Ong-Bak 3

(2010, Thailand, Iyara Films)

Dir. Tony Jaa, Panna Rittikrai; Pro. Tony Jaa, Somsak Techaratanaprasert; Scr. Tony Jaa, Panna Rittikrai; Action Dir. Tony Jaa; Cast Tony Jaa, Sorapong Chatree, Nirut Sirichanya, Dan Chupong.

95 min.

The culmination of Tony Jaa’s historical Thai opus is underwhelming, given the butchering it has received at the hands of producers hoping to recoup on an overblown budget. The extra segments are glaringly obvious, added as an attempt to compensate for the serious lapses in story-telling and acting to further muddle the film.

Picking up from part two – which ended in incoherence – this follow up shows Tien’s capture, torture, rescue, reincarnation and recuperation in the arms of his Buddhist mentors and childhood sweetheart, retraining his broken bones through dance and without the aide of a chiropractor.

The villain, a dark arts crow-like ghost killer with a neat trick of possessing souls who was briefly seen amid the confusion at the end of Ong-Bak: The Beginning, slays the King and assumes his position. The most confusing bit is the end, which makes use of a superb action sequence where feet fly atop the bodies of an elephant herd, only for the action to rewind (actually rewind) into new footage of Tien and the Crow Ghost battling it out.

Despite showing great aplomb behind the camera as well as in front, Jaa’s dream project is a sorry, stressful mess.

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

Best of the Best

(1989, US, The Movie Group Inc.)

Dir. Robert Radler; Pro. Phillip Rhee, Peter E. Strauss; Scr. Paul Levine; Cast Eric Roberts, James Earl Jones, Sally Kirkland, Phillip Rhee, Chris Penn, John Dye, David Agresta, Simon Rhee, Tom Everett.

97 min.

Five top US karate fighters are chosen to compete against the Koreans in an upcoming tournament, but not without their own emotional baggage. Alex Grady (Roberts) is a single father with a shoulder injury who has got something to prove. His team mate Tommy (Rhee) is seeking revenge for a deceased brother killed in combat by Korea’s best brute. There is plenty of sentiment as Radler overloads his movie with spiritual overtones, loads of sweaty fighters crying and nauseating power ballads (who actually listens to this stuff?). But the supporting cast are strong, particularly James Earl Jones who plays the dedicated team coach and Chris Penn as an obnoxious cowboy. When it ends, there won’t be a dry seat in the house.

The Killer Meteors

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

Dir. Lo Wei; Pro. Lo Wei; Scr. Ku Lung; Action Dir. Jackie Chan; Cast Jimmy Wang Yu, Jackie Chan, Hsu Feng, Chan Wai-lau.

99 min.

Top knot hairstyles and colourful garments adorn this period chopsocky, a hopelessly convoluted Lo Wei picture that finds Wang Yu as the indestructible Killer Meteor who waves around a secret, all-powerful weapon. He keeps it strapped to his back and staunchly under wraps, despite the fact it looks alarmingly similar to a long stick.

A young Jackie Chan is poisoned by his domineering wife, and Wang Yu is the only one capable of retrieving the antidote. In typical Lo Wei fashion, thousands of two-bit caricatures mess up the narrative, and the lack of decent kung fu makes this one a struggle. Still, the special effects are quite funny.

The Victim

(1980, HK, Graffons Film Co.)

Dir. Sammo Hung Kam-bo; Pro. Karl Maka; Scr. Louis Lau Tin-chi; Action Dir. Sammo Hung Kam-bo; Cast Sammo Hung Kam-bo, Leung Kar-yan, Chang Yi, Chung Fat, Wilson Tong Wai-shing.

89 min.

Sammo’s masterpiece is essentially a vehicle to showcase the talents of Leung Kar-yan, and he has simply never looked better. But The Victim works on many levels. The action scenes are worthy of Sammo’s status as one of the genre’s best choreographers. The comedy touches are subtle in comparison to the director’s usual bawdy standards, and the film’s dramatic outpouring – detailing an ongoing family feud – makes this thoroughly more exciting than your standard run-of-the-mill kung fu pulp. Sammo plays his typical happy-go-lucky persona seeking out a new sifu in Leung Kar-yan, but Leung’s a man with problems of his own. His brother (Chang Yi) tried to rape his wife and has been on the run from him ever since. But will Leung ever face up to his enemy and fight back? The Victim is a true late night classic, still fresh and exciting after all these years, and a film that demands repeated viewings.

AKA: Lightning Kung Fu

Ip Man

(2008, HK, Beijing ShengShi HuaRui Film Investment & Management Co./China Film/Mandarin Films/New Film Studio of Beijing Starlight International/Shanghai Film Group)

Dir. Wilson Yip Wai-shun; Pro. Raymond Wong Bak-ming; Scr. Edmond Wong Chi-mun; Action Dir. Sammo Hung Kam-bo, Tony Leung Siu-hung; Cast Donnie Yen Chi-tan, Simon Yam Tat-wah, Fan Siu-wong, Gordon Lam Ka-tung, Xing Yu, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, Wong You-nam.

106 min.

To describe Wilson Yip’s glossy take on the formative years of Wing Chun master Ip Man as a biopic is being somewhat economical with the truth. The same misnomer could apply to other vaguely biographical sensationalist potboilers like Fighter in the Wind and Fearless. Yip’s passionate and patriotic drama closely resembles a companion piece for the latter, focussing on the second Sino-Japanese war and the subsequent hostilities facing the Chinese living in invaded Foshan. It even champions an outwardly familiar anti-Japanese sentiment, something Chinese filmmakers have been flogging since, well, the war.

The role of Foshan is also symbolic, being the prosperous holy land for China’s most revered martial arts superheroes – the most famous being Wong Fei-hung. Obviously Ip Man’s backstory was nowhere near as colourful as depicted here (he wasn‘t even living in Foshan during the war). Wilson Yip abandons fact in favour of cicumstance to promote the Wing Chun master as China’s next martial messiah. It is perhaps telling that Ip Man’s grandson, Ip Chun, acts as consultant for the film.

In reality, Ip Man is most famous for being Bruce Lee’s martial arts instructor. If you know a bit about your modern day kung fu history, you may also be aware of Ip Man being the first person to teach the general public about the closely guarded secret discipline of wing chun – a quick, close combat kung fu system.

When we first meet Ip Man (played by Donnie Yen in his most comfortable setting), he is living as a peaceful family man, testing his skills with other sifus on Dojo Street but refusing to pass his secrets onto others. When the Japanese invade in 1937, Foshan is thrown into chaos and its residents, including Ip Man, are forced into slums. With depleting rations and insufficient medical care, the locals face the poisonous dilemma of either fighting back, aiding the Japanese war effort or, worse still, fighting among themselves.

In one scene, a hotheaded northern kung fu rebel steals Chinese cotton supplies in an attempt to sell them back to their southern Chinese owners. It is this act which motivates Ip Man to teach his fellow natives the secrets of wing chun in an attempt to free his people from their brutal, slave-like conditions.

The film builds into an unfortunately predictable showdown of nationalistic intent where Ip Man is pitted in a bare knuckle brawl with the head of the Japanese army, a karate expert, who tastefully shows a deep respect for the martial arts and its honourable traditions, far unlike the snarling cartoon villainy of his subordinates.

At the heart of the film is a keen admiration for not just Chinese martial arts but the masters who practice them. Sammo Hung’s faultless choreography steals the screen at every opportunity. For Hung, who has already made films detailing the founding fathers of Wing Chun (Warriors Two, The Prodigal Son), Ip Man is the next logical step in charting the system’s distinguished lineage. And Donnie Yen makes the role his own.

AKA: Yip Man

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

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin

(1978, HK, Shaw Brothers)

Dir. Lau Kar-leung; Pro. Run Run Shaw; Scr. Ni Kuang, Eric Tsang Chi-wai; Action Dir. Lau Kar-leung, Wilson Tong Wai-shing; Cast Gordon Liu Chia-hui, Lo Lieh, Kok Lee-yan, Henry Yu Yeung, Wilson Tong Wai-shing, Frankie Wai Wang, Lee Hoi-san, Lau Kar-wing, Wong Yu.

111 min.

Lau’s famous kung fu film based on monk San Te’s retribution – the Shaolin student credited for opening the temple’s gates to the secular world – plays like a standard revenge flick with some obligatory establishment bashing thrown in for good measure. The key to the film’s legacy as one of the genre’s greatest treasures, then, lies in its insightful and earnest depiction of the Shaolin Temple as not only a vessel for superhuman kung fu training, but also a place of solace, piety and emotional development. Here, Lau portrays the spiritual birthplace of martial arts as a character in the narrative, one which encompasses the heart of the film.

San Te learns how to headbutt sandbags, float on water and even invents his own trademark weapon (the three sectioned staff), yet his years of martial  training and Buddhist learning bares no real impact on his bloodthirsty quest for revenge. Lo Lieh plays the evil tyrant (now there’s a surprise) who has slain countless rebels and innocent people alike, including San Te’s family and friends, but his eventual day of reckoning is a slightly lazy anticlimax. The real juice is in the middle, where Gordon Liu steps out of his shell and lays claim to a naïve charm and intensity that would help to form an iconic career highlight for the kung fu star.

AKA: Disciples of Master Killer; Master Killer; Shaolin Master Killer; The Thirty-Sixth Chamber

Flash Legs

(1977, HK, Hwa Tai Movie Co.)

Dir. Wu Ma; Pro. Tung Chen-ching; Action Dir. Wong Lung; Cast Dorian Tan Tao-liang, Lung Fei, Lo Lieh, Doris Lung Chung-erh, Wong Hap, Kam Kong.

92 min.

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

AKA: Deadly Kick; Shaolin Deadly Kicks