AKA: Dhaka Director: Sam Hargrave Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Rudhraksh Jaiswal, Randeep Hooda, Priyanshu Painyuli, Golshifteh Farahani, Pankaj Tripathi, Suraj Rikame, David Harbour Running Time: 117 min.
By Paul Bramhall
Say what you want about Netflix (and the endless scroll that usually comes with it), but as action fans it’s treated us remarkably well. Indonesian actioner The Night Comes for Us was saved from production limbo thanks to the platform, we got Gareth Evans follow-up to The Raid in the form of Apostle, and Korean fight flick Revenger all debuted on the streaming giant. Sure none of these movies are exactly suited to an evening of ‘Netflix and chill’, but as a means to get the adrenaline pumping, you can’t go too far wrong. Continue reading →
When large truck accidents occur, the most common victims are the occupants in smaller vehicles. The size difference between trucks and cars can be such that trucks weigh over 30 times what a regular car might.
It’s important that truck drivers and car drivers understand the dangers of the road and the rights that the law provides in case of accidents.
Accident Types: Jackknife
A jackknife accident occurs when the back part of a big rig swings forward while the cab stays straight, putting the two rig pieces at a right angle to each other. This can happen when the driver slams on the brakes, but the momentum of the back part of the rig seeks to continue forward.
Tractor-trailer accidents often display a jackknife pattern.
Accident Types: Blind Spots
Blind spot accidents occur when a truck tries to change lanes, but there are unseen cars in its blind spots. The longer a truck is, the bigger its blind spots tend to be. In fact, considering how large the blind spots in many trucks are, like those involved in tanker truck accidents, it’s only due to the impressive skill of truck drivers that there are so few blind spot accidents.
Tire Blowout
Like any other vehicle on the road, trucks can suffer from tire blowout accidents. The greater the weight on a truck, the easier it is for a tire to blowout. Trucks have various regulations to help prevent tire blowouts.
Common Causes of Accidents
Some of the most common causes of accidents on the road are caused by poor driving conditions. Some of these are under the power of other workers, like those who work in construction. Others are under no one’s control, like weather conditions.
Bad weather can make it difficult to see the road clearly. It can also change the properties of the road itself, making it slippery.
In other cases, the road’s properties are naturally poor for driving. This occurs when roads are riddled with potholes or lack shoulders for drivers to retreat to in case of emergency.
Road construction is essential to fix these kinds of road problems. However, during the construction itself, the roads are temporarily filled with obstacles that can make driving more complicated.
How Can an Attorney Help?
Truck driving is an important service that our society depends on. The law has been designed to protect our truck drivers and their essential work.
However, in many cases, a driver in an accident will have to take the initiative. If they wait for someone to find them and tell them what rights they have, they may wait forever. That’s why it’s important to take the initiative to find quality legal counsel.
An attorney can help you understand all the options available to you. Once you’ve decided what you want to do, they can also help you with all the necessary paperwork, filing deadlines, and other legal requirements.
Finding a good lawyer for your truck accident can make sure you don’t forfeit your rights by inaction.
Know Your Rights When Involved in Truck Accidents
We hope you learned something helpful in this brief piece on truck accidents and how the law protects drivers. To learn about the latest in film news and read interviews with movie directors and actors, check out our other pages.
If you enjoyed the recently released Tiger Cop: Toilet Paper Hero and still want more of that “80s Hong Kong action” nostalgia, then you don’t want to miss Dragon of the Law, a new action short from the independent creatives at Sydney Australia’s Silver Harvest films.
Dragon of the Law is written, directed and choreographed by David Vuong, produced by Therese Chen (who also handles cinematography and screenplay adaptation) with a cast that consists of David Hong, Michael Tang, Eric Tat, Brendon Chhor and Phuoc Quan Vuong. Continue reading →
It’s Time to Chill Out: The Benefits of CBD for Stress Relief
Stress caused by the worldwide coronavirus pandemic is causing everything from weird dreams to high anxiety among the world’s population. The solution to this problem may lie in the marijuana plant.
We’re not talking about smoking a joint, instead, you might be interested in using the extract called CBD. This chemical has been linked to lowered blood pressure and decreased anxiety.
Last year, a survey showed that 14 percent of Americans have used CBD for their health issues. Using CBD for stress and anxiety is one of the most popular uses, along with chronic pain.
So what is CBD and how can it help you? What benefits can it offer and are there any risks involved?
Stick around and let’s look at how using CBD oil for stress could help you get back in control during worrying times.
What is CBD?
CBD is an abbreviated name for the compound called cannabidiol. It’s one of the primary active chemicals in marijuana and high levels of CBD are renowned for producing a stoned feeling when you’ve smoked a bowl.
The compound first became well known back in 2013. A young girl called Charlotte Figi suffered from a severe form of epilepsy which caused 300 seizures per week. When her parents administered an oil made from a strain of marijuana called Charlotte’s Web, bred to be high in CBD and low in compounds that produce a high.
The calming effect on the brain caused by CBD has since been shown to work wonders on some people’s stress and anxiety levels. It achieves this through a range of incredible biochemical interactions, which we’ll take a look at later.
So It Can Work Wonders: Will It Get Me High?
CBD is psychoactive but won’t produce a high. The compound that’s associated with getting high is an entirely different compound called THC. While some extracts do combine CBD and THC, most of them only contain THC in minute quantities.
This means that getting high from low-THC CBD oil is impossible. The only effects you’ll feel with normal dosages will be a subtle relaxation.
The Benefits of Using CBD For Stress
CBD may have exploded into the public eye thanks to its seizure-busting powers yet it has myriad other qualities. Using CBD for stress has become extremely popular in recent years: let’s take a look at some of the effects CBD can have.
Anxiety In Response to Stress Drops
One of the best benefits of using CBD for anxiety is that it doesn’t only lower background stress and background anxiety. It actively helps your body avoid entering fight-or-flight in response to stressful stimuli.
Scientists have proved that CBD makes public speaking easier for people with social anxiety. As public speaking is one of the most stressful experiences of everyday life, it shows great promise in helping you deal with other stress.
Extinction Learning Is Boosted
Humans can learn to associate harmless stimuli with personal harm. One common example of this is in PTSD triggers that can cause immense anxiety in sufferers.
CBD has been shown to help boost extinction learning, AKA, learning to let go of fear. Even when the CBD has worn off, the anti-anxiety effects persist.
CBD Helps Boost Serotonin In Your Brain
Serotonin is a crucial brain chemical that helps to maintain happiness and fight high stress levels. One of the serotonin receptors in your brain is called 5-HT1A and plays a significant role in treating anxiety disorder. It’s this receptor that CBD binds itself to.
In other words, using CBD for anxiety could help provide your brain with the chemicals it needs to stay on a more even keel.
Repairs Damage Caused By Stress
Chronic stress causes brain damage in the form of damaged neurons. Scientists have shown that CBD has natural regenerative properties and can restore your brain to a healthy state.
Is CBD Legal?
CBD is not legal on a federal level due to the ongoing federal criminalization of marijuana. Yet its legality varies from state to state. It is legal in some states where medical marijuana is not legal, as it can also be made from legal hemp plants.
It’s best that you check your state laws before you start taking CBD to ensure that you aren’t illegally having it shipped from other states. This is particularly the case if you buy CBD online.
Will CBD Show Up On a Drugs Test?
If you’re using CBD for stress, the last thing you want to happen is to get in trouble due to a positive drugs test. If the CBD is pure and only contains very low amounts of THC, it will not show up as positive on a drugs test.
However, if the CBD is not pure and contains too much THC, it’s possible that you could be flagged as a marijuana user. This means that when you’re going to buy CBD, you must make sure it’s from a trusted company and only has trace amounts of THC.
Is CBD Safe to Use?
If your CBD is pure, it is nigh-on impossible to overdose on the compound. You would likely run out of cash for new bottles before you got sick.
In terms of contraindications and interactions with other medicines, you must speak to your doctor or pharmacist. While the risk of interaction between CBD and prescription medications is very low, it isn’t impossible. Everyone’s bodies are different and the risk becomes more acute if you’re taking multiple medications.
Want to Read More Interesting Articles Like This?
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How Do You Know if You Were Sexually Assaulted and Abused as a Child?
One in ten children will be sexually assaulted before they have reached the age of 18. This means that approximately 1 in 7 girls and 1 in 25 boys will be sexually abused. This abuse can lead to lifelong trauma that may be difficult to remember and recover from.
So, how do you know if you were sexually assaulted? We recommend that you continue reading to find out how some subtle signs may allude to past sexual abuse when you were younger.
How Do You Know If You Were Sexually Assaulted?
Sexual abuse doesn’t always happen between a child and a grownup, sometimes it can happen between a child and an older sibling, a babysitter, or a child that is the same age. Forms of sexual abuse include forceful exposure of the body and touching, someone exposing themselves to the child, being shown pornographic images, talking about sexual things, and more.
There are some signs that you may have never noticed, but these signs can point to something much more profound. These signs include:
Loss of memory surrounding the period when the trauma took place
Increased anxiety when it comes to loud noises or being surprised
Lack of emotional control
Not understanding why specific sounds, smells, or surroundings cause you to become uneasy
Feelings of shame and guilt
Why Don’t I Remember?
When a person experiences traumatic events in their lives, typically, the brain will, in a sense, lock those memories away. Some therapists believe that such traumatic events are too painful for a person to remember.
It is prevalent not to remember specific experiences and events from childhood, especially memories surrounding traumatic events such as sexual abuse. As the child grows and becomes an adult, they may experience flashbacks and find that they are uneasy and don’t understand why.
As you begin to remember past sexual abuse it’s important that you talk to a lawyer they may be able to help you get justice. For more information about the legal side of things click this link.
How Will It Affect My Adult Life?
Sexual abuse as a child can cause havoc in a child’s adult life without them understanding what is happening. Some children seek abusive relationships that mirror the abuse they endured when they were younger.
Feeling the need to stay in a relationship where you’re being emotionally, physically, or mentally abused. Another way adult life is affected is the way the adult approaches sex with others.
They may find themselves being overly promiscuous or the opposite and be repulsed by sex altogether. At times the abused may seek to please the other person involved at all times because of the sexual trauma.
The abused may have fantasies where they romanticize the act of being raped and abused as a means of pleasure.
The Wrap-Up
How do you know if you were sexually assaulted? For everyone, that answer may differ slightly. Still, the answers above may give you a starting point when it comes to answering this question for yourself.
If you would like to read more content answering questions such as this one, we encourage you to take a peek at our website for more engaging content posts, such as the one you’ve just read.
On May 26, 2020, Cinema Libre Studio will release the Blu-ray and DVD for Enter the Forbidden City, a historical epic from filmmaker Hu Mei (Chow Yun-fat’s Confucius) and writer Zou Jingzhi (The Grandmaster).
During the dates of celebrating the Emperor’s 80th birthday, an opera troupe from southern China was invited to come to Beijing to perform for the Emperor. Afterwards, the opera troupe was granted to stay in Beijing and became what we had known as ‘Peking Opera today.”
Enter the Forbidden City stars Ma Yili (Cold War 2) and TV actors Fu Dalong and Ma Jinghan (Sword Dynasty).
Stay tuned for pre-infromation. Until then, don’t miss the film’s Trailer below:
On July 6, 2020, Arrow Video will be releasing the Blu-ray for Inferno of Torture from director Teruo Ishii (Blind Woman’s Curse).
Read the official details below:
Exploitation legend Teruo Ishii (Horrors of Malformed Men, Orgies of Edo) delivers one of his most extreme visions of violent eroticism in this, the sixth in his abnormal love series. Tattoos and torture await women forced into servitude in Ishii’s Inferno of Torture.
Unable to repay a local lender, Yumi (Yumika Katayama) takes up an offer to serve as a geisha for two years with a promise of freedom once her debt is repaid. She quickly realises that this is less a house of geishas than an extremely cruel brothel specialising in supplying western visitors with tattooed playthings. Taken under the wing of one of the leading Continue reading →
Director: Kim Si-hyun Cast: Dragon Lee (Mun Kyong-sok), Yuen Qiu, Kwon Il-soo, Gam Kei Chu, Lee Ye Min, Chui Man Fooi, Kim Ki-ju, Han Myeong-hwan, Choi Hyeong-keun, Jeong Ju-Hyeon, Jang In-Han, Choe Il, Kim Dong-Ho Running Time: 87 min.
By Paul Bramhall
The Bruceploitation genre would melt the brain of even the most academic film critic, which is why I prefer to remain on the other end of the scale. A genre dedicated to cashing in on the legacy of Bruce Lee, often by disguising themselves as Bruce Lee movies to an audience long before the internet, I always found it oxymoronic that many of these productions used the imitators name in their actual title. Essentially giving the game away that, not only where these not Bruce Lee movies, but actively promoting the fact that they were imitation flicks. Classic examples include Bruce Li in Snake Island and Bruce Le’s Greatest Revenge to name but two. Continue reading →
On July 6, 2020, Arrow Video will be releasing the Blu-ray for Zombie for Sale (aka The Odd Family: Zombie on Sale), a horror-comedy and debut feature from writer/director Lee Min-jae.
An infectiously funny slice of modern Korean cinema where Train to Busan, The Quiet Family and Warm Bodies collide to create a memorable rom-zom-com from first time director Lee Min-jae.
When the illegal human experiments of Korea’s biggest Pharmaceutical company go wrong, one of their “undead” test subjects escapes and ends up in a shabby gas station owned by the Park family – a band of misfits spanning three generations who hustle passers-by to make ends meet. When the Park family uncover their undead visitor, he bites the head of their household, who instead of transforming into an undead ghoul becomes revitalised and full of life! The family then hatch a plan to exploit this unexpected fountain of youth, allowing locals to pay to be bitten too, until things go wrong…
With a cabbage-munching zombie who prefers ketchup over blood, and a dysfunctional family that gives the Kim family of Parasite a run for their money, Zombie for Sale will warm the deadest of hearts and breathe some new life into the zombie genre.
Special Edition Features:
High-Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
Original uncompressed Stereo and 5.1 DTS-HD MA options
Newly-translated English subtitles
Brand new audio commentary with filmmakers and critics Sam Ashurst and Dan Martin
Q&A with director Lee Min-jae from a 2019 screening at Asian Pop-Up Cinema in Chicago, moderated by film critic and author Darcy Paquet
Eat Together, Kill Together: The Family-in-Peril Comedy – brand new video essay by critic and producer Pierce Conran exploring Korea’s unique social satires
Making-Of Featurette
Behind-the-Scenes footage
Original Trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly-commissioned artwork by Mike Lee-Graham
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Josh Hurtado
Coming soon from Oscilloscope Entertainment is We Are Little Zombies, an acclaimed Japanese feature from writer/director Makoto Nagahisa (And So We Put Goldfish in the Pool).
Judging from what we’ve read, We Are Little Zombies is highly original and pushes the limits of creative freedom. One reviewer says: “If you are sick of watching movies that look all the same and are meaningless, Little Zombies is your solution to your problems.”
Read the official details below:
When four young orphans – Hikari, Ikuko, Ishi, and Takemura – first meet, their parents’ bodies are being turned into dust, like fine Parmesan atop a plate of spaghetti Bolognese, and yet none of them can shed a tear. They are like zombies; devoid of all emotion. With no family, no future, no dreams, and no way to move forward, the young teens decide that the first level of this new existence involves salvaging a gaming console, an old electric bass, and a charred wok from their former homes—just enough to start a band-and then conquer the world. Tragedy, comedy, music, social criticism, and teenage angst are all subsumed in this eccentric cinematic tsunami.
We Are Little Zombies stars Keita Ninomiya, Satoshi Mizuno, Mondo Okumura, and Sena Nakajima, along with Kuranosuke Sasaki, Youki Kudoh, Sosuke Ikematsu, Eriko Hatsune, Jun Murakami, Naomi Nishida, Rinko Kikuchi, and Masatoshi Nagase.
Expect a release date soon from Oscilloscope. For now, don’t miss the film’s Trailer:
Director: Huang Feng Producer: Raymond Chow Cast: Chang Yi, Angela Mao Ying, Pai Ying, Oh Kyung-Ah, Liu Ah-Na, Chin Yuet-Sang, Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, Huang Feng, June Wu Ching Erh, Chin Nan Yi Running Time: 84 min.
By Ian Whittle
Golden Harvest’s early years were devoted soley to martial arts films, and keeping up with their main rival, the Shaw Brothers. After a year of wu xia swordplay, 1971 saw Golden Harvest strike it lucky with the Bruce Lee/Lo Wei blockbuster The Big Boss, which beat Shaw’s similary Thailand set contemporary action flick Duel of Fists into submission.
Alongside the swordplay films, Shaws had started to branch out into what fans call “basher” flicks, focusing on empty-handed “Chinese boxing”, set either in the present day or an earlier circa 1920s era. Besides resulting in Golden Harvest’s 1972 collosus Fist of Fury(again Bruce Lee and Lo Wei), their satellite producer/director Huang Feng branched out into the sub-genre, with choreographer Sammo Hung and, in marked contrast to the new male-oriented box office domination of Chang Cheh, Jimmy Wang Yu and Bruce Lee; a female leading lady, Angela Mao Ying.
Having said that, Mao is not top-billed in this, and the Chinese title translates to “Iron Palm Whirlwind Leg”. Lady Whirlwind is actually primarily about Ling Shi-Hao (Chang Yi) and his feud with a gang led by Japanese villian Tung Ku (Pai Ying), a conflict marvellously summed up in the English dub’s hilarious opening lines:
Tung Ku: “Ling Shi-Hao, there’s no escape. You’re a dead duck!”
Ling Shi-Hao: “You dirty lowdown Japanese!”
However, Ling is also marked for death by the mysterious Tien Li-Chun (Angela Mao), who wants revenge for him abandoning her sister to suicide. She will, however, permit him to defeat Tung Ku first. Which isn’t easy, but then Ling rescues an old Korean man from a snake bite, and is taught a new Tai Chi style…
Lady Whirlwind is a interesting example of a kung fu film where the fighting is probably the weakest aspect. The atmosphere is very effective, with the whole film having a desolate Western feel to it that I find very appealing (it wouldn’t surprise me if the plot came from a Western too). And the canned music (John Barry’s fresh from the record-shop Diamonds Are Forever score turns up a lot) works well.
Chang Yi’s leading man roles were never as engaging as his later cackling villains, and for all his efforts here, he is one of the least interesting performers/characters. Mao, effectively playing a male character as Kim Newman once remarked in his excellent book Nightmare Movies, is a striking prescence and you can see why she caught on in the Western markets even more than in Hong Kong. The film also finds room for two other distinctive female characters: Oh Kyoung-Ah as Ling’s new love interest, and Liu Ah-Na as a marvellous “Dragon Lady” style whip-wielding chain-smoking villianess Tiao. Sammo Hung is a frequent punching bag for the rest of the cast, and Chin Yuet-Sang looks patently absurd pretending to be Japanese ronin Wen Tien: all exaggerated bowing and awkwardly fitting top-not.
Incidentally, this film contains one of my all time favourite bad dubbing exchanges
Tiao: “Go to the inn, you’re welcome to any of my birds.”
Wen Tien: “B..i..r..d…what is a…bird?”
Tung Ku: “Ha ha! It’s a woman, you dumb ass.”
Wen Tien: “Wooo…mannn…Ha Ha! I love em! I’ll take two of them! I’ll take two of them!!!”
Tung Ku: “Sure, sure, sure, sure…I’ll take you there myself!”
Tiao: “You what? The hell you will!”
The fights are many, but rather dated, even by the standards of what Hung turned out in the same year’s Hapkido. By that point, most of the Golden Harvest players had been for a crash course in Hapkido under Grandmaster Ji Han-Jae, and the difference is striking. Lady Whirlwind features a lot of Austin Powerish “Judo Chops!” with the extras milling around wondering where their swords are gone. Awkward trampoline jumps, reverse acrobatics… it’s all very stagey, but charming in itself.
Lady Whirlwind caught the wave of interest in kung fu in the USA, becoming a big hit under the not-to-be-confused-with-any-pornos title Deep Thrust. And it was caught for review by a young critic named Joe Dante.
Hmm, one day a man is reviewing an Angela Mao movie, the next he’s a blockbuster film director. There’s hope for me yet!
Hong Kong’s Yuen Biao (Dragons Forever, knockabout, Righting Wrongs) – a legendary kung fu star known for his acrobatic kung fu ability – will return in Fast Escape, an actioner from director Wang You Hao.
We’ve seen the 3rd famous Seven Little Fortune in semi-recent films like Sifu vs. Vampire and The Bodyguard – and look forward to seeing him in the forthcoming Heroes Return – but for Fast Escape, here’s hoping he’ll show us that he still has what it takes to the light up the screen.
Acording to its poster, Fast Escape is described as “The first overseas prison break movie” (via AFS). We’ll keep you updated as we learn more. In the meantime, here’s the Trailer for Yuen’s 1986 classic, Righting Wrongs:
“Eight Diagram Pole Fighter” Hong Kong Theatrical Poster
Filmmaker Ted Geoghegan (Mohawk, We Are Still Here) has started a radio program dedicated to “the guy behind the guy, behind the guy!” (you better know that quote!).
Official description: Each episode of the program begins as the story of someone or something in the world of film that cinephiles know quite well, but transforms into an expertly-researched tale about a new topic: one that can be closely-related or worlds away from where its story began.
The series’ debut episode, This is Not a Story About Walt Disney begins with the story of young Walt’s bourgeoning career before transforming into the story of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, “a blockbuster cartoon icon who was stolen out from under Disney and locked away for a half-century before finding redemption in the most unlikely of places.”
The second episode, This is Not a Story About Bruce Lee uses the story of the iconic martial artists as a launching pad to unfold the lesser-known story of kung fu star Alexander Fu Sheng (Chinatown Kid, Eight Diagram Pole Fighter) “whose incredible career in Hong Kong cinema was ultimately overshadowed by bigger names – and whose life and art deserve rediscovery.”
If you read this far, you’ll appreciate the following direct links:
Episode Two – This is Not a Story About Bruce Lee (20 minutes)
AKA: Legend of Bruce Lee Director: Bruce Le Cast: Bruce Le (Huang Kin Long), Chan Kwok Kuen, Jeng Kei Ying, Fung Hak On, Fung King Man, Hon Gwok Choi, Kong Do, Benny Lai, Sek Kin, Wong Chi Wai, Lee Hang, Wei Pei , Yeung Chak Lam, Law Keung, Bolo Yeung Running Time: 90 min.
By Paul Bramhall
Spend enough time down the rabbit hole that is the Bruceploitation genre, and you’ll come to understand that there’s two types of Bruceploitation. Those flicks that claim to be biopics of Bruce Lee’s life, and those that attempt a continuation of a character the Little Dragon played in his 5 most famous movies. Of the former, during the peak of Bruceploitation it was Taiwan’s Ho Chung-Tao that had the monopoly. Going under the guise of Bruce Li, between 1974 to 1978 his physical similarities to Lee saw his cast a whopping 5 times in various biopics spanning the Little Dragon’s life. Even Danny Lee, who’d become Hong Kong’s go-to guy to play a cop in the 80’s and 90’s, had a crack at playing Lee in 1976’s Bruce Lee and I (or as I prefer to call it by its alias – Sex Life of Bruce Lee).
During the 70’s, another of the Bruce Lee clones – Bruce Le (real name Huang Kin-Lung) – didn’t get a look in when it came to actually playing the Little Dragon. At best, you could expect to witness him traipsing around Manila trying to find Bruce Lee’s secret deadly finger kung fu manual. At worst, well, you were spoilt for choice. However in 1979 Le decided to take the reins, and helmed his directorial debut, Bruce the Superhero. Sure, he was still stuck in Manila, but it proved Le to be more ambitious than some of the brain numbing tripe he’d been starring in. It was with his sophomore production as a director that Le would finally cast himself as Bruce Lee for the first (and last) time, in what would become Bruce – The King of Kung Fu.
Although it was made only a year after Bruce the Superhero, 1980 was the year that Le finally got out of the Philippines and South Korea where he’d filmed many of the titles he headlined in the 70’s, and found himself back in Hong Kong, where he’d started as a bit player for the Shaw Brothers. Bruce – The King of Kung Fu focuses on Bruce Lee’s late teens attending college and learning kung fu in Hong Kong, and ends with the decision to send him back to the U.S. to complete his studies. Well, actually it ends with a freeze frame of Le performing a slightly gangly legged flying kick in the middle of a field, à la the famous freeze frame that closes out Fist of Fury. But let’s just assume that he goes to the U.S. shortly afterwards, and Le knew his audience were smart enough to not need to see him actually board a plane.
I mention the final freeze frame of the flying kick, because kicks and fists are really what Bruce – The King of Kung Fu are all about. Sure, on paper it may read like a genuine biopic, focusing in on a specific period of Lee’s life, but onscreen it quickly becomes clear the plot (or indeed, any semblance to the events in Lee’s actual life) are not the key priority here. When I say quickly, the opening credits are set over Le performing a drunken snake fist routine, complete with a bottle of Chinese wine in hand. It’s fair to say that while the framework of the plot may use Bruce Lee, the content is very much based on the trends of the time. Only 2 years earlier Jackie Chan starred in Drunken Master which became a megahit, cementing comedic kung fu as the new box office gold.
Here Le feels like he’s also looking to put his own stamp on the genre, but knows that to have a chance to do so he needs to use the Bruce Lee connection, so simply uses the guise of Lee’s tumultuous late teens to make his own Seasonal Films influenced kung fu flick. This makes Bruce – The King of Kung Fu both an entertaining and frequently hilarious (albeit unintentionally) experience to watch, often awkwardly mixing the more light-hearted elements of a kung fu comedy, with the over-the-top ferocity of the Bruceploitation genre. What’s definitely enjoyable though, is to see Le’s action direction turn away from imitating the Bruce Lee aesthetic of short, brief busts of action, to more intricate and lengthy exchanges that show off all the performer’s skill. Indeed Le allows himself to have his ass handed to him in more than one of the fights, which gives him the motivation to start visiting various kung fu masters and learn their ways.
One such master is clearly modelled after Ip Man, as Fung Ging-Man portrays a Wing Chun teacher who Le visits, and ultimately ends up learning from. Watching the 30-year old Le visit Ging-Man as a teenage Bruce Lee with his neatly coiffed hair and tidy college attire looks every bit as wrong as it sounds, however it only adds to Bruce – The King of Kung Fu’s slightly surreal charm. Jeet Kune Do may not get a single mention, but Le does go on to meet a blind cookie seller who happens to be an “expert at blindfold fighting” (surprisingly), and another kung fu master who practices snake fist, all of whom he endeavors to learn their respective styles from. All of this is hung on a very loose narrative that basically involves Lee constantly getting into trouble with the local youths and other kung fu school students.
This is demonstrated from the get go, when in the opening scene Le leaves his house to go to college, and is immediately set upon by a gang lying in wait to ambush him. Before you can let out a high-pitched battle cry Le has already lost his shirt, and is knocking seven shades out of his attackers. Having floored the lot of them, he’s barely taken a couple of steps before a 2nd different group of riled up attackers run into frame to demand a fight, and we rinse and repeat. This is kung fu genre visual storytelling at his best, I mean why use exposition to explain that several groups are unhappy with Le, when you can use a scene of them trying to attack him one group at a time? Le never really gets to put his shirt on again, and proceeds to spend the duration either walking around Hong Kong bare chested, or wearing it unbuttoned. Who knows, maybe Le was making a sly poke that he doesn’t think Bruce Lee was capable of buttoning up his own shirt?
Le is joined by a pair of comedic acquaintances in the form of Hon Kwok-Choi (The Gold Connection) and Shaw Brothers regular Chan Kwok-Kuen (Opium and the Kung Fu Master). Thankfully any detours into grating comedy, all of which are fleeting, are handled by the pair, who do an amicable job of bouncing off Le’s attempts to look like a fresh-faced teenager. The closest Le gets to anything gratuitous is when he visits the window of his favorite prostitute, who obliges by unbuttoning her top and allowing Le to fondle her breasts through the window grate. However even this slice of nudity is interrupted by the arrival of yet another gang who want to give Le a beating (and apparently knew just where to find him – another subtle poke at the Little Dragon?), and quickly segues into an alley way fight scene. When you’re Bruce Lee, there’s no time for breasts, whether they be through a window or otherwise.
To Le’s credit, he’s enlisted some top tier fighting talent to populate the cast of Bruce – The King of Kung Fu. Fung Hak-On turns up as a thug who Le goes up against twice, once empty handed, then again pitting Le armed with a pair of Wing Chun knives versus a pole wielding Hak-On. Some performers are so high level that they couldn’t look bad on screen even if they tried, and Hak-On is definitely one of them, making it a pleasure to watch him pit his moves against a skillset such as Le’s.
A couple of Enter the Dragon luminaries are also in the mix, with Bolo turning up for a cameo solely for the purpose of having a fight against Le (although let’s be honest, Bolo turned up in almost every Brucepolitation flick!), and Sek Kin clocks in for what most resembles the villain of the piece. Kin’s role in Enter the Dragon was an epic disservice to his skills, so suffice to say his fight here blows the lame hall of mirrors finale out of the water. Kong Do, another familiar face from the Bruceploitation genre turns up as part of Le’s cannon fodder, and his scene seems to indicate that Le forgot at least once that he was supposed to be filming a Bruce Lee biopic, as their fight ends with Le crushing his throat and leaving him dead on the floor! I guess old habits die hard. While such anomalies would be enough to make the casual film fans brain melt, for the discerning kung fu fan Bruce – King of Kung Fu has plenty to offer.
Featuring training scenes surrounded by very real cobras (one of which ends up being force fed Chinese wine, but still, that’s getting off lightly compared to the snake in Eastern Condors), fights aplenty, above average choreography, and a kung fu teacher referring to Bruce Lee as “a very dangerous little man”, you can tell that Le didn’t set out to do anything half-heartedly. As a director he’d really hit his rhythm with the likes of Bruce Strikes Back and Ninja Over the Great Wall, but as his one crack at playing Bruce Lee, Bruce – The King of Kung Fu is an entertaining way to spend 90 minutes.
Chasing the Dragon II: Wild Wild Bunch | Blu-ray (Well Go USA)
RELEASE DATE: April 28, 2020
On April 28, 2020, Well Go USA will be releasing the Blu-ray for Chasing the Dragon II: Wild Wild Bunch (formerly known as Chasing the Dragon II: Master of Ransom).
Chasing the Dragon II: Wild Wild Bunchis based on a real-life spate of kidnappings that terrorised Hong Kong’s elite in the 1990s.
The film stars Tony Leung Ka-fai (The Taking of Tiger Mountain) plays the kidnap king, while Louis Koo (Paradox) is the undercover agent who infiltrates his gang. Gordon Lam (Z Storm) and Simon Yam (The Midnight After) round up the rest of the main cast.
Note: The Well Go USA Blu-ray edition of Chasing the Dragon II will be manufactured on demand (MOD), giving fans the option of owning a physical copy, as opposed to streaming it.
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