What was the last classic martial-arts film you watched?

[The Silver Fox]

Drunken Dragon-great stuff!

[DrNgor]

The Dragon, the Lizard, and the Boxer - I've been meaning to watch this HK-Filipino co-production for a couple of years now. Superkicker Tan Tao-Liang plays a man in Hong Kong who takes a boat to Saigon as the city is falling to the communists in order to look for his brother (played by Meng Fei). He finds his brother and takes him back to Hong Kong. The chartered boat also takes on a load of refugees also trying to flee the country. A typhoon destroys the boat and leaves everybody shipwrecked on "Dragon Island," which is home to a bunch of criminals who have a ton of gold stashed in a cave on an island. One of the criminals is a Filipino guy (Ramón Zamora) who's actually the fiancé of Meng Fei's new Filipino girlfriend. The two groups' paths eventually (emphasis on the word "eventually") cross and fights break out.

There's not a lot of action during the first hour, but things pick up a little during the last third of the film. Meng Fei's fighting style is a mixture of shapes and modern-day basher fighting. Tan Tao-Liang kicks with the height and snap that we've come to expect from him, although he only really lets loose during the finale. He's easily the best thing about the movie. Ramón Zamora gets to fight quite a bit, but his punches and kicks are rather sloppy and the latter rarely get above belt level (he's also exceedingly unattractive). There's also a female fighter (Kitty Meng, I think) who uses mainly ridge hand strikes. The main villain is played by Gam Ming/Tommy Lee (who also helped choreograph the film), although he's not really impressive in this particular outing.

[Secret Executioner]

Started 2014 with one nice mid-1980s film:

Bionic Ninja

A Filmark Ninja flick featuring a very unconcerned Gwailo lead, a bored Ninja master, a bunch of Ninjas spying the people from an Asian movie, a comedic duo of policemen and an over-the-top end fight. Funny lines here and there too.

To make it short, some good stuff.

[smilebomb]

Iron-Fisted Monk

Could have gone without the rape scene that goes on as long as a Pink Floyd song. Otherwise it's good, but I can't shake the feeling it's like a lesser prototype for Warriors Two or something. Binned for selling.

[Secret Executioner]

This DVD:

And actually, it contains Fist Of Fury 3.

[DrNgor]

Stroke of Death - This probably had too much action, but the choreography was just wonderful and shapes are great. It's too bad that Ching Siu-Tung didn't work more in front of the camera. One of the better monkey kung fu demonstrations out there (for the experts, how authentic is the Gibbon style?).

[Tex Killer]

Ninja in ancient china...Plotwise not exactly interesting and baby venoms in dialogue scenes, meh:squigglemouth:

But action is excellent, terrific swordplay & acrobatics with some nice kicks here and there.

Greenfan dvd also includes excellent essay by Linn Hayes about CC`s life after Shaw brothers studio was closed.

[KUNG FU BOB]

The Shaw movie "Pursuit" (1972) doesn't seem to get talked about much, but I thought this was a really strong movie---it's another chapter of the Water Margin stories. It's actually the same story as the 90s wire-fu movie "All Men are Brothers--Blood of the Leopard." I'd give it a recommendation if you're looking for more of those films.

I didn't know that THE PURSUIT was related to that story! Interesting. I've had it sitting in my collection unwatched for years. I must check it out.

These comments belong in Shaws' Thread...

Dragon, are you concentrating on the finger? What have you watched martial arts-wise recently brother?

I My recent viewings are:

NINJA 2: SHADOW OF A TEAR (2013)- Which I watched more times than I care to admit. 9/10

REIGN OF ASSASSINS (2010, aka. Rain of Assassins; Rain of Swords)- Great seeing Michelle Yeoh back in a wu-xia pan. Very enjoyable film with mostly great action and compelling performances. I enjoyed this much more on this rewatch. The UK DVD is sweet. Wonder why this never got picked up for R1 release. I mean, it's co-directed by John Woo! 8/10

UNBEATABLE (2013, aka. MMA)- A new Hong Kong MMA film that manages to make the sport exciting while telling a good dramatic story as well. Nick Cheung's abs are insane! LOL Way to show 'em that late forties is not the end of the line dude. 7.5/10

By the way, my ratings are always "within genre". So no, I don't think that NINJA 2: SHADOW OF A TEAR is on par with say APOCALYPSE NOW. But for a ninja movie? Shit, it's freaking awesome!

[Tex Killer]

BTW (and sorry for pushing the off-topic even further), does any well-informed person know if these weapons were actually used or if the guillotine was just some mythological weapon ?

http://kungfucinema.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12292&highlight=flying+guillotine

[Secret Executioner]

Thanks Tex Killer, very interesting topic.

[Coliseum1972]

Big Boss II 4/6 , nothing to do with BB......this is a Fist of Fury wannabe movie but decent.

Spirits of Bruce Lee 2/6

Plot has no momentum and no memorable fight scenes , quite disappointing.

Even "Clones of Bruce Lee" has more entertainment value than this , as silly as it may be.

[Secret Executioner]

Masters Of Tiger Crane AKA Tiger Crane (Korean title: Sahyeongsaje, according to hkcinemagic.com), an early 1980s (1983 ?) South Korean movie dealing with a priest being murdered and the painter from the temple being abducted. It's up to some young guy from the temple (who's also the painter's brother) to find the murderers and save his brother. But what follows is kinda weird: the first fight and the last third of the movie are brutal and get pretty bloody, yet what you get in-between is really comedy-oriented. I gotta admit there are some funny bits - and the French dub helps a lot with the comedy, the voice acting and some one-liners are really funny - but it's frankly not really engaging and the plot hasn't moved much by the time the last third has arrived.

The action didn't seem that great to me, though I enjoyed it. The fights get bloody and the final in the villain's lair is nice. But except for the main villain (played by Wong Chen Li AKA Hwang Jang Lee), I didn't find the cast really impressive to watch.

Overall, not a bad film as I enjoyed the action and some of the comedy works pretty well. However, the release (despite good picture and sound quality, plus it was widescreen) is pretty misleading: the artwork has nothing to do with the movie and there is no link with Shaolin whatsoever - though there are references to a "Shaolin temple" in some dialogues too.

Rewatched this one today as part of some "double feature" I decided to go with. Knowing what I was in for, I 'd say I enjoyed it MUCH more than I did the first time I saw it.

And the other title in the double feature was:

Incredible Kung Fu Mission, a 1979 HK/Taiwan production. And that one is some great kung fu comedy, though the comedy starts fading away within the second third of the film and the movie gets slightly darker (deaths, torture) in the last third - there are more fights too - and the villain (who seems to be an albino) has a very peculiar fighting style.

And once again, Paul Wei is in there (after Fist Of Fury 3, it's the second in 3 MA movies I've seen lately in which there's that guy). He plays a patron in a brothel who gets in trouble with the main characters who then fight his henchmen.

Also, gotta love the score that sounds a lot like something off a spaghetti western - I'm curious as to which movie it's from.

http://www.hkcinemagic.com/en/movie.asp?id=2879

I'd recommend watching the French trailer rather than the English one... It showcases the movie better, you get the "western" theme and you also see Paul Wei and the villain's fighting style. On a sidenote, it seems to be from the Bach Films DVD but while the speaker uses the title L' Incroyable mission du kung-fu, you see cards with the title of the DVD release. Weird.

[Chinatown Kid]

Incredible Kung Fu Mission aka Kung Fu Commandos is John Liu's best IMO, definitely my favorite of his. Masters of Tiger Crane featured great kicking which was no surprise considering it was a Korean production even though their films usually look incredibly cheap. Hwang dished out awesome kicks as usual but the hero(Benny Tsui?) dished out some great kicks too. That hairdo if his was another matter though

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Crazy Horse Intelligent Monkey- awesome kung fu in this one. Best movie I've seen in a while. Reminded me of Buddha's Palm Dragon Fist but not quite as good.

[Secret Executioner]

Marvelous Stunts Of Kung Fu, a 1979 HK film.

Not that great, but the rooster style (!) is pretty entertaining to watch - gotta love those stills of roosters and the sound effects when it's practiced. But otherwise, it's rather boring and confused for the most part. Paul Wei is (again !) in it and he provides some comedy but the movie isn't really funny - far from what the likes of Incredible Kung Fu Mission or Tiger Crane offer.

[ukrevrend]

Secret Rivals 2: John Liu, Hwang Jang Lee, Tino Wong, Yuen Kwai.

Not as good as part 1, story....there is no story! Basically, this is 90 min's of training scenes and some decent one on one's.

3/5

Bless

[kevenz]

Godfrey Ho worshipper: I'm interested in buying these Ceinture Noire dvd collection since I'm french-speaking but I'm a bit afraid of the picture quality.

I bet they're all 4:3 not-remastered picture basically like a vhs-to-dvd? or am i wrong...

I can't find reviews of this collection on the internet, same goes for the Bach Films kung fu collection.

[Secret Executioner]

Godfrey Ho worshipper: I'm interested in buying these Ceinture Noire dvd collection since I'm french-speaking but I'm a bit afraid of the picture quality.

I bet they're all 4:3 not-remastered picture basically like a vhs-to-dvd? or am i wrong...

I can't find reviews of this collection on the internet, same goes for the Bach Films kung fu collection.

Guess I'll have to review some of those then. Overall, it's nothing stellar but from what I've seen so far, they are watchable and the sound isn't too bad. Bach Films has some good/very good looking stuff, so I'd rather recommend their releases. In both cases, you can get full widescreen (not sure if there are many... Maybe Bach Films' Ninja contre Cobra d'Or), cropped widescreen (widescreen but with stuff missing on the sides, it's the case for L'Homme au bras d'acier) or fullscreen (badly cropped on both sides, like Bach Films' Shaolin, Temple de la Tradition).

I've reviewed some Bach Films titles (with screenshots for people to see what they look like), check out the review forum - I'm currently working on some new reviews BTW, including 2 Bach Films releases. If you're into specific titles (better be careful with the "Ceinture Noire" collection as the titles of their releases are kinda funky sometimes), let me know and I'll try to review them.

[Tex Killer]

Secret Rivals 2: John Liu, Hwang Jang Lee, Tino Wong, Yuen Kwai.

Not as good as part 1, story....there is no story! Basically, this is 90 min's of training scenes and some decent one on one's.

3/5

Bless

I have to disagree there. I think plot is little bit better than in part 1. And fighting is lot superior. Hwang jang lee is underused in part1. And in that end fighting is nothing special I think. In sequel it`s amazing. Only department where pt2 does not improve is music, as it`s same:tongue:

I like both, 3/5 for part 1 and 4,5/5 for #2.

[Chinatown Kid]

Invincible Armour is better than both. The fight scenes just looked sloppy to me in The Secret Rivals films. Instant Kung Fu Man and Snuff Bottle Connection were better quality too IMO.

[smilebomb]

I didn't understand the plot to SR2 at all.

[Tex Killer]

I didn't understand the plot to SR2 at all.

Part 1 was catching thieves who robbed silver. In end of part 1 northern leg and southern fist killed leader (silver fox)...In part 2 his brother wants to take revenge and silver is still missing but brother of south fist has diagram taken from silver fox which leads to treasure.

[Chinatown Kid]

I think Secret Rivals 3 and The Hot, the Cool, and the Vicious did the Northern Kicks/Southern Fists thing better. Challenge of Death wasn't bad either...

[Morgoth Bauglir]

I can't stand Secret Rivals 2. It's pretty good for the first few minutes where they show highlights from part 1. I have this routine where I act like I'm riding a horse while I listen to the music at full volume. It's a great time. But then the movie starts and I can't sit through it for more than five minutes. As a movie it sucks, but I hate the fight scenes too. I'd love to give it the Mystery Science treatment so I could make fun of the fights. I just thought they were so stupid!

As for Nothern Kicks and Southern Fists I don't think it gets any better than Death Duel of Kung Fu and Cottonmill. Secret Rivals part 1 is up there, but only because I'm a big fan of Hwang Jang Lee. He was so damn good in this movie. There's a scene(not a fight scene) where he makes an incredible jump over a stone wall and down onto another platform no trick shot no stunt double and he acts like it took no effort. He has a few of those types of moments where I find myself watching a 2 second clip over and over again 100 times. Based on his performance alone I give SR 1 a biased rating of 5/5.

[Coliseum1972]

Master of flying giljoteen 4.5/6

Pretty good.