The Master (aka The Final Master) (2015)

[DrNgor]

So there's a Mainland Martial Arts film called The Master, directed, scripted and choreographed by a fellow named Xu Haofeng. The action has already gotten a nomination for Best Action at the Taiwanese Golden Horse Awards.

 

The HKMDB page: http://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=17207&display_set=eng

 

 

[rdenn]

We're still waiting for judge archer directed by Xu Haofeng.

[reason108]

Of course it would help if they would stop using the same generic titles for movies over and over. How many films in the last few years has The Master as the title or part of the title? But, I want to see both The Master and Choi Lei Fut: True Master. 

[DrNgor]

Well, it just bagged the Best Action award at the 2015 Golden Horse Awards, so it might truly be worth watching.

[GOLDEN DRAGON YIN-YANG]

 

 

The Master Movie Poster

Director: Xu Haofeng

Cast:

Liao Fan Da Song Jia Jiang Wenli Huang Jue Jin Shijie Zhang Aoyue Song Yang Dong Xiaosong Madina Memet Leon Dai Chen Kuantai Xiong Xin-Xin Qiu Jirong Li Bo

---

 

Also Known As:
Shi Fu

Country: China
Language: Mandarin
Release Date: 11 December 2015
Genre: Drama, Action, Thriller

 

GD Y-Y

 

 

[reason108]

Well, it just bagged the Best Action award at the 2015 Golden Horse Awards, so it might truly be worth watching.

I wonder what the competition was? Anyways, it looks interesting. But, the trailer posted above is so generic looking. Typical English voice-over. I hope the fights make up for what looks to be an average story. 

[DrNgor]

 

I wonder what the competition was? Anyways, it looks interesting. But, the trailer posted above is so generic looking. Typical English voice-over. I hope the fights make up for what looks to be an average story. 

The competition was THE ASSASSIN; RISE OF THE LEGEND; TAKING OF TIGER MOUNTAIN and SPL 2.

[Drunken Monk]

It looks like the choreography in this one is the same stuff we've come to know from Haofeng Xu. This fight, while realistic, is ugly as hell...

 

 

 

 

[sym8]

29 minutes ago, Drunken Monk said:

It looks like the choreography in this one is the same stuff we've come to know from Haofeng Xu. This fight, while realistic, is ugly as hell...

 

 

 

 

Not very stylised but no flying around crap so I'm in.

[mpm74]

One of the best fight scenes I've seen in a long time. Love it.

[OpiumKungFuCracker]

Loved it too. Not that it's grounded in reality but in closed tight spaces in a small alley? Loved it

[mpm74]

You guys have good taste. A bit salty, but good.

[reason108]

Just watched that trailer and I like it! I have not seen a fight scene out of HK in recent years that excited me the way this one has (other than IP Man 3). I really don't know much about the movie other than the trailer and what I have read here. But, anything that is going to show some old school fighting gets my vote. And, my favorite scene in the trailer is when he

Spoiler

stops to tie his shoe

. That is freaking awesome. That is not something that you would think of but is brilliant in a fight scene, me thinks! Cant wait for this to hit blu-ray. It`s cool that it is getting an US release. I just hope it is the original film and not edited and dubbed like so many others. Otherwise, I will just shop HK. 

[mpm74]

The film is getting a U.S. release date (still pending) by United Entertainment Partners (they released Mr. Wu last year) as THE FINAL MASTER. 

http://www.cityonfire.com/from-the-writer-of-the-grandmasters-comes-judge-archer/

 

 

[ShaOW!linDude]

I picked this up at Walmart today. 

It is without a doubt one of the best truly martial art films to come out in the 21st Century. That's a bold statement, I know. But it is true. The story is engaging, though there were some things that I didn't exactly get plot-wise on this first viewing. The casting is superb and the acting is top notch. 

But it is the fights and the choreography that are astounding at times. Many of them are brief, but there is a multitude of them. The film is loaded with fight scenes that have an intoxicating "old school" feel to them. This has some of the best butterfly sword choreography I've ever seen. Both the weapons fights and the hand-to-hand displays a lot of "shapes" style choreography. There are no mind-boggling quick-cuts or disorienting close ups. It is an absolute pleasure to watch.

Run! Don't walk. Don't crawl. Run, and get this now!!! 

[One Armed Boxer]

4 hours ago, ShaOW!linDude said:

I picked this up at Walmart today. 

It is without a doubt one of the best truly martial art films to come out in the 21st Century. That's a bold statement, I know. But it is true. The story is engaging, though there were some things that I didn't exactly get plot-wise on this first viewing. The casting is superb and the acting is top notch. 

But it is the fights and the choreography that are astounding at times. Many of them are brief, but there is a multitude of them. The film is loaded with fight scenes that have an intoxicating "old school" feel to them. This has some of the best butterfly sword choreography I've ever seen. Both the weapons fights and the hand-to-hand displays a lot of "shapes" style choreography. There are no mind-boggling quick-cuts or disorienting close ups. It is an absolute pleasure to watch.

Run! Don't walk. Don't crawl. Run, and get this now!!! 

Completely agree with this, I thought it was a fantastic movie, and goes a long way to reaffirming my position that I'd rather see a non-martial artist in the lead of a kung-fu flick under a great director (as is the case here & 'The Grandmaster'), than a bunch of legit action stars under someone who couldn't direct themselves out of a turnstile (hoping 'Triple Threat' will make me eat my words regarding this line).

[reason108]

I love the director's other movies. These films "breathe" like no other modern day films. They are old school but modern old school. I will be picking this up on payday site unseen. Well, I've seen the trailer and some of the ending fight scene. And, yeah, love me a good Wing Chun movie. At least this one is available on blu-ray. I wish his other two were. But, they are available on iTunes HD. I highly recommend Sword Identity and Judge Archer. I might slightly prefer Sword Identity, but, that is solely due to the actors and the characters they play. I really hope that I love The (Final) Master as much or more.

[thekfc]

4 hours ago, reason108 said:

At least this one is available on blu-ray. I wish his other two were

I am hoping that Lionsgate would stop their DVD only release of most Asian movies.

Whenever they announced that they have picked up the right for an Asian movie then I know that I will have to go buy the blu-ray from the overseas market; The last title that I had to do that for was Headshot.

[reason108]

Just finished watching the movie! Nice! Love the alley fight. And, yeah, lots of small fights but no really extended fights. But, that is cool as it spreads out the action a bit. Some shady characters in this movie.  Overall, pretty good movie though it did start off a little slow for me. And, by slow, I mean me being interested in the characters and their motivations. The story got more interesting as it went along. Too bad that Chen Kuan-tai was underused. Liked the soundtrack, though an odd mix of sounds at times. But, it was a little fresher sounding than most. Really glad that I picked this up. 

[Drunken Monk]

One thing to know before going into this one is that it's a WEAPONS film. Hand to hand combat is scarce here.

Did I love the film? I found it a little bloated, in all honesty, but that's expected from the director's past output. Buuuuut this is a true martial arts film through and through. The fight scenes are phenomenal and some of the most original choreography I've seen in some time. And there are enough fights to please die hard genre films.

The plot is a little clunky and I walked away from the tv for five minutes only to come back and not really know what was going on. You definitely have to pay attention to get the most out of the plot.

i definitely preferred this one to the pretentious and oh-so-boring "Judge Archer". I'll rewatch this one for the fights alone. Great stuff.

[GOLDEN DRAGON YIN-YANG]

YAAAAAAAAAAAWN. My thoughts on this clunker.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GD Y-Y

[One Armed Boxer]

On 11/30/2017 at 3:45 AM, GOLDEN DRAGON YIN-YANG said:

YAAAAAAAAAAAWN. My thoughts on this clunker.

 

C'mon GD Y-Y, what's not to like about this one?  Ironically it looks like @Fist of the Heavenly Sky was watching this at the same time as you were - 

 

[Fist of the Heavenly Sky]

3 minutes ago, One Armed Boxer said:

C'mon GD Y-Y, what's not to like about this one?  Ironically it looks like @Fist of the Heavenly Sky was watching this at the same time as you were - 

 

I thought the movie was okay-ish for the most part. If this very thread is of any indication it would seem that I wasn't alone in that the story was one huge nothingburger in which nothing was accomplished or permanently changed. The lack of character exposure and clarification of their motivations also didn't help matters. 

[GOLDEN DRAGON YIN-YANG]

Well its like this. The theme was Wing Chung all it had were knives and really no Wing Chung. I also did not like the way the fellows fell with our heroes poll..................it looked stupid to me.

 

Anyway that the way I saw it.

Here is an interesting article:

https://chinesemartialstudies.com/2015/11/13/ben-judkins-and-jon-nielson-talk-with-kung-fu-tai-chi-magazine-about-the-creation-of-wing-chun-part-2/

 

 

 

 

 

20 hours ago, Fist of the Heavenly Sky said:

I thought the movie was okay-ish for the most part. If this very thread is of any indication it would seem that I wasn't alone in that the story was one huge nothingburger in which nothing was accomplished or permanently changed. The lack of character exposure and clarification of their motivations also didn't help matters. 

There you go. Yeah non-involving story-line just plain boring....I was always in hopeful anticipation but alas.................................. no good results..................... never finished it and returned it to the library.

 

GD Y-Y

[One Armed Boxer]

This will finally get a UK release on DVD, Blu-ray, and digital on February 19th courtesy of Cine Asia.