This week's blog is about the new Donnie Yen joint entitled Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zen. If you didn't know this movie is a follow-up to the 1995 television series Fist of Fury (which also starred Yen). Both this movie and the TV series were based on the 1972 Bruce Lee classic, Fist of Fury.
I am not going to get into a whole plot summary, but rather tell you how I felt about the film. Donnie Yen to me is like the Denzel Washington/Russell Crowe/Robert Deniro of the martial arts genre. While dudes like Tony Jaa make movies with idiotic story lines that sometimes make no sense, Yen keeps making flicks with action and substance. To tell you the truth, I expected more action in this movie. But the intricate story line kept my attention. And there are more than a few beautiful Asian honeys in it, so that is always a plus!!
During the few fight scenes, Yen does not disappoint though. He also served as fight choreographer for the film and he told the media that he included elements of Jeet Kun Do as a tribute to Bruce Lee, the original Chen Zen.
Here is a small taste of what Yen has to offer:
Yen also stated that he used Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and elements of Wing Chun to choreograph the scenes for this flick.
I am going to give Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Yen Four Fists. Donnie Yen rarely disappoints me (pause) because he knows how to make a kick ass fight scene and always seems to pick the movies with the dopest story lines. This movie could have gotten the Five Fist classic status if it had a few more fight scenes in it, but it is most definitely still a must see. Also through a little research I found out that Zhang Ziyi was originally supposed to play the female lead. That would have definitely given this movie classic status as well. She is fine! That's it for this week, sorry for the two week absence. I have crazy busy. I got some ideas for the next couple of weeks so keep checking back in.
Today I decided to go back to Thailand and watch Born To Fight, a movie released in 2004 that I copped around the time Ong Bak came out, but never got around to watching until now. Born to Fight stars Dan Chupong, who played the Crow Ghost in Ong Bak 2 & 3 and was directed by Panna Rittikrai (Ong Bak 2 & 3).
Born To Fight follows the traditional formula of most Thai Action/Martial Arts films in my opinion; shitty storyline with a few good action/fight scenes.
Chupong is Deaw, a cop who looks like he's 18 and involved in the arrest of a major Thai drug kingpin (referred to as "The General") at the beginning of the film. During the arrest his partner is killed, and then Deaw decides to take a trip with his sister, who is a Taekwondo champion.
The trip stops at a small village where Deaw, his sister, and the various other athletes are giving out things to the poor people of the village. Everything is shiny and happy until a heavily armed militia come in and start wrecking shop.
After a few minutes of shooting, yelling and ranting in Thai we soon learn that the militia are taking the village hostage and are demanding The General be released from prison. They take over all the computer and news transmissions in Thailand and demand he be released or they will kill the village on national television.
Deaw, who plans to escape and come back with help, also finds out that these dudes have other plans. He sees that they have a nuclear missile and plan on blowing up Bangkok. WTF?!?!
Deaw, inspires the villagers and his athletic friends to rise up, fight their enemies and save Thailand.
I am trying to give as brief as a plot rundown as possible, because their really wasn't any. The first 45 minutes of this movie was really horrible.
The last half of the movie is semi-entertaining, because you get to see a few of the athletes (who are really Thai National athletes) strut their stuff. Here are a few clips:
(look at the little girl at the 7:50 mark....one of my favorite parts.....)
(Wait for the 5:19 mark, the one legged dude is kind of nice!!!)
Deaw then fights off one of the Militia (played by the dude was injecting himself in Ong Bak) who is about to launch the nuclear missile (Oh No!). The fight is pretty entertaining, and the missile is redirected to land into the water instead of in the city (Yay!).
(I don't think anyone is going to be eating seafood in Thailand after that explosion....)
I was ready to dish out a horrible review for Born To Fight because so many things were wrong with the film. The story line was cheesy, acting was horrible, the score sounded like the start menu to Street Fighter put on repeat for 90 minutes. When the action did start, it was pretty entertaining. The way they intertwined gymnastics, soccer, rugby, etc. into the fight scenes was kind of cool. Chupong does not have great fighting skills when he is on the ground, but the dude does some pretty nasty flips. I give him credit for that.
I give Born to Fight 2 1/2 Fists. It's unique fight choreography saved what very well could have been a terrible film.
Peace & Blessing for now......The Sage......
P.S. I appreciate any new comments....let me know what you think.....I am trying to come up with ways to improve the blog....any advice is welcome....be sure to follow me by clicking "Follow" in the right hand column....
Peace & Blessings everyone.....another late review......busy weekend....my sincerest apologies.... I went to my DVD Connect and was going to cop something new to review, but didn't see anything worth getting. So I decided to go back to the classics.
Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (also known as Invincible Pole Fighter) is a classic Shaw Brothers film (directed by LiuChia-Lang) starring Gordon Liu (of Enter the 36 Chambers fame). In this film Liu plays the 5th of 8 brothers in Yang family, a group of well trained soldiers who are known for their service to the government. They are soon betrayed by Pan Mei, a government official who is conspiring with the Mongolian Army. Peep the first scene right here, with the action starting up around the 2:20 mark.
In this epic battle scene 4 of the 7 brothers are brutally murdered as well as their father. The 4th brother is taken prisoner (and strangely never mentioned again), the 6th brother (played by Alexander FuSheng, who tragically died during filming) returns home and goes insane, while the 5th brother takes refuge in the Ching Ling Temple.
The monks at the Temple refuse to take in the 5th brother at first, due to his anger and blood soaked past as a solider. After seeing his martial arts skills (particularly with the quarterstaff), the monks decide to let him stay. Here is a scene where 5th Brother begins his training with the monks. The training starts around the 2:57 mark.
The elder monk does a superb job of showing 5th brother how to to take out the wolves, a skill that comes in very handy later in the film.
As the traitor Pan Mei and the Mongols search for 2 Yang Brothers that they failed to murder, they wind up killing a senior monk from the temple and taking a Yang sister hostage. This leads to 5th brother wanting to leave the temple to get revenge. In this scene, 5th Brother proves to the Abbot that he must leave the temple to save his sister.
5th Brother finds Pan Mei and the Mongols, which leads to a gruesome final fight scene. 5th brother and his sister are severely outnumbered, but the monks from the temple (along with the Abbot) come to their aid. When 5th brother questions Abbot coming to fight and breaking the temple's rules, he replies with the classic line "We're driving away wolves." The monks proceed to take out the Mongols like the wooden wolves they trained on.
After the traitor Pan Mei is dealt with accordingly, 5th Brother bounces from his family and the Ching Ling Temple, stating "I have no home now."
Great fucking movie!!! I give Eight Diagram Pole Fighter 5 Fists. It is a grim and angry film that avoids any humorous elements that were common in many of director LuiChia-Lang's offerings. The fight scenes are well choreographed and quite bloody, especially the brutal finale. Gordon Liu plays one of his most memorable roles, and Alexander FuSheng is missed in the final scene. If not for his tragic death, he would have been side by side w Liu in the classic final fight! Eight Diagram Pole Fighteris a must see for all true Martial Arts film lovers.
Stop slipping & tripping and cop it!!!!
Peace & Blessings.......The Sage....
P.S.----Props to all the new readers........ if you ever want to contact me feel free to hit me on Twitter @KungFuTheater or at SaturdayMorningKungFu@gmail.com
Peace & Blessings my people......I'm on a three week streak and for the first time in this blog's history, I am posting on a Saturday morning!! Let me pause real quick and brush my shoulder off......Ok now back to our regularly scheduled program......
For this week's review I decided to bring it back to the classics. The Mystery of Chess Boxing is one of my personal favorites. It is also internationally known as Ninja Checkmate. Why it is also called that has always confused me. There is not one ninja or one piece of Japanese fighting style in the whole movie. My only guess was that ninja movies were starting to gain popularity and they were trying to ride that wave.
Instead of going over the whole plot line this week, I'm just going to focus on a character in this flick that to me goes down as one of the greatest villains in cinematic history. He goes by the name of The Ghost Faced Killer.
Played by Mark Long, Ghost Faced Killer is without a doubt the best part of this movie. Traveling the land looking for several clan leaders who conspired to kill him, The Ghost Face Killer spares no mercy on his enemies. Before he attacks them, he always throws his trademark "ghost faced killer plate" to let them know some real shit is about to go down.
Here is a video clip of the first part of the movie. At 2:33 in you will see The Ghost Faced Killer approach his first victim. Peep his laugh while he is choking dude out. Classic material! He also whoops another dudes ass using the 5 elements style around 4:53 in the clip.
Anyone who appreciates a good villain in movies can't front on Ghost Faced Killer. He goes through this movie straight fucking people up like a Chinese Dee-Bo!!!
But, like 99% of most movies, the villain usually meets his demise at the end. Ghostfaced Killer meets up with Lee Yi Min (played by Ah Po, who does his best Jackie Chan impersonation) and his teacher Chi Sue Tin (Jack Long). Student and teacher team up, using double horse style (Chinese Chess Reference) to defeat The Ghost Faced Killer in what goes down as one of the best fight scenes in Martial Arts movie history.
I give The Mystery of Chess Boxing5 Fists.Great fight scenes with a great villain make this movie one that you have to put on your "must-see" list. I also give this movie props because it helped create this:
and this:
So stop slipping & tripping and go cop this movie if you haven't seen it already.
I'm out to enjoy this wonderful weather......have a great weekend.......
P.S.-----Props to everyone that has made a comment thus far, be sure to click "Follow" in the upper right hand area and you can follow me with your Yahoo, Gmail, or Twitter accounts...
Also you can follow me on Twitter.... @KungFuTheater .....
I may have to change the name to this blog. Three blogs and not one of them was posted on Saturday Morning. At least I am writing 2 reviews in 2 weeks, so I have to give myself some credit!
For this week's review, I had the pleasure of watching Ip Man 3. You may be asking, "Sage, why not review Ip Man 1 & 2 first?" I thought about it, but I just copped part 3 yesterday and was excited to see it. Plus it is really a prequel to the other two films so I think it's a great way to introduce it to all of you.
The Ip Man (pronounced Yip Man) films tell us the story of Bruce Lee's legendary martial arts teacher, a grandmaster at Wing Chun and the first person to teach the art openly.Ip Man 3: The Legend is Born, focuses on his early life and how he became skilled in Wing Chun.
The film begins with Ip Man (played mostly by Dennis To, who was a perfect pick; he has the look and swagger of a young Donnie Yen, who plays Ip Man in the other two films) and his step brother, Tin Chi, joining a Wing Chun school lead by master ChahWah-Sun (played by the legendary Sammo Hung). At the school they befriend Lee Mei-Wai, a female student who takes an instant liking to the two brothers.
After ChahWah-Sun dies from illness, Ip continues to learn Wing Chun from his senior Chung So until he goes to college in Hong Kong. While there, Ip gets into a fight with a Westerner and becomes very popular for his martial arts skills. Soon Ip meets master LeungBik, who is the son of Leung Jan, ChahWah-Sun's master. LeungBik is played by IpChun, the real life son of Ip Man. As you can clearly see here, Ip soon realizes that LeungBik can teach him a thing or two about Wing Chun.
Ip Man soon returns to Foshan and reunites with Tin Chi, Lee Mei-Wai and the rest of his peers at the Wing Chun school. Most are impressed by the new style of Wing Chun that he has learned, but his senior Chung So is not happy with his new style, saying that the wild high kicks and low elbows go against the orthodox teachings of Chan Wah-Sun.
A group of Japanese thugs, lead by Chairman Kitano (typical looking Japanese gangster) and his daughter, soon come to the Wing Chun school. After challenging them to a fight, Tin Chi makes short work of them.
Ip Man soon falls in love with Cheung Wing-Shing (played by the beautiful Huang Yi), which upsets his childhood friend Lee, who has had feelings for him all along. Lee soon accepts Tin Chi's marriage proposal. After the wedding, Lee's God Father is murdered shortly after Ip Man is seen escorting him home, making Ip the prime suspect in the murder. Ip Man is soon arrested as the prime suspect. Cheung Wing-Shin lies to the police, saying that Ip Man was with her the night of the murder and he is released from jail.
While looking at their wedding gifts, Lee Mei-Wai learns that it was indeed Tin Chi that was paid by the Japanese to murder her God Father. As Lee attempts to hang herself, Tin Chi stops her and they both try to leave Foshan in shame of Tin Chi's actions. Their escape is thwarted by Kitano and the Japanese, who kidnap Lee and force Tin Chi to try and kill Chung So (who now has the letter and knows of the Japanese intentions).
Tin Chi and the Japanese show up to the school in full ninja gear, and are about to kill Chung So when Ip Man arrives with staff in hand. This makes for one of the best fight scenes of the film.
After Ip disposes of the Japanese and makes light work of Tin Chi, his step brother reveals that he is actually Japanese and was sent to China as a child as an undercover agent. After revealing all he did wrong and the whereabouts of Lee, Tin Chi commits Seppuku (think Harikiri but in reverse) to end his life.
Ip Man goes to the pier where Lee is being held captive, rescues her and defeats Chairman Kitano. As they leave the pier they notice that the Kitano had been smuggling in children through boxes, possibly to be undercover agents like Tin Chi was.
The movie ends with Chung So telling a new crop of young students how Ip Man saved his life, one of those students being Ip's son, IpChun.
I give Ip Man 34 Fists. Like the previous installments, this movie has an top notch story with great fight scenes. My only beef with the film is that Sammo Hung and the actor that played Tin Chi (Fan Siu-Wong) were in the other movies as different characters. Fan played JinShanzao, bandit turned martial arts master and Hung played Hung Chun-nam, a master that Ip meets in Hong Kong in the 1950s. That's really just a small flaw in my opinion, because this movie is damn near a classic. I think that newcomer Dennis To has a bright future in martial arts cinema.
Peace & Blessings for now.....until next week (hopefully Saturday Morning).....The Sage.......
It's been a little over 5 months since my first review on this blog. Just about 20 Saturday mornings have gone by with no updates! What a shame! Well getting working 2 jobs and getting married can do that to a man! My apologies for the few that have read and supported me, I hope to start doing this blog on a regular basis and hopefully my readers will grow!
I spent this morning watching Tony Jaa's 3rd and final installment of the Ong Bak series. When I first copped the original Ong Bak I was blown away by Tony Jaa's performance. He had the build and swagger of Bruce Lee, the "do your own stunts" craziness of Jackie Chan, and the likability of Jet Li. I was convinced that this was the next martial arts legend. Jaa would follow Ong Bak with Tom-Yum-Goong, also known as The Protector or The Warrior King, which was another flick that was chock full of whoop ass!!
Then came Ong Bak 2. I plan to re-watch part 2 and give a detailed review, but what I can say is that it confused me that it had absolutely nothing to do with the original. Jaa fights his way through modern day Bangkok in the first Ong Bak, and is transported back to the 15th Century for the sequel as a totally different character with a totally different storyline.
Although Ong Bak 3 (which was alos co-written, co-directed and co-produced by Jaa) does continue where part 2 left off, that doesn't save it from being a big hot steamy piece of shit of a movie. I'm not even going to waste your time breaking down the story, because straight up and down it's not worth it! I really don't know what Tony Jaa is thinking, but the man who I felt was the heir to the martial arts throne is making some bad career moves.
When I copped the DVD last night, I expected to be amazed by some next level fight choreographing. What I saw was Jaa trying to flex his feeble acting skills, possibly trying to win a Thai version of an Oscar. The first worthy fight scene (far from classic, but worthy) was not until an hour and four minutes into the movie! The first hour is a bunch of dramatic b.s. that was not worth the $20 plus tax that I invested in this crap-fest. The final fight scene is kind of cool, but again not worth the time and money.
The only joy I really got from watching this movie was that it ended after 90 minutes even though the counter on my PS3 said it was almost two hours long. What came after the credits where some bullshit behind the scenes clips that were in Thai and not really that interesting so I was forced to put them on extreme fast forward.
Another funny thing I want to point out is on the cover of the DVD it shows 2 Tony Jaa's fighting against each other and it says "The Biggest Fight of All is with Himself." This would make the average viewer think that Jaa was going to play 2 characters and have some incredibly shot fight scene where the 2 characters face off. There is a character that resembles Tony Jaa, but it is actually fellow Thai action star Dan Chupong, who does resemble Jaa in a way and returns as the creepy Crow Ghost character that was briefly in Ong Bak 2. I guess they were trying to say that Jaa's character was going to have to find the power within himself to be victorious in this film, but like I said the cover will lead you to believe otherwise.
I give Ong Bak 32 Fists.....would have gave it one but the 3 things saved it from being a total shit bomb. 1) The last fight scene was somewhat enjoyable 2) It ended earlier than expected and 3) I give Jaa credit for giving comedic Thai actor Petchtai Wongkamlao roles in his movies.....dude is funny as hell.......
I was trying to find a good clip of the movie, but all I could find was the trailer.....watch at your own risk.....Peace & Blessing for now...The Sage
I've been a fan of martial arts flicks since I was a kid, although when I was like 6 I was afraid that Bruce Lee was hiding in my closet and if I got out of bed he was going to jump out and beat the sh-t out of me (wtf?).
In college I got cool with a vendor at a local flea market and started to buy movies on VHS on the regular. I had a good 40 movies, but a lot of them were borrowed and never returned on some "yo where my killa tape at?" type of sh-t.
I am now beginning to rebuild my collection on DVD and look foward to blogging my reviews of each film that I own.
This week's blog is about the new Donnie Yen joint entitled Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zen. If you didn't know this movie is a follow-up to the 1995 television series Fist of Fury (which also starred Yen). Both this movie and the TV series were based on the 1972 Bruce Lee classic, Fist of Fury.
