On Deadly Ground

(1994, US, Warner Bros.)

Dir. Steven Seagal; Pro. A. Kitman Ho, Julius R. Nasso, Steven Seagal; Scr. Ed Horowitz, Robin U. Russin; Cast Steven Seagal, Michael Caine, Joan Chen, John C. McGinley, R. Lee Ermey, Shari Shattuck, Billy Bob Thornton.

101 min.

A studio sanctioned thought-piece from Steven Seagal (surely an oxymoron if ever there was one?) which pushes his politics more than his muscle, producing a head-scratching environmentally-conscious takedown of Big Oil and their exploitation of indigenous communities and the environment. The message is about as subtle as one of Seagal’s trademark aikido chops, but nonetheless a remarkably bold statement for a huge studio like Warner Brothers to endorse, who openly throw their dollars behind the chef from Under Siege with the ponytail to work as director, producer, star and chief activist.

That’s one argument. Another would be this is confused sanctimonious twaddle, and questions should probably be raised as to whether Seagal is best fit to act as spokesperson for the environment’s cause. For starters, in championing the voice of polite political discourse and spiritual wisdom as a means of combating conglomerates, he somewhat undermines his own argument the second he starts breaking skulls and unleashing rounds from a 10 gauge shotgun. And surely strapping bombs to an established oil refinery (like during the final act) carries its own environmental concerns, not to mention a huge loss of innocent life?

As Forrest Taft, Seagal starts the film as a mystical damage control specialist for an oil corporation run like a mafia syndicate, who act as something of a metaphor for western white imperialism. They are run by Michael Caine playing a shouty, unpleasant, hypocritical tycoon who says lines like, “To hell with those goddamn Eskimos,” when the tribal council in Alaska oppose the opening of a new oil refinery.

But Taft has the best lines. In one scene, he sends a barroom bully into an existential tailspin when he asks, “What does it take to change the essence of a man?”, just before landing a few extra punches to his head for good measure. When workers uncover the company’s use of faulty technology as the cause of a recent spill, Caine goes into crisis mode and his cronies start bumping off the staff. This includes an attempt on Taft who narrowly escapes another explosion before being nursed back to health by Joan Chen and her native Inuit tribe of earthy spiritualists. Taft then undergoes a curious hallucinogenic montage where he imagines killing a bear – which is certainly strange –  but his enlightenment is quickly disregarded in favour of Rambo on horseback, as Seagal and Chen are pursued through the Alaskan wilderness by Caine’s hired goons. The film ends on a lecture featuring plankton stats.

As an action film there are moments of excitement but this far from Under Siege, and as a director Seagal seems more concerned about winning a Nobel Peace Prize than an Oscar. Which may explain why he hasn’t been allowed to direct a film since.

Parker

(2013, US, Incentive Filmed Entertainment/Sierra Pictures/Sidney Kimmel Entertainment)

Dir. Taylor Hackford; Pro. Les Alexander, Steven Chasman, Taylor Hackford, Sidney Kimmel, Jonathan Mitchell; Scr. John J. McLaughlin; Cast Jason Statham, Jennifer Lopez, Michael Chiklis, Wendell Pierce, Clifton Collins Jr., Emma Booth, Nick Nolte, Daniel Bernhardt.

118 min.

Standard Statham head cracker bolstered by a decent cast and a steady pulse. He plays Parker, a crim’ with a conscience who will shoot a guy in the kneecaps and then call for an ambulance. When a crack team of hastily assembled thieves double cross him after a bank heist in Texas, he’s shot and left for dead. But Parker survives, jetting to Florida to seek revenge and thwarting the team’s next target – a jewellery auction worth several million. Parker’s morals extend to his long suffering girlfriend, as he somehow resists the rather obvious charms of real estate agent JLo who ends up assisting him on his rampage. Nick Nolte also appears as a well connected father in law – an old time crook with vague mafia connections who talks like he’s passing a kidney stone. The brief violence is consistent with The Stath’s visceral track record; the most punishing being a knife brawl with Daniel Berhardt in a Palm Beach mansion in which the pugilists smash through every conceivable interior hazard in a matter of minutes. Statham’s grizzled charm carries the film and further highlights the Brit’s acceptance from the mainstream Hollywood machine.

The Magnificent Butcher

(1980, HK, Golden Harvest)

Dir. Yuen Woo-ping; Pro. Raymond Chow Man-wai; Scr. Edward Tang King-chan; Action Dir. Yuen Woo-ping, Sammo Hung Kam-bo; Cast Sammo Hung Kam-bo, Fan Mei-sheng, Lee Hoi-san, Fung Hark-on, Kwan Tak-hing, Yuen Biao, Wei Pei, Chiang Kam, Chung Fat, Lam Ching-ying.

101 min.

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

An extra layer of authenticity is added with character actor Kwan Tak-hing reviving his synonymous portrayal of Wong Fei-hung. A rather desperate story is the only minor quibble. Pupils at Fei-hung’s Po Chi Lam clash with the rival Five Dragon sect and their glowing hand master Lee Hoi-san, culminating in Lee’s horny son Fung Hark-on kidnapping the wife of Butcher Wing’s brother.

But the fight scenes are strung together well. The standout showdowns involve classy fan-fu between Lam Ching-ying and Yuen Biao, and crazy cat Chung Fat giving Sammo a decent run for his money. The obligatory training scenes are also conducted with great aplomb, with Fan Mei-sheng adopting an alcoholic beggar role as the Butcher’s other master in a part originally devised for Woo-ping’s father, Simon Yuen Siu-tien, who died during production.

Chocolate

(2008, Thailand, Sahamongkol Film International/Baa-Ram-Ewe)

Dir. Prachya Pinkaew; Pro. Prachya Pinkaew, Panna Rittikrai; Scr. Napalee, Chukiat Sakveerakul; Action Dir. Panna Rittikrai; Cast JeeJa Yanin, Hiroshi Abe, Pongpat Wachirabunjong, Taphon Phopwandee, Ammara Siripong.

92 min.

Panna Rittikrai‘s attempt to launch a female Tony Jaa is incongruously revealed in one of Chocolate’s more contrived scenes, when JeeJa Yanin is shown to have developed her ass-kicking abilities after repeated viewings of Ong-Bak. But Yanin is much more than just Jaa in a skirt.

Director Pinkaew hones a more sensitive side to his film which, although strikingly at odds with the gratuitous carnage, is never once unconvincing. Yanin plays Zen, a young autistic girl with a penchant for kung fu who, unbeknownst to her, winds up plonking her retired mobster mother right in it with her old bosses. A former moll to a sadistic, lovesick Thai gangster and his army of lady boys, Zen’s mother breaks off a condemned, illicit affair with a Yazuka boss for fear of her family’s safety, fleeing to lead a relatively normal life in covert poverty. As Zen’s mother’s health deteriorates and medical bills pile up, Zen naively calls in her mother’s old debts, leading to an all-out maelstrom.

Despite Pinkaew’s opening disclaimer in which he dedicates his film to the world’s “special children”, the bit where Zen has to duel with a boy of a seemingly similar disability is still a touch insensitive. But this is merely a blip on a relatively heartfelt premise. Well, as heartfelt as a violent martial arts movie can get. Stylistically, we are still very much in Ong-Bak territory, but let’s be honest, that’s never a bad place to be.

Warrior King

(2005, Thailand, Sahamongkol Film Co./Baa-Ram-Ewe/Golden Network Asia Ltd./TF1 Films Productions)

Dir. Prachya Pinkaew; Pro. Prachya Pinkaew, Sukanya Vongsthapat; Scr. Napalee, Piyaros Thongdee, Joe Wannapin, Kongdej Jaturanrasamee; Action Dir. Panna Rittikrai, Tony Jaa; Cast Tony Jaa, Petchtai Wongkamlao, Bongkoj Khongmalai, Xing Jing, Nathan Jones, Johnny Nguyen, Lateef Crowder.

108 min.

Tony Jaa cements his standing as the best thing in modern martial arts cinema with this follow up to Ong-Bak which treads a similar narrative path, offering more in the way of Muay Thai madness.

Jaa returns as another naïve but enlightened country boy who travels to Australia to retrieve a stolen elephant (honestly) which has been nabbed by Chinese poachers and thrown on the barby. Jaa doesn’t much care for this, so with the resonating cry of, “You killed my elephant!” he unleashes hell’s fury with his trademark knee and elbow strikes.

Pinkaew directs with an almost fetishist enthusiasm for his leading man’s athletic capabilities. Therefore, the film sees Thailand’s proudest export escalate walls in lightening quick time in repeats of Ong-Bak’s breathtaking chase scenes. This sequence is beaten only by a full five minute Steadicam routine in which Jaa maims an entire building’s worth of fighters in a single take, culminating in a mass of bone-breaking which takes the film’s pain threshold to wince-inducing levels.

Tony also finds time to square off with a trio of foreign opponents, including a high-flying Capoeria fighter and the burly Nathan Jones. Jaa is pretty much indestructible – a visceral amalgamation of Bruce Lee‘s intensity and Jackie Chan‘s athletics – and alongside Ong-Bak he has driven two of the most breathtaking martial arts films ever made, all despite an unfortunate penchant for neckerchiefs.

AKA: Honour of the Dragon; The Protector; Revenge of the Warrior; Thai Dragon; Tom Yum Goong

Ong-Bak

(2003, Thailand, Sahamongkol Film Co.)

Dir. Prachya Pinkaew; Pro. Prachya Pinkaew, Sukanya Vongsthapat; Scr. Suphachai Sittiaumponpan; Action Dir. Panna Rittikrai, Tony Jaa; Cast Tony Jaa, Petchtai Wongkamlao, Pumwaree Yodkamol, Suchoa Pongvilai, Wannakit Siriput.

105 min.

The most exciting post-millennial Asian success was, surprisingly, of Thai origin. Not the film as such (it’s a pottering drivel of a story) but rather the movie’s star, Panom Yeerum, or ‘Tony Jaa’ to us Westerners.

Perhaps one of the most remarkable finds in the evolution of martial arts cinema, Jaa resembles Jackie Chan in his stunt work but with enough ferocity to make Steven Seagal look like a ballerina. Ong-Bak is all about full contact Muay Thai kickboxing and Jaa is so remarkable to watch he will literally leave you breathless. A chase scene through a Thai market sees Jaa scaling walls in a single leap, gliding underneath moving trucks and somersaulting his way through bustling traffic with split second accuracy.

If you think that’s something, just wait until he starts beating people up. His knees and elbows break cycle helmets. He can perform wildly acrobatic kicks that defy gravity, even when his legs are on fire. The final brawl sees a succession of stuntmen line up as cannon fodder for an exhilarating exhibition, exploiting the film’s unique selling point to such a degree that it will beat any kind of cynicism clean out of your brain.

The movie’s secret, and Tony Jaa’s, is the impressive lack of wires and gimmicks. A distinct lack of special effects is a rare thing in the modern era of instant kung fu heroes. Ong-Bak reverts the genre to its bare essentials and emphatically embraces talent over trickery.

Jaa also forces us to neglect a rather pitiful story line where he travels into the dark, gambling underworld of Thailand to recover the stolen head of his village’s sacred Buddhist statue. But in a movie this explicitly crowd-pleasing, trivial issues like plot and characterisation are a moot point.

This film kicks ass and should come with a band aid.

AKA: Daredevil; Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior; Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior; Thai Fist

Driven to Kill

(2009, US, Echo Bridge Entertainment/Insight Film Studios/Steamroller Productions/Ruslan Productions)

Dir. Jeff King; Pro. Kirk Shaw; Scr. Mark James; Cast Steven Seagal, Mike Dopud, Igor Jijikine, Robert Wisden, Inna Korobkina.

98 min.

Gang warfare and bad accents adorn this routine Seagal thumper. He plays a retired Russian mafia enforcer now crime writer who returns home to visit his estranged daughter and her fiance, the son of Seagal’s crime nemesis. The daughter’s attacked leaving Seagal to pick up the pieces, and then stab those pieces into peoples eyes and necks. The police seem perfectly happy to let Seagal go on a murderous rampage, teaming with the fiance to kill the crooks. Forcing a Russian inflection on his increasingly low and monotone growl means you need to have your ear next to the speaker to understand a single word Seagal says in this.

The Karate Kid

(2010, US/China, Columbia Pictures/China Film Group/Jerry Weintraub Productions/Overbrook Entertainment)

Dir. Harald Zwart; Pro. James Lassiter, Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith, Ken Stovitz, Jerry Weintraub; Scr. Christopher Murphey; Cast Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan, Taraji P. Henson, Han Wen-wen, Yu Ronggaung.

140 min.

Adding to Hollywood’s already busy roster of pointless 80s remakes (Nightmare on Elm Street, The A-Team, Knightrider etc.) comes this specially designed if not unwelcome vehicle for Jaden Smith, celebrity spawn of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith who also act as the film’s producers.

At 11 years old his comic timing conjures up slight memories of his father during those fledgling Fresh Prince of Bel-Air days, and any burden to impress as a debutant is substantially lifted given the familiarity with the original film.

Which is why this version stays so true to the source, even down to quotations and narrative structure with additional skits on already well-worn routines. (For instance, when recreating the classic moment when a fly is caught using chopsticks, a fly swat is used instead).

Everything bar the use of karate in the film which, despite the title, is abandoned completely and replaced by kung fu choreography. Despite being stylistically polarised, the shift is more a statement on the way martial arts action has developed since the release of the original film in 1984, which has since seen Hong Kong choreography infiltrate the Hollywood mainstream and bringing its high calibre of performers along with it.

Like Jackie Chan, who accurately takes on the Mr Miyagi role, beard and all. His kung fu clowning makes him a perfect fit for lighter family fare, although this is a much more thorough and unflinchingly violent adaptation. Chan is even offered ample space to flex his more dramatic chops, playing the lonesome, troubled sifu with much greater depth than even the original Miyagi was awarded.

The story follows Smith and his mother who relocate from Detroit to Beijing where he falls foul of the wayward school bullies, and in training scenes reminiscent of Chan’s celebrated Drunken Master past, he learns the necessary kung fu moves needed to enter an upcoming tournament and regain a little self respect.

Director Harald Zwart, with help from the state funded China Film, has just as much fun visualising a contemporary China with all the romanticism of a tourist information video, utilising great location shots from the Forbidden City to an obligatory training sequence on the Great Wall.

But it stumbles slightly when relying too heavily on leading actors who, although incredibly likable, are still a mixture of inexperience and incoherence, and its attempts to broaden the simple scope of the original film make the whole set up seem somewhat less believable.

The Shepherd: Border Patrol

(2008, US, Sony Pictures/Stage 6 Films)

Dir. Isaac Florentine; Pro. Moshe Diamant, Gilbert Dumontet; Scr. Joe Gayton, Cade Courtley; Action Dir. J.J. Perry; Cast Jean-Claude Van Damme, Stephen Lord, Natalie J. Robb, Gary McDonald, Daniel Perrone.

95 min.

Now here’s a pretty terrible title for a Van Damme film. He stalks this one with the resigned look of a guy who has already made this movie a dozen times before. The cheap, straight to video feel makes it seem like the filmmakers haven’t watched a film for at least 15 years. Luckily Van Damme made JCVD after this, causing a career renaissance which would have seemed all but impossible at this stage in his career.

He plays a despondent New Orleans cop who joins the New Mexico border patrol to take on the drug cartels, with a ball-busting sergeant and a pet rabbit for company. The main culprits are a disillusioned troop of army-trained US mercenaries who use their Afghan contacts to control the shipment of heroin into the country. They’re bomb nuts and have experience dealing with jihadists, but you’ll find more political clout on a cereal box than you will here.

Undisputed II director Florentine sparks life into the fight scenes with great attention to stunt work and flashy kicks, particularly from Scott Adkins, whose anticipated fight with Van Damme at the end is the only excitement in a rather tired final act.

Invisible Target

(2007, HK, Universe Films/Sil-Metropole Organisation/Guangzhou Ying Ming Media Co.)

Dir. Benny Chan Muk-sing; Pro. Benny Chan Muk-sing, Daniel Siu-ming; Scr. Benny Chan Muk-sing, Ling Chi-man, Melody Lui Si-lam; Action Dir. Nicky Li Chung-chi; Cast Nicholas Tse Ting-fung, Shawn Yue Man-lok, Jaycee Chan Cho-ming, Jacky Wu Jing, Mark Cheng Ho-nam, Andy On Chi-kit, Dominic Lam Ka-wah.

130 min.

Ballistic Benny Chan cop movie which contrives to showcase a trio of hot HK talent: Nicholas Tse, Shawn Yue and Jaycee Chan, son of Jackie, in his first meaty role. Jackie Chan‘s shadow looms large over the film, as long time collaborator Benny Chan fashions out a slick, contemporary and overly long action film in keeping with his previous Chan actioners (New Police Story, Robin-B-Hood) with slight moments of charm which don’t go unnoticed. Much of this resides with Jaycee who looks remarkably like his father in a baby-faced role as a young rookie traffic cop administering justice the professional way. He lives a solitary, somewhat nerdy life with an endearing grandmother who casts whimsical aspersions towards his sexuality, becoming embroiled in a terrorist plot when his missing brother is rumoured to have ties with the bad guys.

Nicholas Tse is the brooding rogue officer who prefers his law enforcement with a bit more brio. A withdrawn Shawn Yue is nursing the effects of a murdered fiance who was blown to bobbins whilst shopping for engagement rings during a Heat-style standoff between the crooks and police at a bank raid. The three form a Wizard of Oz-esque trinity seeking redemption in a cliche ridden nest of subplots, bonding via a big knife fight at a Chinese arcade before dressing each other’s wounds back at Jaycee’s place.

They are targeted by the menacing Wu Jing and his stylish gang of renegade mercenaries, aided by bent cops in the HK police force, none of which you haven’t seen a million times before. But Benny Chan’s organic approach to the pugilism brings an old fashioned excitement, even if the more obvious uses of wires remove from the film’s realism. Jaycee doesn’t fight much but he’s a convincing screen presence, and the movie manages to remind viewers just why Hong Kong is still very good at producing this kind of mayhem.