF THE MOVIE
Hard Boiled: CHow Yun Fat is a cop, Tony Leung is a triad member who is actually an undercover cop. Tony joins the triad that Chow is investigated and lots of people get shot. LOTS.
Final action scene is 40 minutes long, but is not nonstop. Paced to progress the story and make you wet your pants, its such a good fuckin movie. The Xbox 360 game is a sequel to this movie, take from that what you will.
Opening shootout in a tea house
Near the end, CHow and Leung kill a load of guys in one long shot
THe whole movie is on youtube, check it out. Then buy the new dvd from Dragon Dynasty for a really good transfer and great sounding extras
Beat me on 360: Raybies666
I remember when I had time to be good at games.
The Killer's my favorite, I think, but Hard Boiled has the long shot. The reloading scene on the elevator is absolutely amazing, and then it keeps going.
And yes, God of Gamblers is amazing, hokey fun.
First Strike is also awesome, and Who Am I has the best miniboss fight, with The Guy Who Only Punches and The Guy Who Only Kicks.
I completely agree with you great pick, the end fight is simply EPIC, I would say best of any Kung Fu movie, but I loved the end fight in Jet Li's Fist of Legend. But just to be a Devil's advocate I will say that Gorgeous is Jackie's best movie, the end fight is amazing.
If really only for this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yM3-YO7qHs
One of the greatest movies ever, really.
Also, speaking of Hong Kong action movies, everyone so interested should watch Ringo Lam's City On Fire ( if only to gape in amazement at how much of it was "borrowed" by Tarantino for Reservior Dogs), and Ronny Yu's The Bride With White Hair.
I love Hard Boiled, but the Killer is my favorite HKBO, if only for its finish. Though you can't go wrong either way. I also enjoyed once a thief though most don't consider it straight woo because its not wall to wall action. If you want to watch a b movie Hong Kong film with Chow Yun Fat there is the entertaining Full Contact as well, though be warned the quality is vastly lower then his Woo Films.
For some modern kungfu/drama Donnie Yen has a couple flicks I enjoyed, flash point and kill zone. Some frenetic fight scenes and decent drama for a kung fu/action flick.
pleasepaypreacher.net
The Killer is generally regarded as the superior film, although Hard Boiled's set pieces are better, and the huge unbroken take at the end is maybe the best action sequence ever
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfeAqlYv2wQ
I don't think it's the cut you mean, but Hong Kong Legends put out a good release of Bullet in the head. City on fire too, was a real good movie.
I didn't say Woo directed 3, just that he and Chow were in on it. Semantics FTW! :P
Tsui Hark directed ABT3, very prolific director and producer. Everybody seems to fall out with Tsui Hsrk, but he's worked with pertty much everybody, even doing a cameo in a movie with Michelle Yeoh and Cynthia Rothrock.
Full contact is great, it's just a different type of movie to the Woo films.
Beat me on 360: Raybies666
I remember when I had time to be good at games.
Also, if you're in to hong kong cinema featuring Wing Chun, Stranger From Shaolin is an awesome film about the (fictional) origins of Wing Chun kung fu.
Wing Chun eh? There's video of Sammo's 2 WC movies, Warriors Two and Prodigal Son in the OP, really good. Hong Kong legends put out both of those movies and one has a feature with one of the WC Sifus who helped Sammo. Are you following that chap on Carnaby st in London? Guy Lai or Austin Goh, am I right on this?
I wanted to check out the place last ime I was in London, but I flollow Leung Ting's system and am not any good at it yet, so I thought better of dropping in for a theory chat. Sometimes it's best not to ruffle feathers, you know?
Beat me on 360: Raybies666
I remember when I had time to be good at games.
Is he a WC fighter? I moved away from my kwoon a couple of years ago and have been studying on my own, so I'm not involved with any organization anymore, and I don't really "follow" martial arts.
The Sifu who helped Sammo is likely either Simon Lau or one of Yip Man's sons (if not Yip Man himself, depending on when the video was shot). If it's a buff white dude though, let me know. I'd like to see it.
It's probably not Yip Man, his students are very exacting about who trained under him before he died. I'm not sure who is who as far as WC help goes, and I don't have the DVD's to hand to check.
As for Sammo being as WC fighter, I know he learned for Warriors 2, and that he is in correspondence in some way with Leung Ting of the Wing Tsun system. I'm at a loss for further knowledge, or even discussion as I find it very hard to discuss Martial Arts online without some fool making out that MMA is the unbeatable ultimate style, traditional MA followers believe we can throw fucking Hadokens, that we actually have no idea how to do anything approximating real fighting and so on.
It's bloody frustrating trying to have an open discussion with people so wilfully ignorant, which is why I never bothered creating a non-mma focused MA thread here.
Anyway, back on topic, I just watched Iron Monkey so:
Wong Fei Hung
Wong Fei Hung was a martial arts master from Foshan/Fatsan who relocated to Canton. His father, Wong Kei Ying, was a martial artist and doctor (being a real master meant being able to medicate both illness and the damage you caused if you were especially righteous), and the Po Chi Lam pharmacy was their business. Wong Fei Hung taught Lam sai Wing, who taught Lau Cham. CHam taught his sons Lau Kar Leung, Lau Kar Wing and (adopted) Lau Kar Fai, who are known from Shaw Brother's movies as Liu Chia Liang, Liu Chia Yung and Gordon Liu Chia Hui. Fei Hung is thought to have died in the 1920's, after a successin of young wives and kicking the absolute shit out of bad guys. He was so good, he'd call out the names of his moves as he performed them, inspiring a hell of a lot of movies and manga to do the same.
Wong Fei Hung was the subject of about a gazillion movies, played in 77 of them (!) by Kwan Tak Hing.
Kwan Tak Hing teaching in a movie, at about 70 years old:
Kwan Tak Hing was originally a White Crane practitioner, whether his Hung Gar was accurate on screen, I dont know. I do know he was still making movies and tv shows into his 80's (sometimes doubled) and dies at 92. A frequest bad guy in his old WFH movies was Shih Kien, the bad guy from Enter the Dragon.
Drunken Master:
Jackie Chan played Fei Hung as a youngster in (as nobody wanted to disrespect Kwan's portrayal of the old sifu). Jackie learns Drunken Boxing from Beggar So (sometimes called Sam the Seed in about a gazillion movies when dubbed to english) as punishment for being a dick (and yes, he's a dick), and then uses it to save his father from Thunderfoot (Korean ass kicker Hwang Jang Lee, in reality a very, very dangerous man)
Training which looks agonising, performed by Beggar So (Yeun siu Tin, father of Yuen Woo Ping)
Jackie performs Drunken Boxing forms
END FIGHT!
Once Upon A Time In China Series:
6 movies and a TV series, Jet li played Wong Fei Hung in 1,2,3,6( 6 is called Once Upon A Time in China and America). Chiu Man Cheuk (later known as Vincent Zhao Wen Zhou) was in 4,5, and TV series.
Tsui Hark diurecting with Yeun Woo Ping and his brothers choreographing different entries in the series, apart from 6 which had Sammo Hung in the directors chair and possibly him choreographing, but I'm not sure. There is varying levels of exaggeration as to defying gravity, but its appropriate for the series tone.
The stories got lowering scales of intrigue as they went on. Part 1 has Jet Li fighting foreigners to try to save China as well as corrupt local gangs and a kung fu badass who needs to make a name for himself. Part 2 has Jet Li fighting White Lotus society to stop them killing foreigners on prociple, and fighting a general who is try to stop the revolution but isn't a black-and-white bad guy. Part 3 has Jet Li fighting agains a gang trying to corrupt the local Lion Dance contest.
I Haven't seen 4 or 5, but I imagine they are:
OUATIC 4 - Wong Fei Hung helps out at a bake sale, and fights someone who refuses to pay
OUATIC 5 - Wong Fei Hung potters around the garden, then has a nap.
Seriously though, good movies with great fights. Just in case anybody is wondering, Jet Li's 13th aunt is trying to romance him. It's not an incest angle or anything like that, they are related over several marriages so there's absolutely no blood shared between them.
OUATIC 1 trailer
OUATIC 2 trailer
OUATIC 3 trailer
OUATIC 6 trailer
Beat me on 360: Raybies666
I remember when I had time to be good at games.
And I second ElJeffe's pick. Drunken Master 2 is the sex.
So I hear. I'm working on getting to see it at the moment, you tube is less than satisfactory for this stuff.
So is there anything else people are waiting for? I'm just working on this as I think of movies, but suggestions would be helpful
Beat me on 360: Raybies666
I remember when I had time to be good at games.
pleasepaypreacher.net
Oh ho ho ho, how could I forget about this! Thanks for bringing this up, Preach.
Here is the link for the trailer.
Holy shit. You could say I'm excited for this one.
pleasepaypreacher.net
Some Donnie Yen? I got on an asian action kick recently and watched both Sha Po La (or "Kill Zone") and Flash Point. I thought Flash Point had both the superior action and story, but you can't really fault Donnie Yen taking on Evil Sammo Hung. Yens fight choreography is just top notch in both, though, adding in a really stylized MMA influence.
End fight of Flash Point.
End fight of Sha Po La/Kill Zone.
I also quite like "So Close", from 2002, with Shu Qi, Karen Mok and Zhao Wei. Beautiful women, good action, it's not a bad combo.
Clip of Shu Qi escaping a building after a hit, with a little help from Zhao Wei and Karen Carpenter. Also, some cheesecake.
IRON MONKEY (1993)
In a town where the officials are corrupt, Iron Monkey is a Robin Hood style vigilante, robbing from the rich and giving it to the extremely poor locals. During the day, Dr Yang (Yu Rong Guang) looks after rich and poor, charging high rates to the rich and appealing to their stature to get the money and charging poor people nothing. He is assisted by a former prostitute (Jean Wang) he redeemed by buying her out after seeing how she is abused when her child is still born. At night, he dresses in black and a mask and kicks ass for the people.
Wong Kei Ying (Donnie Yen) arrives in town with his son, Wong Fei Hung (played by a girl, Tsang Sze Man) and are arrested after fighting a gang. The town's coirrupt official is searching for Iron Monkey and has anybody arrested who could be him, from Monkey Kung Fu performers to a guy who looks too much like a money when he sneezes (!). Wong Kei YIng has been put on the case to save Fei Hung's life, and so all the unjustly arrested can be released.
Of course, the locals think Kei Ying is a bastard for hunting Iron Monkey, and his only friends are Dr Yang and his assitant, and Master Fox (Yeun SHun Yi) who is the head of security for the local official, but not a bad guy at all. Also coming to town is a former Shaolin Monk (Yam Sai Kwoon) who betrayed the Shaolin Temple for a government post. THrow in rebel shaolin followers and everbody will have to kick everybody elses ass at some point.
Produced by Tsui Hark, directed and choregraphed by Yuen Woo Ping, this is part of the "new wave" of Kung fu movies that started with Once Upon A Time In China. THis "new wave" breaks an old rule: previously, the further back in time the story was set, the more into legend the story moves. Like most myths, there are superhuman warriors so movies set in 1800's would have grounded kung fu, older times would have gravity defying kung fu and ancient times would let skilled swordsmen just fly around.
The "New Wave" were mostly set in the 1800's, around the time of European intrusion into China, but there was quite a biut of flying going on. Iron Monkey is a fairy tale, so while nobody flies per se, there's some serious suspension of disbelief required from the audience, but the fights are awesome.
There is a name only sequel, which Donnie Yen reckons is a piece of shit, and just renamed to cash in on the first movie.
The whole movie is on youtube, so here's th trailer only:
Tai Chi Boxer
Also known as Tai Chi 2, name only sequel by the same crew to Jet Li's Tai Chi/Tai Chi Master (also bastardised as Twin Warriors) directed by Yuen Woo Ping, part of the new wave of Kung Fu. Hok Man is a kid who is locked up to study all day, while his father is a Tai Chi Chuan master. Hok Man and his cousin go to see what a load of noise is about and see the father start a ceremony to wash his hands of the Martial arts world. In the middle of this, the Northern King of Leg (real life Muay Thai badass Billy Chow Bei Lei) challenges him and loses.
Fast forward a few years. Hok Man is now played by Wu Jing (Wushu prodigy much like Jet Li) and gets involved in an opium smuggling ring, run by MR smith (brit Darren Shahlavi), and supported by the local Mandarins. The MAndarins aren't bad guys as such, they just don't realise how dangerous opium is.
One of the Mandarins daughter, Rose, has studied abroad and now is part of a rebellion. When I say rebellion, I mean the type where book smart but physically useless people try to save their country and aren't very good at it until they get followers who can fight. Hok Man takes the english name Jacky, learns english and dancing from his mom to woo Rose, gets involved in the fight. You can probably see where this is going, people die over misunderstandings, asses are kicked etc. It's a fun jokey movie with great fight technique.
What noone saw coming is the tango scene where Hok Man invents The Worm.
In 1800's china. The Worm.
Surprisingly, this doesn't ruin the movie.
Also, did I mention Christy Chung plays Rose? Yeah, she's hot. Really really hot. Hot to the point that if you don't see it, you should hand in your balls at a hospital so that they may be transplanted to someone who lost theirs, I don't know, fighting bears or something?
2 fight clip - Jackie's father in dsiguise decides to test his son, and one of the mandarins fights Jackie for Rose's love (arranged marriage before birth, blah blah)
Kung Fu Hustle
OK, this movie is a fucking cartoon. I love it, but don't expect any real fight action. It's there, but not really the focus.
Very convoluted, lots of characters, massive ensemble, I'm not even going to bother naming actors except one. Very long story short, the Axe Gang are assholes. OK there's more than that.
The Axe Gang are the top gang in 1920's shanghai, even above the cops. Meanwhile Sing (Director and nominal star Stephen Chow Sing Chi) is trying to pretend he is part of the gang to get one over on people in a slum to make some money, while his fat useless mate falls asleep instead of helping. By coincidence, a large amount of Axe members arrive, and start threatening people. All of a sudden the Coolie, the gay tailor and the local noodle/congee cook kick the absolute shit out of the gang. Fearing reprisal, the slum landlady tells them to leave, but they are attacked by assasins hired by the Axes.
The Landlady and Landlord suddenly display magic kung fu skills and hammer the crap out of the assassins and scare the Axes into leaving. This is seen as Sing's fault by the axes, but when they discover that Sing is a really good lock picker, they send him to spring The Beast from a mental asylum, where the Beast went after he could find no one worthy to fight him.
We see some of Sing's past. When he was a kid, he was sold kung fu manual by a beggar claiming that Sing had the bone structure and Chi flow of a kung fu genius. Sing tries to save a little mute girl from bullies and gets beaten up and pissed on (seriously pissed on). He decides that good guys lose, he wants to be a bad guy, but he's just not the type. He's a bit of a braggart and all, but just isn't bad. He meets the mute girl again as an adult when she sells ice cream. She recognises him; he doesn’t, robs some ice cream and gives the best evil laugh in movies history. It's the best because (A) it’s over an ice Cream cone and (b) he has ice cream dipping out of his mouth when it happens. We also see that there may be some truth to the whole Kung fu genius thing.
OK so, the real fight action is fantastic. Part choreographed by Sammo Hung (Sammo left due to illness, dissatisfaction with the project, Stephen Chow's dissatisfaction with the choreography or Sammo and Stephen did not get along, depending on who you believe) and completed by Yuen Woo Ping. The Magic Kung Fu is entertaining also and filmed with wires and CGI but is seamless. The cartoon style can either be funny, or strangely dreamlike.
This movie is also really, really fucking funny. Most of the humour is innocent and nonsensical. Over all a good time at the movies, and I'm glad I saw it on the big screen. I will say to see it in Chinese, the delivery is often hilarious and lead to someone quoting Sean Connery from the untouchables, but nobody understands the English phrase.
The axe Gang arrive at the slum. Sing is the guy in the ratty white shirt in the middle of the axes at the start
The Axes tell Sing to kill someone, so he goes after the landlady. Featuring people running like Road Runner, which I'm not a fan of, but it ends with some funny slapstick.
The Axe Gang's hired assassins go after the tailor and the chef in exaggerated real kung fu, and magic kung fu, then the landlord and landlady step in, revealing their power
The land lady and land lord preemptively go for the Beast
Sing fulfill's his destiny END FIGHT
The whole movie is on youtube, but as this is a recent movie, get the dvd folks. THe more money it makes, the more chance we have of cinema releases of movies that don't involve just Jet Li and Jackie Chan, much like Chow's Shaolin Soccer (another damn funny movie) let to Kung Fu Hustle's release
Beat me on 360: Raybies666
I remember when I had time to be good at games.
Wheels on Meals. It's a pretty good comedy and Kung Fu movie, about the same as My Lucky Stars but it happens to have the best damn fight of Kung Fu history in the end.
The Mission - A great Johnny To film with understated performances and authentic-feeling action sequences.
A Hero Never Dies - Another solid Johnny To film, and the polar opposite of The Mission.
The Longest Nite - If the narrative doesn't mess with your head, the sweltering neon hell of the Macau setting and the trance soundtrack will. A perfect movie to put in at 2am when you really should be getting to bed.
Eastern Condors - Sammo Hung has never been leaner or more lethal, and Yuen Biao gets some awesome fights in as well, in this HK version of The Dirty Dozen.
Beast Cops - Most of the way, it's a typical HK crime drama, although a well-made one. Then in the third act, Anthony Wong becomes a force of nature.
Come Drink With Me - Mesmerizing drunken-kung-fu flick from the glory days of martial arts cinema. Chang Pei Pei kicks a lot of ass in this movie, but the sidekick/comic relief character Drunken Cat is worth the price of admission on his own.
The Bride With White Hair - A dazzling swordplay-and-sorcery romance, and the perfect introduction to HK cinema for a wife or girlfriend.
A Chinese Ghost Story I, II, and III - Silly, fun romps through haunted woods and houses besieged by ancient tree demons and massive predatory tongues.
Mr. Vampire - Another supernatural action-comedy, with more emphasis on the comedy. Hopping undead, a seductress ghost, and lots of Taoist sorcery.
Dreadnaught - The aging but still-agile character actor who portrayed Wong Fei Hong in over 100 films reprises the role, with Yuen Biao as his talented but cowardly protege, who is being stalked by a killer hiding among an opera troupe.