easternkicks.com » Martial arts

S.P.L.: Kill Zone

Andrew Heskins — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:00:50 +0000

Finally released in the UK – thanks to a tie-up between Cine Asia and Weinstein’s US-based Dragon Dynasty label – one of the best martial arts films of the last decade…!

When Inspector Wa Kwun (Donnie Yen) joins an established crime unit, soon to replace retiring Detective Chan Kwok Chung (Simon Yam, Election, Exiled, Full Contact), he finds a team that have spent too long crossing the line between right and wrong. Chung has become obsessed on bringing down ruthless crime lord and keen golfer Wong Po (Sammo Hung, Fatal Move, The Prodigal Son) at any cost since Po organised an assassination of a witness and his family, leaving only his daughter alive and in Chung’s care.

Ma finds himself at odds with both the criminals he’s sworn to apprehend and the unit he’s meant to be leading when the team augment a piece of evidence to pin a murder on Po. But when Po hires a deadly assassin Jack (Jacky Wu, Fatal Contact, Invisible Target), Ma’s ethics must take second place to keeping both himself and his colleagues alive.

It’s no surprise S.P.L.: Kill Zone made one hell of an impact on it’s original release and that’s namely down to the extended showdown between Yen and Wu, then Hung. Tightly choreographed by Donnie Yen, there’s a ferocity rarely seen before in Hong Kong action and martial art films – it helped bring a new realism away from the incredible wire-fu for which it’s become best known.

There’s no dispute that the pairing of Hung and Yen was one that long overdue for martial arts fans (and so nearly happened several times before), but the preceding dual with Wu also helped put back this star back on the map – having been originally heralded back in 1996 for films like Tai Chi Boxer. And it all leads to a shocking and unforgettable ending.

The film itself is notably lacking in martial arts for much of it’s running time. Director and writer Wilson Yip expends a lot of time building up the characters of Chung and his team, ably played by Liu Kai Chi (The Detective, The Beast Stalker), Danny Summer and Ken Chang (Tsui Hark’s Vampire Hunters), showing them for all faults and merits.

The theme of police detectives crossing the line to get results is by no means new, but here Yip is more judgemental than his peers and predecessors have been. Yip leaves you in no doubt that they have stepped too far over the line, there can be no redemption. Occasionally it’s a little heavy-handed, but overall superbly shot and tightly paced. The setting of the film in the 90s even allows for some playful shots of old technology like video and dv tapes – ah, remember the good old days?

It’s obvious from some of the commentary on the DVD that Yen pushed Yip to include more fight scenes, revealing that he arranged additional funding for reshoots. It’s hard to imagine the film having the same impact without them.

This was, of course, the first collaboration between Yip and Yen. Since then we’ve had Dragon Tiger Gate, Flash Point and the exceedingly likable biopic Ip Man, and what better time to revisit this film with Ip Man 2 soon to be released and that much awaited rematch between Hung and Yip.

Bring it on!

S.P.L.: Kill Zone is released on DVD and Blu-ray on 8 March by Cine Asia.

Fireball

Andrew Heskins — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 10:00:32 +0000

Dodgeball meets Rollerball in this violent bloodsport flick, but before you go thinking we’re back to the excesses of 80s martial arts films, think again…

You know what I mean, the era when Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven ‘ponytail’ Seagal reined supreme, when titles like Best Of The Best and Bloodsport filled the shelves of our local video store (and we just wished we could find those great Hong Kong films instead). There’s more than a little of those hokey, ‘underdog-to-champion’ themes, as well as the decade penchant for exploitative violence. (Yeah, okay, admittedly inherited from the 70s and fed by the burgeoning video market.)

Perhaps the comparison isn’t overly fair, but one read of the setup does bring to those days to mind. Tai (Preeti Barameeanant, best known as lead singer of Thai rock band Clash) is released early from prison to find his twin brother Tan in a coma after being nearly beaten to death by a rival. He soon finds out Tan was involved in a vicious and often deadly underground sport called fireball, a no-holds barred mash-up of basketball and martial arts where anything goes in order to be the last man standing – even murder.

Seeking revenge for his brother’s condition, Tai pretends to be him joining a team of equally desperate individuals. There’s Muay Thai champion Zing (9 Million Sam, a professional boxing champion), out to prove himself; pretty boy teenager Iq (Kannut Samerjai, a real-life rising star of Thai basketball), exceptionally talented but by no means a fighter; Thai-African Muk (Kumpanat Oungsoongnern, ex-goalkeeper on Thailand’s soccer team and star of films including King Naresuran I) trying hard to support his pregnant wife; K (Anuwat Saejao, an ex-professional basketball player), an old friend of Tan’s rumoured to have thrown Tai’s last game; and their boss Den (Phutharit Prombundarn, Bang Rajan), who has much to prove having only been elevated to a higher mafia position as his boss died.

It’s soon clear that this band of misfits is both extremely talented and doomed not to go far in this contest, thanks to being incapable of playing anywhere near as dirty as their competitors. It’s not so much a question of if they’ll make it to the finale – that’s almost a forgone conclusion – but more just how many of them will survive?

Director Thanakorn Pongsuwan effectively uses digital handheld camera to add to the immediacy of action sequences, creating a pretty slick-looking film as a result. The fight scenes (when we finally get round to them) are tightly choreographed by stunt co-ordinator Pangrech Sangcha, and excel at capturing the chaotic nature of a sport where literally anything goes – sometimes a little too well. When illicit weapons like metal bars or more interesting locations like the docks become part of the equation, the action sequences definitely step up a level, turning this Fireball into a conflagration of swift moves and visceral bone-crunching combat. Sure, it’s a gimmick – muay thai meets basketball – but hell, what a gimmick!

Unsurprisingly Pongsuwan rather labours each of the team’s back-stories, playing up the melodrama to daytime soap levels. But slate it if you will, at least he gives you characters you can care about. Considering that many of his stars are not even professional actors, he doesn’t get bad performances out of them either. 9 Million Sam, Anuwat Saejao and Kannut Samerjai stand out in particular alongside an understated but excellent performance by seasoned professional Phutharit Prombundarn.

Sure, some of the Gladiator style references are vaguely hokey too, and forget the end title sequence sets up the possibility a sequel of sorts – seemingly playing out the circular nature of revenge without the slightest irony. It might not be Ong Bak, but this is a pretty effective fight flick that could surprise, if not necessarily win over, audiences. It’s really much better than you might think…

Fireball is released at selected cinemas around the UK from 8 January 2010, courtesy of Premiere Films, ahead of it’s release on DVD and Blu-ray by E1 Entertainment on 18th January.

Blood: The Last Vampire

Andrew Heskins — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:00:32 +0000

A solid, good looking action film with great fight sequences by choreographer Corey Yuen, but plot inconsistencies and a baffling conclusion don’t make the best for Chris Nahon’s live-action adaption…

Let’s face it, the original anime Blood: The Last Vampire was something of a tease. At 48 minutes long, the original intention of the film as part of a multimedia project including a video game and manga was lost on most of its audience, myself included. Those of us that saw it still loved it as a brilliant, if incomplete variation on Ghost In The Shell.

Nearly a decade on the film has recently become an Anime series, Blood+, loosely based on the original premise, and now Chris Nahon, director of the impressive (and arguably best) Western Jet Li vehicle (Kiss Of The Dragon), has returned to Asia inspiration of a glossy, nicely shot live-action version. Indeed Blood tries hard to reproduce the original, the opening subway scene is all but an exact reproduction, in a 300 or Watchmen sort of a way, down to the original’s yellow-filtered, 70s exposed light.

The first half-hour or so is pretty much an exact re-run of the original, with Saya (Gianna Jun, Il Mare – the original of The Ice House, The Uninvited) part of a mysterious agency going undercover on an American Base high school to coax out deadly vampire demons that feast on humans. Sure, some details have been mucked around with, but the main difference is the addition of fellow student Alice McKee (Allison Miller, 17 Again, Take) who, kind of, takes the place of the original’s Japanese born school nurse Makiho Caroline Amano.

Here the film rather lets itself down with it’s own lack of ambition to take the ideas further, and add imaginative layers that could have supplanted the original.

We begin to learn Saya’s history, and rather than the 19th Century past hinted at in the original, and used in the series, the live-action instead moves her past to edo period Japan. We discover her father was a great vampire hunter, but was killed by Onigen (Koyuki, The Last Samurai, Pulse, Alive), most powerful of all the demons, and hence Saya seeks revenge.

With Tokyo seeming rife with demons, it seems that increased demon activity points towards a devious plan by them, and the presence of Onigen. Saya’s chance for revenge is at hand, but at what cost?

As action films go, Blood: The Last Vampire is by no means terrible. It’s obvious that director Chris Nahon has an understanding of how to film action, and – having worked with action choreographer Corey Yuen on Kiss Of The Dragon – know when to hand over the reigns. It’s beautiful to look at, even if sometimes the CGI work is less convincing than the original. (Mind you, the original being one of those ground breaking anime’s that kept the right side of almost looking too real – well, how can you compare with that?)

It would be easy to blame it all on the tortured production. Billy Kong, producer of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, House Of Flying Daggers, and Lust, Caution, announced the live-action version of Blood with The Bride With White Hair director Ronny Yu attached. That didn’t work out, but ultimately Chris Chow’s (Fearless) script plays too readily into both their histories when taking the film on from its original premise.

In the flashback sequences, Blood tries hard to take you back to the films that inspired Crouching Tiger. It’s Lone Wolf and Cub and classic Shaw Brothers films wrapped in revisionist, noughties style. It’s all swords and wire-fu, wonderfully done, but you wonder, hang on, where are the demons? Later Saya’s showdown with Onigen seems too reminiscent of The Bride With White Hair. But Blood doesn’t seem to know how it’s demon vampires should look, or fight for that matter. It’s here, then over there, horror, then old school wuxia. Enjoyable, but perhaps somewhat misguided by Saya’s use of a sword. (Which in the original, by the way, breaks anyway!?)

It’s an odd mix, not helped by the fact that as a Brit – that as an international production – it relies on British actors to fill in the gaps in the cast. It can be disorientating to see Ruby In The Smoke’s JJ Field or Dog Soldiers Liam Cunnigham as Americans, but not as much as seeing UK TV stalwart Larry Lamb, last most noticeably cast in EastEnders, as a US army base general.

Casting wise, Gianna Jun is fine in the lead role, but weirdly not as feisty as you’d like her to be – all torn by her past and overly upset. (You wonder if someone like Love Exposure’s Hikari Mitsushima might have been been better?) As a character Koyuki’s Onigen just isn’t shown as evil enough – come on Chris (x 2) will you? Give us more to work with!

When Alice’s character starts spouting cod-philosophy it’s all a bit hard to take. (The purpose of the original school nurse character being a lot more poignant.) And then comes the baffling finale, which makes no sense at all other than playing up a reference to Alice’s name.

All in all Blood comes in pretty short for an action film. While I welcome an action film that runs well under 2 hours for a change, it’s all a bit telling on the production side. Indeed, the release date was put back a couple of times due to post-production not being finished in time. For all that, it’s not half bad looking (though you do wonder if the DVD could be more enlightening with deleted scenes and, possibly, abandoned or early scripts).

If you’re expecting entertainment, then Blood fulfils that and more, think Blade Trinity meets later episodes of Buffy. However, if you’re expecting an imaginative re-write of the vampire genre, seek out Park Chan-wook’s Thirst or Tomas Alfredson’s Let The Right One In…

» We spoke to both Gianna Jun and Chris Nolan exclusively earlier in the year…

…and don’t forget, you can win the DVD here!

Ong Bak: The Beginning

Andrew Heskins — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 09:00:56 +0000

Tony Jaa’s back with one heck of a finale fight scene – but will this film finally put him back on the martial arts map?

By now you’ll no doubt have heard some of the problems surrounding the production of Ong Bak: The Beginning (retitled for it’s UK release from Ong Bak 2 to make some sense of having no discernible connection to the original movie). The talk of Jaa’s meltdown during a gruelling schedule, which resulted him walking off the set and going what is referred to in the press release as ‘native’ – which they liken to Francis Ford Coppola’s Heart Of Darkness type experience on Apocalypse Now.

Now before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s not make too many comparisons to one of the great modern movie masterpieces of all time – but like Apocalypse little of the chaos during the shoot shows on screen. Little, but it’s not untouched…

Orphaned as child when the treacherous Lord Rajasena (Saranyoo Wongkrajang, 13 Game Of Death) kills his noble family in order to gain control of the territory, Tien is adopted by a band of mercenaries lead by Chernang (Sorapong Chatree, Beautiful Boxer). There he learns different martial art styles from each of the bandits, from swordplay to kung fu, boxing, Muay Thai and even magic tricks.

The young boy has promise, and the potential to become a great leader, but as Tien grows into a man (cue predictable fade to Tony Jaa) one thing he can’t leave behind is his desire to revenge his parents. Tien sets himself on a course to kill Rajasena, leaving behind his bandit friends and his adoptive father figure Chernang’s offer to take his place to infiltrate the enemy. But his goal of revenge will have unexpected repercussions, and a terrible revelation about his real father’s murderer…

Ong Bak: The Beginning sets a far darker tone than its predecessors. The often merciless violence with which Jaa is seen to dispatch his opponents was rarely hinted at previously, even in his more brutal moments. Somehow this seems a bit incongruous with the naïve innocent Jaa has portrayed in the past, though he performance is generally strong (no doubt helped by a little wildness around the eyes…)

It’s a surprisingly glossy affair, with a saturated colour that often seems almost hand-tinted – perhaps it was to cover up differences in shooting times and continuity, but hell, I rather like it! Tien’s early days with the bandits turning into manhood are told well, and flashbacks fill out the real origins of the boy, though actually repeating a good few minutes is pretty unnecessary!

No doubt influenced by the seemingly undented popularity of historical dramas from Red Cliff to The Warlords, the period setting at least distances it from Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong (aka The Warrior King). (Let’s start the Bruce Lee comparisons right here: Lee is said to have been being wooed for a Shaw Brothers wuxia period piece around the time he completed Enter The Dragon.)

Unsurprisingly it has little to do with those films beyond its lead star. Indeed, considering the explicit use of Muay Thai in the original, that style very much takes a back seat while Jaa shows off his prowess in other styles. It’s a kung fu fans treat, and Jaa is said to have even developed a new style fusing Thai dancing and martial arts called ‘Natayuth’ (though there’s little evidence of that on screen).

There’s plenty of references to found, from Lee (with nunchakus) and a wholesale homage to Jackie Chan’s Drunken Master. (Which seems a bit rich, considering Jaa turned down Rush Hour 3 to complete this movie.) There’s even a cameo from Petchtai Wongkamlao as Men, the comedy relief in Jaa’s previous films (and now general real life equivelent of Ja Ja Binks – Ahem, no pun intended). And then there’s that 25 minute finale. Wow – a non-stop fight between Jaa and some 20 (30? 40? Who’s counting?) opponents, each using different styles and weapons. Leaving you as breathless as Jaa’s character, wondering just how many adversaries he has to face…

But there’s a vital ingredient missing from Ong Bak: The Beginning that the original had in spades. A friend of mine summed it up best when he said, ‘wasn’t the original quite fun?’ Well, this revenger’s tragedy sure ain’t that! There’s a point early on where Jaa is shown jumping through a herd of stampeding elephants from one to another, in one shot he almost falls, so obviously for real, you almost think we could be back to those amazingly hazardous REAL stunts that were so much a part of the original. For a moment I thought elephants were the new tuk tuk’s, if you will, but sadly it was not to be.

What made the original so popular beyond kung fu film fans was the incredible stunt work, sadly for Jaa it had little to do with his martial art prowess. This lacks the originals charm, or the self-conscious silliness Ong Bak director Prachya Pinkaew’s follow-up Chocolate. (Just imagine if Jackie Chan had had a big Western promotion machine behind the original Police Story?)

Where the production difficulties show come at the end. Writer and fight choreographer Panna Rittikrai took over from Jaa as director to finish the film – adding a mysterious ‘crow ghost’ character played by Dan Chupong who is the only combatant to get the better of Tien – but there wasn’t enough time or money to complete it with a satisfying ending, instead it comes to an abrupt and inconclusive end.

Thankfully a sequel is slated for release in Thailand at the end of the year, without which Ong Bak: The Beginning seems a fatalist and rather grim tale. This will allegedly not only bring Tien’s tale to a conclusion, but (Jaa has claimed) also tie into both the original Ong-Bak and Tom Yum Goong. Let’s hope so, as a stand-alone film this is a tantalizing but frustratingly incomplete experience. Rather like missing the very last episode of your favourite TV programme…

Ong Bak: The Beginning will be released in cinemas around the UK by Revolver Entertainment on 16 October 2009.

Dororo

Andrew Heskins — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:00:09 +0000

Osamu Tezuka’s (Astro Boy) Dororo gets the live-action makeover, from director Akihiko Shiota, starring Memories Of Matsuko’s Kou Shibasaki, but spoiled a little by wishy-washy CGI and under-par action from legendary Ching Siu-Tung…

Legendary and prolific manga artist and animator Osamu Tezuka’s work continues to hold an appeal for modern filmmakers. The most famous of which is Astro Boy, which is not only attributed with creating the Anime aesthetic but also brought it to an international audience, and it’s also due for a big Hollywood 3-D makeover this Autumn. Other works to be more recently reinterpreted include his Fritz Lang inspired Metropolis, Kimba the White Lion, Black Jack, and now Dororo.

Dororo started life as an ongoing manga that Tezuka himself never completed in the late 1960s. It quickly made the transition to an animated series in 1969, when it seemed like an heir apparent to Astro Boy, but the series concluded after 26 episodes. More recently it resurfaced as a Video Game, proving the source material still had an appeal for fans (even if it wasn’t a monumental success), so why not a live-action version at last?

A hapless thief, Dororo (Kou Shibasaki, Memories Of Matsuko, One Missed Call, Battle Royale) befriends the mysterious Hyakkimaru after he saves her from a demon in a bar fight. Hyakkimaru (Satoshi Tsumabuki, The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift), as it turns out, had most of his body parts replaced as a baby after his warlord father Daigo Kagemitsu (Kiichi Nakai, When the Last Sword Is Drawn, Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles) made a deal with 48 demons which involved promising them most of his vital organs and limbs.

Only Hyakkimaru isn’t aware of all that. Discovered by a numinous physician who has managed to replicate most of his organs synthetically, he roams Japan only knowing that each time he dispels one of these demons, armed with his mystical blade for a left hand, a real organ is returned to him. Dororo joins him on his quest, but Hyakkimaru is about to discover his true origins, and a real reckoning is coming for the pair.

An enjoyable slice of fantasy, this live-action version of Dororo seems to pull heavily on the recent resurgence of such programmes as Monkey (even if the movie version of the new series, Monkey Magic, didn’t fair so well at the box office). In hindsight, you could even argue that the original 70s Monkey series was partly inspired by the Dororo series, its depiction of Demons seems so familiar. (And then you could just plane turn that argument on it’s head, and suggest that perhaps Tezuka was inspired by the early 60s Shaw Brothers productions of the Journey To The West – but enough already!)

Dororo and Hyakkimaru’s world is nicely brought to life by director Akihiko Shiota (Canary, Harmful Insect), allegedly shoot on location in New Zealand. (I guess there’s nowhere else for fantasy films to go since Lord Of The Rings?) It’s a nice looking film, with some interesting ideas. There’s the moth demon and her caterpillar offspring); and the physicians Edward Scissorhands style laboratory where he creates Hyakkimaru’s new limbs and organs.

However, often the standard of CGI lets it down. It seems rough and simplistic, but not in any sort of stylised way, and with little effort to blend it with the filmed shots. It feels rather cheap, not helped by, shall we say, ‘real’ demons (or at least not CGI) whose masks seem equally as shoddy – not even a match of the original Monkey series, let alone the recent film.(If there’s a big budget to this film, you wonder where it’s gone?)

Surprisingly, the involvement of legendary action choreographer (not to mention director) Ching Siu-Tung (Curse Of The Golden Flower, An Empress And The Warriors, House Of Flying Daggers, A Chinese Ghost Story) does little to raise the quality. Sure, the action scenes are well directed, but not outstanding by any means, let alone inspired. And considering how many films he was involved with during the height of the ‘wire fu’ craze, it’s hard to put that down to Ching being stretch too thinly with his own projects and other films like Kung Fu Dunk. It’s almost as if he just couldn’t get how the green screen action would play out – but again, it’s not as if he hasn’t worked with CGI before.

Thankfully the leads are pretty likable in their roles, with Shibasaki’s feisty Dororo (a male role in the original manga) playing up her tough but cute persona. Tsumabuki is strong too, despite being remarkably sanguine about his predicament and abandonment by his parents. There’s a solid supporting cast too.

Like the recent equally enjoyable if a little better played out) Ichi, Dororo suffers from being a little too long for it’s own good. There seems to be a lot of time spent on exposition, explaining Hyakkimaru’s origins, too much for my tastes, and the plot often seems to stall. Contrast that with very little time spent on the eponymous character herself (though perhaps that’s deliberate, considering two sequels are slated and we end the film already halfway through the 48 demons?)

Dororo is a fine fantasy film, but ultimately you wish it was a little quirkier. It lacks the ‘super-cuteness’ of Osamu Tezuka’s original manga, let alone his distinctiveness, and that seems a shame to me.

Ip Man

Andrew Heskins — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:00:31 +0000

Donnie Yen and Wilson Yip (S.P.L., Flashpoint, Dragon Tiger Gate) are at it again, this time recounting the life of the famous Wing Chun master who first taught Bruce Lee kung fu…

As the fourth collaboration between director Wilson Yip and action superstar-in-waiting Donnie Yen, you might expect Ip Man to be a somewhat jaded, predictable affair. Instead, their continuing journey through different styles and genres, albeit with an obvious action bent, has hit upon a likeable, even thoughtful depiction of the life of Ip Man – all with a shrewd eye on the international market.

Yen plays Ip Man, a celebrated master of Wing Chun who went on to become the first to teach the martial art openly. The film focuses on his life in the city of Foshan between 1930 and 1940, leading up to its occupation during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

As you might expect for a film about a martial arts master, the first half sets up Ip’s character and skill. A hub for martial art schools, we find Ip well respected within Foshan for his prowess, but instead prefering to live as quiet and unassuming life as possible, careful to not to embarrass rival martial art masters for being much less capable than himself. That starts to change, however, when an aggressive Northern master, Jin Shanzhao (Siu-Wong Fan, Righting Wrongs, Project S, Future X-Cops), comes to the city to contest with all schools leaders. Soon only Ip remains, but he swiftly defeats the Northern master, saving regional pride and face.

We then rush ahead a few years to the Japanese occupation, and arguably historical accuracy gets somewhat fuzzier. We find Ip and his young family reduced to poverty, his friends and acquaintances persecuted under Japanese rule. Most shockingly of all he finds his peers forced to dual with the Japanese for bags of rice, their leader General Miura (Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, X-Cross) intent on proving that Japan’s martial arts are far superior. When his old friend and mill owner Zhou Qing Quan (Simon Yam, Election, Full Contact) calls on his help against a gang of thieves led by Jin Shanzhao, teaching Zhou’s employees to defend themselves, his good intentions soon bring him to the attention of General Muira. A decisive dual is coming, and a defining moment for the oppressed people of China.

Or so the story goes… In reality there’s nothing to suggest Ip Man did little more than keep an understandably low profile before he escaped to Hong Kong, but then that wouldn’t make such a great movie would it. (Anyone might think the story had been exaggerated to play up similarities to the story of Bruce Lee’s Fist Of Fury?)

And let’s face it, when it comes to film accounts of legendary kung fu masters – themselves a sizable sub-genre of martial arts films, it’s not worth getting hung up on accuracy is it? From hundreds of movies based around Wong Fei Hung, including the Once Upon A Time In China series, Drunken Master and Iron Monkey films to accounts of Huo Yuanjia (Fearless) and San Te (36th Chamber Of Shaolin), the references are too numerous to mention, but always dealt with in varying degrees of, shall we say, ‘looseness’ when it comes to facts.

As with Yen and Yip’s previous collaboration Flashpoint, hardcore kung fu fans maybe a little disappointed with Ip Man’s pace. There’s a lot of character-building and situation development – you know, stuff a lot of fans aren’t particularly interested in. Which seems quite deliberate when you bear in mind producer Raymond Wong’s statement on the film, that while striving to maintain local box office, filmmakers should not over look the international market. That boils down to making an action film that will appeal to more than just action fans. And actually, this time around director Yip deals with the affair pretty well.

The moments with Ip’s family, though a little hammy, are fine. There are nice quips about Wing Chun being a ‘girls martial art’ – which it was, kind of. The melodrama is rather over the top, but generally Yip and his cast seem to delight (Japanese oppression or not) in recreating a lush vision of 30s China. (At least something seems to have rubbed off from Ang Lee’s wonderful Lust, Caution.) And I know I’ve been more than a little disparaging about Yen’s performances in the past, but here he’s not half bad.

Sure, the plot’s somewhat overly simplistic, and when Yip tries to depict into what happens to families during war, like Kung Fu Crazy Lam (Xing Yu), who ends up in one of the Japanese ad hoc tournaments, and his brother Yuan (Wong You-Nam), who joins forces with the gang of thieves, he quickly gets out of his depth. But the real disappointment is the depiction of the Japanese as villians: all one-dimensional and straight out of a 40s US comic-book, they’re reminiscent of the sort of portrayal we’d have been used to in the films of the early 80s films like The Postman Fights Back and Fist Of Legend (itself a Fist Of Fury makeover). It may have been forgivable then, but not in this day and age.

So what of the action itself?

Well, once again for Yip and Yen, this really doesn’t disappoint, even though this time Yen hands over control of the action choreography to his S.P.L. co-star Sammo Hung. Neither Yen nor Hung were strangers to the martial art style of Wing Chun, with Yen having appeared alongside Michelle Yeoh in the eponymous film about the styles creator, and Hung having choreographed if for two films he also directed, Warriors Two and the all-time classic The Prodigal Son.

Yet here Yip’s direction – no doubt spurred on by the blessing of Ip Man’s son himself, Ip Chun, to make the film – is far more considerate of the differences in style. Less ‘showy’, the style is far more about close combat. Here Yip and Hung really do innovate in the way they show the martial art, creating a very different looking film than what we’re used to in kung fu. As with Flashpoint, the underlying emphasis is on a far more realistic representation of martial arts on film.

Ip Man has been a great success in Hong Kong, picking up Best Film Award at the 28th Hong Kong Festival and an award for Sammo Hung for his Action Choreography, and looks set to gain a lot of international interest. Deservedly. And though you can’t help wondering if Yip and Yen have in fact been searching for a formula that might be able to spin off into sequels, I’m glad this is the one to do it. The sequel is literally filming as we speak, and this time Hung gets a lead role. So for the first time since S.P.L. we’ll get to see them on screen together? Let’s hope so…

Ip Man is released by Cine Asia/Showbox Entertainment at selected UK cinemas from Friday 2 October, and will be released as a two-disc DVD (£15.99) and single-disc Blu-ray (£19.99) on 26 October 2009.

Three Kingdoms: Resurrection Of The Dragon

Andrew Heskins — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 09:00:10 +0000

From the same novel that spawned John Woo’s Red Cliff comes Three Kingdoms, surrounding the legend of Zhao Zilong who became known as The Undefeated General. But do we need another hysterical – I mean historical – drama…?

(And no, it’s not about resurrecting that dragon – they haven’t found a way to bring back Bruce Lee… yet!)

Zhao, played by Andy Lau, is a commoner who joins Liu Bei’s forces in the hope of helping end the wars between the three kingdoms in China. With his courage and exceptional martial art prowess Zhao soon rises through the ranks, becoming of of Liu Bei’s five generals (who also include 70s Shaw Brothers star Ti Lung as Guan Yu) – particularly when he saves Liu Bei’s baby son from the forces of Cao Cao (in an all-too-fleeting cameo by Damien Lau) – a scene also shown in Woo’s Red Cliff, where Jun Hu played Zhao.

Several years later Zhao finds himself still fighting for new leaders, the country still torn apart by war. Deceived into a trap that brings him full circle to the outpost where his calling began, he finds himself up against Cao’s daughter Ying (Maggie Q, Die Hard 4.0, Mission: Impossible III, Gen-X Cops 2), and an inevitable showdown…

Guanzhong Luo’s 14th century historical novel, Romance Of The Three Kingdoms is said to be one of the four classic Chinese novels, alongside Journey To The West, The Water Margin and Dream of the Red Chamber. (And yes, I admit even I had to look up that last one…) Unlike Woo’s more recent Red Cliff, director Daniel Lee’s (Black Mask, What Price Survival?) script and direction does little to honour that novel, encompassing both too little of the source material, and too much of Zhao’s life span. (And it’s nothing to do with Lee’s loose take on the material, either, Woo was just as free with the details.)

In fact, the battle for Red Cliff itself is not even eluded to, perhaps due to Lee wanting to distance himself from Woo’s long promised and undoubtedly epic take on the novel. Yet by trying to show us how Zhao first became a legend, cover the battles he fought and bring us to his disillusioned end, Lee simply glosses over his characters, providing none of them with any depth to like, let alone get caught up in the sentimentality heaped on us.

I’ve begun coining the phrase ‘hysterical dramas’ (rather than historical) for films like this, the mounting levels of melodrama and hysteria having become so over-the-top. It’s something The Warlords did, which also starred Andy Lau, but did well, and Red Cliff, somehow, managed to avoid. Yet Lee even makes a mess of that. We don’t care about the one-dimensional characters, or what happens to them. He lazily inserts flashback after flashback to attempt to pull at our heartstrings, yet only infuriates as they often come within minutes of being originally shown. Gone are the days when we’d get a classic Woo cum Peckinpah flashback of friends in happier times, before seeing them blown to pieces one last time. You can’t help but feel Lee would have been better placed concentrating on the latter part of Zhao’s life.

It’s heavy handed, simplistic and somehow very patronising – I can’t help but feel like Lee is aiming his sights purely on the Chinese market, and that says something rather sad about how sophisticated an audience he considers them. At best it’s a misguided attempt to recreate the simplicity of the Shaw Brothers classics of the 70s that starred Ti Lung and Damien Lau.

It’s also strangely nihilistic. Having fought so many years and given up any happiness of his own, only to find himself in exactly the same out that his heroic journey began, now betrayed by his oldest friend, and even used as a pawn by the great strategist Zhuge Liang. This is the part of the film where the lead is supposed to find a resolution, a meaning for his life, and the true elevation of dying with honour (I hope I’m not spoiling the plot here) yet as with director Lee’s sweeping generalisations, this rings as hollow and unconvincing. There is no discernable victory to be found, let alone moral high ground. (Zhao doesn’t even honour his own words to die defending the outpost.) Could this be deliberate – probably not, and hardly has the desired result.

On the positive side, the action choreography by co-star Sammo Hung and fellow Peking Opera student Yuen Tak, who both attended the same school with Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao, is outstanding. (Even if the scale is dwarfed by Woo’s production several times over.) The cinematography is also impressive, the great, dusty, desolate golden-saturated landscape created by director of photography Tony Cheung mirrored in a main theme that is more than slightly reminiscent of a spaghetti western.

The cast, however, get such a bum deal with the script there’s little for them to sink their teeth into. Andy Lau, initially rather miscast as the young Zhao, is disappointing and rather unconvincing in the lead role. Just compare with his recent performances in Protégé, or even the similarly themed The Warlords – this is more an actor simply going through the motions, but with this script who can blame him. Similarly, Sammo Hung’s support is fine, but not exceptional.

Instead it’s Maggie Q, whose casting was heavily criticised when the film was released in Asia, who actually makes quite a promising appearance as the daughter of Cao Cao, as does Andy On as Zhao’s second-in-command Deng Zhi. It’s just with such a short amount of time devoted to their part of the story, we don’t see enough of them!

Yep, this might sound a bit harsh, but you’re better off trying to catch the theatrical release of Red Cliff while it’s still playing in cinemas. Overall this is a disappointing ‘historical drama’ that should be left to true fans of the genre.

Three Kingdoms: Resurrection Of The Dragon (cert. 15) is released today on DVD (£17.99) and Blu-ray (£24.99) by Icon Home Entertainment.

Ichi

Andrew Heskins — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:30:14 +0000

Novelist Kan Shimozawa’s famous blind swordsman Zatoichi, recently brought to the screen by Beat Takeshi, gets a feminine makeover courtesy Fumihiko Sori, director of Ping Pong and the Anime Vexille…

Ichi, played by Haruka Ayase (Cyborg She, Hero – ahem, not that one!) is a ‘goze’ – a blind musician – travelling the countryside in search of her father. Constantly having to deal with those who’s take advantage of her disability, there’s one thing they should beware of – Ichi also happens to be a master swordsman (should that be swordswoman, or is that non-PC?). A fact made clear when fellow traveller Toma (Takao Osawa, All About Lily Chou-Chou, Midnight Eagle, Goemon, Sky High) tries to protect her from bandits, only to find he needs her protection.

The pair soon find themselves entangled in a battle for a village between the ruling family and a vicious gang of bandits led by Banki (Shido Nakamura, Red Cliff, Letters From Iwo Jima), who intimates he may know the location of Ichi’s father (who also happens to be a master swordsman). Toma gains the acclaim of Ichi’s work, but soon becomes besotted with her.

Not unlike the situation in Kurosawa’s Yojimbo or Leone’s adaption A Fistful Of Dollars, if you will, (except without the swordsman’s manipulation of the two parties) it’s clear that Ichi’s prowess could turn the tide – if only they’ll believe she’s really capable…

For a director well known for his CGI sequences, such as those that made the fantastical Ping Pong sequences so exciting (I mean, that is NOT easy!), and even more for getting involved in Anime, producing Appleseed and directing Vexille, Ichi is surprising low key in it’s use of computer effects. (That’s not to say they’re not there, but are deliberately underplayed.) In fact, if anything the whole film feels somewhat old fashioned – it’s definitely not revolutionary in the way that Beat Takeshi’s take Zatoichi was – and that’s by no means a criticism.

In many senses that seems almost deliberate. The films fight choreographer Hiroshi Kuze, is the second-generation master of Kuzeshichiyoukai, a sword-fighting school founded by Ryu Kuze, the choreographer of Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai. Hiroshi took over the school in the 80s, working with Kurosawa himself on Ran and Madadayo. He also worked with Yoji Yamada on Twilight Samurai and The Hidden Blade.

If Sori’s intent is to dispel the myths of exaggerated swordplay – the wire-fu and self-conscious ridiculousness of films like Hero (that one!) and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – then like Hirokazu Kore-eda’s underrated Hana (aka Hanayori mo Naho), it oddly actually puts him on the same page as Kurosawa, who no doubt was reacting to the martial art novels of the day and the classic Chinese stories that inspired them. Kurosawa’s heroes were often hardly the bold, invincible warriors they built themselves up to be – take the main protagonist in Rashômon, for instance.

Which seems a bit odd considering the directors previous work, and that the producer Toshiaki Nakazawa was inspired to recast Zatoichi with a female lead due to the success of Kill Bill. In fact, the film is combination of both the Zatoichi franchise, and a lesser-known blind swordswoman character from a rival 60s studio, ‘Blind O-Ichi’ from the Crimson Bat series¹. Known only as Ichi, Sori’s film playfully mixes the two franchises into one, with hints that Ichi’s father may well be the original Zatoichi (or was that just my take?).

Sori seems to have a deft touch for getting the best out of his actors, and allowing them the room to make the characters their own. The performances of the leads Haruka and Takao are great – particularly Takao, who makes the faintly ridiculous situation of a samurai who can’t actually unsheathe his sword due to a childhood accident (almost) believable. The unlikely burgeoning romance between the pair is touchingly and credibly played out, meaning you far more readily buy into any upcoming tragedy. (That’s not giving too much away, is it?)

It’s helps there’s a strong ensemble cast at Sori’s disposal, with wonderfully hammy performances by Shido Nakamura (who gave such solid support as Gan Xing in Red Cliff) and Riki Takeuchi as Izo (best known for his turns in Takeshi Miike’s Dead Or Alive series and Yo-Yo Girl Cop) cast as the bad guys. (One could even argue that’s exactly how they might have been, as perceptions of their power would have been made by such public displays of bravado.)

What ultimately let’s Ichi down is simply a protracted conclusion that stops and starts, rather than builds momentum. The film is simply too long for it’s own good – which is a shame for what is otherwise superbly entertaining movie.

Ichi can be seen as part of the ICA’s Cult Japan season in London from today, and in selected cinemas around the UK from Friday, 10 July. A UK DVD release will follow later in the year.

1 Reference Ichi: Justice Is Blind by Jonathan Clements

King Boxer

Andrew Heskins — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 10:00:01 +0000

Better known under its deliriously exploitative US title Five Fingers Of Death, another kung fu bona fide classic finally makes its way onto UK DVD – bring it on…!

But King Boxer is notable for more than just a campy pseudonym: dubbed into English by Warner Brothers for a US release it actually kick-started the kung fu phenomenon, even predating Bruce Lee’s Fist Of Fury. And rarely has such an honour been so richly deserved…

Lo Lieh (Golden Swallow, The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin, Killer Clans) stars as Chao Chih-Hao, a principled martial artist who lacks ambition to fulfil his potential until his master convinces him to join another school. Finding his skills lacking, his new Master, Sun Hsin-Pei (Fang Mian), confines Chao to kitchen duty, but is soon so impressed by his determination and willingness to learn.

The local martial arts schools are to compete against each other to run the local province. Unfortunately one school master, Meng Tung-Shun (Tien Feng, Trail of the Broken Blade, The Magnificent Trio, The Assassin) and his corrupt wide-boy son Tien-hsiung (Tung Lam, The Water Margin, Oily Maniac) plan win the competition and attain even greater control of the area – even if it means employing Japanese mercenaries and making sure none of the other schools can even contend. (And let me make it clear, that’s exactly what it means!)

Meanwhile Chao has impressed his new master so much that he gives his the manual for the all powerful Iron Palm style, which other than great strength involves a glowing from the palms and the sound of the siren intro to Quincy Jones Ironside theme to play when in use. However, he’s also made an enemy of Meng and his various cronies, including the balding, head-banging Chen Lang (Chi Chu Chin, Hand Of Death, The Thunderbolt Fist), who decide to corner him and smash his hands so he can no longer fight.

But will even that stop our hero and his quest for justice? Well, what do you think?

Okay, so far this may all sound like a pretty standard Shaw Brother kung fu epic of the time – it even has the usual ensemble cast that would circulate through hundreds of their films from the mid-60s until the early 80s – yet it’s the quality with which it’s undertaken that lifts this movie way above expectations.

Korean-born director Chang-hwa Jeong, also known as Cheng Chang-Ho – who extensively reworked the script – embodies the characters with such empathy to lift this way above peers like Zhang Che (whose ‘yang gang’ machismo and ‘extreme close-up’ style by that time was already becoming something of a parody of itself). The clarity of the narrative is definitely more Western (and Akira Kurosawa) influenced than other Shaw Brother directors, and reminiscent of early King Hu. In fact, it owes much to Che’s earlier One-Armed Swordsman, and not just because of the hand-disabling scene – it’s the leading man’s reluctance to become the hero, as well as the sympathetic portrayal of all the characters. Here Jeong’s Korean background stands him in good stead, being a lot more genuinely interested in Chinese culture, novels and history than his peers were by this stage.

Despite filling the screen with over a dozen main characters, including variously idiosyncratic villains from the aforementioned Japanese mercenaries and head-banger, to a Mongol wrestler and even a girl singer, he never muddles the plot. Beautifully played out by the cast, the themes of brotherhood and betrayal come to the fore, as heroes become tainted and jealous and villains become ashamed of their actions.

Of course, the cast are great, particularly Lo Lieh, making a convincing and sympathetic romantic lead – though we’re more used to seeing him as the delicious sadistic villain or self-possessed hero. But a special mention needs to go to Tung Lam, wonderfully unpleasant as Meng’s repugnant son.

Produced to Shaw Brothers usual high standard, the cinematography – by Wang Yung-lung– is also outstanding, with imaginative and striking composition. There’s a great (though simple) effect where fighters send up dust when they fall to the floor, indicating the force with which they’ve been sent. Director Jeong insisted on use of trampolines rather than wires for speed (as King Hu had done several years earlier).

And with action choreographed by Shaw stalwarts Lau Kar-Wing and Chan Chuen, it does not disappoint either, from hand-to-hand combat to use of samurai swords. It’s true, with the strength of the Iron Palm sending opponents through wooden columns and even brickwalls (not to mention the infamous eye gouging!) this is one kung fu film that really does have everything – without it feeling unnecessarily forced.

So whether you’re a martial arts fan or not, King Boxer should definitely be on your DVD wishlist – a genuine 70s kung fu classic!

An Empress and The Warriors

Andrew Heskins — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:00:17 +0000

Action choreographer on Hero, House Of Flying Daggers, The Warlords and far too many others to mention, Tony Ching Siu-tung is back in the director’s chair for the first time in five years – but is this the triumphant return we were hoping for…?

Kelly Chen (Breaking News, Tokyo Raiders, Infernal Affairs) plays Yen Feier, charged with becoming Empress when her father dies in the fight to save her kingdom. Her devoted aid and loyal commander Muyong Xuehu (Donnie Yen, Flash Point, S.P.L.: Kill Zone, Seven Swords, Hero) begins to train her to take on her role, little knowing that she has more to fear than rival kingdoms – an ambitious cousin Wu Ba (Guo Xiao Dong, The Warlords, Missing) plans to assassinate her to claim the empire as his own.

Saved by a mysterious recluse, Duan Lanquan (Leon Li, Seven Swords, Infernal Affairs III, Three), Yen finds herself falling in love with him and his simpler life. But chaos reigns within her council as Wu Ba intends to use her absence to take over, and warring kingdoms continue to plague her territories. Soon Yen realises she must make a choice between the duty of protecting her subjects, and the dreams of a life she could have had…

Most readers will recognise Ching Siu-tung’s name as action choreographer on recent Chinese/Hong Kong blockbusters such as Zhang Yimou’s Hero, House Of Flying Daggers and Curse Of The Golden Flower, not to mention Peter Chan’s grittier historical vision The Warlords or Stephen Chow’s hilarious Shaolin Soccer, but fewer may be aware of his importance to the Hong Kong New Wave cinema in the mid-80s (unless you’re a regular visitor to the site).

With films like Duel To The Death, A Chinese Ghost Story and Swordsman II, Siu-tung became one of the most prominent directors of the era, continually breaking new ground in techniques, particularly in ‘wire-fu’, but more importantly in how he visualised scenes, creating (often bizarre) visual ideas that simply have no parallel in cinema (though many have been referenced since). By the early 90s he’d become the hardest working action choreographer in Hong Kong cinema, involved in pretty much every notable wire-fu and action film released.

His work more recently for Yimou and Chan has only proved that Siu-tung still has the ability to create exciting and imaginative sequences like no other.

Unfortunately, that only raises expectation on his first film as director in five years, and the bar is unrealistically high. An Empress and The Warriors is yet another ‘historical’, wuxia-powered vehicle in a market increasingly flooded with them…

There are some standout scenes, particularly when the assassins attempt to get to the Empress through Duan’s elaborate interweaving tree house of a home (which from the start always looked a little too detailed to simply remain the backdrop for the romantic bits). Superbly orchestrated and choreographed, it’s exactly what we’d expect from Siu-tung, but the truth is we see far too little of this side of him. The assassins provide much of the more fantastical, wire-fu scenes in the film (rather as they did in Curse Of The Golden Flower), and there’s some nice work in battle fields, particularly when one side of the army armed with shields join up to create ramps to tip the other side’s chariots – but it’s all a little sparing used. Often Siu-tung seems unable to decide whether he’s aiming for the more down-to-earth, gritty style of The Warlords, or the more fantasy led style of Hero. Perhaps the real point is this film doesn’t share the budget of either, leaving Siu-tung unable to pull off the battle scenes in the same way he did during The Warlords.

Instead the film centres on the key roles of Yen, Muyong and Duan, and the rather insipid love triangle that ensues. Never Siu-tung’s strongpoint, it highlights the greatest flaw in the movie: that like much of today’s generation of wuxia-inspired movies it just takes itself too seriously.

Since Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, films have become increasingly melodramatic, hysterical, over-acted and unable to do what their counterparts did in the early 90s: namely laugh at themselves. It reflects the opening up for Hong Kong directors and producers to enter the Chinese market, it’s a larger audience, but one that has very different needs. Often the film relies totally on its cast to pull off that melodrama, and it’s here An Empress and The Warriors fails most…

Kelly Chen is utterly unconvincing as either a princess or warrior, Donnie Yen continues to be unimpressive as a lead, and doesn’t get fight sequences worthy of his talents. Leaving it down to the oft-criticised Leon Li to actually give a pretty reasonable performance – but with nothing to bounce off! The attempt to depict the surreptitious politics of power sound naïve, particularly coming so soon after The Warlords, the romance falls flat, and you can’t help but feel the whole thing would have been easier to take had it been a little more tongue-in-cheek.

An Empress and The Warriors is not a terrible movie, it’s better than his least feature, the straight-to-video Steven Seagal vehicle Belly Of The Beast, but however unfair the comparison (and I know it’s because I’m such a fan) it’s not the return to form from Ching Siu-tung we’ve been waiting for.

An Empress and The Warriors will be released by Cine Asia on 23 March 2009.

easternkicks.com » Martial arts

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