Please check out "part 1" for the first batch of movies. Alright, here are some more of my favorite martial arts movies and why:
- POLICE
STORY (1985) dir/starring Jackie Chan:
I had the privilege of watching this when it premiered in ‘86 at
the NYC film festival. I thought it
this would be the film to “sell” Jacky Chan to the U.S. Originally I did not think of this film
as a martial arts movie. The main
character is a martial artist and there are believable reasons for his
fight scenes and the approach to the fights. But the martial arts are not the main
focus of the movie. In fact you
could remove the martial fights and it would still be a good cop film.
- YOJIMBO/SANJURO
– dir: Akira Kurasawa, starring Toshiro Mifune: I put these films together because I
think they make one great film.
Mifune and Kurasawa changed the Japanese film industry with his
portrayal of a dirty, scruffy, sarcastic ronin. Mifune reminds me of how a samurai may
have been portrayed if Raymond Chandler wrote them. Watch for the final fight scene in the
end of Sanjuro the duel between Mifune and Tatsuya Nakadai –hooo man!
- VOLCANO HIGH - dir: Kim Tae-gyun; this is a good martial arts fantasy that takes place in a High School. New student vs bullies, established cliques and an "evil" administration. There are two versions of this movie, the original Korean availabe with sub-titles or the MTV dubbed version using the voice talent of ANDRE 3000, BIG BOI, SNOOP DOG and other rock, hip hop stars.
- IRON
MONKEY (1993) dir: Woo Ping Yuen, starring Donnie Yen: Story, Acting,
direction, this is a damn good movie.
Though purist will not like the wirework, this is the same director
who did the wire work in the MATRIX.
Watch this film and you will see why I believe Hollywood is wasting Donnie Yen. If he’s reading this “Donnie, do a
independent feature – this way you can retain control and showcase your
talents!” Watch this movie and then
try to disagree with me.
- WHEN
TAE KWON DO STRIKES/ STING OF THE DRAGON MASTERS (1973) dir: Huang Feng,
starring Jhoon Rhee / Angela Mao:
This is actually the same movie, the distributor at one time
changed the name to reach the bigger audience by putting the word “Dragon”
in the title. Before she was Bruce
Lee’s tragic little sister in “Enter the Dragon”, Ms. Mao had a career as
one of Hong Kong’s top female fighting
stars. Here she is in top form with…”Jhoon Rhee”! The story is about the Korean rebellion
against Japanese rule. I think it’s good
because of Ms. Mao’s performance and Master Rhee’s final fight scenes. The fact that the villains are played by
Chinese stuntman (including Sammo Hung) unfamiliar with proper use of Japanese
weapons does detract from it, but you’ll soon ignore that.
- STORM
RIDERS (1998) dir. Wai Keung Lau, starring Sonny Chiba, Ekin Chang and
Aaron Kwok: Anime combined with video games meets Star Wars! – That’s the
best way to describe this movie.
The action is combined with special effects in such a way that it
all works. The story is wonderful;
Sonny Chiba is a classical villain in every sense of the word (Darth Vader
watch out!) Aaron Kwok is the
tortured anti-hero that I think they wanted “Anakin Skywalker” to be. If you like animae, if you like video
games, if you like comic books and martial arts….this movie was made for
you. The other two films made by
this production team (A Man Called Hero and the Duel) suffered from
over-production. But STORM RIDERS
…hooo baby
- FIST
OF LEGEND (1997) dir. Gordon Chan, starring Jet Li: This is the movie for martial arts
purist. No wirework, very little
special effects. It is actually a
remake of Bruce Lee’s “Fist of Fury (Chinese Connection)”. Though Bruce played the main character
as a little off, Jet plays him as a traditional, straightforward
hero. Though I liked Bruce’s
psychotic performance better, this movie is still great. The opening fights in the college were
what made me purchase the tape.
I'll have some more movies next time....
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