Iron Monk Interviews with Jason Ninh Cao, Zara Phythian, and Vincent Wang
01 Jun 2012 Leave a Comment
in Jason Ninh Cao, Silvio Simac, Yanzi Shi, Zara Phythian
It feels like it’s been taking forever for Iron Monk to get off of the ground, but of course that’s my impatience. I’m still excited about this project, and it appears to be moving forward, even though I don’t think there has been a Director named yet. Check out their latest interview below:
I agree and disagree with Jason Ninh Cao’s assessment. I agree that it’s cool that they are eschewing the Hollywood aesthetic of CGI and wire fights, but I disagree with his assessment that those films are the ones he’s competing with. He’s got to compete with films like Ong Bak, The Protector, Chocolate, and The Raid, of which the last three are having sequels that may be out at the same time this film hits. I have good feelings about this film, so I think they’ll be fine. I’m just wondering when they will announce a director. Once they have that things will really start moving fast.
On a side note, g***damn is Silvio Simac is a big dude!
Review: Dr. Wai in The Scripture With No Words (1996)
29 May 2012 2 Comments
in Billy Chow, Collin Chou, Jet Li, Takeshi Kaneshiro Tags: Kung-fu, martial arts
Starring Jet Li, Rosamund Kwan, Billy Chow, Takeshi Kenishiro, Collin Chou, Charlie Yeung
Fight Choreography by Ma Yuk-Sing and Ching Siu-Tung
Directed by Ching Siu-Tung
Everybody loves pulp heroes like Indiana Jones, Doc Samson and Allan Quartermain, and little boys who read or watched their exploits wanted to be them on screen, and many have tried but few were successful. The Indiana Jones films became the template on how to do them right, and Jackie Chan had success using some of the formula for his Armor of God films, and Jet Li decided to get into the act with the character of Dr. Wai…
Dr. Wai (Lee) and his good-natured, brave but dim-witted sidekick Pao (Kenishiro) globe trot all over the world searching for ancient Chinese artifacts. The film opens as a fellow archaeologist tries to commandeer a giant mechanical bull built Trojan horse style centuries ago, and Dr. Wai rides in to save workers as the bull goes out of control, running quite a few people over. Dr. Wai is able to save them, and afterward meets with General Leung, who wants to hire Dr. Wai to find a box containing the legendary Scripture With No Words, an ancient document said to contain incredible power. Dr. Wai and Pao take the job, which first finds them going undercover into a party throw by the Japanese ambassador in Shanghai, in an attempt to retrieve a letter that holds a clue to the whereabouts of the scroll. Things bring them into conflict with General (Chow) and his commanding officer/cohort Yu (Kwan), who poses as a worker within the embassy to in order to gain Dr. Wai’s trust, and Dr. Wai finds himself falling in love with her. Dr. Wai and Pao then head to meet with a small pro-Chinese press office, where the scroll is being kept two oddballs: the editor and his protege Pansy (Yueng) whom Pao finds himself falling in love with. Soon Dr. Wai and Pao must both protect the scroll and their new loves, but little do they know what trouble the scroll truly brings…
Dr. Wai is a fun but very dated film. The special effects are laughable terrible, and gets worse as the film goes on.. The story itself is also pretty flimsy, but it does have some good-natured humor, and allows Jet to have fun with the role, which he does. He has a good rapport with his co-stars, especially Kenishiro, who has silly fun as Pao. The Dr. Wai character is fun in and of itself, a martial arts master and archaeologist whose weapon of choice is an assortment of pens that can do things to put James Bond gadgets to shame. I’m fairly sure one of them could dial long distance. Kenishiro (Wu Xia, The House of Flying Daggers) is a lot of fun as the hapless Pao, who has moments of comedy that shows he’s comfortable in his dim-witted nature.
The fights are very wushu-centric, making them interesting to watch, but isn’t very innovative except for the fight between Jet Li and the leader of a group of bandits played Collin Chou
(Flashpoint, The Forbidden Kingdom). The next best fight is Jet Li using a metal rope chain against Billy Chow and a group of ninjas. Outside of that the fights were many but not nearly as interesting to watch. Some wirework was used, particularly in the fight where Dr. Wai had to take on two sumo wrestlers, but overall it’s minimal.
Dr. Wai is a fun but forgettable film that lets Jet Li indulge in an Indiana Jones with Kung-Fu style fantasy romp.
(On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best):
CHOREOGRAPHY: (7) The fight choreography is fast and fluid, but lacks imagination and any real hard hitting. Jet Li, Billy Chow and Collin Chou did a good job with what was there, but that kind of talent they could’ve done so much better.
STUNTWORK: (8) The stunts were pretty good here, nothing amazing, and even the few wire assisted scenes were good.
STAR POWER: (9) Jet Li, the great Billy Chow (Petticab Driver, Fist of Legend) and Collin Chou, with Rosamund Kwan really was a showcase of Hong Kong stars, all of whom have made their mark.
FINAL GRADE: (8) Dr. Wai is a fun film that could use a good updating, but Jet Li is great in the role and Kenishiro is perfect as his hapless assistant. A fun time if you can get past the poor special effects.
NEXT: Another Op/Ed from Santanu! This time he tackles Tai Chi Master!
Jaycee Chan jumps into the Action with Double Trouble!
28 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Jaycee Chan
So not only does Jackie Chan have a film on the way, but his son Jaycee is jumping into the action fray as well, which is interesting. Jaycee hasn’t been interested in action films, wanting to make a name for himself away from his famous father (all tell even his knowledge of martial arts is small) by starring in comedies and romance films. He did a little bit of action in the film Invisible Target, so it will be interesting to see what he does here. Could be a fun film…
Update! Jackie Chan is NOT retiring from Action Films! (Thank God)
24 May 2012 2 Comments
in Jackie Chan
I didn’t think that would be the case, but I’ll let The Great One answer this himself, per his facebook page:
“Hello all my friends and fans,
Yesterday in my press conference in Cannes for Chinese 12 Zodiac I said that this movie was my last big action movie.
Today I was shocked when I woke up to read all the news coverage that I was retiring from doing Action movies.
…
I just want to let everyone know that I am not retiring from doing action movies. What I meant to say is that I need to do less of the life risking stunts on my movies. After all these years of doing so many stunts and breaking so many bones, I need to take better care of my body so I can keep working.
I will continue to do international action movies.
And I will keep improving my English 
I love all of you!
Jackie”
It’s easy for someone to misquote Jackie. If you’ve ever seen an interview with him, he’s a fireball that goes a million miles a second. I figure he would probably go the Sammo route, and that looks like that may happen. So JC will use a stuntman for his stuff from now on. At 58 years of age he’s paid his dues to his fans twice over, and I want him to live a long and healthy life, so I have no problem with this. It won’t affect his legacy one bit.
Review: China Strike Force (2000)
21 May 2012 3 Comments
in Aaron Kwok, Kenneth Lo, Mark Dacascos, Stanley Tong
Starring Aaron Kwok, Marc Dacascos, Norika Fujiwara, Coolio, Leehom Wang, Ken Lo
Fight Choreography by Stanley Tong
Directed by Stanley Tong
China Strike Force follows the adventures of two Hong Kong cops, Darren (Kwok) and his partner and best friend Alex (Wang), who play the typical not-following-the-rules detectives who run into a ton of trouble after witnessing an assassination at a fashion show they were attending to see Alex’s fiancée. The man committed the murders was an assassin sent by villains Tony Lau (Dacascos) and his South-central LA drug contact, the villainous…Coolio. They plan to ship drugs into China via tankers (It’s never explained how Coolio got the money to do this.) but standing in their way is Mau, the head of Tony Lau’s cartel. Darren and Alex also meet Norika (played by the insanely beautiful Norika Fugiwara) who may or may not be an undercover Japanese agent sent to bring down Coolio in an act of revenge. Darren and Alex find betrayal and danger as they deal with Lau and Coolio, leading to an all-out finale at a recreation of the Emperor’s palace…
Let’s get this out of the way: This isn’t a good film. It’s a Jackie Chan film that forgot to put Jackie Chan in it. Stanley Tong (Rumble in The Bronx, First Strike, Supercop) directed this feature, and his fingerprints are all over this. Flimsy script? Check. Silly, over the top characters? Hell, you have Coolio in this. Check. His Jackie Chan-directed films have this problem too, but Jackie Chan’s presence is all over his films, and can make up for any of the above deficiencies. Aaron Kwok and Marc Dacascos, as good as they are, cannot. My biggest problem with this film are twofold: The film was shot for an English-speaking audience, so we have everyone save Marc Dacascos and Coolio speaking in broken English the entire film. At least those who can. Others are dubbed over, and the entire effect is off-putting and just stupid.
My other problem? Coolio. Not just that he portrays the stereotypical Hollywood gangsta, but his acting is terrible, and too many scenes are devoted to him and Marc, who looks as if he’s thinking (at least nowadays):
“Jackie Chan gets Chris Tucker. Steven Seagal gets DMX and hell even that hobbit-looking rapper, so how in the hell did I wind up with Coolio? They could’ve at least tried calling Kadeem Hardison.”
What’s even worse is that, with no buildup or forewarning, Coolio busts out martial arts at the end of the film that left me with a WTF?! Moment. Suffice to say he was horrid, except for when his stuntman stepped in to do the more complex acrobatic movements.
Aaron Kwok (The Storm Riders) did a passable job as the hero, but even here he was too wooden. In fact, it’s as if Kwok and Wang were two halves of what should’ve been Jackie Chan without the charisma. Norika’s acting was marred by her terrible English delivery, but she acquitted herself well in the fights. Dacascos had a better part here, and played the villain well, but a shoddy script kept him from being a more memorable baddie.
The fight choreography follows what Stanley Tong likes to do: Fast, acrobatic but short fights that are full of stunts but the kicks and punches don’t appear to have any real power generation to them, so it looks cool, but it lacks that “oomph”. Jackie Chan can make that work (of course JC has the final say on how long a fight scene is) but Stanley forgot he wasn’t making a Jackie Chan film. You can see this at the end, where he has incorporated the gag and stunts-that-went-wrong reel that JC is famous for into the closing credits.
(On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best):
CHOREOGRAPHY: (5) It was “meh”. Not bad, but nothing innovative or that fun to watch, but it moved with speed and everyone save Coolio looked great doing it. Dacascos needed better choreography that what he was given. Also, there was wirework in some scenes that was entirely unnecessary. Ken Lo (Drunken Master 2) wasn’t used nearly enough.
STUNT WORK: (8) The stuntmen did a good job here, taking some decent falls and reacting well to the choreography in regards to their timing. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them were part of JC’s Stunt team.
STAR POWER: (6) There is some of that at work here. Aaron Kwok, Marc Dacascos, Ken Lo. We’ll try our best to forget Coolio. He actually downgrades the score here.
FINAL GRADE: (5) This film is probably the worst film Jackie Chan never made, and that’s a good thing. Stanley Tong needed to go back for more lessons from the Master.
NEXT: Jet Li jumps into the Indiana Jones arena with Dr. Wai in The Scripture With No Words!
The Trailer for Chinese Zodiac is here!
20 May 2012 3 Comments
in Jackie Chan
Yep, It is true that Jackie Chan has announced his retirement from action films. Now do I buy that? Partly. He can still do what Sammo’s been doing, co-starring in films and having maybe one or two fight scenes. Short bursts rather than an entire film, but I do believe this is his last starring full-on film. Enjoy the trailer!
