Review: Gallants (2010)
26 Jan 2012 1 Comment
in Kuan Tai Chen, Lo Meng (Turbo Law), Sui-Lung Leung, Wai-Man Chan Tags: Kung-fu, martial arts
Starring Siu-Lung Leung, Kuan Tai Chen, Teddy Robin Kwan, You-Nam Wong, J.J Jia, Wai-Man Chan, Jin Auyeung, Lo Meng (Turbo Law)
Fight Choreography by Yuen Tak
Directed by Kwok Chi-kin, Clement Sze-kit Cheng
After watching the dreadful Choy Lee Fut film, I began wondering what happened to Hong Kong martial arts cinema. With the exception of Donnie Yen it appears that kung-fu films that aren’t giant special effects wire harness spectaculars no longer exist in China. Yes, martial arts films are flourishing in other countries, but Chinese cinema, once known for the Shaw Brothers, Golden Harvest, Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan seems to have left films of that style behind. And here we have a film that reminds us of what kung-fu films used to be, and may never be again…
Gallants begins as the narrator introduces us to Cheung (You-Nam Wong) a clumsy office drone working for a real estate agency who has no prospects whatsoever. He’s unmotivated, no self-esteem, hated by everyone, and did I mention clumsy? After spilling coffee on his boss and being verbally abused by him Cheung is sent to settle a property dispute in a small village. Little does he know that the tea house in question is owned by two martial arts pupils Dragon (Kuan Tai Chen) and Tiger (Siu-Lung Leung) who converted their old dojo into a tea house while waiting for their Master Law (Kwan) to wake up from his thirty year coma. Rival Master Pong, who owns a modern day martial arts training facility, wants control of the dojo to expand his school, and one of his students, Mang (Auyeung) was an old childhood rival of Cheung. Things get even more complicated when Master Law awakens from his coma and, not realizing how much time has passed, mistakes Cheung for one of his pupils, and begins to train him and his real former students kung fu, so that they may enter a martial arts contest to win glory for the school, but it won’t be as easy as that…
Much of the film centers on the two old students, played to perfection by old Kung-Fu film stalwarts Siu-Lung Leung (Kung Fu Hustle, 10 Tigers of Shaolin) and Kuan Tai Chen (5 Deadly Venoms, Blood Brothers). They play the old men as still young inside, but at the point where age has taken much of their skills away, but they can still kick a lot of ass and do, but the crux of their characters is the devotion they show Master Law, by remaining with him for all of these years as opposed to going out and getting lives of their own. Teddy Robin Kwan is great as Master Law, a master whom, despite his penchant for wooing women and remembering what time period he’s living in, still has the pulse of his students and has one last lesson to teach them about life as a kung-fu fighter. Lo Meng (5 Deadly Venoms, The Kid with the Golden Arm) really brings out the old school flavor as Jade Kirin, the main thug of the film. You’ll recognize his boss Master Pang (Wai-Man Chan, who played Tiger in Project A2). All of the old men are veterans of the Shaw Brothers and Jackie Chan-era HK films, and for good reason. The scenes involving Cheung aren’t that interesting, as he becomes a better person, but we never really see how, nor are we told enough about his backstory. He’s merely a go-between for the audience into this world where old school kung-fu fights never really disappeared.
The fights are great, even better when you remember that the men fighting are old guys in their sixties and seventies. My favorite fight is the second fight between Tiger and Jade Kirin. The fight choreography is fantastic as both men show speed and power despite their ages. The group fights that Dragon gets into are also well done, and all of them evoke a time and fight choreography that has been given over to the Tony Jaa’s of the world.
So what does Gallants really say about this? Perhaps it’s saying that the time period has finally passed from China, just like westerns have for the States. You’ll see an occasional throwback film like Gallants, but as these men get older and pass away so too does those kinds of films. The baton has been picked up by other countries, but never again will an age like that come to China, which makes a film like Gallants all the more special.
(On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best):
CHOREOGRAPHY: (9) Every fight was well done, and it was great to see such old kung fu veteran actors still able to pull the moves off. Evocative of both Jackie Chan fight choreography and that of the Shaw Brothers films.
STUNTWORK: (7) There aren’t too many stunts and they aren’t crazy ones, but what was there was done well.
STAR POWER: (9) Their stars may have faded, but these old veterans are still special to those of us who watch their films!
FINAL GRADE: (9) A great but bittersweet film that shows us what Hong Kong cinema used to be and may never be again, and gives us great performances across the board.
Next: How about more Kuan Tai Chen? With David Liang and Ti Lung? Blood Brothers!
Review: The Avenging Eagle (1978)
23 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in Alexander Fu Sheng, Dick Wei, Ti Lung, Wang Lung Tags: Kung-fu, martial arts, Shaw Brothers
Starring Ti Lung, Alexander Fu Sheng, Wang Lung, Dick Wei, Ku Feng
Fight Choreography by Tang Chia and Huang Pei-Chi
Directed By Sun Chung
From the house of Shaw Brothers comes another revenge martial arts film, but with a twist midway through the film that is telegraphed, but no less engaging because of its portent. Two Shaw Brother stalwarts head up yet another great cast…
Ti Lung plays Chik Ming Sing, a member of the Iron Boat Gang and one of their best fighters, part of a group known as the 13 Eagles. He was raised to be an assassin since he was a young orphan taken in by Yoh Xi Hung (Ku Feng), a brutal man who craves more power and uses his assassins to get it. When we meet Chik he is running from the other assassins, and meets a fellow on the road named Homeless (Fu Sheng) who helps him fight off several of the assassins trying to kill him, and in between fights we are told in flashback why they are hunting Chik and why Chik ran away, wanting to change his life. Homeless is trying to kill Yoh Xi Hung for reasons that are revealed toward the end of the film. Chik and Homeless band together to end the Iron Boat Gang once and for all, but Homeless hides a secret that may pit both men against each other once Yoh is defeated…
Operatic. That is the best way to describe this film. This is something that almost could’ve been done as a stage play. The story does a good job of parsing out information regularly but not intrusively, as each time they go into a flashback I found myself more and more interested in what really happened to Chik, and how Homeless plays into the greater scheme of things. It all makes the final fight all the more engrossing as the “twist” is made known to Chik, and while the audience already knows it, we wait in anticipation of what Chik will do when he finds out.
Ti Lung does an excellent job portraying the dark and tortured Chik Ming Sing, who wants to atone for his sins, but at the same time isn’t really interested in dying. This may be Ti Lung’s best acting performance, and he puts his all into the character. Alexander Fu Sheng is…well, in many respects the same kind of smartass character he plays so well, but even here he has a dark aspect that is missing from most of the characters he plays, adding to the overall darkness of the film. Wang Lung is a badass as always, but doesn’t really get much to do here since he’s really main Flunkie number 1 in this flick.
The fights take on the operatic nature of the story, as there is mostly weapon fighting that are very dramatic in execution. The first fight involving Chik and Homeless versus a group of Eagles was well staged, but had interesting moments where the camera went into a freeze frame. I’m not sure what the purpose of it was, and I never understood what effect they were looking to achieve, but it happens only a few times in the film and doesn’t really deter any of the fights. The second fight as the 13 Eagles attack Yu Fai town is epic in nature and well staged as the fight carries across the entire town, and the camerawork is flawless and not once was I confused by where everyone was at. The highlight of this scene is a fantastic fight between Ti Lung and his 3 section staff versus a spear fighter. The choreography is some of the best I’ve seen using those weapons. I love Dick Wei, but I loved the way he got taken down by Fu Sheng even more. It was so simple and quick I laughed out loud when it happened. All of the fights are good, but more because of what they mean to move the story along, which is the main difference between many Hollywood martial arts films and Shaw Brothers films. The fights are part of the story, and move the story along, not hindering it, or stopping the proceeding to “see a fight scene”. This film marries story and fighting as well as any SB film has.
(On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best):
CHOREOGRAPHY: (9) The fights are incredibly well done and feature a myriad of weapons that don’t get a lot of play in martial arts films. It all ties into the overall tone of the film perfectly. Ti Lung and Alexander Fu Sheng really shine in all of their fights.
STUNTWORK: (8) The stunt work rocked in this film. The stuntmen didn’t overact or react too badly, and really acted their death scenes with aplomb (much like a stage play). There wasn’t too many falls, but the ones that were there were executed well.
STAR POWER: (10) Ti Lung, Alexander Fu Sheng, Ku Feng, with smaller parts by Dick Wei and Wang Lung? All at the height of their popularity during the Shaw Brothers era.
FINAL GRADE: (9) A great revenge story featuring the best performance of Ti Lung’s career, and Alexander Fu Sheng gets to show he can act too. Wall to Wall fights that will have you on the edge of your seat. Required viewing!
NEXT: A group of old school Shaw Brothers alumni show the young’uns of today how it’s done! Gallants!
Review: Black Dynamite (2010)
11 Jan 2012 2 Comments
in Michael Jai White, Roger Yuan, Ron Yuan Tags: byron minns, james mcmanus, salli richardson whitfield
Starring Michael Jai White, Byron Minns, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Tommy Davison, Arsenio Hall, Phil Morris, Roger Yuan and James McManus
Fight Choreography by Ron and Roger Yuan
Directed by Scott Sanders
“ Who the HELL is interruptin’ my Kung Fu?”
“Donuts don’t wear alligator shoes.”
“First lady, I’m sorry I pimp-slapped you into that china cabinet.”
There is so many quotable lines I could spend the entire review listing them. Suffice to say that Black Dynamite, the brain child of Michael Jai White, was royally screwed by Sony Pictures Classics, which picked up the film after it built up buzz on the festival circuit. The biggest crime was perpetrated by giving this film a limited released before kicking straight to video, but thanks to the Cartoon Network not all is lost…
Black Dynamite kicks off with his brother Tommy (speaking with a Shakespearean stage voice) getting killed during a drug buy as he is outed as being an informant. Black Dynamite (MJW) finds out, and vows to get his revenge on all those involved in his death. He gets his best friend, the always rhyming Bullhorn (Minns) and a local pimp named Cream Corn (Davison) to help him on a crusade that begins with revenge but then becomes a race against time to stop Fiendish Dr. Wu (Yuan) from hatching his scheme to…and I’ll leave it at that. I won’t spoil the fun surprises that await you, and there are some crazy surprises as the film goes to 10 and then dials up the insanity to a 12.
The story is absolutely crazy, going from what seems like a simple street revenge story to something completely insane, but how it gets to that point is perfectly believable as the story builds to a point that anything less would’ve been disappointing. The dialog is fantastic, even as some of it calls for the actors to literally “read” the script. You’ll see what I mean. The pimps, bad guys and others are fantastically realized, with names such as Tasty Freeze, Chocolate Giddyup, Mo’ Bitches, and Chicago Wind. Don’t forget Captain Kangaroo pimp. I can’t believe I just said that.
The heart of the film rests with the direction and actors. Scott Sanders does a masterful job of realizing the script, which is a love letter to blaxploitation films, which in the hands of a lazier director would be simply an Airplane-style spoof. Sanders set out to make a film that showed all of the low budget mistakes that made those films special. The microphone seen just above the actors head, terrible acting (in many blaxploitation films they literally had to get people off the street to act, and it shows) Perhaps the best written scene in the film is when Black Dynamite and his friends figure out the villain’s plans on a chalkboard at a pancake house.The film grain, edits, sets, costumes and music are so authentically 70’s that if you showed this film to someone that didn’t know any better they would think this were an actual 70‘s blaxploitation film.
Michael Jai White is perfect as Black Dynamite, a complete badass who romances the ladies when he isn’t kicking ass, he sells it the entire way, no matter how ridiculous things get. He yells his kiai like Jim Kelly does when he fights. Byron Minns does a fantastic Dolemite impersonation, and Roger Yuan plays an over the top Fiendish Dr. Wu, and he would’ve been perfect in a James Bond film. You can tell everyone had a blast playing their characters, especially Tommy Davidson as Cream Corn, and James McManus as…well, you’ll see who he is, and he plays his character perfectly in the most insane moment of the film.
The fights are fantastically done. They reflect the time period, but even though they should normally look bad like a Dolemite film, well this is MJW and that ain’t happening, ya dig? MJW’s fight scenes are all well done, from the first fight in his home to his battle versus Dr. Wu and then the final fight that has to be seen to be believed. They reflect the 70’s style of fight choreography and Ron and Roger Yuan pull it off perfectly. Each fight escalates perfectly from the fight that came before.
(On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best):
CHOREOGRAPHY: (8) The fight choreography fits perfectly with the time period and are both cheesy and complex at the same time. Ron and Roger Yuan do a great job of pulling it off and keeping both cheesy and exciting. And yes, in this world Abraham Lincoln knew Kung-Fu.
STUNTWORK: (9) The stuntmen overreact when they are hit or shot, and take unrealistic spills for the hits they are given. In other words, they were note perfect with the time period. It can sometimes take more effort to overact these kinds of scenes than you may think.
STAR POWER: (9) MJW, Tommy Davison, Arsenio Hall, Roger Yuan and Nicole Sullivan all do a great job, but this is MJW’s film through and through.
FINAL GRADE: (9) Black Dynamite is a fantastic ode to 70’s blaxpoitation films that celebrates what made those films fun and empowering at the same time. A terrific film you’ll be quoting long after you watch it. Can you dig it?
NEXT: Ti Lung and Alexander Fu Sheng kick all sorts of ass in The Avenging Eagle!
Movie News for January 2012
08 Jan 2012 2 Comments
in Gina Carano, Sammo Hung, Yuen Wah Tags: martial arts
I hope everyone had a good New Year! You’ll note on the sidebar that the Kiai-Kick Mailbag is open for business! Drop your questions about a martial arts star, film, or even about Kiai-Kick here and I’ll pick two or three a week and post them with the answer! It’s a short news feed this month due to a death in my family, so onward!
Haywire
The more I see of this film, the more I’m convinced that Gina Carano may very well be the next big thing in western martial arts cinema. She’s getting an exposure that other male martial artists like MJW and Scott Adkins could only dream of. Now comes the question whether she’s a passable actress or not. The final trailer below looks promising. The film comes out January 20th, 2012.
Rurouni Kenshin
I never watched the anime this film is based on so I’ll leave it up to those of you who are anime fans of this to let me know if this looks like they nailed the anime or not. From what I see this looks like a very fun samurai film with a little wirework. I don’t know much about the stars right now, but I’m sure I’ll know more by the time this film is released.
Princess and Seven Kung-Fu Masters
Director Wong Jing (City Hunter), along with Sammo Hung, Yuen Wah, Philip Ng, Eric Tsang and a whole gaggle of martial artists, come together in a story involving a small town that is under the protection of 7 kung-fu masters, and the warlord that needs them more than he believes when the Japanese try to gain a foothold in China, and the 7 masters must stand against them. Kung-fu and Japanese ninja tomfoolery ensues. I’ll be keep my eye on this, but Sammo and Yuen Wah burned me once already with last year’s dreadful Choy Lay Fut film, and so I’ll approach this one with cautious optimism.
Enter the Dojo Webseries
“Better to be tried by twelve than carried by six.”
I was turned on to this youtube series last month and have I to say it’s the funniest thing I’ve seen in long time. If you’ve ever been to an American “McDojo” then you may recognize some…things. The adventures of Master Ken and his students are hilarious, think The Office in a dojo. The actors really sell it, especially Matt Page as Master Ken, my new favorite fictional character! Don’t take my word for it, watch the first episode here, and you can thank me after you stop laughing:
36 Styles
No movie news here exactly, just a place to score some kick-ass T-shirts. 36 Styles has a limited selection, but they are expanding fast, with new styles on the way, and from what I’ve gleaned there may be a Beardy shirt coming down the pike! I’ve got my Flying Guillotine shirt on the way, and I will capture a pic of me modeling the shirt when I get it! You can order the shirts here:
http://www.shaolinchamber36.com/36-styles-t-shirts/
Click to Embiggen!
Review: Forced Vengeance (1982)
02 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in Chuck Norris, Richard Norton Tags: karate, martial arts
Starring Chuck Norris
Fight Choreography by Aaron Norris
Directed by James Fargo
Chuck Norris stars as Josh Randall, a military vet now working for Sam Paschal, a Jewish casino owner in Hong Kong. Josh does work getting folks who owe Sam money to pay up. In most other films a character like this would be the villain, but here he’s the good guy. He has a smoking hot girlfriend Claire, who lives with him on a boat, and life seems to be good. And then once you remember this is a Chuck Norris film called Forced Vengeance, you just wait for things to head south, and they do really fast as Sam’s son David tries to make a deal to merge the casino with a local casino baron and member of a secret organization called Osiris. When Sam refuses, of course he and his son are killed, and Randall finds he has to protect the only other owner, Sam’s daughter Joy. Randall and Joy, along with Claire find themselves on the run until an ambush causes Randall to go on the attack, and now he’ll have to kill his way to the leader of Osiris to stop them once and for all.
Forced Vengeance plods along at the beginning until Sam and David are killed, then the film moves faster, but you’ll have to deal with bad acting until them. Chuck is…well, Chuck, and he’s not a good actor but he has a screen persona that works well in this. The women are there mostly for eye candy, and work well for that, but they don’t anything else but run around with Chuck bra-less and scream a lot. The villains are cookie cutter and the steps they take to kill Joy and Randall doesn’t seem to match with their ambitions.
The fight choreography is not too imaginative, and has no flow or any real complexity. Aaron Norris keeps things simple, and even the best fight toward the end between Chuck and a nameless thug is pedestrian at best. I take that back. The best fight is a fight we never really see as Chuck fights a guy that we only see as their silhouettes near a neon sign. Most American fight choreography of the early 80′s were like that, but there are still ways it could’ve been done better. Little did anyone in the United States know that at the time Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung were redefining what fight choreography was and could be.
Forced Vengeance is a mediocre film that doesn’t seem to aspire to be anything more. It isn’t even a good showcase for Chuck Norris’ skills.
(On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best):
CHOREOGRAPHY: (3) Barely passable, but then again I’ve never been a fan of Aaron Norris’ fight choreography.
STUNTWORK: (5) The stuntmen don’t really have to do much here. They take a few spills, but not much more than that. Their stuntwork matches the film’s ambition.
STAR POWER: (7) Chuck Norris, and that’s it. Still potent, however. It must be the moustache. Richard Norton has a small role, but no martial arts.
FINAL GRADE: (5) Forced Vengeance is an average film that has no ambition except to be a by the numbers action film with Chuck Norris as the star. Chuck is the only thing quality about this film.
NEXT: Michael Jai White IS BLACK DYNAMITE!
A Tornado Kick ends 2011…and here cometh 2012!
30 Dec 2011 5 Comments
Hey all!
2011 was a kickass year, and what a year it was. We saw new films from Sammo Hung, Donnie Yen, Johnny Nguyen, Veronica Ngo, Scott Adkins, Iko Uwais, Michael Jai White, and a host of more, with the promise that 2012 could be a landmark year, as we prepare to see Jackie Chan in his last full on martial arts film, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Chuck Norris return to an A-list film for the first time in years, Jeeja Yanin is about to unleash Chocolate 2, and Tony Jaa should have a film out next year, in the form of the Protector 2, also starring Ms. Yanin. We also have exciting new voices in martial arts films coming soon, such as James Lee and Jason Ninh Cao, Steven Soderbergh and…Keanu Reeves?!
So where does that leave Kiai-Kick?
Excited, that’s where it leaves me. This past year has been a whirlwind of goodness for this website. I’ve met quite a few famous people within the martial arts film community and created contacts with many more. More importantly you, the readers, have shown me that this site, dedicated to martial arts cinema, is worth the hard work put into it, and there are a lot of you out there, so I’m excited to let you know that 2012 promises more reviews from me, among other things like:
The Kiai-Kick Roundtable Podcast: That’s right, I’ll be hosting a podcast every 2 months or so to discuss things in and around the martial arts film community, and I’ll have various guests, some from other well known websites…
Interviews: This will be a first for me, so hopefully I won’t screw it up too much!
Tributes: You may have seen my tribute to Al Leong here, and I plan to do more, but they will be more in depth and will have original artwork done for them!
Contests: Yes, there will be many more of these coming in the future!
Kiai-Kick Mailbag: I get lots of folks typing questions into the search engine, and I think this would be a better way to answer questions concerning martial arts films. Just lob your questions here, and I’ll choose a few and answer them once a week. By the way, just to answer one question I see a lot: I have no Mika Hijii nude pics. Just sayin’. Sorry, ya’ll!
There’s a bit more, including a redesign of the website itself coming down the pike (unless you love this design. Let me know.) and who knows? Maybe reports from a set or two…
Thanks to all of you for making this website such a success!
Onward to 2012!
Michael S Moore
