Sudden Death

(1995, US, Universal Pictures)

Dir. Peter Hyams; Pro. Howard Baldwin, Moshe Diamant; Scr. Gene Quintano; Cast Jean-Claude Van Damme, Powers Boothe, Raymond J. Barry, Whittni Wright, Ross Malinger.

111 min.

Timecop director Peter Hyams tackles a second big budget Van Damme vehicle with a similarly light touch, setting Die Hard at an ice hockey stadium and putting the action star through his paces as an indestructible firefighter. A secret service nutjob (Boothe, channeling Alan Rickman) and his team of terrorists hijack the Stanley Cup final, strapping bombs to the building and holding the vice president and his entourage hostage. Van Damme’s a divorced fire warden with tickets to the big game, taking his kids along only for his daughter to be nabbed by the crooks. Van Damme goes rogue and before too long he’s diffusing bombs and manufacturing crude homemade weapons with stuff he finds lying about the place. There are quite a few really silly moments (particularly at the end when the film loses its mind), but by far the silliest moment is the fight with a giant penguin mascot.

Robin-B-Hood

(2006, HK, Emperor Motion Pictures/JCE Movies Ltd.)

Dir. Benny Chan Muk-sing; Pro. Benny Chan Muk-sing, Jackie Chan, Willie Chan Chi-keung, Solon So Chi-hung, Wang Zhong-lei; Scr. Benny Chan Muk-sing, Jackie Chan, Alan Yuen Kam-lun; Action Dir. Jackie Chan, Nicky Li Chung-chi; Cast Jackie Chan, Louis Koo Tin-lok, Michael Hui Kun-man, Gao Yuan-yuan, Charlene Choi Cheuk-yin, Conroy Chan Chi-chung, Yuen Biao.

136 min.

Benny Chan’s third Jackie Chan film – following Who Am I? and New Police Story – sees Chan play against type (sort of) as one half of a bumbling burglar routine with Louis Koo. Chan’s a gambling addict with an estranged father and Koo’s a philanderer with a pregnant wife. But the pair learn to take responsibility for their actions when they kidnap a baby from a wealthy HK family at the behest a warped billionaire who believes himself to be the child’s biological grandfather. At this point the film turns into a version of Three Men and a Baby as the buffoonish thieves harbour the toddler for a week, learning how to change nappies and prepare meals whilst visiting antenatal clinics. The ensuing slapstick is almost excusable but still a case for social services, as Chan and Koo smother the baby with pillows, put the toddler in a washing machine, drop him from a Ferris Wheel and attach his pram to a speeding truck. Just as the two discover their more tender side the kid is locked in a giant freezer.

For the most part, though, the gags are good, and Jackie can do hilarious physical comedy with his eyes closed. A particular highlight is a classic French farce involving mistaken identities all located within Chan’s cramped apartment, much like that classic sequence in Project A Part II. Among the great cast is Yuen Biao, playing an understated cop in his first collaboration with Jackie Chan since 1988’s Dragons Forever. The film lulls during the more compassionate scenes, layering sentiment on with a saccharine Cantopop trowel, but Benny Chan can handle big vistas of expensive action without suffocating the intricacies of Jackie Chan’s choreography, and the two are a good match.

AKA: Project BB; Rob-B-Hood

Iron Monkey

(1993, HK, Film Workshop/Golden Harvest)

Dir. Yuen Woo-ping; Pro. Tsui Hark; Scr. Elsa Tang Pik-yin, Tsui Hark; Action Dir. Yuen Cheung-yan, Sunny Yuen Shun-yi, Yuen Woo-ping; Cast Yu Rong-guang, Donnie Yen Chi-tan, Jean Wong Ching-ying, Tsang Sze-man, Sunny Yuen Shun-yi, Yen Shi-kwan, James Wong Jim.

86 min.

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

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

Tsui Hark’s frenetic approach matches Woo-ping’s style of camerawork and choreography, who links together a series of highly charged wire-fu sequences performed by the best in the industry. Great examples include a zany showdown with the movie’s real enemy – an unstable Manchu leader (Yuen Shi-kwan) – whose extendable sleeves and crippling King Kong Fists are met with the might of the elder Wong and Iron Monkey in a final kick-fest beset by burning poles and soaring embers. And if this sounds incredibly lighthearted, that’s because it is.

AKA: Iron Monkey: The Young Wong Fei-hung

Shogun Assassin

(1980, Japan/US, Katsu Production/Toho Film Co.)

Dir. Kenji Misumi, Robert Houston; Pro. Shintaro Katsu, Hisaharu Matsubara, Robert Houston, David Weisman; Scr. Kazuo Koike, Goseki Kojima, Robert Houston, David Weisman; Action Dir. Eiichi Kusumoto; Cast Tomisaburo Wakayama, Kayo Matsuo, Minoru Ohki, Akiji Kobayashi, Shin Kishida.

86 min.

A slice ‘n’ dice treatment on the first two Lone Wolf & Cub movies from the early 1970s, this is a commercially aesthetic international re-edit and, therefore, the most widely viewed instalment. You’ve probably seen this movie without even knowing.

The narrative is messy but as a spectacle it works just fine. The film centres on the iconic cinematic image of Lone Wolf, a lethal Samurai assassin, who roams ninja-infested terrain with Cub, his three year old son who is cased inside a lethal push chair rigged to the hilt with booby traps. The premise is both savage and heartfelt. Lone Wolf’s unbridled affection for his son forms a great contrast with the way he violently dismembers hoards of blade wielding baddies.

Lone Wolf mainly focuses his decapitation skills on a sprightly bunch of deadly lady ninjas and the superbly titled Masters of Death, resulting in blood, gore, and much of the same. The deaths are extravagant but stylish. It’s Kurosawa on a serial rampage, but with a kid in a pram, obviously.

The Heroic Ones

(1970, HK, Shaw Brothers)

Dir. Chang Cheh; Pro. Run Run Shaw; Scr. Chang Cheh, Ni Kuang; Action Dir. Lau Kar-leung, Lau Kar-wing, Tong Gaai; Cast David Chiang Da-wei, Ti Lung, Chan Chuen, Lily Li Li-li, Ku Feng, Chan Sing, Chin Han, James Nam Gung-fan, Lo Wai, Wong Chung, Yuen Woo-ping, Bolo Yeung.

121 min.

Sublime Shaw epic performed on a large scale with no expense spared on props, sets, costumes, extras and fake blood. Loosely based on the Mongol invasion of China, Ku Feng plays the marauding Lord Li commanding one of China’s many kingdoms with a little help from his sons, known collectively as the Thirteen Generals.

Biblical assertions aside, it is Li’s drunk thirteenth son, played by David Chiang, who becomes the group leader after slaying Bolo Yeung with a big stick, leading his brothers into missions of intrigue and espionage. The Lord’s disciples come unstuck when two of the troop turn Judas and attempt to steal the glory, steering their Mongol faction headfirst into serious trouble with a rival warlord leaving their kingdom vulnerable to attack.

Chang Cheh laments his fallen brethren with plenty of gusto, particularly when Ti Lung dies defiantly defending his master and when David Chiang meets a horribly grisly end, even by Shaw Brothers standards. But when Chang Cheh isn’t dwarfing his lens with great colour and movement, he is asking strong moral questions of his audience; a title heavy in irony and a cast of characters who (aside from a few moments of jaded loyalty) seem to possess very few redeeming features.

This successful film would set the trend for Shaw’s high concept direction into the 1970s and introduce a new team of talented actors and filmmakers with a fresh and exciting set of ideas.

AKA: Shaolin Masters; 13 Fighters

Shaolin Wooden Men

(1976, HK, Lo Wei Motion Picture Co.)

Dir. Chen Chi-hwa; Pro. Lo Wei; Scr. Gam Yam; Action Dir. Jackie Chan, Tommy Lee Chin-ming; Cast Jackie Chan, Kam Kong, Doris Lung Chung-erh, Chiang Kam, Yuen Biao.

97 min.

Jackie Chan sited this one – his second collaboration with movie mogul Lo Wei – as his first “dream project”, in that he was to have some say in the film’s production. But Lo Wei still does Chan a disservice by casting him as a mute, nicknamed ‘Dummy’, who struggles as the new Shaolin recruit until he receives martial arts training from a nifty levitating nun and a crazy long-haired convict imprisoned deep within the temple vaults. Our mute hero’s longing to avenge his father’s death adds an extra dimension to the story, but he must first tackle the wooden dummies guarding the Shaolin exit. The action is gripping and Chan’s charisma still shines through despite his silent character. But the end result isn’t quite the “dream project” Chan was looking for.

AKA: Shaolin Chamber of Death; 36 Wooden Men; Wooden Men; Young Tiger’s Revenge

Dance of the Drunk Mantis

(1979, HK, Seasonal Films)

Dir. Yuen Woo-ping; Pro. Ng See-yuen; Scr. Ng See-yuen, Siao Lung; Action Dir. Yuen Woo-ping, Sunny Yuen Shun-yi, Corey Yuen Kwai, Brandy Yuen Jan-yeung, Chin Yuet-sang; Cast Simon Yuen Siu-tien, Sunny Yuen Shun-yi, Hwang Jang-lee, Linda Lin Ying, Yen Shi-kwan, Dean Shek Tin, Lee Fat-yuen, Corey Yuen Kwai, Chien Yuet-san.

90 min.

Sublime kung fu comedy from the Yuen clan, devised as a sequel to Drunken Master with much of the original cast returning to similar roles. Apart from one glaring absence, Jackie Chan; although young Sunny Yuen slips nicely into the same naive persona, even if he lacks a leading man’s charisma.

He plays Foggy, a part-time pot-wash bumpkin and the adoptive son of drunken vagabond Sam the Seed (played by real-life Yuen clan patriarch Simon Yuen). Sam only discovers he has an adopted son following a chance visit to his long-suffering wife, who devises a plan to help with some father-son bonding time by getting the disgruntled beggar to teach the young boy some drunken boxing.

Woo-ping expands on the vindictive yet soft centred Sam the Seed from his earlier portrayal in Drunken Master. Here, he is far from cuddly – he is stubborn and reluctant to teach the boy anything particularly useful in a callous attempt to undermine the boy’s significance. It is only upon a chance meeting with the Sick God (Yen Shi-kwan) – master of the “Sick Fist” – that Foggy finds his father figure, learning kung fu and developing into a supreme fighter.

Not unsurprisingly, Hwang Jang-lee rips up the screen as the villain of the piece, playing Rubber Legs – a northern drunken boxing expert on a quest to confront Sam the Seed and end his days. Rubber Legs has devised a new technique of combining the Drunken Fist with the Praying Mantis style, and in combination with his exuberant kicking technique, he puts up quite a challenge. The scene in which Rubber Legs and Sam the Seed meet over bottles of rice wine is a classic encounter of mind games, posturing and kung fu tricks – a really fantastic sequence.

But the film is full of great moments, like Foggy’s ascension to kung fu  greatness via some unorthodox training scenes, and a climactic duel in which Foggy must protect his foster parent despite the cruelty he has shown towards him. On one level, you could read this as Woo-ping’s most personal film. But on a less pretentious level, it is simply one of his most enjoyable kung fu movies.

AKA: Dance of the Drunken Mantis; Drunken Master Part 2; South North Drunk Fist

Drunken Master

(1978, HK, Seasonal Films)

Dir. Yuen Woo-ping; Pro. Ng See-yuen; Scr. Yuen Woo-ping, Hai Wah-on; Action Dir. Yuen Woo-ping, Hsu Hsia, Corey Yuen Kwai, Sunny Yuen Shun-yi; Cast Jackie Chan, Simon Yuen Siu-tien, Hwang Jang-lee, Dean Shek Tin, Tino Wong Cheung, Hsu Hsia, Lam Kau, Sunny Yuen Shun-yi, Linda Lin Ying.

107 min.

This is a really great movie, the kind of thing you would recommend to a distant cousin. Brought to us by the Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow team, Drunken Master is a slightly superior film and undoubtedly the quintessential kung fu comedy.

Credit due to all involved: Woo-ping’s stylish direction and choreography, Simon Yuen’s synonymous ageing beggar, Hwang Jang-lee’s dastardly evil adversary. Yet the real delight here is Jackie Chan, strikingly confident from his new found fame and looking better than ever.

Woo-ping retraces the early years of Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-hung, who is sent as a punishment by his father to learn kung fu from his torturous Uncle Sam the Seed (Simon Yuen), a bummed out alcoholic famous for crippling his students. The film’s villain Thunderfoot (Hwang) – a hired assassin who is good with his legs – kicks a little sense into the rebellious youth, and Sam is quick to teach the boy a few drunken kung fu techniques.

The training scenes are awesome, and you’ll have to go some to find a better brawl than Hwang and Jackie’s final punch up, in which our young hero resorts to camping it up with his new style of lady-like kung fu.

This movie caused a storm when first released and it still holds an impact today. A kung fu classic if ever there was one.

AKA: Drunken Monkey in the Tiger’s Eyes; Eagle Claw, Snake Fist and Cat’s Paw; Story of the Drunken Master

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story

(1993, US, Universal Pictures)

Dir. Rob Cohen; Pro. Raffaella De Laurentiis; Scr. Rob Cohen, John Raffo, Edward Khmara; Action Dir. John Cheung Ng-lung; Cast Jason Scott Lee, Lauren Holly, Robert Wagner, Nancy Kwan, Michael Learned, John Cheung Ng-lung.

114 min.

Highly romanticised American biopic of martial arts icon Bruce Lee, grossly inaccurate and overly sentimental but also highly engaging, packed to the brim with Lee-like kung fu fighting. Released to coincide with the twentieth anniversary of his death, the film offers the uninitiated a window – if a little frosted – into the life and times of the fallen star.

Hawaiian actor Jason Scott Lee plays the Little Dragon from his formative years in Hong Kong to his student days in Seattle, where he meets and marries Linda (Holly) and tries with muted success to make it in Hollywood as a film star. Lee returns to Hong Kong to achieve groundbreaking success in movies like The Big Boss and Enter the Dragon, before dying young from a brain hemorrhage.

The main delight is Jason Scott Lee. He is superbly cast as the martial arts star complete with accurate impressions of Lee’s delivery and mannerisms. Intriguingly the role had been offered to Bruce Lee’s son, Brandon, who wisely declined any involvement.

The action scenes are particularly good, performed well and with a great intensity. But there is one major snag: a convoluted and tedious supernatural subplot in which Lee confronts a medieval demon in an attempt to stop the metaphysical curse from passing on to his son. The cruel irony being that shortly before the release of the film, Brandon Lee would die from bullet wounds on the set of his breakthrough film The Crow.

Dragon is a slick popcorn drama offering accessible excitement for people whose knowledge of Bruce Lee is limited to rumours and movie posters. Although it might not necessarily expand on this knowledge, it is stirring enough to act as a cornerstone to explore the real man and his beliefs.

Sci-Fighter

(2004, US, Gorilla Pictures)

Dir. Art Camacho; Pro. Bill J. Gottlieb; Scr. Thomas Callicoat; Action Dir. Eric Lee, Joe Perez; Cast Don ‘the Dragon’ Wilson, Cynthia Rothrock, Lorenzo Lamas, Daneya Mayid, Aki Aleong, Rebecca Chaney, Samantha Lockwood, Chris Casamassa, Eric Lee, Robert Wall.

90 min.

A turgid, demoralising mess which starts off innocent enough (Don Wilson’s single parenting nightmare with insular kung fu son), then goes a little off track (father and son get themselves stuck in Granddad’s virtual reality simulator), before settling on a succession of lazy, tired fight sequences.

Camacho’s gimmick of an all-star fighting cast (their competitive titles are listed not only on the opening credits but also at the end) greatly overwhelms the procession of battles as each ‘Master’ gets to strut their stuff one after the other. None of them are particularly impressive on screen, lining up to be beaten (somehow) by the bored flailings of Don Wilson who, still without a decent movie to his name, now appears to have given up trying.

The son, Daneya Mayid, probably comes out looking the best in what is essentially a cheap exploitation of talent. Not even a white-gowned wire-assisted Cynthia Rothrock can prevail above the film’s multitude of flaws.

AKA: Virtual Fighter; X-Treme Fighter