Probably the best thing about any Chu Yen-Ping film is how random and unpredictable it is. There’s a scene where the main characters try to show off by performing kung fu bowling. It’s something that has to be seen to be believed. Funny Family, like many other Taiwanese action comedies, has some impressive, nutty action scenes and esoteric, borderline annoying humor. Don’t expect art.
Funny Family is a Taiwanese action comedy directed by Chu Yen-Ping. That’s essentially all you need to know about this movie. Similar to Fantasy Mission Force, Funny Family has a few great fight scenes, esoteric Taiwanese-style comedy, and an annoyingly catchy theme song. If you watch this movie wanting a good story, you'll be disappointed. But still, if you’re familiar with Chu Yen-Ping, you wouldn’t expect this move to have a story in the first place. Usually, for my reviews, I like to write a short synopsis for each movie. But I'm finding it extremely difficult to recall what this movie's even about.
Probably the best thing about any Chu Yen-Ping film is how random and unpredictable it is. There’s a scene where the main characters try to show off by performing kung fu bowling. It’s something that has to be seen to be believed. Funny Family, like many other Taiwanese action comedies, has some impressive, nutty action scenes and esoteric, borderline annoying humor. Don’t expect art.
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Crazy Shaolin Disciples typically isn’t a movie that gains (or deserves) much praise. Barely anyone talks about this movie despite its all-star cast. Wong Yu, Chin Siu-Hou, and Lo Meng star as Fong Sai Yuk, Hu Huei Chian, and Hong Si Guan (respectively) who go to the Shaolin temple to protect a gold medallion from an evil imperial guard (Lo Lieh). Hijinks ensue. Also starring Gordon Liu, Philip Kwok, Lee Hoi Sang, and others.
This movie is often looked down upon, but when I came across it on VCD, I decided to buy it anyway. The cast suggests that it’ll be a great kung fu movie while the title suggests that it’ll at least be funny. And sadly, this movie is neither. But still, it’s not terrible. The fight scenes are exceptionally creative. There’s a lot of unconventional weaponry and sometimes some inventive wirework. The choreography is fast (though sometimes undercranked). The main problem in Crazy Shaolin Disciples is the disciples themselves. All of the characters are loud and sometimes annoying. You don’t really know much about them. Even with a title like Crazy Shaolin Disciples, it’s surprisingly boring. This movie is very uneventful and instead focuses on annoying comic relief. There’s an occasional funny joke or two, but it’s still mostly dull. Some jokes even result to toilet humor. And besides Wong Yu, Chin Siu-Ho, and Lo Meng, the other actors that you probably want to see are barely in it. The action helps the time go by, but Crazy Shaolin Disciples still remains oddly uninteresting. Image from City On Fire The Hot, the Cool, and the Vicious is another one of those kung fu movies that every fan has to have seen. A young, troublesome fighter named Pai Yu Ching (Don Wong Tao) and the town sheriff named Captain Lu (Dorian Tan) at first don’t see eye-to-eye. Eventually, the mayor’s son is tried for murder and Captain Lu tries to bring him to justice. Later, Pai Yu Ching is hired to protect the mayor’s son from getting arrested and to prevent Captain Lu from discovering the mayor’s involvement in a counterfeiting ring. Things take a turn for the worse when the mayor calls in a dangerous fighter named Gold Hair (Tommy Lee) as backup. When Pai Yu Ching reveals his true identity, he teams up with Captain Lu to defeat Gold Hair and bring the mayor to justice.
The story in this movie is mostly simple and even pretty engaging. But towards the middle, this movie kinda derails into a monotonous fight-fest. That certainly doesn’t mean that the fight scenes are bad. Actually, for the time being, these fight scenes looked really impressive, but sometimes there’s too little focus on the story. The characters really aren’t anything exceptional and the fights are maybe too frequent, but still, this movie is pretty awesome. The two best scenes in this movie are easily the opening and the finale. The finale in particular is downright amazing. And as long as this movie is exciting or engrossing enough, I can’t really complain. In conclusion, The Hot, the Cool, and the Vicious is deserving enough to warrant its own t-shirt. Image from Zenn Posters Guns of Dragon stars Ray Lui as a HK cop who goes to New York to meet up with his family. He returns to his wife who is not so happy that he hasn’t kept in touch for so long, but while there, he accidentally (coincidentally?) runs into an old rival of his who plans on getting revenge by hunting down his family. His wife is kidnapped, but Ray is able to fight back in a over-the-top yet puzzlingly boring climax. This probably isn’t the worst movie I’ve ever seen, but it’s still pretty terrible. The acting is cringe-worthy and the the overabundance of stereotypes is just painful to watch. According to this movie, the Chinese are righteous, loyal, and humble while White people are arrogant jerks who eat hamburgers and can't go five seconds without swearing. That’s not as bad as this movie’s portrait of African-Americans, but it’d be best if I don’t talk about that. The acting is just completely unrealistic, but thankfully the action is slightly more realistic. Slightly. There are occasionally fun action scenes in this movie. There are some cool car stunts, but everything else is extremely unrealistic and even kinda dull. The shootouts are zany and the hits in the fight scenes don’t have any power or realism. The ending is so completely overblown and ridiculous that it may count as unintentional comic relief. The only thing that this movie has going for it is its unintentional comedy. This movie is unbelievably/entertainingly pathetic. I can easily see someone laughing like crazy watching this movie. This movie is a ridiculous failure. If you’re looking for an awkward action movie that makes you feel uncomfortable watching it, then look no further! Image from HKMDb The Mystery of Chess Boxing (the kung fu movie, not the rap song) is considered one of those quintessential all time classics. Li Yi-Min stars as Ah Pao who wants to learn martial arts in order to get his avenge his father who was killed by the infamous Ghost Face Killer (Mark Lung). Chi Siu Tien (Jack Lung) ends up teaching Ah Pao his "chess style" which he ultimately uses to get his revenge.
Yeah, the story in The Mystery of Chess Boxing is definitely generic, but the story in this movie is completely insignificant. You never really give a crap about the characterization of Ghost Face Killer, but instead, you'll be revisiting those amazing fight scenes. The fight scenes in this movie are incredible. The three main actors especially get to show off their acrobatic abilities. The opening alone should get you hooked. The almost nonstop action can sometimes get a bit tiresome, but for the most part, The Mystery of Chess Boxing proves to be an impressive and exciting movie. *I decided to review this movie here instead of on SC36 mainly because there's already a review of it on the site. Images from Zenn Posters It’s finally time to tackle the girls-with-guns subgenre, which is mainly popular because you get to see attractive women beat the crap out of people. Some of these movies have a more comedic tone (The Inspector Wears Skirts) while others are uncomfortably dark at times (Yes Madam!, Royal Warriors), but most of them are crap. That’s not to say that they aren’t entertaining, but they certainly aren’t the highest form of entertainment (though there are some exceptions). Angel (also known as Iron Angels) is kinda both entertaining crap and sometimes a dark action movie. After the police destroy Thai opium fields, the drug lords lead by Madam Yeung (Oshima Yukari) take action and savagely kill the officers in charge of the raid. The police hire a group of mercenaries called the Angels to take care of things...and by “take care of things,” I mean shoot a bunch of people. That’s pretty much the jist of it. The opening of the film hints that we’re in for a really dark and intense action movie that takes itself very seriously. That is until we’re introduced to our main protagonists who hang out at nightclubs, wear 80’s outfits, and listen to dated music while engaging in archetypal romantic subplots. It’s evident from the first few minutes that this movie is a product of its time. And in a way, it’s delightfully dated. The overly typical characters, the music, the fashion; They’re all part of the fun. But still, no one goes to a girls-with-guns movie for stuff like that. We came here for the action! And this movie delivers. Girls-with-guns movies typically feature some really crazy stunts and intense fight scenes, and this movies is no different. There are some pretty painful looking stunts on display including falls, explosions, and car chases. And, of course, all of this is real. So when someone gets hit by a car or just barely jump out of the way from an explosion, you can almost feel it. The action is incredible, but the action during the middle of the movie is somewhat downgraded by the characters’ acceptance of what’s going on. It doesn’t really seem like they care. And when the characters don’t care when they’re in danger, so do we. Of course, the end of the movie takes a turn and becomes extremely dark. There are more stunts and more realistic fighting. And it looks awesome. The infamous duel between Moon Lee and Yukari Oshima takes place and it’s probably some of Tony Leung Siu Hung’s best. The action holds up extremely well, but not much else does. You very easily realize that you probably shouldn’t take this movie too seriously partly due to the sometimes painful dialogue, almost nonexistent character development, and Yukari Oshima as an overly despicable villain that would only exist in an 80’s action movie. But when this movie hits bullseyes, it really freakin’ hits bullseyes. The beginning is fantastic, the ending is fantastic, and the middle has enough stunts and insanity to make this an easy-to-watch action movie. Besides the incredible action and stunts, this movie is full of 80’s action movie cheese which makes me think that this movie is kind of a piece of crap. I’m not saying it’s bad. Heck, it’s a great time, but it’s still crap. Fans of action movies and the girls-with-guns sub-genre will not leave disappointed. It’s nothing ground-breaking, but the action’s great, so who cares?
Images from HKMDb and Fetich World I’m finally back from my mini-hiatus and it’s “unpopular opinion Time.” This time, I’ll be looking at the classic triad film, My Heart is That Eternal Rose, which was directed by Patrick Tam. I’m a fan of Patrick Tam's other films including The Sword and Final Victory. This movie was made during a time where triad movies had really started to take off. One of the most beloved and popular triad movies was John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow from 1986. The story, the action, and the gritty realism of some triad movies really made it a popular genre. Not all triad movies are masterpieces though and My Heart is That Eternal Rose is proof. Kenny Bee and Joey Wong star as Rick and Lap respectively. After being separated for 6 years, Rick has become an assassin while Lap was forced to be a moll for the triads. Since they still love each other, they try to escape the triads, but the triads won’t give up so easily. Also starring Tony Leung as one of the lowly triad members who gets the courage to help the star-crossed lovers Most people would agree that Kenny Bee doesn’t make a very charismatic lead. If anything, I’d say he’s really dull. He seems to have the same stolid expression throughout the entire runtime. And behind every bland hero is just as bland heroine. There doesn’t really seem to be much chemistry between Kenny Bee and Joey Wong. They just kinda love each other and you can tell that they love each other because...just because. One of my favorite things about Patrick Tam’s Final Victory is that the leads were unique and they had chemistry. In My Heart is That Eternal Rose, you could easily replace the two leads with cardboard cutouts. Even then, the story is mostly generic. I have to agree that for the most part, this movie looks really stylish and pretty. Most of the movie is shot very well, mostly thanks to infamous cinematographer Christopher Doyle, but it seems as if he had never filmed an action scene before. It’s a real task to figure out what the hell is going on in some of the action scenes. Especially by the end, you’re just scrambling to figure out who just got shot, by who, where, and how, while trying to comprehend the disorienting camerawork. Another thing about the ending is that it’s just so needlessly depressing and confusing. I still have no idea what goes on during and after the final showdown, but what I do know is that it’s not very satisfying. Even though the climax is supposed to be the best part of the movie, I found it really hard to care about what was going on. Well, what did I like about this movie? And I must say that Tony Leung was easily my favorite thing about this movie. He gives a downright excellent performance in this movie as the nervous and loyal Cheung. His character presents some much needed tension and nervousness. When you watch him act, you almost feel like you are him. It’s a truly stunning performance. Screw everyone else in this movie; Tony Leung should’ve been the star. He’s ten times more interesting than any of the other characters (Michael Chan is maybe the exception). Other than that, I really liked the theme song. Yeah, I don’t really give a crap about My Heart is That Eternal Rose. It’s such a beloved movie, but I couldn't get into it. The action, the characters, and the story are all poor and boring as hell. Some of the performances are quite good though. Tony Leung gives such a good performance that I feel bad for disliking this movie. This certainly isn’t one of my least favorite movies though (far from it) mainly because you can tell that a lot of effort was put into it. But still, this movie succeeds most in showing the importance for a movie to have interesting main characters.
Images from HKMDb and HK Cinemagic Hong Kong cinema hasn’t been (and still isn’t) very well known for its visual effects. Occasionally, a movie will come out with some decent special effects, but there aren’t many movies where it isn’t obvious that special effects were used. But sometimes, that’s part of the fun. Even when the special effects aren’t the best, it’s sometimes still fun to try and figure out how certain effects were accomplished. It kinda takes you behinds the scenes when you can see a wire or an obvious green screen. Bastard Swordsman is certainly one of my favorite examples of a movie with unrealistic special effects that are still inventive and fun to look at. But there’s another Hong Kong movie that came out earlier the same year that had a lot of focus on the special effects. That movie being the iconic film, Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain. Di Ming Qi (Yuen Biao) is a soldier during a civil war in China who eventually deserts the army. He later explores the mountains of Zu and runs into a powerful martial artist named Ding Yin (Adam Cheng). Di Ming Qi decides to follow him in order to become his master so he can become a better fighter and bring world peace. They also venture off to see the Ice Queen (Brigitte Lin) who has unparalleled healing powers, and also run into other colorful characters including Yi Zhen (Meng Hoi), one of the Ice Queen’s guards (Moon Lee), and Chang Mei (Sammo Hung). When Ding Yin is taken over by an evil spirit, Di Ming Qi and Yi Zheng must join forces to stop him. Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain has earned the reputation as one of the most insane Hong Kong movies of all time and this movie certainly deserves that title. This movie has people flying around, people shooting lasers, people flying around on stone statues, people with long eyebrows that grab things, and a ton of creative uses of weapons, wires, and special effects. The inventiveness and imagination is really amazing. This movie really is a visual spectacle thanks to the atmospheric sets, the pretty locations, interesting cinematography, and fun (though unrealistic) special effects from the same people that worked on Star Wars. Much like Bastard Swordsman, Zu Warriors truly is a spectacular film. This movie just looks beautiful. This movie also sounds amazing thanks to the soothing music score. And though this movie definitely hit bullseyes visually, the story is surprisingly lacking. None of the characters have very well defined motives which makes the movie a bit harder to follow. The characters are admittedly fun to watch, but they sadly lack in depth character development. We don’t really know much about them except for either their quirky traits. The story itself can be overly complicated at times when it constantly introduces new characters and different subplots. The narrative is a mess and is all over the place. And because of that, the story overall is less exciting. Even the ending feels kinda rushed. Very minor spoilers but at the end of the movie, evil is released into the world, a main character sacrifices his/herself, the main characters join forces to defeat the bad guy and save the world, the character fly down to Earth, rejoice, talk to old friends, and fly off again within the last two minutes of the film, excluding the end credits. But still, when did anyone care about story or characters in a martial arts flick? The nutty action and visuals are both amazing to look at. The insane, exhilarating imagery make this movie incredibly watchable, but I probably wouldn’t say it’s one of my favorites. It lacks an interesting story that are typically found in other swordplay fantasies, but the visuals alone are amazing enough to make this movie worth watching over and over, even if the story is lacking. Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain definitely gets a high recommendation, but if you’re reading this, you’ve probably already seen it.
Images from HKMDb I’ve talked about Jackie Chan many times on this website, but with good reason. Jackie’s impact on Hong Kong cinema and action movies in general is impossible to ignore. He kicked off the kung fu comedy trend and later the modern day action movie trend which partly focused on his trademark stunts. Not only were the stunts were amplified, but the fight choreography in action movies became more inventive and action movies started to sport a more happy tone. Then came Nightlife Hero which is another one of those movies that evidently tried to be a more lighthearted, Jackie Chan-style action movie. Two brothers (Max Mok and Chin Kar-Lok) get involved in a triad gang, but are able to outsmart them and send them to jail. Both of our main characters continually struggle to find a good job. Chin Kar-Lok later plans on getting married while Max Mok falls in love with a rich woman (Fennie Yuen). After the triad boss (Shing Fui-On) is released from jail, he starts to plot his revenge. Thankfully, Nightlife Hero has a noticeable amount of effort put into the action and stunts to give the movie a fun and sometimes exciting tone. Unfortunately, that seems to be the only aspect of the film that was given any sort of effort. The characters are totally acceptable mainly because they’re portrayed by some pretty charismatic actors. Even though it’s hard to give a crap about anyone in the movie, I still thought that the main characters, played by Max Mok and Chin Kar Lok, were at least entertaining and they somehow brought life to lifeless characters. Fennie Yuen is also fun mainly because of how adorable she is in this movie. Shing Fui On gives another entertainingly exaggerated performance as the main villain and was probably the funniest part of the movie (other than the subtitles, maybe). And even for an action comedy, this movie isn’t very funny. I already mentioned that Shing Fui On was pretty funny at times, but most of the other attempts at comedy aren’t very memorable. There are even certain scenes that I forgot about completely when re-watching it. I barely even remember what this movie’s about. The most memorable bits of comedy are mostly unintentional. One of my favorite non-action scenes in the movie was a romantic montage with Max Mok and Fennie Yuen that’s so embarrassingly ridiculous that I found myself both laughing and trying to cover my eyes. Of course, there are some random bits of genuine humor, but there are so rare and mostly forgettable. But still, easily the best part of Nightlife Hero is the action. For the lack of good characters and comedy, there’s an abundance of energy and effort put into the action and stunts. The fight scenes are very inventive and even have some fun slapstick. It’s just incredible to watch and just watching one fight scene from this movie gives me a boost of energy. The action is definitely comparable to some of Jackie Chan’s best fights. I’d probably argue that the action in this movie is amazing enough to warrant Nightlife Hero at least a viewing, but every other aspect of the film is so lazily executed that it’s actually almost intriguing to watch. This movie’s so cheesy and cringeworthy that it almost feels like it came from the 80’s even though it came out in the early 90’s. And if you like embarrassing "80’s" movies, then this movie shouldn’t be missed. If you’re looking for an action fix, then this movie’s even better. That certainly doesn’t make Nightlife Hero a good movie, but at least it’s not boring. It left me both wincing and smiling, but smiling nonetheless.
Images from Baike, Douban, and HKMDb As far as kung fu movies go, the story in Daggers 8 is relatively straightforward. Meng Yuen Man stars as Chu Chi Ching, a mischievous young man who is forbidden by his grandfather (played by co-director, Cheung Sam) from practicing kung fu. Chu Chi Ching decides that he’s had enough and runs away from home, searching for someone to teach him kung fu. He meets three people that he agree to teach him, each with a different style of fighting. But everytime Chu Chi Ching gets a new teacher, they each get murdered by an assassin (Wilson Tong) who wields eight daggers. Chu Chi Ching eventually must combine his new skills and face this formidable fighter in order to avenge his teachers.
Besides a basic story, Daggers 8 has a lot to admire. Meng Yuen Man is fantastic as the main lead. He's very funny, likable, and his acrobatics are amazing. It's just so much fun seeing him learning these different styles in some very inventive training sequences. The teachers are also fun characters to watch and they're played by some familiar names including Peter Chan (who usually plays the comedic sidekick, but this time gets to show some skill), Alan Chui, and Lily Li. The fight scenes in this movie choreography by Wilson Tong are also great and the finale between Meng Yuen Man and Wilson Tong is especially exciting. It feels rewarding to see him using the skills he learned to avenge his teachers. The funky soundtrack definitely adds to my enjoyment of the film. And albeit sporting a simplistic story, this movie feels incredibly fast-paced and exciting. Daggers 8 has action, characters, and comedy, and all of these aspects are done tremendously well. Daggers 8 is one of those movies that I could easily watch over and over. It's definitely one of my favorite kung fu movies starring one of the most underrated kung fu stars. *I'm sorry that I couldn't get out a full-length review today. I simply didn't have the time to these past few days. There should be a full-length review coming this Friday. Sorry for the delay, but I hope that this short review suffices for now. Thanks. Image from The 36th Blogger of Shaolin (aka Guts and Uppercuts). Check out his blog on Tumblr for tons of rare kung fu movie memorabilia and fun gifs related to the martial arts genre. |
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