CJ Entertainment USA is giving Cho Ui-Seok’s Master a limited theatrical release on January 6th, 2017. This upcoming South Korean thriller stars Gang Dong-won (The Priests), Lee Byung-Hun (I Saw the Devil) and Kim Woo-Bin (Friend 2).
An intellectual crime investigation team goes after company Won Network. The company is involved in a massive fraud case. Kim (Gang) is the leader of intellectual crime investigation team. He is smart, charismatic, aggressive and bold to lead the intellectual crime investigation team. President Jin (Lee) is the president of Won Network. Park (Kim) is the Section Chief of Won Network. He is the brains behind Won Network.
Being an avid James Bond fan, as well as a writer for City on Fire, I’ve put together a list of Bond titles that are relevant with Asian and martial arts cinema. Whether it be ninjas, samurai, kung fu masters – or just well-known Asian talent – there’s definitely a connection between 007 and the types of films that are usually covered here at City on Fire. Of course, considering the impact Bond films have had on cinema in general, none of this should come as a surprise.
Dr. No
Even in the first James Bond film, hints of Asian film culture were already evident. 1962’s Dr. No has Bond (Sean Connery) up against the titular villain, Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman), who was 1/2 German and 1/2 Chinese. Surrounded with his deadly Asian henchmen, Dr. No was committed to terrorizing the world with his atomic-powered radio beam. The 1973 Bruce Lee martial arts classic, Enter the Dragon, is considered by many, somewhat of an unofficial remake of Dr. No – in fact, critics have referred to Enter the Dragon as “a remake of Dr. No with elements of Fu Manchu”.
You Only Live Twice
Back in 1967, it was one heck of a gamble for Western movies to feature a prominent Asian cast, but as time went by, there was definitely a demand (similar to the recent rise of online casino and rise of people who look to play bingo), so in a way, You Only Live Twice was a look into the future. Samurai warriors aside, the film served as one of the first major appearance of the ninja in a Western pop culture; and unless you were a fan of Japanese cinema, these masked assassins (and their cool assortment of weapons) were relatively unknown back then. Additionally, the film features popular Japanese actor, Tetsuro Tamba (Harakiri), as well as Akiko Wakabayashi (King Kong vs. Godzilla), Mie Hama (Counterattack of King Kong) and Tsai Chin (who would later make a cameo in 2006’s Casino Royale) in supporting roles.
Goldfinger
1964’s Goldfinger has one of the most memorable, if not THE most memorable, villains of all time: Oddjob (played by real-life Japanese weightlifter/professional wrestler, Harold Sakata). This abnormally strong assassin is armed with his trademark razor-edged bowler hat, which is similar to the “Flying Guillotine” weapon that was popular in many kung fu films. Sakata himself would go on to make appearances in a couple of martial arts titles: 1977’s Death Dimension (with Jim Kelley and George Lazenby) and 1982’s Bruce Strikes Back (with Bruce Le and Hwang Jang Lee) where he practically reprises his role as Oddjob.
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
Especially for the time, 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service displays the franchise’s most inventive, hard-hitting action sequences – similar to what we’d see in a John Woo flick years later. In one example, Bond (George Lazenby) is seen sliding belly-down a snowy hill while simultaneously shooting a high-powered machine gun at his enemies. A few years after his one and only outing as 007, Lazenby would join Hong Kong’s Golden Harvest studios and star in a handful of Chinese productions with the likes of Angela Mao (Enter the Dragon) and Jimmy Wang Yu (The Man from Hong Kong) – one of the projects, Game of Death – would have paired him up with Bruce Lee, but due to the latter’s untimely death, the project was put on the back burner (only to be finished a few years later with a Bond-esque credit sequence and a soundtrack by John Barry, who scored most of the Bond films). The most popular, 1975’s Man From Hong Kong, which has Lazenby as a villain, is essentially a James Bond copycat starring Wang Yu. Lazenby also appears in the aforementioned Death Dimension, not to mention the 1977 comedy, Kentucky Fried Movie, which is largely made up of an Enter the Dragon spoof titled A Fistful of Yen, which showcases Grand Master Bong Soo Han (Force: Five) and Evan C. Kim (Megaforce).
Man with the Golden Gun
Thanks to films like 1973’s Five Fingers of Death (aka King Boxer) and the explosion of Bruce Lee, the popular “kung fu craze” was alive and strong in the 70s. This era even influenced Carl Douglas’ to record the song “Everybody was Kung Fu fighting,” which became a major hit. So Bond producers strategically cashed-in on the “Chopsocky” mania and made sure 1974’s The Man with the Golden Gun was heavily infused with some kung fu/karate action. In one fight scene, Bond (Roger Moore), who realizes he doesn’t stand a chance against Charlie Chan You Lam (The Secret Rivals, Part II), takes Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon advice: “Never take your eyes off your opponent, even when you bow,” which results in Bond’s victorious escape. The film also stars Soon-Teck Oh (the villain in Chuck Norris’ Missing in Action 2) and Yuen Qiu (Kung Fu Hustle, Dragon Claws).
Licence to Kill
1989’s Licence to Kill, featuring Timothy Dalton as Bond, marked the return of ninjas, which we haven’t seen in a Bond film since You Only Live Twice, 22 years earlier. Although the ninjas (technically, they’re Hong Kong narcotic agents, which doesn’t really make sense) show up for a short amount of time; the sequence can be seen as either memorable or out-of-place, depending on one’s taste. The ninjas are played by Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Mortal Kombat) and actress/model Diana Lee-Hsu.
Tomorrow Never Dies
In this 1997 Bond flick, Hong Kong action star, Michelle Yeoh (In the Line of Duty), joins forces with Bond (Pierce Brosnan) to take on an evil media mogul (Jonathan Pryce). Because Yeoh’s character – a Chinese secret agent who knows kung fu – isn’t your typical damsel in distress, she’s highly regarded as one of the most unforgettable Bond girls. Not only is she a real “co-star” alongside Brosnan, she also gets a chunk of action-packed screen time, courtesy of Hong Kong-based stuntmen, most notably, Philip Kwok (Five Deadly Venoms).
But wait, there’s more…
The James Bond franchise’ association with Asian Cinema doesn’t stop within the 007 films themselves. The late Richard Kiel (“Jaws” from 1977’s Spy Who Loved Me and 1979’s Moonraker) played a similar character in Tsui Hark’s 1984 action caper Aces Go Places 3 (aka Mad Mission 3: Our Man from Bond Street), a Hong Kong production that stars Sam Hui (Naughty! Naughty!), Karl Maka (Skinny Tiger, Fatty Dragon), Sugiyama Tsuneharu (an Oddjob wannabe), and get this: Sean Connery’s brother, Neil (Operation Kid Brother) as “Mr. Bond.” Kiel would also team up with Jackie Chan in Golden Harvest’s all-star 1984 comedy Cannonball Run II (the first Cannonball Run film, which also stars Chan, includes Roger Moore, who portrays a Bond-like character).
To be continued…
I can sit here and make connections between Bond movies and Asian/martial arts cinema for days (I didn’t even mention all the Bond knock-off films made in Japan and Hong Kong in the 60s), but for now, I’ll end it here.
Director: Ding Sheng Writer: Ding Sheng Cast: Andy Lau Tak-Wah, Liu Ye, Wu Ruofu, Wang Qianyuan, Lam Suet, Zhao Xiaoyue, Vivien Li Meng, Cai Lu, Yu Ailei, Liu Wen-Bo, Guo Ming-Yu Running Time: 106 min.
Kelly Warner
Andy Lau walks out of a nightclub, signs autographs, and waves to his fans. The onscreen text reads, ‘Mr. Wu, Famous Movie Star.’ (I laughed, though I can’t really explain why.) Soon we learn that famous movie star Mr. Wu is known for playing cops and used to perform concerts in years past. It’s as if Andy Lau (Firestorm) is getting a chance to play a thinly-veiled version of himself. And though ‘The Andy Lau Story’ might’ve made for an entertaining film in its own right, in actuality Lau is playing a dramatized version of real-life actor, Ruofu Wu, who in 2004 was abducted by men posing as police officers and held for ransom.
In the film, Mr. Wu leaves the nightclub and is heading to his car when he’s intercepted by men in police uniform who begin to question him. They tell him that his car’s been involved in a hit-and-run. Wu and his associate argue this, then there’s some disagreement about whether Wu’s Hong Kong driver’s license is even legal in Mainland China. It’s at this point, when the civilian knows the law better than the cop, that Wu and his associate begin to question the cop’s legitimacy. Before they know what’s happening, guns are drawn, Wu is handcuffed, and the actor is thrown into the back of a waiting car.
It’s a crime of opportunity. The kidnappers are well-equipped men with enough experience in abduction for ransom, but they seem to pick their targets at random. They simply saw Wu’s fancy car and decided he’d be the target for the night. When it turned out that Mr. Wu was the car’s owner, they couldn’t back out. Quite the opposite, as their leader Zhang puts it: “How could we not kidnap a movie star standing right in front of us?” They demand a ransom and unless Wu’s able to organize a payment within 24 hours, they will execute him.
The film bounces back and forth between the kidnappers, the abducted Mr. Wu, and the cops on the case. It also shifts between the time before the kidnapping, during the incident, and after a key arrest is made. Writer/director/editor Ding Sheng used flashbacks to flesh out the story of his previous film Police Story: Lockdownand while I liked that movie I thought the flashback structure didn’t help the story. So it’s interesting that the non-linear storytelling structure of Saving Mr. Wu is actually one of the film’s finest achievements. Details unfold in the order that best befits the story being told, and if that means jumping back weeks in time to better understand our characters then so be it.
The weakest part of Saving Mr. Wu is the police characterizations. They’re a force to be reckoned with (thankfully without ever devolving into hero worship), but they’re never developed into individual characters. The lead cop gets a phone call from his wife about his son and… that’s it. The son is brought up once more in order to add some drama right before the cop runs into danger but that’s just lazy character development. However, while none of the cops ever make much of an impression individually, their part to play in the story as they track down the kidnappers is often interesting and exciting. I didn’t know this until after the film was done but Ruofu Wu, the actor whose ordeal inspired the film, actually has a supporting part as one of the cops on the case.
Saving Mr. Wu is at its best when focused on the interplay between the abducted and the abductors. Wu utilizes his acting abilities to control his emotions and ultimately try to take command of the entire situation. It’s one of Andy Lau’s best performances in years, allowing him to show a wide range of emotions with total believability.
As the lead kidnapper Zhang, Wang Qianyuan (Brotherhood of Blades) nearly steals the show from superstar Andy Lau. Zhang is quite the character. His criminal tactics are cold and efficient but he’s also something of a lunatic. He never goes anywhere without a hand grenade and collects guns like he’s preparing for a war. Wang Qianyuan is the best thing about the movie—it’s a star-making performance. He never goes for the easy stuff that you see other film villains employ. It’s a smart, intense acting job.
The back-and-forth plays for leverage between Wu and Zhang reminded me of the Paul Greengrass film Captain Phillips, especially in the second half where Tom Hanks was surrounded by increasingly desperate kidnappers. It’s an actor’s showcase for Wang and Lau.
As Mainland China’s film industry continues to expand, it will need more auteurs to elevate at least certain pieces of China’s cinema above the mainstream, government approved blockbusters that seem designed by a computer program more than living, breathing filmmakers. It will need more people like Ding Sheng. Now, Ding Sheng ain’t perfect, but what I like is that he seems to learn from the missteps made on previous films. And he consistently gets strong work from his lead actors, at least some of whom are old-school favorites from the days when Hong Kong movie-making was at its best. I think Saving Mr. Wu is Ding Sheng’s best film so far; a blend of China’s arthouse dramas and its potboilers, with two excellent performances from its lead actors.
On February 28th, Lionsgate Home Entertainment will be releasing Steven Seagal’s latest film, Contract to Kill, on Blu-ray & DVD. This time around, the legendary action star is taking on Islamic extremists an drug dealers, simultaneously.
Contract to Kill (read our review) is directed by Keoni Waxman (End of a Gun), the writer/director/producer who has helmed several movies with Seagal (End of Gun).
In Contract to Kill, a Special Agent (Seagal) is called back into action when the CIA stumbles upon evidence that a group of extremists is planning to join forces with a drug cartel. He assembles a team of operatives – including Russell Wong (Romeo Must Die) – and devises a daring operation to turn the two groups against each other in an explosive confrontation.
Director: Derek Yee Producer: Tsui Hark Cast: Kenny Lin Geng-Xin, Peter Ho Yun-Tung, Jiang Yi-Yan, Jiang Meng-Jie, Norman Chu, Edward Ku, Ng Yuen-Jun, Wang De-Shun, Guo Jiu-Long Running Time: 105 min.
ByPaul Bramhall
There have been a handful of Shaw Brothers re-makes over recent years. Some of them have resulted in successful reinterpretations of the source material, such as Daniel Lee’s 2010 production 14 Blades, a pulpy re-imagining of Secret Service of the Imperial Court, and Peter Chan’s Wu Xia from 2011, which took its inspiration from One Armed Swordsman. Of course others have arguably missed the mark completely, most notably Andrew Lau’s 2012 jumbled effort The Guillotines, which was based on The Flying Guillotine. However no one has been bold enough to take on one of the many Chor Yuen directed productions, usually based on writer Gu Long’s novels set in the martial arts world. No one that is, until the arrival of Sword Master.
Based on 1977’s Death Duel, the man stepping up to the daunting task of remaking such a well-known classic, is in fact the star of the original, Derek Yee. While many modern day audiences know Yee as the director behind such gritty slices of Hong Kong cinema as One Night in Mongkok, Protégé, and The Shinjuku Incident, it’s important to remember that he was also very much an active player in the Shaw Brothers studio. When director Chor Yuen went through his phase of adapting Gu Long novels from the mid-70’s to the early 80’s, Yee was a regular sight in many of them, even playing the lead in the likes of Full Moon Scimitar and Descendant of the Sun.
Sword Master marks the first time both for Yee to attempt a remake, and his first foray into the wuxia genre, however the production definitely comes with the right talents behind the camera. In the producers chair is Tsui Hark, one of the few directors in the world who’s successfully found ways to innovatively use 3D technology during action sequences. Most likely due to Hark’s involvement, the action direction is in the capable hands of Yuen Bun and Dion Lam. Bun has frequently worked with Hark in recent years during his forays into 3D action filmmaking, and you can certainly see him honing his craft when witnessing the progression of the action in the likes of the Detective Dee series, through to the likes of The Taking of Tiger Mountain. He’s one of the few choreographers from the golden era who’s found peace with modern technology, and the same can be said for Dion Lam, who also handled the action in League of Gods, from the same year.
As far as plot goes, for anyone who is even vaguely familiar with the Shaw Brothers adaptions of Gu Long’s novels, you’ll know that things tend to get convoluted very quickly, while somehow still maintaining an acceptable level of coherency. That’s also the case here, so to avoid filling up the next 5 paragraphs with a plot synopsis, I’ll try and keep it short. Events open on a snow covered bridge spanning a frozen lake, as 2 swordsman face off against each other. It’s certainly difficult to think of a more appropriate way to kick off a wuxia movie. One of the swordsman is played by Peter Ho, sporting a tattooed face which almost makes him look like a wuxia version of The Crow, and his only desire is to be the best swordsman in the land, for which he needs to defeat the legendary Third Master.
The role of the Third Master is the character that Yee played in Death Duel almost 30 years prior, and here his shoes are filled by Kenny Lin, who’s left his identity behind and seeks a life of solitude, with his own family declaring him dead. The rumours of his death quickly circulate and throw the martial arts world into disarray, with his ambitious and power craving bride-to-be, played by Jiang Yi-Yan, demanding proof of his death. Away from the chaos, Lin takes on the job of an errand boy in a brothel, and while there begins to fall for the charms of a naïve prostitute, played by Jiang Meng-Jie. However when Lin is sighted by a former adversary, he has to deal with Ho’s fame seeking swordsman, a spurned bride-to-be, and threats from multiple clans that seek to overthrow his family as the leaders of the martial arts world.
For those who have seen Peter Chan’s Wu Xia, the above may sound familiar, as that movie concerned itself with Donnie Yen’s clan member who also gives up his identity for a peaceful life. However those comparisons really only hold up on paper, with Sword Master very much being a different type of production. Indeed out of all the recent Shaw Brothers remakes, it’s arguably Yee’s effort that recaptures the atmosphere of that era of filmmaking the most. In many scenes the surroundings are created by CGI, however the look and feel is not going for realism, just like the many studio bound sets of the Shaw Brothers could never be mistaken for a real outdoor setting. Instead they create a fantastical and mythical setting, one which provides an appropriate backdrop for the lonesome swordsmen and lovelorn swordswomen to muse on their fates and the meaning of it all.
Indeed the script for Sword Master could have come straight out of a Shaw Brothers wuxia. Characters whimsically dwell on what it means to be the best, reminisce on lost love, and deliver such wonderful lines like “I sharpen my blade on talkative men’s throats.” Both Yee and Hark penned the script, along with Chun Tim-Nam, who has worked with both directors before, penning the likes of Seven Swords and The Shinjuku Incident. The dialogue and story are arguably Sword Master’s biggest strengths, ensuring characters motivations and personalities are fully fleshed out, and notably drawing some surprising laughs from a sharp sense of wit occasionally on display.
Old school fans will no doubt appreciate the inclusion of Norman Chu as the father of Lin, which also makes him the only returning cast member from the original. At over 60 years old he cuts a commanding figure, and provides a welcome link to those movies that came before. For those who hope to see him in action, the good news is that he also throws in some slicing and dicing for good measure. While we’re on action, as mentioned previously the expectation that having Yuen Bun and Dion Lam on-board comes with thankfully doesn’t disappoint. Purists will no doubt cry foul at the CGI enhancements, however these are also likely the same purists who complain that the action in the Shaw Brothers wuxia’s is too flowery and stylised. Amongst the shots of flowing material and CGI projectiles, Bun and Lam have crafted some solid swordplay that delivers the goods.
When Norman Chu yells to “Get into formation!” It almost felt like it was the first time hearing this line in such a context since watching movies like Shaolin Intruders and The Emperor and his Brother. The merging of the old-school action style created with modern day filming techniques is never going to please everyone, however if this is the direction that wuxia action is going to take, then it stands as a worthy update and homage to what’s come before. From one-on-one sword duels, to clan vs. clan attacks using a variety of weapons, all of the action scenes are choreographed to a high level, with the performers moving both to avoid real weapons and CGI ones that would be added in post. To perform against an attack that’s not there, and then seamlessly carry on performing choreography against those that are there, is a skill in itself, and shouldn’t be written off as technology doing all the work.
All things considered, Sword Master isn’t just an imitation of the era its source material is from, instead Yee’s movie feels like a bold reimagining of how the wuxia genre can still work using modern technology. If the Shaw Brothers wuxia’s charmed with their sets and elaborate costumes, 90’s wuxia’s wowed with their elaborate wire work and set pieces, then wuxia from this era will hopefully be defined by its strong storytelling and CGI infused action. Let’s hope that for other filmmakers, Sword Master sets the bar.
Director: James Nunn Cast: Scott Adkins, Wade Barrett, Daniel Caltagirone, James Cosmo, Mem Ferda, Ty Glaser, Olivia Mace, Stephen Marcus, Bruce Johnson, Sean Cronin Running Time: 94 min.
By Zach Nix
British martial artist and actor Scott Adkins has had a busy year in 2016. He appeared in numerous supporting roles, whether it be within low budget direct to video efforts (i.e. Jarhead 3: The Siege, Home Invasion) or theatrical blockbusters (The Brothers Grimsby, Criminal, Doctor Strange). He also starred within arguably the most anticipated direct to video release of the year, Hard Target 2, the ‘in name only’ sequel to John Woo’s classic original. With all of that work under his belt, Adkins could have stopped there and called it a fruitful and successful year.
However, it appears that Adkins has one last trick up his sleeve for 2016, as he has arguably saved the best for last. His latest direct to video (DTV) release, Eliminators, is easily his best action vehicle of the entire year. While Hard Target 2 may have been the blockbuster DTV event that all action fans were pumped for, Eliminators is the underrated sleeper hit of the year, seemingly coming out of nowhere. Adkins previously worked with the film’s director, James Nunn, on the well-received Green Street 3: Never Back Down. And while that film introduced viewers to Nunn’s abilities as a director of low budget action, it’s clear that he has now joined the ranks of DTV cinema’s finest with Eliminators, one of the most affective DTV actioners in quite a while thanks to an engaging story, genuine tension, and fantastic action sequences.
The plot is fairly straightforward, at least from DTV standards. Adkins plays Thomas, a single father to his younger daughter. After a group of thugs break into his house and threaten he and his child’s life, Thomas has no choice but to kill the men in self-defense. When Thomas’ name and face are plastered all over the news after the incident, his worst fears are realized, as his identity and whereabouts are made public to his former enemies whom forced him into witness protection. Thomas is than placed into a race against time as he must retrieve his daughter and fight off a deadly assassin, Bishop (Stu Bennett), sent by the man whom killed his wife.
Produced by the prestigious WWE studios (it’s nice to see Adkins finally do one of theirs), Eliminators is a nice blend of family drama, witness protection gone wrong, and Terminator-styled cat and mouse chases. It’s all well-paced too, as the family element is introduced first in order to invest viewers in Adkins’ plight before he is plunged into a nearly non-stop showdown against Bennett’s menacing prowess. Nunn crafts some solid tension amidst the two’s chase across London and throws obstacle after obstacle at Adkins once he escapes from police custody.
The final product is made all the better thanks to the film’s showcase of quality DTV action, courtesy of both Adkins’ prime physical abilities and Nunn’s affective direction. There are almost no signs of DTV cinema’s worst crimes, save for a few moments of silly digital green screens on computers or hand held devices and an instance or two of digital sounding text along the bottom of the screen. With the level of production value and quality action on display here, it’s still a shock as to why Adkins is not headlining mid-budgeted theatrical releases, let alone why DTV directors are not graduating to the theatrical big leagues.
Fans of action cinema may notice the connective tissue between Eliminators and other well-regarded action features if they look carefully enough, or if they have seen as many action films as I have. The opening scene is very reminiscent of Adkins’ own Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, in which he and his family is assaulted by masked figures. Thankfully, Adkins’ family is not brutally murdered this time, and he actually gets to kick some ass and fight back this time.
This same scene also rings similar to John Wick in which some young punks mess with the wrong person whom has a dangerous past, which thereby sets them off on a crime filled journey against their former employers and enemies. The initial set up of the film is also similar to David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence in which an act of burglary messes with a person’s new found identity and life. All of these recognizable themes and plot points turn Eliminators into a nice melting pot of previously successful action films.
It’s nice to see Adkins star in a film set in his own native country, but it’s a shame that he still has to put on an American accent. I understand that the creative choice is meant to make Adkins’ character seem like an outsider to where he lives, but I just wish that Adkins could let his natural voice let fly. I’ve stated before how wonderful it is to hear Statham let loose his full-fledged British accent in British productions like The Bank Job and Redemption. Therefore, it’s about time that Adkins gets his chance to do so, let alone within a film set in London.
As far as Adkins’ characters come, Thomas is a decent one, very much along the lines of Hard Target 2’s Wes Baylor or Ninja’s Casey Bowman. He’s a strong, dedicated, and honorable man, whom every viewer will admire, but a far cry from the multi-layered complexity of Undisputed’s Yuri Boyka. Action stars like Adkins typically play two kinds of characters, variations of themselves or completely unique and complex individuals that are fairly unlike them. The unique and complex ones are typically the ones that become the most iconic, but there’s nothing wrong with enjoying a shameless action vehicle where the star essentially plays themselves, as Adkins does here.
The rest of the supporting performers are quite good, especially on the villain front. Bennett, also known by his wrestling name Wade Barrett, gives a Terminator-like performance as an unstoppable assassin whom gives Thomas a run for his money. Bennett, previously unheard of and unseen by me, is a surprisingly reliable screen performer, thanks to both his imposing voice and physical stature.
And while Bennett is the main physical villain of the film, the heavy dramatic villain of the film goes to Cooper, played by James Cosmo of many cinematic epics like Braveheart and Troy. His character is especially complex, as he is a gangster whom ‘loves’ his granddaughter, yet wishes for Thomas to be nothing but dead, even though he is her father. Cosmo’s performance in the final few scenes of the film is very affective and helps elevate an otherwise genre-infused thriller a few dramatic notches higher. He also lives in a neon-lit house that looks like something out of Suspiria or a Nicolas Winding Refn film, it’s a neat artistic choice.
Eliminators could have settled for technically sound but repetitive action that would have resulted in a decent or mediocre genre effort. However, what makes its action sequences so affective is how varied and lengthy they are. I am a huge fan of variety, and Eliminators features numerous different types of action sequences in different settings and locales that produce a different experience each time, ranging from one on one throw downs to shootouts with multiple performers. One such notable fight is a throw down between Adkins and two local guys inside of a gondola atop London. It offers up a different opponent for Adkins to fight in between his repeated bouts with Bennett and results in a ‘how did they pull that off’ kind of sequence.
There are also two fights between Adkins and Bennett, which is what most action films will be writing and talking about. Their first is clearly the superior, as it occurs after a solid amount of build-up, while the second sort of pops up out of nowhere. There is also a solid body count on both sides of the coin here, with Adkins killing a nice handful of assailants and Bennett dispatching poor innocents here and there. While on the note of violence, I have to say that some of the deaths of innocent people in this movie really bummed me out. I know that innocent people die in lots of action movies, but it repeatedly happened here all throughout, and to small supporting characters too who clearly didn’t deserve it. All in all, Eliminators is jam packed with action sequences, some more memorable and inventive than others, but all rock solid.
Here I was, thinking that I knew what my top action films of 2016 list would look like, and out of nowhere comes Eliminators, quickly wiggling its way onto the list. While James Nunn was previously unknown to me, his name is now synonymous with the likes of Roel Reine, John Hyams, and Isaac Florentine, as he knows action, but also has a nice handling on character and story, with room for improvement here and there. Next time a DTV joint by Nunn pops up, such as the currently in development The Marine 5, I’ll know to get excited and not simply wait for the finished product, as Nunn knows his stuff.
As for Adkins, Eliminators is one of his absolute best films. It may not feature the dramatically compelling character work of the Undisputed films, or the sheer B-movie action of Ninja: Shadow of a Tear, but what it does offer is a sleek, streamlined, assassin-showdown picture that is nothing but simplistic and affective action entertainment. It’s clearly a one-off, and not designed for sequels, but Eliminators is easily Adkins’ crowning achievement of the year, as well as the best DTV actioner of 2016.
Director: Shin Tae-Ra Producer: Raymond Wong Cast: Lee Min-ho, Wallace Chung, Tiffany Tang, Jeremy Xu, Karena Ng, Fan Siu-Wong, Yang Mi Running Time: 105 min.
By Paul Bramhall
In 2016 China continued its mission to create a watchable Hollywood style action blockbuster, and this time they’ve called in some help to back them up. Bounty Hunters is produced by Hong Kong based Raymond Wong, and perhaps sensing that leaving such a blockbuster in local hands could result in something that resembles a sequel to Switch, the directorial reigns have been given to Korean Shin Tae-ra. The director behind such middle-of-the-road Korean action comedies like My Girlfriend is an Agent and Runway Cop, Tae-ra may not be a hot ticket to success, but his background does make him an obvious choice to helm a globe-trotting action adventure.
Tae-ra isn’t the only Korean influence in Bounty Hunters though, with Lee Min-ho also coming on-board as co-lead alongside Chinese actor Wallace Chung. Min-ho is known for his handsome looks, and in most of his career has arguably been cast in many a Korean TV drama because of them, which has resulted in him having a huge fan-base not only locally, but also in China. However his previous movie role, as the lead in 2014’s Gangnam Blues, proved him to be more than just screen candy, with a convincingly gritty performance that also allowed him to show off his action chops.
As mentioned Min-ho is paired with Wallace Chung, and in Bounty Hunters they play a pair of slacker bodyguards. Both used to be agents for Interpol, but due to the usual story of a mission gone wrong, they were dismissed, and now run their own agency to provide their services to those who need protection. The pair are hired to protect an informant, who has information on a terrorist responsible for blowing up hotels across Asia, however when things go wrong and the informant is compromised, they end up in the cross-hairs of a pair of female bounty hunters, played by Tiffany Tang and Karena Ng. Oh, and their gay butler played by Fan Siu-Wong.
If that last line seems a little out of place compared to the rest of the plot description, then let me further adjust expectations, that it’s the last line which represents the tone of Bounty Hunters more than anything else written. It may not reach the towering badness of Switch (and none of the actors have apologised yet for appearing in it), however this has more to do with it having a marginally shorter run time than anything related to the move itself. Bounty Hunters is the kind of bad movie that only China seems capable of making, the type of bad movie ear marked by the ridiculously high budget that’s been thrown at it, and the ridiculously low level of talent tasked with making it.
Illogical decision making and incoherent story telling are the orders of the day, built around a script that was probably written on the back of a coaster by a chimp. At one point Min-ho and Chung check into a hotel room with the informant, and find a cake waiting for them on the table. Identifying that it’s a bomb, instead of attempting to dispose of it, they simply leave it in the room and calmly vacate the hotel, leaving it to go off and wipe out who knows how many innocent lives. There are countless more examples. As they’re witnessed with the informant, the pair end up as suspects behind the bombings, however not once do they ever run into any cops or law enforcement during the whole run-time. This might be 1% plausible if they remain in Hong Kong, however the fact that they then then travel unhindered to Tokyo in Japan, Incheon and Jeju Island in Korea, and Bangkok in Thailand, doesn’t just demand that you leave you brain at the door, it assumes you never had one if the first place.
Let’s talk about Fan Siu-Wong. He must have had a gun held to his head to appear in this, either that, or work must be really scarce for talented martial artists in 2016. Siu-Wong has long been one of the most underrated martial arts stars of Hong Kong cinema, and never really got the break he deserved, partly due to what he blames on his decision to star in 1992’s hyper-violent Story of Ricky(don’t mention the sequel). While this may be true, whatever movies he does appear in are usually brightened up by his kung-fu skills and likeable presence. Not so here. In the role of Tang’s heiress characters gay butler, he has precisely zero action scenes (unless you count displaying some shapes to open motion sensor curtains). Instead, he’s reduced to being a personal fashion assistant to Min-ho and Chung when they go on a shopping trip, acts as everyone’s waiter, and pines after Min-ho.
Min-ho himself doesn’t fare much better. It becomes apparent from the moment the movie starts that he’s there to bring in his large female fan-base, and little else. His job is to look pretty, and to that end he performs it well. Even when he’s been involved in a high impact car crash, he emerges out of it with cuts that look pretty. To ensure a tone of glaring predictability is maintained, a romance develops between Min-ho and Tang, which brings the male and female bounty hunters together. The pair share a scene tied up and locked in the trunk of a car together, clearly trying to recreate the similar scene of sexual tension that George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez performed so well in Out of Sight. However they have a non-existent chemistry, and instead the scene is embarrassing and awkward to watch, even more so than the rest of the movie.
As a villain of the piece, Chinese actor Jeremy Xu is an irritating failure. Sporting orange hair and suit shorts, his reasoning behind blowing up the hotels relates to his rich parent issues, and is about as threatening as he sounds. That is, not at all. His character talks a lot, jumps and screams even more, and constantly refers to the explosions that he watches from nearby vantage points as ‘fireworks’. No matter how much of the script is taken up by his inane ramblings though, the fact is orange hair and suit shorts don’t amount to a worthy villain, and it’s impossible to ascertain how anyone involved in the production thought otherwise.
There is action in Bounty Hunters, it is after all an action comedy, and most of it goes to Min-ho, most likely for no other reason than to appeal to the audience that are watching it for his presence. The action scenes are brief, but manage to maintain a degree of competency. One particular sequence has him taking on a room full of suited attackers, which thanks to some camera trickery gives the illusion of being filmed in a single shot, and the usual wire-assisted high kicks are present and accounted for as well. Tang doesn’t fare so well, as she cuts such a slight figure that it’s impossible to believe there’s any degree of power behind her blows, with it instead falling upon the stuntmen to make their reactions and falls look convincing.
As a comedy, it fares much worse. The scenes that involve characters speaking English invoke laughter for all the wrong reasons, thanks both to the actor’s delivery and the lines themselves, which have blatantly been written by a non-English speaker. However the intentional comedy is a write off. Several scenes aim to derive their laughs from the use of a stun gun, usually involving one of the bounty hunters threatening to use it, in a way that will have the others being caught in its range. However watching a group of grown-ups having spasms and twitching on the floor in a ‘comedic’ manner wasn’t funny in the first scenario, so when the same joke is recycled for a second time, it’s just lazy. The procrastination that takes place in these scenes, almost as if Tae-ra is imagining the audience settling down from their side splitting laughter before delivering the punch line, is equally as painful to watch.
The problem with these big budget Mainland China movies is that, even if every review reaches the same conclusion that they’re terrible, local audiences still flock to see them. It happened with Switch, and it will happen here as well. Lee Min-ho is in it, so that factor in itself brings a built-in guaranteed audience. It’s a smart business case which will likely ensure a return on investment, but as a legitimate piece of filmmaking it’s a soulless exercise, as incompetently made as it is glossy. For those wondering what kind of movie would have a final scene that contains Fan Siu-Wong attempting to French kiss Lee Min-ho while straddling him, then you’ve come to the right place, for everyone else, steer well clear.
John H. Lee’s (71: Into the Fire) South Korean actioner, Operation Chromite, is exploding its way to Blu-ray & DVD on January 24, 2017, courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
Operation Chromite stars Lee Jung-jae (Assassination), Jin Se-yun (Enemies In-Law), Lee Beom-su (The Divine Move) and Liam Neeson (Taken), who portrays General Douglas MacArthur.
According to THR, Operation Chromite is the codename for the Battle of Incheon that took place on Sept. 15, 1950, shortly after the Korean War broke out on June 25. It was a surprise attack in which U.N. forces landed in the South Korean harbor city to drive out the North Koreans, and is recognized as a turning point for U.N.-backed South Korea against the communist North. Operation Chromite will focus on eight Korean war heroes.
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” Japanese Theatrical Poster
Releasing on December 16, 2016 is Star Wars: Rogue One (aka Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), which will be the first theatrical Star Wars spin-off.
In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves.
Star Wars: Rogue One is directed by Gareth Edwards (2014’s Godzilla) and is based on a screenplay written by John Knoll, Chris Weitz (Cinderella), Gary Whitta (The Book of Eli) and Christopher McQuarrie (Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation).
The film stars Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything), Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler), Diego Luna (Blood Father), Ben Mendelsohn (Killing Them Softly), Forest Whitaker (Bloodsport), Donnie Yen (Ip Man 3), Jiang Wen (Let the Bullets Fly), Mads Mikkelsen (Hannibal) and the voice of Alan Tudyk (Firefly).
During a recent Reddit AMA (see photo), when asked his thoughts on being involved with Star Wars and how Rogue One will compare to the other movies, Donnie Yen replied with: “I think it’s really flattering to be the first Chinese actor in the Star Wars universe and I have full confidence Rogue One will do extremely well, because the force is with me.” Yen also promised the New York Daily News that he’ll do more than just pilot an X-Wing in the film, leading fans to believe he’ll display his martial arts prowess over the course of Rogue One.
Last weekend I went to see a movie at the theatre with some friends. It wasn’t a new movie, yet there were a good number of us, mostly couples. When we got in, this particular theatre was quite dank; I felt they needed to let in some fresh air.
It’s great when you can relax and watch a movie, but when you consciously have to breathe, it can ruin a movie. So, for the sake of Gina, who by the way was enjoying the movie, I sat it out and saw it to the end. When it ended, it was a relief to finally get some fresh air outside.
Gina kept talking about cliché moments in the movie and we laughed about it. While we were getting milkshakes, I suddenly had an idea for our next movie night. Why not play movie bingo at home? We could use movie clichés. I told Gina about it and she liked the idea. She suggested some free bingo sites with no deposits; a list of top sites that could give us information for our homemade bingo.
So here it goes. This weekend, this is what we are going to do:
To start with, Gina will get the refreshments. I usually have a problem with eating in the dark- perhaps, that’s why my movie theatre game is so bad. But with home movie-watching, I can adjust the lighting to the perfect shade. Not too dark, not too bright.
While Gina gets the popcorn, crisps, chocolates and some soda, I’ll visit a few bingo sites and download a bingo game card. Or I can make some myself.
How to Play
Movie bingo is quite easy. Both of us get a card (the downloaded one). Each card is filled with pictures of actions that usually happen in movies- the clichés. They may include; a romantic dinner, a couple in the shower, a car chase, a hospital scene and so on. Of course, the clichés will depend on the type of movie you are seeing.
Anytime we see one of these things occur in the movie, we mark it off. Placing plastic tokens on the square makes it easier to reuse. The first person to yell BINGO! (horizontal, diagonal, or vertical) wins. The winner also gets chocolate.
There are bingo game cards for action movies, romantic comedies, adventure and more. You can either make the pictures yourself (if you are a Warhol), or simply download from here or a bingo site.
This weekend, it’s my turn to pick a movie, so I am going with something more like action. I know, it’s cliché. But since this game is all about clichés, I might as well indulge.
You can play it too. Invite friends; the more the merrier. Additionally, if nobody’s driving, you can spice it up by making a drinking game out of it. Each time your cliché image comes up, take a swig- that sort of thing.
I can hardly wait. I haven’t decided on a movie yet, but I am thinking John Wick. It’s one of my favourites. What do you think?
Martial arts star Michael Jai White (Falcon Rising, Skin Trade) is back with The Crooked Man, which is being released on DVD courtesy of Lionsgate Home Entertainment.
Six years ago, five girls at a sleepover accidentally conjured the Crooked Man, and, as a result, one of them was murdered and another, Olivia, was sent away for the crime. Years later, Olivia, now 18, is finally released. When people start dying, Olivia suspects that the Crooked Man has also returned…
This Jesse Holland (Chilling Visions: 5 Senses of Fear) film, which originally aired on TV back in October, hits retail outlets on February 14, 2017.
Warning: If you’re expecting White to do the usual ass-kicking he’s known for, keep in mind that The Crooked Man is definitely a horror film. So unless you’re a die hard Jai White fanatic – or love horror movies – please proceed with caution.
The Crooked Man also stars Dia Frampton (Criminal Minds), John Colton (Full Love), Angelique Rivera (American Crime), Dmitrious Bistrevsky (Nathan’s Kingdom), Brianne Tju (Famous in Love) and Dina Meyer (Fortune Cookie).
Cityonfire.com and Well Go USA are giving away 3 DVD copies of Legend of Bruce Lee: Volume One to three lucky City on Fire visitors. To enter, simply add a comment to this post and describe, in your own words, the video below.
We will be selecting a winner at random. Be sure to include your email address in the appropriate field so we can contact you for your home address. Also, please ‘Like Us‘ on Cityonfire.com’s Facebook by clicking here.
Legend of Bruce Lee: Volume One was officially released on November 1, 2016. We will announce the 3 winners on December 15, 2016.
CONTEST DISCLAIMER: You must enter by December 14, 2016 to qualify. U.S. residents only please. We sincerely apologize to our non-U.S. visitors. Winners must respond with their mailing address within 48 hours, otherwise you will automatically be disqualified. No exceptions. Contest is subject to change without notice.
Benny Chan’s (Shaolin, Who Am I?) highly-anticipated martial arts epic, Call of Heroes(formerly known as The Deadly Reclaim), is coming to Blu-ray & DVD on December 6, 2016, courtesy of Well Go USA.
This period action film (read our review) – featuring fight choreography by the legendary Sammo Hung (14 Blades, Ip Man) – tells the story of a pack of villagers standing up to a young warlord in the year 1914.
Koo stars as Cao, the son of a powerful General who has grown into a vicious and depraved warlord. Although Cao is accused of murder, his father will destroy the town if his son is convicted and sentenced to death. But injustice cannot go unanswered, and the villagers prepare for the repercussions of punishing a guilty man.
Van Damme 5-Movie Action Pack | Blu-ray (Universal)
Today’s Deal on Fire is for the Van Damme 5-Movie Action PackBlu-ray set, which has the following titles:
John Woo’s Hard Target (1993), Jean-Claude Van Damme’s The Quest (1996), Steven E. de Souza’s Street Fighter (1994), Peter Hyams’ Sudden Death (1995) and for the first time on Blu-ray, Sheldon Lettich’s Lionheart (1990).
The Van Damme 5-Movie Action Pack is a 5-Disc set, which also includes the digital copy of each movie for your handheld devices. For about $3 a Blu-ray title, that’s a Damme good deal!
AKA: Legend of the Gods Director: Koan Hui Co-director: Vernie Yeung Cast: Jet Li, Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Fan Bing-Bing, AngelaBaby, Huang Xiao-Ming, Louis Koo, Wen Zhang, Kristy Yeung, Jacky Heung Cho, Andy On, Zu Feng Running Time: 109 min.
By Paul Bramhall
In the last 10 years China has gradually become one of the world’s box office juggernauts, and with a potential cinema going audience of over a billion, naturally many Hollywood productions have turned their attention to ensuring they appeal to the Chinese market. With the movie business proving to be a potentially lucrative industry to invest in, over recent years the Chinese blockbuster has also emerged to capture the imaginations, and wallets, of the local audience. Arguably, this new generations approach on how to put together a successful production has been less than stellar. The motif seems to be the louder and more spectacular the better, usually casting aside such minor details as character and storyline.
While the industry has heavily invested in its special effects studios, providing a seemingly endless supply of money in an attempt to get on par with their Hollywood equivalents, there seems to be very little investment into areas like directing, script-writing etc. As a result, frequently the finished product will be a garish nightmare of CGI chaos and little else, as the basic fact remains that the knowledge around the filmmaking process for this new generation remains very low. Examples such as Painted Skin: The Resurrection, The White-Haired Witch of Lunar Kingdom, and Zhong Kui: Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal, apart from having ridiculously long titles, all share the same thing in common – a reliance on CGI spectacle as their selling point.
The latest entry into what’s quickly becoming a sub-genre of CGI filled fantasy spectacles, comes in the form of League of Gods, an adaptation of a 16th century Chinese novel called Investiture of the Gods, that combined real history with Chinese myth. The plot revolves around the battle between two dynasties, the Shang and the Zhou, with the hook being that both sides are able to call upon Gods to battle it out for them. Of course with such a plot, the very nature of a big screen adaptation would be one that needs some top drawer special effects, so most likely with this in mind, special effects maestro Koan Hui On was made director. Hui On was the man behind the special effects on such movies as Dragon Tiger Gate and The Legend of Zu, so is a natural fit for a tale of God’s battling it out on the protagonist’s behalf.
In many ways putting Hui On in the director’s chair marks a watershed moment for this type of Chinese blockbuster filmmaking. Almost like the producers said, “Ok, let’s stop pretending we want a legitimate director to helm these movies, and give free reign to the special effects guy.” On a sidenote, it’s worth mentioning that the producers for League of Gods are Wilson Yip, the director responsible for Donnie Yen being the star that he is today, and Charles Heung, who’s notorious for his connection to the Triad group Sun Yee On, which his father founded. Heung also had a relatively successful acting career, and is likely most recognizable as Chow Yun Fat’s bodyguard from the God of Gamblers series. Whether its connected to his Triad links or not is speculation, but Heung’s son Jacky Heung takes the lead role in League of Gods, playing the sole survivor of the Wing Tribe, a trauma that’s left him unable to fly like he should.
The storyline, no doubt thanks to its source material, crams a lot into its 110 minute runtime, but the in a nutshell version goes like this – a King played by Tony Leung Ka-Fai has been turned into an oppressor of the people, thanks to the evil influence of a fox spirit (aren’t they all?) he’s been enchanted by, played by Fan Bingbing. A group of rebels have been trying to overthrow Ka-Fai, however Bingbing is always one step ahead, thanks to the various unexplained Venus flytrap like tentacles that she can unleash on cue.
Bingbing is also in cahoots with an evil general played by Louis Koo, who comes complete with a giant puma that he rides. Heung is one of the rebels, who are assisted by a wise old sorcerer that travels around on a giant stalk played be Jet Li (the sorcerer, not the giant stalk). Li convinces Heung to go on a mission to find the Sword of Light, the only weapon capable of stopping the Black Dragon, the unseen super villain behind everything. Heung ends up being joined by a talking one eyed blade of grass, a shrimp, Na Cha (the same character played by Alexander Fu Sheng in Chang Cheh’s 1974 production Na Cha the Great) and a righteous warrior with an armoured dog called Sky Howler.
If that all seems slightly convoluted, you wouldn’t be wrong, however Hui On seems to know what he’s there for, so wastes precisely zero time on dwelling on any of the above, instead sending League of Gods sprinting out of the gates from the first minute. From the opening CGI infused attack on the floating city by Heung and his cohorts, the high energy sequence sets the tone for what can be expected from the rest of the movie. If any word can be best used to describe the production, it’s ‘kinetic’. There’s not a single second that goes by when Hui On doesn’t’ have something happening onscreen – be it 30 foot long desert caterpillars, shield surfing rebels, big eyed babies, or mutated monster soldiers. It’s almost impossible to create an exhaustive list of everything that gets thrown onto the screen, in a constant bombardment of colourful and creative CGI action.
Perhaps because League of Gods doesn’t pretend to be anything other than a slice of colourful fantasy escapism, eschewing any sense of realism and instead embracing the over the top nature of the story, I admit to finding myself thoroughly enjoying it. It’s the kind of enjoyment that can be classified as a guilty pleasure, as just like the problems I mentioned with Chinese filmmaking earlier, it’s by no means a good movie in the traditional sense of the word. Structure isn’t paid much attention to here, but the pace moves forward with such a frantic level of energy, ready to distract you with whatever’s going to be thrown onscreen next, that there’s no time to dwell on the aspects that don’t make sense. Ka Fai has become an oppressive ruler, but once the credits roll, if you stop and think for more than a few seconds, you’ll realize that not once did we see any of the people who are presumably being oppressed.
The cast no doubt help things. Heung actually makes for an effective lead, bringing a suitable level of empathy to his role as the sole surviving member of his wiped out clan. He also maintains his presence during the action scenes, no matter how swamped with CGI they get, which is an achievement in itself. Wen Zhang, who played the main character in Stephen Chow’s Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons, steps into the shoes that Alexander Fu Sheng once filled to play Na Cha (when he’s not in the form of a mischievous CGI baby that is. Don’t ask.). The role was originally going to be given a twist and made female, and filming had already begun with Cecilia Cheung, however due to her erratic behaviour on-set she was fired in the early stages.
Rounding out the trio of heroes (not counting the blade of grass and shrimp), is Huang Xiao Ming, who played the young version of Chow Yun Fat in The Last Tycoon, and Donnie Yen’s main student in Ip Man 2. Jet Li also deserves a mention, as he gets cursed by a spell which makes him younger and younger the more energy he uses, a kind of Chinese fantasy Benjamin Button if you will. So if you ever wanted to see a young Jet Li created by CGI, you’ve come to the right place. Those expecting Li to perform any martial arts though are definitely in the wrong place. You have to feel for Li, he stated in 2006 that Fearless was to be his last true martial arts movie, however even 10 years later his fans still seem to have a hard time believing him. To confirm, his role in League of Gods is more akin to his character from The Sorcerer and the White Snake, than it is from any of his kung-fu classics.
Even as a guilty pleasure though, League of Gods is not without its faults. When the baby version of Na Cha visits an undersea kingdom, much like a similar scene in the unbearably awful The Monkey King, the costumes are decidedly B-grade, and the whole sequence is puerile (urination and fart jokes anyone?). I can only conclude that Chinese fantasy movies should steer clear of underwater sequences, if you don’t believe me then just research Empires of the Deep. However despite this, League of Gods still ultimately entertains, and I imagine is the kind of fantasy flick that Chang Cheh would be making had he been alive today, a kind of modern day version of The Fantastic Magic Baby or Na Cha the Great if you will. With a cliff-hanger ending that sets things up for a part 2, while I can’t say I’ll be immediately re-watching League of Gods, I’ll happily check in for the sequel.
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