easternKicks.com – how do you get yours?

This one has been a while coming: a halfway decent UK release of Fong Sai Yuk, aka The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk! THis fantastically enjoyable martial arts movie stars Jet Li as the eponymous lead with Josephine Siao in a great performance as his ass-kicking mother. Directed by longtime Li collaborator Corey Yuen, director of So Close and The Transporter, and with a script by seasoned screenwriter Jeff Lau (Saviour of the Soul, As Tears Go By, Days Of Being Wild), this is one hell of ride featuring some of the most silly but inspired fight scenes in Hong Kong movie history. (You can almost feel the friendly competition between Corey and Yuen Woo-ping’s work on Iron Monkey and, of course, Once Upon A Time In China.)

Previously this has only been available in the UK under in it’s awful English-dubbed form, which even had an incorrect image of Jet on the cover from Fist Of Legend.  In fact the only way to see this in it’s original form in the UK being a Channel 4 screening of both Legend and it’s sequel in the mid-90s – but this new Cine Asia release, licensed from the US Dragon Dynasty version, finally rights (most of) the terrible wrongs this picture has faced. At last we have the original soundtrack, together with a new commentary by Hong Kong movie expert Bey Logan.

There’s also two great interview features with Corey and Lau respectively, where they reveal their inspirations for the movie, and how abundance of similar films (particularly Once Upon A Time In China with Jet Li), made them consider tackling the Fong Sai-yuk legend rather differently than any of these films had done before.

Sure, there is the English dub too (if you must!), but on the whole this is a great package. Notably there is not a blu-ray release of the film – presumably because new master of the movie isn’t that great, as ironically many of the films of the early 90s seemed have been filmed on poorer stock than films decades before, so look far worse in comparison. Perhaps the only disappointment is that, like the US release (obviously!), this is the international edit and not the full length version, available on the now very-hard-to-get Hong Kong DVD release.

You can read our original review here »

The Legend Of Fong Sai-Yuk is released on DVD on Monday 6 September by Cine Asia / Dragon Dynasty.

Yep, Kazuaki Kiriya’s (Casshern) latest and arguably far more enjoyable Goemon is released today, along with Tokyo Gore School and 14 Blades.

Something of a bumper day then!

Director Daniel Lee is back, this time with Donnie Yen and Vicky Zhao in tow – thank god this is an improvement on Three Kingdoms then… (more…)

Say what? Another two hours to find out how the Battle of Red Cliff actually goes? Is it worth it? Oh yes, all you John Woo fans out there, it really is… (more…)

Yet another historical drama, over blown, over acted and over long – but it’s still easily the best thing John Woo has done in a long time…! (more…)

Danny Pang proves he can no longer see the wood for the trees in this disappointing, ill-conceived, badly scripted horror-thriller… (more…)

Another rather convincing slice of the Hong Kong triad gang world from Election director Johnnie To – with an ensemble cast to die for!… (more…)

The Pang Brothers do it again with a worthy scary follow-up to their acclaimed horror The Eye, starring the Gorgeous Shu Qi… (more…)

Director Jingle Ma (Silver Hawk) and star Tony Leung (In The Mood For Love, Infernal Affairs) re-unite for a belated but rather disappointing follow-up to Tokyo Raiders… (more…)

Three ass kicking babes in some of the best action sequences in ages – Charlies Angels eat your heart out… (more…)

A martial arts movie star famous for his stunts? Now who could Wong Jing be lampooning in this Jet Li vehicle?… (more…)

An entertaining trip through the social and economic ups and downs of nearly a quarter of a century in Hong Kong – as seen through the more literal ups and downs of a hooker… (more…)

With the imminent release of Kung Fu Hustle on DVD, is there a better time to revisit this silly but fun classic?… (more…)

Bizarre, inspired fight scenes and farcical fun, Corey Yuen directs Jet Li in a silly but highly enjoyable movie… (more…)

Corey Yuen and Daniel Lai co-direct this superb comic book nonsense… (more…)