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The Wrath of Vajra (2013)


One Armed Boxer

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I always thought Cung lee would be "the next big thing" but damn has he ever let me down. But his new movie is coming out in January for on demand customers and he promises it to be epic.

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They are in their mid to late 30's, they don't have time for the older guys to step aside. And honestly, under the ones mentioned, I see absolutely no one who could be the next big thing. At least no one that's on the scene now. Yeah the mainland is supposedly full of young up'n'commers but what chance do they have really.

All genres has its highs and lows, but I fear that the martial arts genre is heading the way of the Western... a few good ones now and then, but really just on prolonged life support.

You know I can probably see Wu Jing following a similar career path as Donnie being a success later in his career. Of course it would have wasted his best years but I think we are now seeing more Hollywood direction, with bright young action talent being ignored, relying on names to sell tickets.

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Someone mentioned Andy On. Although he's not an established martial artist like the aforementioned names listed, the fact that he started his film career in a martial arts movie without proper training before but has since caught up with it for more than 12 years, that's something to be commended for. Plus his acting skills has gotten better over the years giving him the clear edge over most new MA talents in HK.

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Someone mentioned Andy On. Although he's not an established martial artist like the aforementioned names listed, the fact that he started his film career in a martial arts movie without proper training before but has since caught up with it for more than 12 years, that's something to be commended for. Plus his acting skills has gotten better over the years giving him the clear edge over most new MA talents in HK.

I agree...he started training at Shaolin Temple for Black Mask 2 (horrible movie...featured a pre-Boyka Scott Adkins as the main villain). He was a natural athlete. He mentioned in interviews past that he used to watch Jackie Chan movies and go to his backyard to practice flips and kicks, even busting his head open a few times. He ended up training with Nicky Li, who at the time was JC Stunt Team leader. For the past few years, he has trained with Philip Ng in Wing Chun and Kickboxing. He learned Muay Thai from Chin Kar-Lok and Billy Chow for Star Runner.So as DiP says, he really caught up action wise and wisely, he honed his acting skills by working with Johnnie To on a few occasions.

Check out this training video of Andy On, Philip Ng, and Nicholas Tse...just shows their dedication to training. They should have had more Andy in this video though.

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Someone did an Andy On action video tribute

Sa0dIgYiwok

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Hey guys just gotta say until you have a big Hollywood studio backing you, you will do OK in your market, but not hit it until they say "yes" and sign ya on. Good example of this is Tony Jaa who is training Vin Diesel and working with Statham. And Iko Uwais who just does it with one film?! I mean these HK names and crews listed are waaaayyyyy more experienced.

In short it doesn't matter how 'good' you are - off screen or off. One of my personal favs is Wu Jing from Fatal Contact to New Police Story. But since he never got to the Hollywood studios he ended up doing Shaolin TV shows in no time.

The only person able to go back and forth between markets is Jackie Chan. Sorry, that's just the way it is.

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Ok, right. Well I'm with you on your previous post, then

All genres has its highs and lows, but I fear that the martial arts genre is heading the way of the Western... a few good ones now and then, but really just on prolonged life support.

Yup, there was one martial arts film this year from HK- Wrath of Vajra.

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Well, I have to say this movie is a major disappointment. The story really sucks and is unfortunately quite important, Xing Yu should have been content with playing a goon or a sidekick (after the box office disaster of this movie I guess he will be back to supporting roles), he is certainly no star material as he lacks charisma, acting talent and/or looks. But worst of all the action is really not that exciting. There is a lot of fighting but only a few real fights and even those are intercut with annoying story footage and crying children. Furthermore the fights rely too much on close ups, quick cuts and slo-mo, and the choreography is neither original nor spectacular. It's no total shitfest like WU DANG, but it obviously is no FIST OF LEGEND, either. And how many glorious, patriotic tales about noble Chinese beating savage Japanese does the world need?

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wow i totally disagree in almost every way, but everyone has an opinion. shame you didnt like it because i thought it was a very refreshing martial arts movie and i still recommend everyone watch it.

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Drunken Monk
wow i totally disagree in almost every way, but everyone has an opinion. shame you didnt like it because i thought it was a very refreshing martial arts movie and i still recommend everyone watch it.

I agree with you. One of the best of 2013, I'd say.

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Well, I have to say this movie is a major disappointment. The story really sucks and is unfortunately quite important, Xing Yu should have been content with playing a goon or a sidekick (after the box office disaster of this movie I guess he will be back to supporting roles), he is certainly no star material as he lacks charisma, acting talent and/or looks. But worst of all the action is really not that exciting. There is a lot of fighting but only a few real fights and even those are intercut with annoying story footage and crying children. Furthermore the fights rely too much on close ups, quick cuts and slo-mo, and the choreography is neither original nor spectacular. It's no total shitfest like WU DANG, but it obviously is no FIST OF LEGEND, either. And how many glorious, patriotic tales about noble Chinese beating savage Japanese does the world need?

Interesting how sharply divided opinions are about WRATH OF VAJRA. Really looking forward to the WellGo release myself. Gotta say though, the fact that the film bombed in China doesn’t mean shit, it wasn’t a star-driven vehicle to begin with, MA (or even Wuxia / period drama fare) is not exactly hot property in Chinese multiplexes right now, so nobody expected it to be up there with TINY TIMES or SO YOUNG or even glossy garbage like BADGES OF FURY (which still managed to net in a cool 45 million dollars!).

And as for Japanese baddies receiving a ferocious hiding in Chinese films… well, if those films are set in the first half of the 20th Century this inevitably happens. Its less pandering to Chinese censorship demands than pandering to common Chinese mindsets.

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This movie was awesome and I've had the DVD pre ordered for a month already. The slow motion is not used heavily until the last fight, other than that its only used in training scenes or on the close ups of finishing moves. The giant fight was by far my fav but most people like crazy monkey, and in both those fights. Slow motion is barley used. I only noticed a few times wires were used, but IMO they never made a move "unbelievable" ( except the landing on the head). It's no joke one of my favorite movies, not only of 2013 but also the last few years. I'm looking forward to more reviews once release date comes

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One Armed Boxer

This movie is finally getting a Hong Kong cinematic release on March 6th, which hopefully bodes well for a HK DVD release as well. Strange world we live in where it'll get a DVD release in the US before it does in HK!

http://twitchfilm.com/2014/02/trailer-finally-hong-kong-will-witness-the-wrath-of-vajra.html

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Caught this over the weekend and enjoyed it despite the ridiculous plot. There is a plethora of Shaolin technique demonstrated by Yu Xing, which is great, even though he, like many of his contemporaries doesn't quite express the power in his technique we have seen from Jaa, Uwai and Adkins for example, all who come from disciplines where they actually hit things. The 3 main fight scenes are excellent, particularly the Crazy Monkey fight scene, which was intricate, unique and unlike anything I've seen elsewhere. The Giant fight was fun too. I'm not precious about slow motion when used sparingly, and I found for the most part it was used intelligently and to highlight key techniques and the like. I dare say there was indeed more wire work employed than what a first viewing may suggest, but again, it was smartly done, save for the one flying head flip already mentioned, which was quite jarring. My wife actually asked if that was possible, which was the only time she questioned anything during the entire film, even though it did nothing for her as a non-enthusiast. I'll add that I thought Steve Yoo had a solid presence and has that star quality some of you guys were talking about, which is unsurprising from a South Korean inclusion. Oh, and Matthew Mullins desperately needs acting lessons.

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Caught this over the weekend and enjoyed it despite the ridiculous plot. There is a plethora of Shaolin technique demonstrated by Yu Xing, which is great, even though he, like many of his contemporaries doesn't quite express the power in his technique we have seen from Jaa, Uwai and Adkins for example, all who come from disciplines where they actually hit things. The 3 main fight scenes are excellent, particularly the Crazy Monkey fight scene, which was intricate, unique and unlike anything I've seen elsewhere. The Giant fight was fun too. I'm not precious about slow motion when used sparingly, and I found for the most part it was used intelligently and to highlight key techniques and the like. I dare say there was indeed more wire work employed than what a first viewing may suggest, but again, it was smartly done, save for the one flying head flip already mentioned, which was quite jarring. My wife actually asked if that was possible, which was the only time she questioned anything during the entire film, even though it did nothing for her as a non-enthusiast. I'll add that I thought Steve Yoo had a solid presence and has that star quality some of you guys were talking about, which is unsurprising from a South Korean inclusion. Oh, and Matthew Mullins desperately needs acting lessons.

Was he dubbed when speaking in Mandarin? I've been a fan mtv's Final Fu and I was disappointed that Matt wasn't able to really let loose.

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i enjoyed special id and tom yum goong 2 is excellent, lots of action although some on here will complain about weak plot

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I enjoyed Special ID more than Flash Point altogether. The Protector 2 had some great action (particularly Tony's first two fights with Marrese Crump) but it's forgettable otherwise.

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tom yum goong 2 if you interested in story it is weak but actionwise there is plenty and was expecting it not to be any good by early comments. I was suprised by how much i enjoyed it. Hopefully this wrath of vajra film is good actionwise.

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Even tho their was a lot of action in TYG2.. The action was very Mickey Mousy.. In the wrath of vajra, the action is very exciting 1000x better than tyg2

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Pretty bad (for the movie) review over at blu-ray.com here. Only two stars! The critic barely talks about the fight scenes and when he does, he says, almost begrudgingly, that they are good. geez. I'll still be picking this up blindly tomorrow.

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