Martial arts film are near and dear to many people’s hearts. The focus on tightly scripted and choreographed fight scenes brings pure thrills and excitement to the screen, something most other genres can’t match. While action films are common they never quite reach the same plateau of a good martial art film. A typical action film will have explosions, guns fights and a few punches but martial arts action is a lot more intimate and a lot more personal.
Kung fu fights in film can be between dozens of fighters or a one-on-one. Regardless of what it is, you get a tightly made scene. The main actor will work closely with everyone involved so that every punch, kick, throw and attack is perfect. There’s a lot of skill and finesse with such scenes than you wouldn’t find in a typical action movie, with the work going further to create a stronger fight.
It’s easy to fake shooting guns and throwing punches in a movie, but you can’t fake genuine martial arts skill. This is of course why martial arts are seen less and less in western cinema, as there are fewer people trained in it, meaning they can’t bring it to the screen and those who watch can’t appreciate it it as much. While martial arts films have had prominent periods in the West, they currently aren’t a thing, which could be attributed to the popularity UFC and similar combat sports. Mixed martial arts is focused more on swift, simple, brutal techniques while martial arts goes for style and prolonged fights, so films will follow this trend. An audience wanting to see more CGI action also decreases the odds of one-on-one fights being filmed.
Martial arts is the emphasis on the fight while streamlined action films focuses on other things. Martial arts films will feature the personal fight at the forefront with both hero and villain using their lifelong honed skills to battle the opponent. A Hollywood action film will go for variety, with it’s character battling against their enemies, in various ways, I.E. fistfights, guns, explosions, jumping from heights, car chases, etc. While a kung fu flick can and will contain these elements, it goes for a more cerebral focus, but can lose the flavour and simplicity an audience desires.
It’s safe to say that martial arts films are huge success in Asia. Most of their biggest stars, even dramatic actors will have such combat knowledge that they will use in many types of film. While Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen and Jet Li are household names to a western filmgoer, they don’t have the same appreciation and have never achieved the same recognition as they do in their homelands. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was a huge success across the world and received numerous awards in the West, even a Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Compare that to a film like Kung Fu Hustle, which was popular worldwide, never gained any real major acclaim, despite it doing so in it’s native Hong Kong and China.
An absence of kung fu action can be seen in other mediums. Martial arts films can be passed by in games such as mobile slots (yes, online gambling). Western video games very rarely feature kung fu or karate styles. Sleeping Dogs was an example, but focused as much on gunplay and driving as it did hand-to-hand combat. Fighting games are common, but often more concentrate on over the top techniques rather than any grounded martial arts, with Tekken and Virtua Fighter being some more realistic examples.
Martial arts films will always be beloved, but when or if they’ll be a hit again in the West could be anyone’s guess.
Director: Ham Tran Cast: Kate Nhung, Thanh Pham, Petey Majik Nguyen, Suboi, Jayvee Mai, Lam Thanh My, Teo Yoo, Veronica Ngo Running Time: 110 min.
By Kyle Warner
Before we get to talking about what kind of movie Bitcoin Heist is, I’m going to start off the same way that the film does by attempting to explain what bitcoins are. Bitcoins are a digital currency with no central repository and no national fingerprint. It’s a peer-to-peer exchange system with a public digital ledger that all users are expected to help maintain. Bitcoins are encrypted and untraceable, as far as I understand, and are a favorite form of currency on the Dark Web for hackers and all manner of other secretive professions.
Bitcoins are flashy, mysterious, and new to the general public. And we’re just starting to hear more about Ransom Ware and the Dark Web this year in the news. All three of these new internet-based concepts figure into the Vietnamese thriller Bitcoin Heist. And in that respect, I gotta give writer/editor/director Ham Tran (Journey from the Fall) some credit, because his Bitcoin Heist makes pretty good use of the new tech to tell his story. With the exception of perhaps TV’s Mr. Robot, I’m unaware of other dramas that have featured the tech so prevalently for storytelling purposes. It’s the sort of thing you can imagine Hollywood could’ve gotten on top of, thrown an A-List movie star on the poster, and called it ‘topical’ and ‘timely.’
In Bitcoin Heist, a dangerous Dark Web millionaire known as the Ghost is being tracked by Detective Dada (Kate Nhung). She manages to catch the Ghost’s accountant, Phuc (Thanh Pham), but not without getting into a shootout that claims the lives of multiple officers and suspects. The police chief – who is also Dada’s dad – takes her badge and gun, saying it was a meaningless sacrifice considering Phuc will only get 8-12 months of jail time for his offenses. Dada doesn’t accept this and goes into Jack Bauer Mode. She throws Phuc into the trunk of her car, tortures him, and then sets about a plan to use him to get the Ghost. But in order to accomplish her plan, Dada needs a crew.
Round up the usual suspects! Let’s see, there’s a magician named Magic Jack played by Petey Majik Nguyen. Oh wait, no, I’m sorry, that’s Jack Magique (enjoy that, it’s the film’s most reused joke). There’s a hacker played by Vietnamese music star Suboi. And there’s a conman played by Jayvee Mai The Hiep, who also brings along his ten-year-old daughter, played by Lam Thanh My, who specializes as a cat burglar. Most the team is forced into joining Dada’s plan against their will, but they’re soon good pals and willing partners in the effort to prove the identity of the Ghost.
The film’s tone is kind of wonky. It’s a goofy ultra-mainstream movie one minute (there’s a ten-year-old girl on the team and only her father thinks twice about enlisting her to rob from a murderous millionaire!), a shoot ‘em up bloody actioner the next (some dude gets gutted in a butcher shop!), and a standard heist thriller the next (more on that in a second). What begins as a fairly tech-heavy thriller about shadowy figures on the Dark Web and secretive bitcoin wallets soon becomes just another run-of-the-mill heist thriller. The gang attends a party hosted by the man they believe to be the Ghost (Teo Yoo). Jack Magique performs his act, Dada is his lovely assistant, the conman plays a waiter, the hacker tries to get into the mansion’s system, and the ten-year-old kid attempts to get past a laser grid like she’s Tom Cruise.
Here’s the thing: as heist thrillers go, Bitcoin Heist isn’t bad. But it’s so dang familiar to what’s come before that I think I would’ve already forgotten all about it had I not been enlisted to write this review. You’ll find the smudgy fingerprints of Ocean’s Eleven, Mission: Impossible, and The Italian Job all over this movie. It’s also fair to say that Bitcoin Heist has a few things in common with the (awful) Now You See Me series, which saw master magicians doing unbelievable, CGI-powered magic tricks to steal from the bad guys. Bitcoin Heist also uses a magic show to pull of its heist, but at least Jack Magique exists in the real world. He might even be a real magician, I don’t know. And sure, Jack’s magic tricks probably play better before a live audience – you can only watch so many card tricks in a movie before you start checking the clock – but at least you’re not asked to turn your brain off when he’s on stage.
I enjoyed the performances. It’s a fun, lively cast. The highlight, to me, was the relationship between the conman and his daughter who he’s regrettably roped into a life of crime. I find a cop who’s forcing a kid and her dad to perform a dangerous heist to be a bit despicable from a character development standpoint, but at least that kid and her dad are a likable pair. Also among the cast is Veronica Ngo (The Rebel), who has a small role in the earlier parts of the film. It would’ve been nice if she’d stuck around longer, but alas, the galaxy far, far away awaits.
As these movies are prone to do, Bitcoin Heist is full of twists and unexpected betrayals. Not all of them register in a believable way. The final act, which unfolds weeks after the rest of the film, takes forever to play out and begins to feel like a mini-sequel that’s been tacked onto the film. Characters can lie to each other, but viewers who know these movies can see there’s an extra trick in the works, and Bitcoin Heist takes too long to deliver on its long windup.
I’ve seen this sort of movie done better before. I’ve also seen it done worse. I don’t think of Bitcoin Heist as a bad film. It’s simply unremarkable, middle-of-the-road entertainment.
More good news for ninja film buffs! Visual Entertainment has released the DVD for 1983’s The Last Ninja, starring Michael Beck (The Warriors), Nancy Kwan (Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story), Mako (The Big Brawl), Richard Lynch (Invasion U.S.A.), and Rob Narita (Ghost Warrior).
This TV movie – produced in wake of the so-called “Ninja Craze” in 1980s – was intended to be an on-going series, but its pilot didn’t quite hit the bullseye (unlike 1984’s The Master, which is also being released later this year).
The Last Ninja is the story of an art dealer, Kenjiro Sakura (Beck) who – after being trained by his adoptive father (Mako) – leads a double life as a martial arts warrior. Teaming up with his sister, Noriko (Kwan), they crush a terrorist attempt without ever revealing their true identities. This act of patriotism intrigues a United States government agent looking for an ally to help with other cases.
Director: John Woo Cast: Zhang Hanyu, Tao Okamoto, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, Ji-won Ha, Jun Kunimura, Naoto Takenaka, Masaharu Fukuyama, Yasuaki Kurata, Angeles Wo, Stephy Qi Running Time: 106 min.
By Matija Makotoichi Tomic
When a director of John Woo’s caliber announces his return to the genre that made his name, it’s always a cause for celebration, just as it is a reason to worry. After signing his name on some of the greatest, genre-defining action pieces Hong Kong cinema has to offer, Woo decided his next movie would be a remake of a Japanese classic starring legendary Ken Takakura. Based on a novel by Juko Nishima, adapted in 1976 by Japanese director Junya Sato, the original Manhunt was a fugitive thriller with a dose of adventure, slowly unraveling mystery plot and a touch of absurdity; Takakura’s character, prosecutor Morioka Fuyuta, gets attacked by a bear (twice), saved by a horse stampede while being chased down Tokyo streets and finally escapes to freedom in a cessna after getting a crash course in piloting. While not the greatest movie ever, Manhunt was a hit and had a huge influence on Chinese filmmakers of the time as one of the first foreign movies to be released in China following the end of Cultural Revolution.
Perhaps more than remake, Woo wished to make a movie dedicated to its leading star, Ken Takakura, who passed away in 2014. He calls Takakura one of his favorite actors, and one who inspired a great deal of his films. The role of the wrongfully accused lawyer Takakura portrayed in the original movie was cast to Chinese actor Zhang Hanyu, with a new name Du Qiu, as the character is also Chinese now. This time, instead of being framed for stealing 200,000 yen, a diamond ring and a canon camera, the character in question is being charged with murder. After waking up next to a dead woman’s body, Du Qiu’s home is soon crawling with police and he finds himself arrested. While escorted to a police car, his escape is staged by dirty cop Asano and he’s forced to run. Now a fugitive, Du Qiu tries to clear his name and find out the truth while being hunted by Japanese hero detective Yamura, played by Masaharu Fukuyama, last seen in the great 2016 movie Scoop! directed by One Hitoshi.
The truth Du Qiu seeks includes the Teijin pharmaceutical company’s aged owner Sakai (played by Jun Kunimura, Japanese stranger from The Wailing), his troublesome son and an experimental drug that gives superhuman abilities to its users, instead of just turning them into obedient, zombie-like slaves, as was the case in the original movie. Woo, or should I say his seven-member script team (Gordon Chan, Chan Hing Kai, James Yuen, Itaru Era, Ho Miu Ki, Maria Wong and Sophie Yeh), introduces a new, widow character aiming to avenge the death of her husband/scientist who found the drug formula but decided not to share it when he realized it would be used to do wrong. Throw in two assassins for good measure, and it would seem there’s nothing standing in a way for Woo to deliver another slice of cinema brilliance. Except for Woo himself.
As hard as it is to say… for the most part Manhunt is a disappointing experience. Painful to watch in fact, at least in the first half with bad, uninspired acting, horrible English dialogue delivery and god-awful CGI to blame for that. Next to some of the solutions being downright silly, Manhunt suffers from often being poorly executed and unconvincing. Du Qiu manages to escape while being practically surrounded by Japanese cops in the metro station, after which he jumps in front of the moving train and outruns it? I know better than to expect a new Hard Boiled or The Killer, but from the first minute, Manhunt is like a cold shower for a fan on fire.
Luckily, it does get better later on and the Woo-hungry audience is in for some well-orchestrated gunplay accompanied with enjoyable martial arts action. It’s the jet ski chase scene involving Yamura and Du Qiu that sets Manhunt on the path of righting wrongs, at least when not being digitally enhanced. Standing out as film’s easily finest hour is the shootout at Mayumi’s place with Yamura and Du Qiu fighting off motorbike-riding attackers whilst handcuffed together sharing one gun; that is until Yamura gets to show off his katana skills. It’s the pace, intensity and the execution that make this one of the highlights and it feels good seeing the real John Woo is still alive and kicking somewhere underneath all this mess. If only all of the action was this good.
Same can be said for the lab showdown reminiscent of the grand finale of Hard Boiled, though not on the same level, naturally. Next to the standard freeze frames, slow motion and white doves – which are now partly computer-generated – Woo adds a few new tricks to his game. The most significant one being the fatal femmes. Woo’s cinematic universe is no longer reserved for male heroes only. With Manhunt, girls have their guns and they are every bit as cool, if not more. This marks Manhunt as the first among Woo’s envious list of titles to have its director flirting with the Girls-with-Guns subgenre. The ladies delivering the gun action are Ji-Won Ha as the emotional Rain; and Angeles Woo as chubby Dawn. After casting Angeles in both Red Cliff and The Crossing, could it be perhaps Woo is aiming to fix a spot for his daughter in the industry?
Along with some surprisingly good action moments, reason more for fans to get their kicks is white-haired veteran Yasuaki Kurata appearing in a minor role as chief hobo. Not only is his performance easily the best one here, but his character is also the most likeable (or maybe I’m just being sentimental), on top of this, he also gets to bust a few moves once injected with the experimental drug that turns him into raving lunatic. Once returned to his cell, he unleashes his rage on his fellow guinea pig inmates, delivering rewarding martial arts mayhem.
Unfortunately, good action is not all you’d want from a John Woo movie, it’s the whole package. Manhunt serves as yet another confirmation that the glory days are over. Gone are the 80’s and 90’s and so it seems is the Hong Kong we all know and grew to love. Expecting it to be what it once was only makes it worse. Just like Ringo Lam – who complained how CGI ruined the good old Hong Kong action, but couldn’t resist using it in Wild City – John Woo stated he’s thinking about “going back to the old times, when it wasn’t so much about money,” only to choose the easy way to do it. Despite having its moments, Manhunt left me thinking I’m lucky there’s still plenty of old style Hong Kong goodness I have yet to see. I’m gonna need some now to help me feel better.
Tak Sakaguchi rose to fame with the 2001 cult favorite Versus, a movie that managed to combine the low-budget charms of Evil Dead-like horror with blistering martial arts and gunplay. The actor later scored another cult hit with Battlefield Baseball, but has most recently hitched his wagon to the Sushi Typhoon production company.
In April of 2013, new broke out that Tak was retiring from acting, which left an unknown fate for his recently announced role in Death Trance II, not to mention a long-rumored sequel to Versus.
In late 2014, Cityonfire.com was contacted by director Yuji Shimomura (Death Trance) with breaking news that Tak was out of retirement to make Re:Born (read our review for the film), which the actor calls his “very last” and “most superb” action movie:
“After I retired, I found myself having a passion for action that was still smoldering inside of me. After a conversation with action director Yuji Shimomura, I wanted to thrive one more time and create the very last and most superb action movie with my utmost power and passion for the sake of a closure to my entire career. I am convinced that I have to give my very best one last time. That is how I feel about this project. I didn’t realize how many people chose to support a person like myself until after I retired. I hope this movie will be satisfying enough for them to feel absolutely alright for me to go. This is for them.”
In Re:Born, a legend covert soldier (Sakaguchi) with a mysterious past now decides to once again unleash his beast inside of him to stand up for what he cares about. The film also stars Yura Kondo, Takumi Saito (Shin Godzilla), Mariko Shinoda (Terra Formars) and Akio Otsuka.
Re:Born is getting a domestic release in August, followed by U.S. release by XYZ Films on a soon-to-be-announced date. Stay tuned!
Updates: Watch an all-new UK Trailer below (via Eureka):
On October 3, 2017, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is releasing the DVD for Martin Christopher Bode’s Ultimate Justice, the long-awaited, all-star actioner led by martial arts sensation, Mark Dacascos (Drive, Brotherhood of the Wolf).
Ultimate Justice tells the story of a team of former Special Ops elite soldiers, whose friendship was forged in battle and years after they thought they had lain down their weapons for good, they are drawn back into action when the family of one of their own is threatened, friendships and loyalties are tested, battlelines are drawn, and Ultimate Justice will be served.
Director: Leroy Nguyen Cast: Leroy Nguyen, Edmond Shum, Jen Barnard, Donald Williams, Daniel Sim, Mahdi Eltigani Running Time: 80 min.
By Jeff Bona
Sorry folks, no Kris Wu lookalikes here. In other words, if you’re expecting skinny jeans, sleeve tattoos, DJ counter culture or any of that other now-pretentious bullshit, then Black Scar Blues is NOT the film for you. It’s more honest than that. It’s a film that goes against what Millennials would expect from a flick about smalltime, Asian American hustlers. The characters here aren’t influenced by urban hip-hop; they’re influenced by the types of people most of us have come across in real life.
Black Scar Blues follows a couple of young hoods named Roy (Leroy Nguyen) and Eddie (Edmond Shum) who stomp the streets of Baltimore. Roy is the reckless, quick-tempered tough dude who has dreams of rising to real power. Eddie is the calm, level-headed nice guy who sees their antics as a phase than life-long profession. But when the two get on the bad side of their ruthless boss (Donald Williams), their friendship, loyalty and trust come to a violent conclusion.
Black Scar Blues is written, directed by and starring Leroy Nguyen, who is the co-founder (along with Ron Suriyopas) of Rising Tiger Films, an indie movie company whose forte is filming and choreographing fight sequences. But judging from Black Scar Blues alone, Nguyen’s true love for cinema stems more from Martin Scorsese than say, Jackie Chan. At least, that’s the way I see it.
It’s important to note that Black Scar Blues was made in a non-conventional, almost experimental approach. Nguyen himself has stated that the film’s narrative was practically built around its center action piece, which resulted in a 6-year-long production that had its share of countless edits, script re-writes and on again/off again shoots. If I understand completely: the concept was there, but for the most part, Black Scar Blues was essentially a “make it up as you go”-type project, which isn’t out of the ordinary for an indie film with a low budget.
Very few sensible crime thrillers benefit from great fight choreography, but for the most part, a well-choreographed fight scene can take away from its realistic structure (imagine watching Scorsese’s Mean Streets with Sammo Hung-style choreography thrown into the mix). This is one of the main gripes I have with Black Scar Blues. Although I appreciate Nguyen’s awesomely staged action sequences, they feel out of place at times – but not because they’re fight scenes – but because the style in which they were filmed. Let’s just say they’d feel more at home in a movie that’s specifically marketed for a fight-based or martial arts film, but here’s the thing: it is marketed as a fight-based or martial arts film. That said, Black Scar Blues has somewhat of an identity disorder (again, see my comment about Mean Streets above). I realize it’s a martial arts film first and foremost, but I have to be honest, I was getting mixed signals.
Without a doubt, there’s a great film waiting to be made by Nguyen. Yes, he’s superb at filming action, but he’s also capable of making a character-driven drama, and that’s saying something. It would be interesting to see him apply these styles separately to two different films: a fight film and a crime drama. Very few directors can mix the two and come out with a harmonious final product. Gareth Evans (The Raid, The Raid 2) is one filmmaker that comes to mind. Soi Cheang Pou Soi (SPL 2) might be another. Nguyen definitely has the potential to get it right with some growth, which is inevitable if he keeps at it.
In the context of being a film that cost $5,000 (that’s basically zero), the good definitely outweighs the bad for Black Scar Blues. But don’t listen to me, because the proof is in its numerous awards earned at various film festivals, which include Best Fight Sequence, Best Actor (Nguyen), Best Martial Arts Feature Film, and Best Actor in a Martial Arts Feature Film (Nguyen).
One thing that entices me about Nguyen is his unique taste (even his production company is branded with a playful 1970’s vibe). Black Scar Blues has an arthouse quality to it, but still keeps that gritty overlay that I personally love in cinema. Even when it comes down the soundtrack, he utilizes his talented friends (all music was written, composed, and performed by Aaron Emmanuel, who also appears in the film). Just watch the the film’s Trailer and you’ll find yourself thinking: “This looks fucking cool!”
Black Scar Blues is available for streaming and digital download on Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, VUDU, and PlayStation Store right now. Give it a shot.
On October 3, 2017, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release the Blu-ray & DVD for Fabricated City (read our review), a sci-fi actioner directed by Park Kwang-Hyun.
In real life, Kwon Yoo (Ji Chang-Wook) is unemployed, but in the virtual game world he is the best leader. Kwon Yoo is then framed for a murder. With the help of hacker Yeo-Wool (Shim Eun-Kyung), he tries to uncover the truth behind the murder case.
The film also stars Oh Jung-Se, Ahn Jae-Hong, Kim Sang-Ho, Kim Ki-Cheon, Kim Min-Kyo, Lee Honey, Kim Ho-Jung, Lee Soon-Won and Kim Seul-Gi.
Director: Wilson Chin Cast: Eliza Sam, Joyce Cheng, Jeana Ho, Chris Tong, Cathryn Lee, Mandy Ho, Jacky Cai, Anita Chui, Philip Ng, Evergreen Mak, Jacqueline Chong, Calinda Chan, Terence Chui, Edward Ma, Coco Yuen, Toshika Lau, Hidy Yu, Jenvine Yu, Jade Leung, Chin Kar-Lok Running Time: 105 min.
By Paul Bramhall
If there was an award for a re-make that nobody was asking for, then you have a prime candidate with Special Female Force. A remake of the 1988 Hong Kong action comedy TheInspector Wears Skirts, the original was not only made at a time when grammatically challenged titles were the norm (for those wondering, it’s not about an inspector who enjoys wearing several skirts at once), but also when even the most light hearted productions could be expected to deliver some killer action. Such was the case with The Inspector Wears Skirts. While primarily a comedy, proceedings are book ended by a pair of fantastic action sequences, choreographed by Jackie Chan’s stunt team, and performed by such femme fatale’s as Sibelle Hu, Cynthia Rothrock, and Kara Hui. There would go on to be 3 sequels, the last of which saw the series morphing itself into the Girls with Guns genre, delivering the rare sight of GwG luminaries Cynthia Khan and Moon Lee sharing the screen together.
The series was arguably a product of its time, and any remake should raise the question of what female talent of the current era could fit the bill in today’s Mainland friendly climate. Personally, I was hoping to see the likes of Jiang Lu-Xia from Coweb, and perhaps Zhang Lan-Xin from CZ12, stepping into the shoes of Sibelle Hu and Kara Hui, and could even have taken Amy Johnston in Cynthia Rothrock’s role. After starring in Lady Bloodfight and Female Fight Club, her specialty for taking parts in gender specific movie titles makes Special Female Force the perfect fit. Sadly though this is not the case, and while The Inspector Wears Skirts was always about delivering both action talent and eye candy, director Wilson Chin seems content with only aiming for the latter.
That’s not to say that Special Female Force is a complete write-off, and indeed the opening sequence harks bark, all be it in a rather glossy and sterile fashion, to the era when HK action movies didn’t think twice about offing all of your favorite characters in a split second. Taking place in Thailand 20 years ago, the Special Female Force of the day are tracking some evil guy called ‘The President’ in a luxurious resort. However, as expected, things go wrong and the mission becomes compromised. Soon The President’s bodyguard, played by action director (although not for this movie) and stuntman Chan Chun-Fung, is slicing and dicing his way through the ladies, cutting the throats and wrists with merciless abandon of our bikini clad heroes. Only one manages to survive, played by Stephy Tang, who becomes a trainer for the new recruits in the present day.
The good news for Girls with Guns fans, is that 20 years later the character is now played by Jade Leung. While Leung arrived on the scene a little too late, debuting in 1991 with Black Cat just as the genre was starting to fade away, I’ve always had a soft spot for her action movies like Fox Hunter and Satin Steel, so it’s nice to see her back in the genre. Now in the role of the head madam, in a way it brings her career full circle. It’s also a pleasure to hear the famous line “Yes, madam!” being spoken in a Hong Kong movie once more. It’s a line that, despite its shortness, is sure to bring a feeling of nostalgia for those 80’s HK action flicks.
What isn’t made very clear though, is exactly why the new Special Female Force have been drafted. The script seems content to simply provide a group of misfits who, much like the original, will need to train to become a part of the team, set aside their differences, bond etc. etc. But what exactly they’re doing it for is never clearly conveyed. Instead, we’ll just assume that thanks to the opening, somewhere along the way The President is going to show up again, and Leung will get a chance to take her revenge from 20 years earlier. But before any of that though, she’ll have to get the new recruits into shape, and for added melodrama, one of them is the daughter of a murdered member from the original group, who naturally blames sole survivor Leung for her mother’s death. Will they be able to reconcile such a heartbreaking revelation? Well, yes, of course they will.
In lieu of an actual plot (and essentially, a reason to exist), Special Female Force focuses on the girls, who are split into four groups, competing against each other to prove their worth. Naturally, we follow Group D, the one that the misfits get assigned to. Comprising of 8 members in total, each is solely there to play a stereotype, from the chubby comedy relief (Joyce Cheng), to the busty beauty queen (Anita Chui). In all fairness, while aiming for the lowest common denominator, the comedic aspects do sometimes hit the mark. Mandy Ho in particular, who plays a tomboyish lesbian (and notably is also the only actress with real martial arts training), makes numerous amusing attempts to hit on the others, with less than successful results.
The drama on the other hand is a complete non-starter, and frequently becomes more laughable than the intentional comedy. By the time the girls reach breaking point with their frequent bickering, we’re treated to a scene in the rain in which one confesses they’re a lovechild, the other confesses they’re an orphan, and so it goes on. Apparently opening up about their rocky beginnings in life is enough to bring them together, however Special Female Force completely falls apart whenever it decides to take itself seriously. When it’s time for such line as – “Girlfriends are for loving, not abusing” – to be delivered completely poker faced, it’s easy to feel that the whopping 5 scriptwriters who contributed to Special Female Force were perhaps each given a different plot synopsis.
That of course leaves us with the action, which is the one reason why the original The Inspector Wears Skirts movies are remembered so fondly by many Hong Kong movie fans. Here the action sequences are credited to the Chin Kar-Lok Action Team (Kar-Lok also has an entertaining cameo as a retired gangster) and Wong Chi-Wai, who also takes on a role as a martial arts instructor, and played Ip Man in Bruce Lee, My Brother. Unfortunately, it seems the mission to get the ladies of Special Female Force looking like competent screen fighters was a bridge too far, as with the exception of the previously mentioned Mandy Ho, every fight scene looks like a slow paced rehearsal. There’s a distinct impression that Kar-Lok and Chi-Wai had their work cut out for them, so the blame can’t entirely be placed on their shoulders, as watching the fights it’s clear there’s some nice choreography in there, it’s just the performers executing it aren’t up to the task.
Interestingly, while not a co-production, there appears to definitely be some Malaysian money in Special Female Force. Cast members Jacqueline Tong, Cathryn Lee Yuan-Ling, Chris Tung Bing-Yuk, Jenvine Ong, and Aaron Aziz all hail from Michelle Yeoh’s home country, and the finale relocates itself to the Malay capital. While the names may not be familiar, it’s worth nothing that Aaron Aziz has headlined a couple of passable Malaysian action flicks, in the form of 2011’s KL Gangster, and its sequel in 2013. Both are obviously influenced by the Donnie Yen and Wilson Yip collaborations Sha Po Lang and Flash Point, and show Aziz displaying some fine action chops. Here though his role, while significant, barely sees him onscreen for more than a few minutes, with his action talents hidden behind the choppy editing. However in a movie which features Philip Ng and Chin Kar-Lok also in non-action roles, it perhaps shouldn’t be a surprise.
With the visual appeal of a swimsuit catalogue, lacklustre action, and comedy as flat as – well, I won’t go there – with Special Female Force you get the distinct impression director Chin thought that filling the screen with attractive young women was enough to constitute a movie. Having made the same mistake three times already with the Lan Kwai Fong trilogy, it’s most likely a sign that he’s not going to see the error of his ways any time soon. The general consensus is that The Inspector Wears Skirts movies got gradually worse as they progressed, so in that regard, if you want to look at Special Female Force as a continuation of the series, the good news is that it’s following tradition. The bad news is, that would also make it the fifth instalment, and if we follow the same logic, it could well mean that for some, Special Female Force may be classed as unwatchable.
Today’s Deal on Fire is the Blu-ray for The Stool Pigeon, a 2010 Hong Kong action film directed by Dante Lam (That Demon Within)
The Stool Pigeon (read our review) revolves around a police detective who uses informants to gain information about gangsters. The movie took home the Film of Merit Award at the 17th Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards.
Director: Adam Wingard Cast: Nat Wolff, Lakeith Stanfield, Margaret Qualley, Shea Whigham, Paul Nakauchi, Jason Liles, Willem Dafoe, Jack Ettlinger, Matthew Kevin Anderson, Chris Britton Running Time: 100 min.
By Z Ravas
The Hollywood remake of Death Note is a project that’s been passed like a hot potato from filmmaker to filmmaker for the better part of a decade. Back in 2011, it looked like Lethal Weapon scribe and Iron Man 3 director Shane Black would be the unlikely creator behind the camera; once he left the project due to creative differences with Warner Brothers, indie auteur Gus Van Sant (My Own Private Idaho) was even floated as a possible contender. Instead, the movie quietly found a home in 2015 with both Netflix and director Adam Wingard, who may have already had a relationship with the company thanks to his films like You’re Next and V/H/S finding the majority of their audience through the streaming service.
Two years later and the movie has finally made its debut, only to immediately be met with derision and scorn from fans of the popular manga and anime, who have balked at the notion of condensing a 15 hour anime into a single film as well as the casting of a white lead (despite the story being relocated from Tokyo to suburban Seattle). In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll say my prior experience with the series is an appreciation of Shusuke Kaneko’s (Gamera: Guardian of the Universe) two-part live-action adaptation, which astonishingly came out over a decade now. Rather than compare Netflix’s Death Note to that release, or even the 12-volume manga, I chose to approach this movie on its own terms as the next film from promising young director Adam Wingard… since it is the next film from Adam Wingard.
If you wondered why the producers of Netflix’s Death Note would secure Wingard for this adaptation of the Japanese property, it becomes abundantly clear early on in that they must have been massive fans of his 2014 film The Guest. That movie served as a loving homage to Eighties horror/thrillers like The Terminator, and launched the big screen career of Beauty and the Beast’s Dan Stevens; it also featured the best Steven Seagal-style bar fight since Steven Seagal stopped having fights in bars. From the sleek neon lighting and ceaseless downpour of Seattle rain, to the moody electronic score and doomed high school dance, there’s much of this Death Note that at times feels like a redux of The Guest. If you’re like me, and consider The Guestto be one of the best genre flicks of the last decade, you’ll likely be simultaneously pleased and struck with familiarity, like hearing a pleasant cover song.
The Eighties horror movie theatrics feel entirely appropriate, given the dark premise at the heart of Death Note: a social outcast named Light (Nat Wolff) receives a supernatural journal that allows him to strike dead anyone he wishes just by visualizing their face and writing their name in its pages. It isn’t long before Light confesses his secret to his high school crush Misa (Margaret Qualley from HBO’s The Leftovers), like some perverse reversal of the ‘superhero revealing their identity’ trope. The duo quickly become lovers and vigilante executioners, seeking to rid the world of its worst terrorists and predators while creating a global cult to their imaginary death god Kiro. However, when Light’s own father – a Seattle cop played by Shea Wingham (Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans) – teams up a renowned junior detective named L (Get Out’s Keith Stanfield), the net tightens around Light and his murderous crusade against crime.
In contrast to Shusuke Kaneko’s adaptation, in which the quirky and candy-addicted L stole the movie as a teenage Batman-esque detective (complete with his own Alfred-like butler!), it’s clear that Wingard’s fascination lies more with Light and his girlfriend Misa. The young couple’s repeated use of the Death Note allows them to feel above the rest of humanity thanks to a Crime and Punishment-esque superiority complex; but seeds of mistrust are sown between the two once they develop very different ideas about how to best utilize the lethal tome. It’s here that Wolff and Qualley really shine as the kind of disaffected duo who, in the absence of the Death Note, may have formed a suicide pact or shot up their school. To the actors’ credit, they manage to keep this kids highly watchable despite the fact that they’re stone cold sociopaths; less convincing is the film’s attempt to sell us on the worldwide cult of personality that has developed around Kiro since the screenplay rarely leaves the state of Washington.
Death Note’s secret weapon may be its breathless pacing. Perhaps it’s merely due to its presence on Netflix, but Wingard’s film often feels like an eight episode mini-series edited down to a brisk 100 minutes; Wingard wastes no time and puts Light in possession of the Death Note and committing his first murder by the ten minute mark, in an elaborate Rube Goldberg-esque sequence of events that recalls the Final Destination series. Unfortunately, these quite fun – and quite gory – death setpieces (deathpieces?) all but disappear during the second half as the movie turns into a straight ahead cat-and-mouse thriller between Light and his rival L. The mental chess game between these two may have been the highlight of the Japanese version, but here I found the exaggerated origin of L – an orphan raised by birth to be an international supercop who works outside the law but with the law’s assistance – only clashed with the relatively realistic tone Wingard strikes. Or at least as realistic as you can get with an eight foot-tall demon lurking in the shadows.
Yes, I would be amiss if I didn’t at least mention Ryuk, the avatar of death who serves as the custodian of the Death Note. He’s a creepy-looking creation right out of the early Tim Burton playbook, and here is ably voiced by Willem Dafoe, an actor who can do sinister and menacing in his sleep. That said, the screenplay doesn’t find much for Ryuk to do other than glower from the corner of the frame; he’s mostly here to remind Light of the Death Note’s various binding rules, and – going back to Final Destination – is perhaps not dissimilar to Tony Todd’s character in those movies.
The fact that Death Note ends with much of its story left unresolved, cryptically teasing the motivations for a possible sequel, is not likely to help Netflix win over fans who already regard this American remake with ill will. Fortunately, those folks will always have their beloved manga and anime to continue to enjoy. Approaching this Death Note on its own terms, as a straight-to-streaming horror movie, I found it to be a fairly solid Adam Wingard film – with a slick look, dreamy soundtrack, and a few creative applications of the Death Note concept. Some have called Netflix’s remake a crime against cinema; this Asian film aficionado would simply call it a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
During the 16th century, pirates rule the Chinese coastline, pillaging the small villages and terrorizing the citizens. When maverick leader Commander Yu (Hung) enlists the help of a sharp young general (Zhao), they devise a plan to defeat the pirates. A violent clash of wit and weapons will decide who will rule the land in this sweeping historical epic from veteran action director Gordon Chan.
Expendables 3’s box office belly flop a few years ago, possibly due to its early online leakage, left the franchise in limbo. It also didn’t help that the film’s final cut was a narrowed to a PG-13, which created a fan backlash since the first two in the series were known for their R-rated content.
Shortly after Part 3’s release, Sylvester Stallone himself admitted that making it PG-13 was a miscalculation, and promised that the next film would be a Rated R.
Then in March 2017, it was reported that Stallone left the series after a disagreement with Avi Lerner. According to Deadline: “Stallone and Nu Image/Millennium chief Avi Lerner could not find common ground on a new director, on the script and on certain qualitative elements of the film.”
But now, nearly 5 months later, Stallone has had a change of heart and things might be looking up for an Expendables 4. Just recently, Stallone posted a picture with a caption saying: The Expendables about to get ”…very dark”…. again… (via Instagram).
Unfortunately, that’s where Stallone left off, but if it becomes a reality, we should be getting some official news – possibly when Lionsgate releases The Expendables 3-Film Collection in October.
We’ll keep you updated as we hear more about Expendables 4. In the meantime, Stallone has a number of films under his belt that include Escape Plan 2: Hades, Ex-Baghdad (with Jackie Chan) and Creed II (which may mark the return of Dolph Lundgren as Ivan Drago from Rocky IV).
Hopefully Stallone’s indecisive mind will bring him to another one of these…
“Enter the Warrior’s Gate” Chinese Theatrical Poster
AKA: Warrior’s Gate Director: Matthias Hoene Cast: Mark Chao, Ni Ni, Uriah Shelton, Dave Bautista, Francis Ng, Sienna Guillory, Ron Smoorenburg, Dakota Daulby, Kara Hui, Dakota Daulby, Zha Ka Running Time: 108 min.
By Z Ravas
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a meek and bullied young Anglo kid finds himself transported to a distant world of Chinese mysticism and martial arts, where he teams with a band of powerful warriors who teach him how to stand up for himself. If you think I’m describing the plot of 2008’s Jackie Chan and Jet Li team-up The Forbidden Kingdom, you’d be right. But it’s also the plot of last year’s Enter the Warrior’s Gate, which is undeniably writer/producer Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen’s take on the same basic premise.
The film represent the first real French-Chinese collaborative production for Besson, who has long had a fascination with Chinese action cinema. Made on a budget of about $48 million, and shot in British Columbia as well as China’s Hengdian World Studios (the largest film studio in the world), the movie landed at the box office with a resounding thud. Thanks entirely to the Chinese box office, Enter the Warrior’s Gate grossed a measly $3.2 million, while in North America it’s more or less been delivered straight to Netflix. In comparison, The Forbidden Kingdom crossed an impressive $127 million back in 2008. But did Warrior’s Gate deserve such a dismal fate?
The story follows teenage Jack (Uriah Shelton), who – in a Gamer-esque wrinkle – is mistaken by the residents of another realm as a powerful warrior because he happens to be good at video games. He’s drafted by Mark Chao’s soldier to help protect a Princess, played by the perfectly charming actress Ni Ni. In our world, Jack and the Princess spend some time gallivanting around a Canadian mall, eating ice cream and developing a crush on one another, when the Princess is kidnapped and taken back to her own land by a fierce barbarian (Kickboxer: Vengeance’sDave Bautista). Aided by Mark Chao and an eccentric wizard portrayed by Hong Kong stalwart Francis Ng, Jack has to summon his inner courage and rescue the Princess before she becomes Bautista’s bride-to-be.
And that’s about it. Along the way, Jack and Chao are briefly waylaid by a black-garbed witch (played by Kara Hui of My Young Auntie fame), but mostly their journey involves male bonding and brief martial arts training before they confront Bautista and his armada. It’s then that they engage in skirmish after skirmish with the barbarian horde, including a scene where Bautista’s right hand man – the imposing actor Zha Ka, whom you may recognize from Police Story: Lockdownand The Taking of Tiger Mountain – transforms into a computer-generated giant. If you’re hoping that Bautista gets to show off his mixed martial arts skills, you’ll be disappointed, as the hulking bruiser mostly sticks to swinging a sword around. To his credit, lead actor Uriah Shelton – who apparently is most known for his role on TV’s Girl Meets World – trained in martial arts as a kid, though he mostly does a lot of spinning and sliding over tables to avoid bad guys here.
Which gets to my main point: despite the presence of fan favorite actors such as Dave Bautista and Francis Ng, any adult viewer of Enter the Warrior’s Gate is bound to have a sinking realization. This is a movie produced for and targeted exclusively at 12 year-old boys. By all rights, German director Matthias Heone (Cockneys vs. Zombies) should have cut the few instances where side characters are skewered by swords and gone for a PG-rating, as – in terms of its tone and the low-intensity of the action scenes – this film is PG through and through.
There’s no harm in producing an East-meets-West, introductory kung fu movie aimed at kids. Certainly many parents may be looking for the right movie to show children who are slowly developing an interest in martial arts. Unfortunately, I don’t think Enter the Warrior’s Gate is the right movie. The action is shot in an uninspired manner, few of the martial arts-trained actors are given the chance to shine, and at 108 minutes Enter the Warrior’s Gate is about 18 minutes too long. I’m not even mentioning how Besson forced poor Mark Chao, dressed in ancient Chinese battle armor, into an embarrassing dance routine while the credits play.
A studio like Pixar knows how to tell a story to captivate viewers of all ages and transcend the young demographic their films are marketed to. Luc Besson is no Pixar. While some of the script’s one-liners are more clever than you might expect, and it’s fun to see Hong Kong icons like Kara Hui and Francis Ng in a movie so squarely aimed at Western audiences, Enter the Warrior’s Gate has too many flaws to make it an easy recommend. And if you have a 12 year-old in your life who is begging to watch a kung fu flick, may I suggest a convenient alternative? A little known movie called The Forbidden Kingdom…
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