Member legendarycurry Posted June 10, 2015 Member Share Posted June 10, 2015 Hello everyone. I was thinking we could recommend or show some appreciation here for those martial arts movies of any era, modern or old school, that you feel are underrated. Maybe there are some films out there that you feel are not getting enough recognition or some that you feel are unjustly criticised. This could be a great way to recommend some hidden gems or bring to light some films you feel deserve more credit. Here are a few examples of films that I believe deserve more exposure and are underrated: Deadend of Beseigers: Choreographed by and starring Yu Roung Gang. This film has lots of great fights and an awesome display of dog fist kung fu from Cynthia Khan. The Death Games. Fann Siu Wong , Leung Kar Yan and Ngai Sing star in this fight filled modern day gem that seems quite hard to get a hold of which might explain why not more people have seen it. Innocent Interloper: excellent 80's actioner that features the screen debut of Elaine Lui with Hwang jang Lee in top form rocking an epic perm, highly recommended if you can find a copy. Red Wolf: Yuen Woo Ping drected "Under Siege" ripoff that is worth watching just because of Elaine Lui's portrayal of the villain. Ngai Sing and Cho Wing show off some impressive bootwork and we get some solid stunts too. Not really on the level of other modern Yuen Clan films like "Tiger Cage 2" but still an entertaining film that I think is better than what some reviews out there make it seem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMK Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 I will have to think this over, and get back to you when I've thought of something worth noting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted June 12, 2015 Member Share Posted June 12, 2015 For me, one criminally underrated movie would be The Pirate (1973). Yup, a Shaw Bros film directed by Chang Cheh, and starring Ti Lung, David Chiang and Fan Mei Sheng. This is honestly one of Chang Cheh's best with Ti Lung and David Chiang, yet I rarely see it mentionned (unlike The Blood Brothers, the masterpiece known as NOAS or even Have Sword, Will Travel, a film I didn't enjoy that much TBH). In this film, Ti Lung gives a great performance as a Robin Hood-like pirate who does all he can to help the people of a small village of fishermen oppressed by Mafia-like rulers. Chiang meanwhile plays an official sent to capture him, and it is one of his greatest performance (NOAS and The Heroic Ones being my two favorite) - he also gets some nice action here, I especially enjoy the scene where he is in a casino and beats the crap out of the staff to get out. Add Fan Mei Sheng as a greedy and bruttish pirate (with some OTT moments), solid performances from secondary characters (a young woman and her grandfather whom Ti Lung helps out as he was trying to sell her to a whorehouse notably stood out), an epic battle at sea as an opening scene and a final fight between Ti Lung and David Chiang, and you get yourselves one fine film. Definitely recommended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member legendarycurry Posted June 14, 2015 Author Member Share Posted June 14, 2015 For me, one criminally underrated movie would be The Pirate (1973). Yup, a Shaw Bros film directed by Chang Cheh, and starring Ti Lung, David Chiang and Fan Mei Sheng. This is honestly one of Chang Cheh's best with Ti Lung and David Chiang, yet I rarely see it mentionned (unlike The Blood Brothers, the masterpiece known as NOAS or even Have Sword, Will Travel, a film I didn't enjoy that much TBH). In this film, Ti Lung gives a great performance as a Robin Hood-like pirate who does all he can to help the people of a small village of fishermen oppressed by Mafia-like rulers. Chiang meanwhile plays an official sent to capture him, and it is one of his greatest performance (NOAS and The Heroic Ones being my two favorite) - he also gets some nice action here, I especially enjoy the scene where he is in a casino and beats the crap out of the staff to get out. Add Fan Mei Sheng as a greedy and bruttish pirate (with some OTT moments), solid performances from secondary characters (a young woman and her grandfather whom Ti Lung helps out as he was trying to sell her to a whorehouse notably stood out), an epic battle at sea as an opening scene and a final fight between Ti Lung and David Chiang, and you get yourselves one fine film. Definitely recommended. Sounds like a very interesting film. i have to check it out at some point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member sym8 Posted June 17, 2015 Member Share Posted June 17, 2015 Hi everyone,underrated gems of hong kong cinema i would have to say FINAL RUN,directed by ko fei and starring a whole bunch of familar names,KO FEI,LEUNG KAR YAN,YUKARI OSHIMA,RIDLEY TSUI,MARK HOUGHTON,DICK WEI,SIMON YAM.Its your usual hong kong action movie from the late 80s but what puts this up there is the great action which is put together by ko fei and ridley tsui,the storys not that original but when the stunts and fighting are this good who cares.A great 90 mins worth of entertainment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member legendarycurry Posted June 19, 2015 Author Member Share Posted June 19, 2015 Hi everyone,underrated gems of hong kong cinema i would have to say FINAL RUN,directed by ko fei and starring a whole bunch of familar names,KO FEI,LEUNG KAR YAN,YUKARI OSHIMA,RIDLEY TSUI,MARK HOUGHTON,DICK WEI,SIMON YAM.Its your usual hong kong action movie from the late 80s but what puts this up there is the great action which is put together by ko fei and ridley tsui,the storys not that original but when the stunts and fighting are this good who cares.A great 90 mins worth of entertainment. Hi sym8 I've heard of "Final Run" but i haven't seen it yet. I hope to see it someday, sounds like a winner! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted May 22, 2018 Member Share Posted May 22, 2018 Bumping this older thread, to see if anyone has anything new to add?. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted May 22, 2018 Member Share Posted May 22, 2018 Well, it seems to me that I didn't see much comments on any of Kong Ban and Cheung Ching Ching's martial arts movies, (either together in the same movies, either alone with other stars), but I didn't read all the posts in the classic martial arts section. Dragon blows , Rage of the master, Righteous fist, Dog king and snake king are not very often mentioned, if I'm not mistaken, though there are very good fights in these movies. Payment in blood, The villains, Queen boxer, Kung fu Mama, Furious slaughter, Ma Su Chent with Nancy Yen should be mentioned too, but htat's just my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted May 22, 2018 Member Share Posted May 22, 2018 17 minutes ago, ShawAngela said: Righteous fist, Dog king and snake king Never heard of those two movies, any trailers for them on YouTube?. 18 minutes ago, ShawAngela said: Furious slaughter My personal favorite Jimmy Wang Yu movie, though there are a heap of his flicks I've not gotten round to yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted May 22, 2018 Member Share Posted May 22, 2018 6 minutes ago, DragonClaws said: Never heard of those two movies, any trailers for them on YouTube?. I don't know, maybe if you search with the Chinese title ? I think that I wrote some comments on these two,and Righteous fist has the aka Furious ultimatum, maybe this title will ring a bell ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted May 22, 2018 Member Share Posted May 22, 2018 Sure I read your comments about these @ShawAngela, but there's a lot of content to keep track of on here. I found this after a quick search, the trialer appear to be narrated by the guy who did all the English language IFD Ninja/Korean movie trialers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Drunken Monk Posted May 22, 2018 Member Share Posted May 22, 2018 It's not rare or anything but I genuinely think Taoism Drunkard is a Yuen Clan gem that deserves more appreciation than it gets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted May 22, 2018 Member Share Posted May 22, 2018 I didn' teven know that there was a rarescope version of Furious ultimatum. I got the FLK dvd years ago (maybe a copy of this rarescope...) in English, and I got the original vcd version in Mandarin a few weeks ago. The music isn't the same as the one heard on this youtube clip. I had seen this movie when I was 14 in Fench language and the only thing I remembered was Chiao Chiao last fight and Wong Yung putting his hands iin the fire, and I didn't rememebr the French title, but when I got it, I recognized it at once and was so happy to have finally found one of the first movies that got me into martial arts movies !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted May 22, 2018 Member Share Posted May 22, 2018 3 minutes ago, ShawAngela said: I didn' teven know that there was a rarescope version of Furious ultimatum. I got the FLK dvd years ago (maybe a copy of this rarescope...) in English, and I got the original vcd version in Mandarin a few weeks ago. The music isn't the same as the one heard on this youtube clip. According to the YouTube post, it was never released by RareScope in the end, that trailer would have appeared on the release though. Don't quote me on this one, but I think RareScope had a few releases planned, that never made it onto DVD officially. 21 minutes ago, Drunken Monk said: It's not rare or anything but I genuinely think Taoism Drunkard is a Yuen Clan gem that deserves more appreciation than it gets. The Yuen Clan movies are always fun and crative, in a nutty of the wall kind of way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted May 22, 2018 Member Share Posted May 22, 2018 Just now, DragonClaws said: Taoism Drunkard I have this one but have never got the time to watch it, but I remember that when I tested the disc I saw some scenes that furiously made me laugh and laugh again !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Drunken Monk Posted May 22, 2018 Member Share Posted May 22, 2018 10 minutes ago, ShawAngela said: I have this one but have never got the time to watch it, but I remember that when I tested the disc I saw some scenes that furiously made me laugh and laugh again !! I think "Miracle Fighters" and "Shaolin Drunkard" tend to get highly praised when it comes to the Yuen Clan's wacky films, but "Taoism Drunkard" really is great. It also has a fantastic final fight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member TibetanWhiteCrane Posted May 23, 2018 Member Share Posted May 23, 2018 What constitutes "underrated"? To me, it is something relatively well known, but not highly rated. It doesn't mean rare or overlooked as those mean something else. At least that's my interpretation of the term. Also.... by MA I gather we just mean stylized/choreographed fighting. Just need to know the rules if I'm gonna play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted May 23, 2018 Moderator Share Posted May 23, 2018 4 hours ago, TibetanWhiteCrane said: What constitutes "underrated"? To me, it is something relatively well known, but not highly rated. I'd agree with that definition, so for me I'll add Jackie Chan's 'Thunderbolt' to the list. I recall even creating a thread about it back when I watched it for the first time in 2012 - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted May 23, 2018 Member Share Posted May 23, 2018 5 hours ago, TibetanWhiteCrane said: What constitutes "underrated" I understood that it was movies that weren't much talked about, either very rare, either very well known, it doesn't matter... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted May 23, 2018 Member Share Posted May 23, 2018 I like Close Escape (1989). Features Yukari Oshima, Dick Wei, Max Mok, and was Aaron Kwok's big screen debut as one of the lead good guys. The finale was a free for all in which Mok, Kwok, and Oshima take on the likes of Wei and his gang, which included Adam Chan and Pomson Shi. Some fine choreography by Philip Kwok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted May 23, 2018 Member Share Posted May 23, 2018 On 6/10/2015 at 1:24 PM, legendarycurry said: I was thinking we could recommend or show some appreciation here for those martial arts movies of any era, modern or old school, that you feel are underrated. Maybe there are some films out there that you feel are not getting enough recognition or some that you feel are unjustly criticised. Guess we all will have slightly different interpretation of what underatted means, the quote above is from the thread author. I see the same way as @ShawAngela Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Tex Killer Posted May 23, 2018 Member Share Posted May 23, 2018 5 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said: I'd agree with that definition, so for me I'll add Jackie Chan's 'Thunderbolt' to the list. Agree to to TWC description, underrated does not fit to rare/little seen movies. Thunderbolt is excellent, viewed it some months ago. Last time was at vhs era and liked it then already., It helped tho now to enjoy it even more as correct aspect ratio and knowledge main fight comes before end of movie, back then was little disappointed no proper showdown at least in figh department on last minutes. Highly entertaining Jackie flick for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member TibetanWhiteCrane Posted May 23, 2018 Member Share Posted May 23, 2018 I just don't see how a movie can be rated, or in this case, underrated, if people don't know about it.... that to me is overlooked or rare, as in rarely seen. But upon further thought, I don't think I have anything to add to this thread anyway. Going by my own definition, it would just be me rattling off a list of titles people are already familiar with and me praising the action.... honestly, what's the point? Think I'm a little burned out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Drunken Monk Posted May 23, 2018 Member Share Posted May 23, 2018 56 minutes ago, TibetanWhiteCrane said: I just don't see how a movie can be rated, or in this case, underrated, if people don't know about it.... that to me is overlooked or rare, as in rarely seen. But upon further thought, I don't think I have anything to add to this thread anyway. Going by my own definition, it would just be me rattling off a list of titles people are already familiar with and me praising the action.... honestly, what's the point? Think I'm a little burned out. I would label a film underrated if it were underappreciated (in my eyes) by the mainstream but wasn't exactly a rare film. It's a film that everyone could know about that just doesn't get enough props. But I suppose that's pretty subjective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Ramji Posted May 23, 2018 Member Share Posted May 23, 2018 Black Sheep Affair. Obviously not the best film in the world but contains some good action considering it was 1998 and things were a little dry. I think this was when we saw Vincent Zhao at his peak, some nice kickboxing mixed in with some wu shu and wire fu. Had some good falls in it too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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