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Review: Altitude (2017)
Posted in Chuck Liddell, Dolph Lundgren on June 22, 2017 by Michael S. MooreRailroad Tigers (2016)
Posted in Jackie Chan, Jaycee Chan with tags action, period film on June 22, 2017 by Michael S. Moore
Starring Jackie Chan, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, Huang Zitao, Sang Ping, Jaycee Chan, Kai Wang
Fight Choreography by He Jun
Directed by Ding Sheng
Railroad Tigers is one of the newest offerings from Jackie Chan, he the classic king of martial arts and stunts. Now over the age of 60, Jackie continues to make his action films, though the quality of them are beginning to vary in a troubling way. Nevertheless, any Jackie Chan is still better than most. So how does Railroad Tigers fare?
In the film Jackie plays, Ma Yuan, a Chinese railroad worker whom, along with his fellow workers, also moonlights as freedom fighters as they work to free their town that has been taken over by the Japanese. Up till now, his group has robbed a few trains, but done nothing of real note to affect the war effort. This all changes when a Chinese soldier trying to escape the Japanese after he is separated from his garrison after a failed assault and recruits Yuan and his small team to do the impossible: blow up the nearby bridge, cutting off supplies to the Japanese soldiers on the front lines. Can Yuan and his group pull it off and survive?
This is a Jackie Chan movie, so do you REALLY expect him to fail? The real question is how will they pull it off?
This is a slick movie. By that I mean it’s well made, and looks terrific. Ding Sheng does a good job with the shots, and every action beat looks and is edited in a coherent way. Jackie looks great onscreen, even as his age advances, as do his co-stars, particularly Kai Wang as Fan Chuang, a bar keep who quit being a soldier but tries to help the freedom fighters discreetly as a sharpshooter, and Jaycee Chan as Rui Ge, who, actually has some of the best moments of the film with his father Jackie, starting first with their fighting while having ropes attached to each other scene, which is a highlight, and their capture, which initiates some light ribbing and winking at the camera in regards to their similar looks. Jackie still has his physical comedic talents still in check, and does a great job here as a robin hood of sorts, being serious but at the same time beating the Japanese with a delightful air about him that really does remind me of his old films.
But there is one film in particular this film wants to emulate, and in this regard misses its mark.
This film desperately wants to be Millionaires’ Express. As the story goes JC was originally supposed to be in the film but due to scheduling conflicts couldn’t do so.This film shares a lot of atmosphere and even some comedy with that film, but where this film doesn’t meet expectations is with the fight scenes, which were subpar for what I expect from Jackie Chan, yes, even at his advanced age. You may remember Hiroyuki Ikeuchi as the main villain in the first Ip Man film, and here is a wasted opportunity for JC to match up against him. Most of this is due to the story, as JC’s Ma Yuan is an average guy, and not a marital artist. Those waiting for a great martial arts fight scene are going to be disappointed, even more so when you see the cameo that occurs at the end of the film, which will have scenes from Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars and many other classic 80’s martial arts films dancing through your heads.
Kiai-Kick’s Grade: 7
While not a martial arts film, this is a solid entry in Jackie’s filmography. A fun war movie with grand heroics and Jackie Chan being every bit the action superhero he is!
This is was released this past Tuesday on Blu-Ray and DVD!
Review: Sky On Fire (2016)
Posted in Daniel Wu with tags action, asian cinema on June 9, 2017 by Michael S. MooreAhoy! Here is my video review for Sky On Fire!
Review: Operation Mekong (2017)
Posted in Eddie Peng, Uncategorized with tags action, Chinese, thriller on June 7, 2017 by Michael S. Moore
Time for a change! Welcome to the Kiai-Kick Youtube Page!
Posted in Michael Moore on May 26, 2017 by Michael S. Moore
Here comes a docu- martial arts competition TV series!
Posted in Uncategorized with tags press release, reality on May 23, 2017 by Michael S. Moore
Okay this is interesting. Not sure how it will do, but color me interested. Can we toss Kanye West in there without the gear? Press release as follows:
LOS ANGELES, May 22, 2017 – Bunim/Murray Productions, renowned world-wide for its hit reality series and Australian-based Company Chiron Global – the founder of combat sport Unified Weapons Master® (UWM) and leader in wearable technologies have joined forces, to develop the world’s first high-tech Martial Arts Experience docu-competition series, Unified Weapons Master: Calling All Contenders.
Emmy® Award-winning producer Bunim/Murray Productions, best known for the long-running The Real World, Keeping up with the Kardashians and Project Runway, will marry its production expertise to UWM’s technology to create a revolutionary and innovative new entertainment experience for a global audience.
Combining Chiron Global’s advanced technology with traditional martial arts and ancient weaponry, UWM: Calling All Contenders has the features of a live video game, enabling the world’s best weapons martial artists to compete in full contact combat.
Chiron Global has adapted its proven world-first capabilities in building sensor technologies into highly protective body armor that will enable the world’s top skilled weapons martial artists from a wide range of martial arts and cultural backgrounds to face one another in battle for the first time with science judging the winner.
The real-time wearable sensor technology is linked to a medical database that measures the force and location of every strike. The Lorica armor and patented scoring system objectively measures the force and location of strikes to the weapons martial arts competitor in real time, and is able to display the damage that would have occurred to an unprotected competitor on a video screen.
“We believe that UWM has massive international appeal to a diverse audience because it combines so many exciting elements that are really on trend at the moment. It combines weapons martial arts combat and ancient weaponry with leading edge technology and live video gaming features,” said Bunim/Murray Productions CEO Gil Goldschein.
“In addition to the high level of protection offered by the protective Lorica armor, the ability to customize the suits, the CGI scoring system and the cultural backgrounds and histories of the competitors, will make for a rich viewer experience,” added Julie Pizzi, Co-President Entertainment and Development, Bunim/Murray Productions.
“This will be a tremendous opportunity for many of these grand masters to pit their skills and traditional weapons art against other equally historical styles. Imagine, for example, a Nordic Viking pitting himself against a Japanese Samurai. We can’t wait to see the outcome!”
The Lorica armor acts like an extreme form of games console providing actual engagement data on the force and damage from each impact and showing this on the scoring system a bit like a video game.
“One of the key differentiators of UWM is that through the Lorica’s advanced sensor tech, which is connected to a medical database, we are able to offer viewers a fully immersive data-rich experience,” says UWM CEO, Colin Blake.
“The data captured by our scoring system means we are able to show viewers the number of strikes, the force of individual strikes, and damage stats, all while keeping our competitors very safe. We are then able, through CGI, to represent this damage in all sorts of exciting ways including a real-time anatomical version of actual damage to the competitors. Nothing like this has ever been done before.”
Other technologies that are able to be incorporated into the armor include cameras inside the helmets, and two way microphones, to give viewers a first hand experience of what it’s like to compete wearing the Lorica.
