Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) Review

Posted on December 17, 2015 by Paul Bramhall
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" Korean Theatrical Poster

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Korean Theatrical Poster

AKA: Star Wars: Episode VII
Director: J. J. Abrams
Cast: Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, Max von Sydow, Joonas Suotamo, Iko Uwais, Yayan Ruhian
Running Time: 135 min.

By Paul Bramhall

As the latest installment of the much loved Star Wars franchise hits cinemas in December 2015, the first under the distribution on Walt Disney Pictures, the internet can expect to become awash with reviews from every angle possible. Most of them will be likely scrutinized by the series’ diehard fan base just as much as the movie itself, so the very act of writing one is willingly putting ones self in the line of fire of the Star Wars faithful. I myself got to witness The Force Awakens on its opening night in Manila, played to an audience who enthusiastically cheered and whooped throughout its 135 minute runtime, so thought I’d pin a target to myself and offer up my own opinion.

It seems nostalgia plays an important part for many who’ll be going to see The Force Awakens, just as it did for the ill-fated prequel trilogy which kicked off back in 1999 with The Phantom Menace. I was 18 when that movie came out, but even then upon watching it in the cinema, there was no doubt in my mind that what I’d just witnessed was pretty awful. The soulless CGI landscapes, the clunky script, Jar Jar Binks, and the over reliance on playing up the light sabers iconic image as the coolest thing about Star Wars. As a child of the early 80’s, of course I also got to experience the original trilogy on VHS, and one of my childhood birthday parties even included a screening of Ewoks: The Battle for Endor. I still remember this movie being more entertaining than The Phantom Menace.

Now, 10 years since the last movie was released in the form of Revenge of the Sith, The Force Awakens begins a new trilogy that forms a direct continuation of the original three movies, bringing back Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill. Oh, and Chewbacca.

For readers of cityonfire, including myself, there was a particular interest shown in the casting of Indonesian action stars Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian of Merantau and The Raid movies fame. It’s not a spoiler to say that they appear onscreen for about 30 seconds. Yayan gets a few lines, but Iko doesn’t get to say (or do) anything. For those hoping to see some Star Wars Silat action, you’ll come away disappointed. But don’t worry, there’s still Beyond Skyline to look forward to. Of course Asia’s biggest action star, Donnie Yen, is also currently in the process of filming the Star Wars spin-off movie, Rogue One, which I’m sure will involve him throwing a few kicks.

What you may be surprised to hear though, is that I actually drew a sigh of relief when Iko and Yayan didn’t get to show off their impressive skills, as it simply wouldn’t have fit in with the story. One of the biggest mistakes the prequels made was their emphasis on the action. With the release of The Matrix, the sudden interest in kung fu saw an increased emphasis on Ray Park’s Darth Maul and his double bladed light saber. However Star Wars was never just about light saber fights and TIE fighter battles, it was about the characters taking part in those battles, and what was at stake as a result of them. That’s what really made the original trilogy become so fondly remembered.

Abrams has realized that in a way that Lucas failed to do when he returned, and in The Force Awakens the grand spectacle is secondary to the relationship between the two main characters – a disillusioned storm trooper played by John Boyega, and a scavenger with no family played by Daisy Ridley. These two innocent players get embroiled in events out of their control when they end up in possession of an android (the ball shaped robot seen in all of the publicity for the movie), which contains a map showing the location of Luke Skywalker, who has long been a recluse. Kylo Ren, played by Adam Driver, a character who idolizes Darth Vader, is also after the map, and soon everyone from Han Solo to Princess Leia is caught up in the fight to get their hands on it.

That’s the in-a-nutshell plot of The Force Awakens, and to go into any further detail would be heading into spoiler territory, something which should be avoided for such an anticipated movie. But it’s fair to say that Boyega and Ridley anchor the movie in a way that makes everything happening seem relatable, taking us along for the ride with them every step of the way as they’re overwhelmed, embattled, and ultimately empowered. It’s a satisfying journey, strongly bolstered by a fantastic performance by Harrison Ford, and despite having significantly less screen time, Carrie Fisher as well. Driver really nails the role of Kylo Ren, at once appearing to be completely ruthless, but at the same time convincingly showing his vulnerability in the subtlest of ways.

I mentioned earlier that the grand spectacle is secondary, and one of the best things about the action in The Force Awakens is the way the light saber is used very sparingly. The prequels had so many people swinging light sabers left right and center, that the iconic weapon no longer seemed special anymore. The Force Awakens goes a long way to rectifying that, with the light saber perhaps for the first time being conveyed as a weapon that feels both tangible and dangerous. Here there are no villains getting cleanly chopped in half, instead the saber is able to both draw blood and to burn, and the few scenes that they’re used in aren’t wasted. It’s very much a case of quality over quantity.

There are of course plentiful aerial battles between the TIE fighters and the X-wings, all of which are filmed in such a way that captures the excitement and thrill of being part of such a battle. However despite all of the impressive action scenes, what stands out the most about The Force Awakens is just how much of a real movie it is. The cinematography is stunning, with a huge and welcome reliance on practical effects, real filming locations, and wide angle lensing. The score offers up both plenty of new tracks, as well as worthy nods to the famous score of old. The characters are all well rounded and fleshed out, and again, just as many of the more colorful aliens are actors wearing prosthetics as they are CGI creations. Perhaps most importantly of all, the script works, acknowledging what’s come before while also paving the way for the movies ahead.

While critics could easily beat up on The Force Awakens, based on the fact that the plot could essentially be taken as a re-boot of A New Hope, it does little to diminish its entertainment value. Based on how big a Star Wars fan the reviewer is, you’ll most likely see reviews concluding in a hundred different ways. For me, I wanted an unpretentious piece of sci-fi action cinema, and that’s exactly what I got.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 8.5/10

Posted in All, Asian Related, News, Reviews | Tagged , |

Battles Without Honor and Humanity Vol. 3: Proxy War (1973) Review

Posted on December 16, 2015 by Kelly Warner
"Battles Without Honor and Humanity Vol. 3" Blu-ray Cover

“Battles Without Honor and Humanity Vol. 3” Blu-ray Cover

Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Cast: Bunta Sugawara, Akira Kobayashi, Takeshi Kato, Mikio Narita, Kunie Tanaka, Nobuo Kaneko, Shingo Yamashiro, Nobuo Kaneko, Tsunehiko Watase, Hideo Murota, Tatsuo Umemiya, Asao Uchida, Tatsuo Endo
Running Time: 102 min.

By Kelly Warner

Hiroshima Death Match is a strong film and a fine example of the yakuza film genre. However, it was little more than a side-story in the Battles Without Honor and Humanity series and didn’t do much to advance the series’ overarching narrative. In the third Battles film, Proxy War, things get back on track. We return our focus to Bunta Sugawara’s gangster Hirono and the brutal power plays between rival gangs in 1960’s Japan.

An aging yakuza boss is set to retire and everyone’s fighting for position so that they may be chosen as his successor. It’s like a political race but with even more backstabbing. Hirono supports Uchimoto (Takeshi Kato) for the soon-to-be absent position of boss. It’s a win-win situation for Hirono if Uchimoto gets the job; Uchimoto seems to have the right priorities and he’ll be sure to remember those who helped him get the post, especially Hirono. And while Uchimoto is far from perfect (the ambitious yakuza exchanges oaths of loyalty with virtually everyone, which essentially makes his word worthless) at least he’s better than the alternative: Hirono’s former boss, Yamamori (Nobuo Kaneko). Unfortunately, Uchimoto falls out of favor with the men making the decisions and the torch is ultimately passed to Yamamori.

As is usual in the Battles Without Honor Humanity series, things always get worse. Not only is Yamamori intolerable thanks to his rapidly inflating ego, but now Uchimoto wants revenge. Uchimoto blames Hirono for him not getting named successor to the throne and he’d be just fine with seeing both Hirono and Yamamori dead and buried. So begins a war between rival gangs in post-war Hiroshima.

Unlike the previous entries in the Battles series which settled disputes with violence in the streets, much of Proxy War is about scheming and posturing. When Uchimoto becomes associated with the powerful Akashi family (led by Tetsuro Tamba), Yamamori scrambles to align himself with Akashi’s biggest rival, the Shinwa Group. The alliances between yakuza groups mean very little and the oaths of loyalty between individuals mean even less. Naïve young men die for greedy old men who worry about their wounded pride. Throughout the film, Tetsuro Tamba’s character remains untouchable and rarely seen; he’s largely responsible for this war and he never even gets his hands dirty.

Proxy War is the most deliberately paced entry of the five film series. As the yakuza get richer and expand (Japan also saw great economic growth in this time), they also grow more cautious, preferring to handle situations with mediators at a dinner table instead of in a dark alley with a knife. Director Kinji Fukasaku surprises with not only showing some restraint in Proxy War but also providing some of the series’ best visuals.

Filmmakers often say that the most difficult scenes to direct are those with multiple characters seated around a table. Well, Proxy War is chockful of such scenes. The cast and screenwriter Kazuo Kasahara make the dialogue-driven table scenes dramatically compelling while director Fukasaku and cinematographer Sadaji Yoshida provide appealing visuals. Fukasaku’s use of widescreen filming techniques is on full display here, filling every inch of the frame with movement and color. You can watch these scenes multiple times and focus on something different each time because every actor is doing something, unwilling to go unnoticed even when the scene is being powered by someone else. Fukusaku told his actors that they were all main characters in these films and that feels especially true in these dialogue-driven group scenes.

Throughout the series, composer Toshiaki Tsushima provided iconic music that underlined all of the action and drama on-screen. Japanese cinema has featured the music of many great composers and while Tsushima isn’t a name that immediately comes up, his score for Battles is. It’s iconic, the sort of thing that’s become ingrained in pop culture (in Japan more than the West, obviously). Rarely does a director’s vision and a composer’s music match so perfectly.

The Proxy War Blu-ray from Arrow Video has a couple new special features exclusive to their Battles Without Honor and Humanity set. In the good old days of the Japanese studio system, the directors, stars, and crew hung out with each other after long work days in their own special social circles. Secrets of the Piranha Army puts the spotlight on the bad boys of Toei’s stable of character actors who formed the Piranha Army, a club for actors that were not invited to the other social circles because of their reputation as angry drunks. It’s an amusing 35 minute featurette, as it sounds like these actors behaved much like the yakuza characters they played on-screen (please note: this featurette has some spoilers for later films in the series). Also included is Tales of a Bit Player, a 10 minute interview with actor/stuntman Akira Murota who played multiple supporting roles throughout the Battles series (he’s more recognizable as the silent samurai who monitors Tom Cruise’s character in The Last Samurai, a film that Murota speaks briefly about here). Though it’s shorter, I actually enjoyed the Murota interview more than the Piranha Army featurette. Both are worth watching for fans looking to know more about the men who worked on the series.

Proxy War has enough going on to easily fill a three hour film. The fact that Fukasaku and Kasahara delivered their story in under two hours is kind of amazing. It’s a tight film with not a single wasted scene or subplot. Proxy War may lack some of the chaotic madness seen in the first two films but it makes up for that with a clear vision and a deftly plotted screenplay. Many critics consider Proxy War to be the best film in the series. It’s not my favorite Battles film but it ranks up there pretty high. After the sidestep in Hiroshima Death Match, Proxy War has the series coming together with a clear goal in mind going forward.

Kelly Warner’s Rating: 8.5/10

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Enter the Invincible Hero | aka Secret Bandit of Black Leopard (1981) Review

Posted on December 14, 2015 by Paul Bramhall
"Enter the Invincible Hero" Korean Theatrical Poster

“Enter the Invincible Hero” Korean Theatrical Poster

Director: Kim Si-hyun
Cast: Dragon Lee (Mun Kyong-sok), Casanova Wong, Chui Man Fooi, Lee Ye Min, Cheung Ching Kwok, Gam Hei Wang, Seo Jeong Ah, Chen Shao Lung
Running Time: 100 min.

By Paul Bramhall

Deciphering who directed what and when in the old school Korean kung fu genre is a head scratching exercise at the best of times. It’s common knowledge that many of the countries’ contributions to the genre were bought up by Godfrey Ho and Thomas Tang for overseas distribution, then given completely new titles and dubbed in English. Movies like Magnificent Wonderman from Shaolin and Strike of Thunderkick Tiger being prime examples. With Dragon Lee though, there’s an extra level of complexity added. Marketed as Korea’s answer to Bruce Lee, Ho and Tang knew a money maker when they saw one. As a result, not only did they buy the rights to Lee’s older Korean movies, but they also made some new ones with him as well.

With Tang acting as producer and Ho as director, a Dragon Lee movie like The Dragon, The Hero (aka Dragon on Fire) was a genuine production by the pair, and also starred the likes of John Liu and Philip Ko. Usually they would shoot in Korea and use mostly Korean crews to save costs, however it was Ho and Tang at the helm. So not only do you have all of the movies Ho had nothing to do with, stuck with a credit sequence which states ‘Directed by Godfrey Ho’, you also have some movies that actually were directed by him, just to complicate things even more.

Enter the Invincible Hero is of course one of the movies which states it was directed by Ho, however it seems in this case that it is in fact an all Korean production. Originally titled Secret Bandit of Black Leopard, it was directed by Kim Si-hyun, the man behind various Hwang In-sik movies such as The Close Kung Fu Encounter and Tomb for a Strongman.

What makes Enter the Invincible Hero worthy of note is that it features both Dragon Lee and Casanova Wong, both of whom share Bruce Lee connections. While Dragon Lee was marketed as the Korean Bruce Lee, starring in exploitation fare like The Clones of Bruce Lee and Last Fist of Fury, Wong famously shot a fight scene in a greenhouse against fellow Korean Kim Tai-jung. What makes the scene so unique is that it appeared in both Bruce Lee’s uncompleted final movie, Game of Death, when it was released in Asia in 1978, and also in the English language version of the sequel, Tower of Death, in 1981 (the same year Enter the Invincible Hero was released).

For reasons we’ll probably never know, Enter the Invincible Hero opens with a title sequence that plays over a fight scene between Dragon Lee and Choi Min-kyu, which is blatantly from a completely different movie. The giveaway sign is that Min-kyu is wearing a modern style yellow vest which practically yells 1970’s, and then as soon as the credits come to a close, it cuts to a period setting of a group of men riding horses through the countryside. What movie the opening is taken from I’m unable to identify, but it’s not the only time it happens. Later on Casanova Wong appears in a flashback scene which is also clearly from a different movie, that bizarrely ends with Wong balancing a bad guy by his head on the tip of his foot, before abruptly cutting off. Strange.

All of this is ok though, because it’s a Dragon Lee flick, and like most Dragon Lee flicks, he plays a kind of wondering nomad. Decked out in a white t-shirt and black pants, which seemed to be his wardrobe for an inordinate amount of his movies, soon enough he’s hoping to acquire some gainful employment from a well to do father and daughter. Of course, there’s some trouble from an unscrupulous gang of characters led by Choi Min-kyu.

While the 70’s style yellow vest from the credits has gone, Min-kyu’s attire is no less striking. He storms around shirtless for the most part, and whenever he has a scene the camera pays extra attention to his grossly protruding outie belly button. It’s clearly prosthetic, but seems to have some connection to his power, and whenever he gets angry he has a pendant around his neck that starts flashing, accompanied by shots which zoom in and out on the belly button. I finished a previous paragraph with the word strange, so I won’t do it again, but I’d like to.

I don’t know what it is with old school Korean kung fu movies and belly buttons. In Revenge of the Drunken Master there’s a whole fight scene which involves Eagle Han trying to stick his finger into the belly button of Johnny Chan, as it would exert some kind of power over him. Thankfully the belly button obsession is no longer a part of Korean cinema. Other body parts also get some worthy attention, there’s a barrel bellied villain, whose special move is to thrust his chest into whoever it is he’s fighting, and we also get a hunchback villain who incorporates the hunch into his fighting style. I don’t know who it is that plays the hunchback, however despite the comedic nature of his fights, the guy has some mean kicks which definitely impress.

Dragon Lee of course is the hero of the piece. Soon he’s wooing the father’s daughter, which naturally involves a scene of her bathing naked, and vowing to bring justice to the villains that are hassling them. The plot is remarkably similar to another Dragon Lee movie, Dragon’s Snake Fist, and while sources sight this movie as being made a couple of years prior, in 1979, I question if in fact they were made at the same time. In one scene Lee even has the same amusing Taekwondo uniform on, adorned with a badge of an oversized cartoonish yellow fist, that he wears in Dragon’s Snake Fist.

Like all Dragon Lee movies, the quality of the action ultimately dictates whether it’s worthy of a watch or not. Thankfully, Enter the Invincible Hero is a superior entry into Lee’s filmography. The fights come thick and fast, and Lee’s movements are sharp and crisp, often against multiple attackers at the same time. There’s a great fight involving chopsticks, and events build up to an extended finale that sees him taking on Min-kyu (who meets a grizzly end involving his belly button), a small legion of lackeys, a pair of beefed up bodybuilders, and Casanova Wong.

The prospect of Dragon Lee versus Casanova Wong should be enough to get any kung fu fans attention, and it doesn’t disappoint. The pair go at it for 5 minutes, and the fight is set to a soundtrack of drums, played in the rhythm of a heartbeat, which really adds to the tension of their showdown. What’s so great about it is that throughout the movie, there’s never any doubt Lee is going to come out victorious in the various fight scenes, even when he’s up against the more highly skilled fighters. However against Wong’s tornado like kicks, the whole scene has Lee visibly on the defensive, as he’s bombarded with a literal barrage of blows from every direction.

It adds a welcome element of danger, and is in no way a disservice to the other fight scenes that have come before, rather it is what a final fight should be – a showdown that takes things to the next level, pitting the hero against someone that outmatches him. While there are fans out there who dismiss the entire filmographies of any actor that was classed as a Bruce Lee clone, movies like Enter the Invincible Hero prove that, for those that do, they’d be robbing themselves of some solid kung fu entertainment. Perhaps just lose the whole belly button thing.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 8/10

Posted in All, Bruceploitation, Chinese, Korean, News, Reviews | Tagged , , |

Battles Without Honor and Humanity Vol. 2: Hiroshima Death Match (1973) Review

Posted on December 10, 2015 by Kelly Warner
"Battles Without Honor and Humanity Vol. 2" Blu-ray Cover

“Battles Without Honor and Humanity Vol. 2” Blu-ray Cover

AKA: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima
Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Cast: Kinya Kitaoji, Sonny Chiba, Bunta Sugawara, Meiko Kaji, Mikio Narita, Hiroshi Nawa, Asao Koike, Shingo Yamashiro, Hideo Murota, Tatsuo Endo, Yoshi Kato, Kinji Nakamura, Gin Maeda, Nobuo Kaneko, Toshie Kimura
Running Time: 100 min.

By Kelly Warner

After the huge financial success of Battles Without Honor and Humanity in January 1973, two sequels were fast-tracked and released that same year. Based on a true story supposedly discovered while researching the first film, Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Hiroshima Death Match (aka Deadly Fight in Hiroshima) could be considered the odd duck in the Battles series in that it’s the only one that doesn’t have Bunta Sugawara as the film’s lead. While Suguawara receives first billing in the opening credits, Hiroshima Death Match undeniably belongs to Kinya Kitaoji (Shinsengumi: Assassins of Honor) and Sonny Chiba (Kill Bill) who play a pair of lunatic yakuza at each other’s throats.

The story told in Hiroshima Death Match takes place both during the first film’s story and shortly after it. Down-and-out loser Yamanaka (Kinya Kitaoji) is a man with a death wish and a short fuse. Like others in the Battles series, he’s a man left without a purpose after the end of World War II. During the war, Yamanaka tried to be a kamikaze pilot but was too young for the program at the time. Now he carries himself in a similar manner, like a man who hopes to go out in a violent blaze of glory. After the unemployed Yamanaka eats at a restaurant without paying, the local thug Katsutoshi (Sonny Chiba) beats him to a pulp. Yamanaka vows revenge against Katsutoshi and all his men, which only makes the beating even worse. Other yakuza intervene and eventually nurse Yamanaka back to health. From there, Yamanaka joins the yakuza as an assassin and waits for the opportunity to put Katsutoshi in his crosshairs.

Yamanaka may be the center of the story but it’s Katsutoshi that kicks the film into gear. Sonny Chiba plays the villainous Katsutoshi over-the-top and potentially insane, often with one hand on a weapon and the other gripping his crotch. Representing the disrespectful hooligans that the yakuza have devolved into, Katsutoshi burns bridges wherever he goes and disrupts the fragile peace between yakuza families when he grasps at more power.

In the time since the original film, Bunta Sugawara’s Hirono has gone off on his own. Working out of a scrapyard, Hirono tries to stay true to his ideals, but he must decide whether to swallow his pride and accept easy money when opportunity comes knocking. Hirono doesn’t have nearly as much to do this time around and that’s too bad, but at least the film finds a believable way of fitting him into the story.

Added to Hiroshima Death Match is a romance subplot that provides the film with some much-needed humanity and also grants a few extra unexpected twists to the plot. Yamanaka falls for beautiful Yasuko (Stray Cat Rock’s Meiko Kaji), though their relationship is a complicated one as her uncle is also Yamanaka’s boss. Kaji’s role is one of the only notable female characters in the entire series – right or wrong, Battles Without Honor and Humanity is a story about the boys – and she makes good use of the material given to her here.

One of the things that Hiroshima Death Match emphasizes is how disposable the young yakuza are to their superiors. Similar to the role of the kamikaze pilot that Yamanaka once longed to be, his boss repeatedly sends him off on dangerous missions fully expecting that he may never return. Yamanaka, like fellow yakuza and the wartime soldiers before him, is used and abused by an unsympathetic system. Hiroshima Death Match’s final scene is one of the most powerful finales in the five film series, hitting home everything about the yakuza that director Kinji Fukasaku meant to convey.

The film may have a different central focus than the original but Kinji Fukasaku’s visual style returns intact. The action is messy and bloody (somehow even more violent than the first Battles), opting to avoid perfect shootouts and skilled sword techniques, regardless of how badass any of the characters are supposed to be. On the Blu-ray from Arrow Video, the new special feature included on this disc is a brief interview with Ryuzo Ueno, the series’ fight coordinator. It’s a surprisingly funny and enjoyable interview, with Ueno providing many short stories about how he got into filmmaking and his work on Battles Without Honor and Humanity. When you’re going through the set’s extras, be sure to remember Ueno’s interview.

Hiroshima Death Match has a narrower focus than the first film and is less chaotic as a result. It may not be as fascinating as the original Battles but there’s so much to like here, particularly the character-driven story performed by a stellar cast. Sonny Chiba brings madness to his bad guy role. Bunta Sugawara brings his signature cool. Nobuo Kaneko returns as the weaselly Yamamori. Meiko Kaji provides warmth and humanity. And Kinya Kitaoji gives us a complex man that’s been through the gutter before being given a gun and a reason to use it. Rage and love drive Kitaoji’s Yamanaka, making him a dangerous man that you want to like but just can’t fully trust. While Hiroshima Death Match may be remembered as the film that focused on a side-story instead of the main character of the series, at least it gave us a complicated and memorable character in his place.

Kelly Warner’s Rating: 8/10

Posted in All, Japanese, News, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , |

Home Invasion | DVD (Sony Entertainment)

Posted on December 10, 2015 by JJ Bona
Home Invasion | DVD (Sony Entertainment)

Home Invasion | DVD (Sony Entertainment)

RELEASE DATE: February 2, 2016

Sony Entertainment presents the DVD for Home Invasion, a taut psychological thriller starring Natasha Henstridge (Maximum Risk), Jason Patric (Narc) and martial arts star, Scott Adkins (Close Range).

When a wealthy woman and her stepson are targeted by a trio of expert thieves in their remote mansion, her only form of help comes from a call with a security systems specialist. But as the intruders become increasingly hostile and the connection wavers, will she trust him to be her eyes and navigate her to safety? | Watch the trailer.

Pre-order Home Invasion from Amazon.com.

Posted in DVD/Blu-ray New Releases, Other Notable Titles |

Battles Without Honor and Humanity Vol. 1 (1973) Review

Posted on December 9, 2015 by Kelly Warner
"Battles Without Honor and Humanity Vol. 1" Blu-ray Cover

“Battles Without Honor and Humanity Vol. 1” Blu-ray Cover

AKA: The Yakuza Papers Vol. 1
Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Cast: Bunta Sugawara, Hiroki Matsukata, Kunie Tanaka, Eiko Nakamura, Tsunehiko Watase, Goro Ibuki, Nobuo Kaneko, Toshie Kimura, Tamio Kawaji, Mayumi Nagisa, Asao Uchida, Shinichiro Mikami, Hiroshi Nawa
Running Time: 99 min.

By Kelly Warner

Throughout the 1960s, yakuza were typically depicted as honorable outlaws in Ninkyo eiga, or “chivalry films.” Often starring fan-favorites like Ken Takakura or Koji Tsuruta, these films depicted honorable yakuza doing battle with deceitful, backstabbing foes that didn’t live by the code. In the 1970s, the chivalrous gangster movies largely died out as the Jitsuroku eiga sub-genre of crime films surged in popularity thanks to the arrival of Battles Without Honor and Humanity in 1973. Jitsuroku eiga, or “true account films”, told more honest stories about yakuza in post-war Japan. There were others of its kind before 1973, but Battles Without Honor and Humanity was a game changer. Studios and audiences embraced this grittier, more true-to-life take on the life of crime, and a new wave of yakuza film classics (as well as poor imitations) quickly followed suit.

Battles Without Honor and Humanity opens with a shot of the mushroom cloud over Hiroshima. The Battles series is the story of the chaos of post-war Japan as seen through the eyes of gangsters and thieves. After the atomic opening credits are over, we go to a busy black market in the ruins of Hiroshima, where American soldiers attempt to rape a Japanese woman in broad daylight. They’re stopped by ex-soldier Shozo Hirono (Sugawara). Hirono is a drifter who spends his days drinking and apparently wandering aimlessly through the black market; still wearing his soldier’s uniform, he’s a man waiting on someone to write the next chapter of his life. After a friend is cut by a drunk yakuza with a sword, Hirono volunteers to get revenge, and kills the yakuza in the street. Hirono goes to jail, serves his time, and is eventually released, where he is greeted at the gates by yakuza who want to take him under their wing. . . And this all takes place in the first ten minutes or so.

Battles is a dizzying, fast-paced tale of bloodshed as men form alliances, kill friends, and lose themselves as they blindly chase after glory and riches. It’s chaotic — both stylistically and dramatically — and not always easy to follow. Names for the yakuza and their alliances flash on screen when they first appear, letting you know who’s who and where they stand, but in a film with such a large cast and a breakneck pace it’s easy to forget things along the way. It’s a bit like keeping track of the alliances and grudges in Game of Thrones without the helpful family flags and colors to remind you where everyone came from.

Bunta Sugawara’s Hirono is as close as the Battles series gets to having a main character. However, this is an ensemble effort, and Hirono often disappears for long periods of time while the other characters advance the plot without him. In the first film, Hiroki Matsukata (The Shogun’s Samurai) and Tatsuo Umemiya (Yakuza Graveyard) lend strong performances as Hirono’s two closest allies. Still, in the ever shifting landscape that is the film’s plot, it’s never clear how long your friends will remain on your side. Sugawara, Matsukata, and Umemiya do good work playing with those themes, as shifty eyes and a change in tone are sometimes the only key to a change in a character’s alliance. While Sugawara would stay on as the “main character” of the series, both Matsukata and Umemiya would return in later Battles films as totally different characters (they’re not the only actors to do so – this is another part of the reason why the series can be tough to follow at times).

Character actor Nobuo Kaneko (Ikiru) plays Hirono’s boss, Yamamori. Easily the oddest character in the film, Yamamori gets weepy when he should be strong and is cold when he should be compassionate. Often flanked by his dangerous wife, Yamamori demands complete respect from his crew but does little to earn it. What begins as a boss that the others want to believe in soon becomes a greedy little man and a threat to both friend and foe.

Late in the film, a man contemplating murdering a friend wonders, “Where did we go wrong?” That line seems to be the center of the story here, as men chase an impossible dream of being honorable men in a dishonorable time. Whenever the men resort to treachery and murder, things tend to go their way. When they stick to the old ways, things fall apart. Take for example a scene when a yakuza chops off his pinky finger, the old-school way of offering an apology to a fellow yakuza. After chopping the pinky in half, the finger goes missing, leading to a comedic search as gangsters look high and low for the missing digit. Then, after recovering the finger, they take it to the offended yakuza and he basically laughs it off, saying the gesture was completely unnecessary. Old-school honor goes unrewarded. Only the snakes profit in the post-war underworld.

Battles Without Honor and Humanity was based off the memoirs of convicted yakuza Kozo Mino. When the yakuza first heard of Mino’s written confessions, the publishers were threatened, and the story passed from one house to another until finally a magazine published it in serialized form. In the film, what is true to life, what is dramatization, and what is mistakenly based on the lies of a thief and murderer remains unclear. Even without the knowledge of Mino’s story being the basis for the film, Battles feels like a true story, mostly because it makes almost no attempt at giving these characters a path to redemption.

Battles Without Honor and Humanity is often called Japan’s answer to The Godfather trilogy. It’s easy to get caught up in that line of thinking – I make the comparison myself when trying to get friends interested in the series – but it’s somewhat misleading. Battles is like The Godfather in that it’s a legendary piece of cinema that happens to detail the rise and fall of gangsters after WWII (also: both were released within a year of each other). The similarities mostly end there. The Godfather is an operatic tragedy full of classic beauty. Battles Without Honor and Humanity is brutal, chaotic, and dirty – the filming style is mostly done with handheld cameras, lending the film the look of a documentary. It’s raw and in your face, a far cry from the visuals of Coppola’s classics, even in their most violent scenes.

Out of print on DVD for the longest time, the Battles Without Honor and Humanity series is being released on Blu-ray and DVD by Arrow Video in a limited edition set that contains all five films, plus a 120 page book, and The Complete Saga, a film that edits the first four Battles into one long movie. I’ll be reviewing the films and the set’s discs as I go. The first film looks great on Blu-ray, a fine upgrade over the old DVD. The sound has some noisy moments, but overall it’s a good track for a film its age. The special features on disc 1 include a ten minute interview with Takashi Miike, original trailers, and a commentary from Japanese film expert Stuart Galbraith IV. In the interview, Miike confesses his love for Battles and talks about his own films for a while. I would’ve liked the interview to be a bit longer but it’s an enjoyable extra for fans of both directors Miike and Fukasaku. Stuart Galbraith IV is one of my favorite English-language historians of Japanese cinema working today. His track offers some nice information on the genre, the time, and the talent involved on the film. It’s a worthwhile commentary for fans of the film.

Battles Without Honor and Humanity is an essential piece of Japanese cinema. It remains one of the most popular films of all time in Japan and the rest of the world is slowly catching on. Labyrinthine and chaotic, the film demands the viewer’s complete attention, and even then you’re liable to be lost from time to time. Even in the moments of confusion, the film is always so watchable and cool. Fukasaku and his cast make redefining a genre seem effortless.

Kelly Warner’s Rating: 9.5/10

Posted in All, Japanese, Reviews | Tagged , , , |

Weaponized | aka Swap | Blu-ray & DVD (Cinedigm)

Posted on December 9, 2015 by JJ Bona
"Weaponized" Teaser Poster

"Weaponized" Teaser Poster

RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2016

Cinedigm presents the Blu-ray & DVD for Weaponized (aka Swap), an all-star, sci-fi actioner from Timothy Woodward Jr. (Throwdown) and writer Sean Ryan (4Got10). The film stars Johnny Messner (Kill ‘Em All), Jon Foo (Tekken), Mickey Rourke (Year of the Dragon), Tom Sizemore (Natural Born Killers) and Michael Paré (Streets of Fire).

When a detective investigates a mass shooting by a former US soldier, he finds himself in a government conspiracy led by a vengeful private contractor. Now the detective must prevent this grieving father from unleashing a deadly “robotic virus.” | Watch the trailer.

Pre-order Weaponized from Amazon.com today!

Posted in DVD/Blu-ray New Releases, Martial Arts Titles |

The Piper | aka Guest | DVD (CJ Entertainment)

Posted on December 9, 2015 by JJ Bona
The Piper | DVD (CJ Entertainment)

The Piper | DVD (CJ Entertainment)

RELEASE DATE: February 2, 2016

CJ Entertainment presents the DVD for Kim Gwang-Tae’s The Piper, starring Ryoo Seung-Ryong (Admiral: Roaring Currents) and Goo Seung-Hyun (The Fatal Encounter).

Shortly after the Korean war, a flute-playing wanderer and his son arrives to a peaceful and remote village, where strange and dangerous happenings occur. Also starring Lee Sung-Min (Kundo), Chun Woo-Hee (Mother), Lee Joon (Seoul Station) and Jung Kyung-Ho (Moodori). | Watch the trailer.

Pre-order The Piper from Amazon.com today!

Posted in Asian Titles, DVD/Blu-ray New Releases |

Braddock: Missing in Action III | Blu-ray (Shout! Factory)

Posted on December 8, 2015 by JJ Bona
Braddock: Missing in Action III | Blu-ray (Shout! Factory)

Braddock: Missing in Action III | Blu-ray (Shout! Factory)

RELEASE DATE: March 15, 2016

Shout! Factory presents the Blu-ray for Braddock: Missing in Action III, a 1988 action film directed by Aaron Norris (Delta Force 2: The Colombian Connection) and starring Chuck Norris (Yellow Faced Tiger).

Colonel James Braddock (Norris) is back in Vietnam, this time fighting his own personal war, as he goes in to rescue the son he’s never met from a ruthless Vietnamese general – a vicious man who will stop at nothing to see Braddock dead. | Watch the trailer.

Pre-order Braddock: Missing in Action III from Amazon.com today!

Posted in DVD/Blu-ray New Releases, Martial Arts Titles |

Yakuza Apocalypse (2015) Review

Posted on December 7, 2015 by Kelly Warner
"Yakuza Apocalypse" Japanese Theatrical Poster

“Yakuza Apocalypse” Japanese Theatrical Poster

Director: Takashi Miike
Cast: Hayato Ichihara, Riko Narumi, Lily Franky, Reiko Takashima, Sho Aoyagi, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Yayan Ruhian, Mio Yuki, Masanori Mimoto
Running Time: 125 min.

By Kelly Warner

Even in the wild and diverse filmography of director Takashi Miike, Yakuza Apocalypse is one weird movie. What’s interesting is how it keeps its lunacy hidden away like a dirty secret until you feel like you’re settled in for a crime/horror hybrid, then WHAM! the movie loses its mind, there’s blood bank bad guys knitting sweaters in the basement, a woman’s head springs a leak, and a giant frog monster (“the world’s toughest terrorist”) comes to town and ruins everybody’s day. Truly, from the very beginning it was clear that Yakuza Apocalypse was going to be different – in the opening, Lily Franky’s gang boss character gets shot a hundred times, kills dozens of bad guys, and then goes to suck blood from a woman’s neck to regain his strength – but nothing in those opening moments can prepare you for how completely unhinged Miike’s vision soon becomes.

Takashi Miike, the man behind such bizarre features as The Happiness of the Katakuris, Gozo, Zebraman, Visitor Q, and Izo, is no stranger to weirdo entertainment. Since going mainstream and directing big budget action movies, game adaptations, and remakes of classic samurai pictures, the extreme features that Miike built his name on have come with less regularity. Maybe he was itching for a chance to do something wild again, because Yakuza Apocalypse is filled to the brim with crazy ideas. The film won’t work for everyone, but for the right audience Yakuza Apocalypse rarely goes five minutes without another moment of WTF bewilderment and hilarious insanity.

Young mid-level yakuza Kagayama (Hayato Ichihara) wants to be just like his boss (Lily Franky) but has no idea that his boss is secretly a vampire. When villains from the boss’s past come asking him to return to the fold, the boss refuses and is murdered as a result. In his dying moments, the boss passes on the vampire blood to Kagayama, thus empowering him with super strength and cursing him with a thirst for human blood. Thing is, when Kagayama inevitably bites people to drink their blood, they don’t just become vampires… they become yakuza vampires. And that’s the main joke at the center of the film. It’s clear from the very start that Miike basically has zero interest in either staying true to vampire myths or creating his own. Sure, there’s plenty of blood drinking, but this is a movie about yakuza, not vampires. The “plot” comes together when Kagayama’s old crime family tries to push civilians around, only to find that the civvies are recently turned yakuza vampires – basically it’s become a town full of thugs, with the yakuza vampire gene spreading like an obnoxious plague. As you’d expect from Takashi Miike, the film is violent and sometimes quite disturbing, but he manages to mine a surprising amount of hilarity from the concept.

Hayato Ichihara (All About Lily Chou-Chou) is cool as Kagayama but there’s not much more to his character other than that he’s really cool. Lily Franky, best known for comedies and dramas such as 2013’s Like Father, Like Son, is not who you’d expect to play a badass gangster, but he pulls it off by simply not trying too hard. Also among the cast is The Raid’s Yayan Ruhian, here playing a martial artist working for the bad guys. Often dressed like a nerdy tourist, Ruhian is a fun addition to the cast as he gets to have a couple decent fights and also play some comedy.

There’s a lot of fun to be had in Yakuza Apocalypse but it’s never very clear what the stakes are. The weird bad guys hang around even after killing the boss but… why? What’s their plan? They’re at odds with Kagayama, but it’s never clear why they want him dead or what they hope to achieve. In the finale, things truly take an apocalyptic turn, but the reasoning for this is also a mystery. At some point, half-laughing and half-mad, I screamed at the TV, “What the hell is going on?” Merely 30 seconds later, the film’s know-it-all character echoed my question by crying out, “What is happening?!” When the film’s know-it-all master of exposition is clueless, that’s your sign that the film is just winging it from that point on.

Miike seems to understand that he’s taken the concept just as far as it can go in the end. Right as the film goes completely over the edge, it cuts to black and rolls the end credits to the tune of Japanese hard rock band Knock Out Monkey. We’re denied a “proper ending.”

However much I enjoyed the movie, however much I might’ve laughed at times, there’s no denying that some of the film comes across as half-baked. And that’s disappointing, because much of the rest of the film shows some kind of deranged inspiration. The lack of clear goals for the characters, the lack of a true ending, and a few questionable inclusions hold Yakuza Apocalypse back from being a complete success.

I liked this, I did. It’s one of those movies where I kind of wish I could turn off my inner-critic and just enjoy the film for what it is and forgive it for what it’s not. And if you’re not lucky enough to connect with the film’s deranged sense of humor, then you’re going to be even less forgiving than I am. Yakuza Apocalypse is a dark comedy for a very particular sort of audience member. Working like a live-action cartoon brought to life by a mad man, it’s a one of a kind film, and it wears its flaws out in the open for everyone to see.

Kelly Warner’s Rating: 6.5/10

Posted in All, Japanese, News, Reviews | Tagged , , |

Deal on Fire! Legend of the Fist | Blu-ray | Only $6.93 – Expires soon!

Posted on December 7, 2015 by JJ Bona
"Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen" Blu-ray Cover

"Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen" Blu-ray Cover

Today’s Deal on Fire is the Blu-ray for Donnie Yen’s Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen, directed by Andrew Lau (Infernal Affairs).

In Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen, Donnie Yen plays Chen Zhen, a role made famous by Bruce Lee in the 1972 film Fist of Fury. It’s set in Shanghai International Settlement, seven years after the events of the Bruce Lee classic!

Legend of the Fist also stars Shu Qi (Journey to the West), Anthony Wong (Punished) and Shawn Yue (Wild City).

Order Legend of the Fist from Amazon.com today!

Posted in Deals on Fire!, News |

Exclusive: Interview with martial arts action star Scott Adkins

Posted on December 4, 2015 by Zach Nix

Cityonfire.com presents an interview with Scott Adkins, the mega-talented star and martial artist from Undisputed 2-3, Assassination Games, Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning and Wolf Warrior.

In this exclusive interview, Adkins talks about his newest film, Close Range, as well as his upcoming projects, Boyka: Undisputed and Hard Target 2 – plus much, much more. Enjoy!

"Close Range" Theatrical Poster

“Close Range” Theatrical Poster

ZACH NIX: You have worked with Isaac Florentine several times before and arguably helped establish the direct to video/low budget action market as a force to be reckoned with. How was it working with Isaac again on your latest film, Close Range, and can you speak about your working relationship?

SCOTT ADKINS: It’s always a pleasure, and he’s a great friend of mine. He’s my uncle in a way. He gave me my start in Hollywood, and I am forever grateful for that. He gave me my first breakout success with Undisputed II. He likes to work with me because he’s a martial artist and he appreciates that I have a very strong work ethic and that I put as much effort in as I can to get down the action as quickly and efficiently. It’s not easy and you get a lot of injuries.

For me, he always knows how to shoot the action. Some films I’ve made, and I get very frustrated, because some people don’t understand how to shoot the action. And it’s so crushing for me. With him I don’t have that problem because I know he knows how to shoot the action. And if we’ve landed a good script and we get the action right, that’s when we get stuff like Undisputed.

ZN: One of the pleasures of watching the action movies that you and Florentine conjure up is being able to visually understand all of the information and the action within the screen. Is it always the goal with you guys to make the action as clear as possible when you shoot it?

A still from the upcoming "Boyka: Undisputed IV"

A still from the upcoming “Boyka: Undisputed IV”

SA: Well, listen, when they shake the camera and they do the close ups and they edit too much, the only reason they started doing that was to hide the short comings of the performer like… I don’t want to mention any names. You know what I’m talking about.

We’re at this stage now where the shaky cam has become the new way to do it, and they’ll even do it, even if the performance of the performer is good, to a good martial artist they’ll still do the shaky cam because it’s become this style. What we want to do, we want to show the beauty of the fight sequence. If it looks good in camera, it looks good in camera! You don’t need to do these quick edits. The stunt performers don’t have a choice because they [filmmakers] can’t show the stunt doubles.

ZN: Close Range opens with an action sequence where you take down several members of a drug cartel in order to rescue your niece. The set piece also appears to be filmed in a sole tracking shot. Was it filmed in a single shot and did it take awhile to rehearse?

Adkins kicks back in "Close Range"

Adkins kicks back in “Close Range”

SA: Yeah that was a single shot. It is one continuous take. We rehearsed it before we shot the movie with the guys we were gonna use in the sequence because they’ve gotta be on point.

You know it’s a hard situation when you’re one of those stunt guys, you don’t wanna be the one who forgets your move, especially if I’ve just done a minute and a half of one take and than you forget a move, imagine how bad you would feel? I mean I’m the lead, but it’s a hard situation for those stunt guys, and they did a great job.

ZN: It’s clear that Close Range is a contemporary Western with its desert ranch setting, plentiful cowboy hats, and ranch face/off. Are you or Florentine big fans of the Western genre at all, and did you two pull from any specific Westerns when developing the film?

SA: I am a huge fan of Sergio Leone and his Westerns. There’s probably more cowboy hats than we should be using. We didn’t have a lot of real Mexicans, so we just put a cowboy hat on them and said, “Hey, it’s a Mexican.” We’ve got some questionable Mexican faces in there. We wanted the best stunt performers. In all of his [Florentine] films you can see the influence of Sergio Leone. Especially in the music.

Adkins is a huge fan of Sergio Leone.

Adkins is a huge fan of Sergio Leone.

ZN: You recently completed principal photography on Hard Target 2, an upcoming sequel to John Woo and Jean-Claude Van Damme’s classic film, Hard Target. How was it shooting that film and following in the footsteps of Van Damme by taking over another franchise of his?

SA: You know, when I was initially offered it, I said, no I can’t do this again. People will think that I am actively pursuing Van Damme films or they might think that I am some twisted super fan of Van Damme that when I was a kid I made it my life’s work to become an action star just so I could make sequels to Van Damme movies. But no, that’s not the case. When they offered it to me, I said should I do this? I’ve already done so much linked to Van Damme. But the truth is I was such a huge fan of Van Damme growing up and he was such a huge influence on me that actually in my mind, and only I can know how this feels, it just felt right. I feel like if anyone’s gonna do it, why not me because I was so influenced by Van Damme as a kid that if anyone’s gonna do it, and when you see the film and you see what type of character I play and what the story is, you’ll realize that actually there’s no one better suited for this part than me. And people keep comparing me to Van Damme and I’ve worked with him a couple times before, and it’s coincidental really, but I don’t know, if you wanna get somebody for the sequel, who else are you gonna get?

ZN: You have faced off against several action stars in your cinematic career. These include Wu Jing, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Jason Statham, and several others. Is there any actor or opponent that you would like to face off against or work with in a film of yours that you have not challenged yet?

 

Adkins in the upcoming "Hard Target 2"

Adkins in the upcoming “Hard Target 2”

SA: Of course I would love to work with Tony Jaa. I would love to work with him, but on an equal setting, it would be me and him starring in a movie, like how it was me and Van Damme in Assassination Games. And of course I would love to work with Donnie Yen. But mostly with Tony Jaa, me and him, I would dearly love that. Tony would love to do it as well.

ZN: Now that you and Florentine have released Close Range, it seems that Boyka: Undisputed IV is the next collaboration between you two on the release schedule. Do you two have any other collaborations coming up after Boyka, and do you hope to continue making films with Florentine?

SA: Yeah I’ll continue making films with Florentine, he’s the best at what he does. People are gonna be in for a real treat when Boyka: Undisputed comes out.

Thanks again to Scott Adkins, Camelia Adibi at Katrina Wan PR and our very own Zach Nix for making this interview happen. Close Range is currently available on iTunes and will be hitting Blu-ray and DVD on January 5th. Don’t miss it!

Posted in Interviews, News |

Invasion U.S.A. | Blu-ray (Shout! Factory)

Posted on December 4, 2015 by JJ Bona
Invasion U.S.A. | Blu-ray (Shout! Factory)

Invasion U.S.A. | Blu-ray (Shout! Factory)

RELEASE DATE: March 15, 2016

Shout! Factory presents the Blu-ray for Invasion U.S.A., a 1985 action film directed by Joseph Zito (Missing in Action) and starring Chuck Norris (Slaughter in San Francisco).

In Invasion U.S.A., a one-man army (Norris) comes to the rescue of the United States when a spy attempts an invasion.

Invasion U.S.A. also stars Richard Lynch (The Sword and the Sorcerer The Sword and the Sorcerer) and Billy Drago (The Untouchables). | Watch the trailer.

Pre-order Invasion U.S.A. from Amazon.com today!

Posted in DVD/Blu-ray New Releases, Martial Arts Titles |

King of Fists and Dollars, The (1979) Review

Posted on December 3, 2015 by Martin Sandison
"The King of Fists and Dollars" Chinese Theatrical Poster

"The King of Fists and Dollars" Chinese Theatrical Poster

AKA: Challenge of the Shaolin Disciples
Director: Chen Ming-Hua
Writer: Chen Ming-Hua
Cast: Michael Chan Wai Man, Pearl Chang Ling, Cheng Lui, David Chiang Da Wei, Chiu Hung, Choi Wang, Fang Mien, Danny Lee Sau Yin, Li Chao, Mark Long Kwan Wu, Ma Cheung, Siu Foo Dau, Weng Hsiao Hu, Kong Yeung
Running Time: 97 min.

By Martin Sandison

In the late 70’s Taiwanese kung fu movies were going strong, and many Hong Kong movie stars made the short trek to star in them. One such legend was David Chiang, he of the first wave of early 70’s Shaw Brothers classics, such as The Heroic Ones, Blood Brothers and Vengeance. By 1979 he was much in demand and took the lead in King of Fists and Dollars, his first starring role in a Tiawanese production. The production values are noticeably seriously inferior to Shaw Brothers, but that doesn’t stop the movie being fun and a little different from your standard fare. In line with Terracotta Distribution’s other releases, this movie is pretty rare and in the best shape possible without a remaster.

Chiang plays Lu Tang, who is looking for the Iron Fist King Tuan (Chiu Hung) to teach him the style. Chiang here is cast against type as the typical underdog character, which is a refreshing change. Interestingly, there are concurrent narratives that intertwine as the film progresses. Usually in old school movies this is done rather poorly, here there is clarity and decent writing. The other narrative features Lord Chien (Danny Lee) who is a tyrant and mistreats the local townsfolk, who turn to Tuan for help. Lord Chien hires Hung Ying (Chan Wai Man) to deal with him.

The cast is very strong, with Chiang being the main focus but plenty of screen time given to the others. Danny Lee is suitably menacing as Chien, at a time when he was appearing in a lot of independent productions. It’s very interesting to see him in this type of role, mainly because he performs a lot of the martial arts scenes with minimal use of a double. The one obvious use of a double is beautifully done as Lee performs a sequence of moves, and as the camera tracks behind a stove the double comes out and does a few flips, before seamlessly transitioning back to Lee.

Chiu Hung is on point with his skills as Tuan, in one of his last roles. He appeared in numerous 60’s Shaw Brothers productions including The One Armed Sworsdman, and moved on to Golden Harvest movies such as the wonderful Broken Oath later. A straight rip off from the chambara classic, Lady Snowblood, that film is one of the few at the time to outdo the source material.

Chan Wai Man graces any movie he appears in, and gets a role here that he can really get his teeth in to, with minimal dialogue and intense action. In the same year he was in The Deadly Breaking Sword and Blood Treasury Fight, which proves his undoubted calibre. Cheng Lui has a small but pertinent part as Tuan’s mute student, and despite his bulk hindering his speed, delivers some good martial arts chops. The dramatic potential of his character is used well here. Cheng was one of the first actors to appear in the important 60’s Shaw films, and became one of the “Five Tigers” alongside Jimmy Wang Yu.

The real surprise of the cast is Pearl Cheung as Ying Er, Tuan’s student. She became infamous for her later self directed films, especially the hilarious cult camp classic Wolf Devil Woman, which I watched recently and enjoyed immensely – somebody has to release and remaster that one. Her most recognizable role was in Jimmy Wang Yu’s Fantasy Mission Force with Jackie Chan (Jackie owed Jimmy a favour) as one of the crazy female warriors. Here, her kung fu technique is exemplary, especially when she does the Iron Fist form.

The action is choreographed by a few different film makers, being lead by Ga Hoi, he of the John Liu masterwork Mar’s Villa and one of the choreographers on Shanghai 13. Weng Hsiao Hu has the second credit, mainly an actor who was in lots of old schoolers, including Jackie Chan’s New Fist of Fury. Unfortunately the action varies in quality, which is a real shame because there is some excellent stuff in there.

The first fight features two of Chien’s fighters and despite being very short, is ahead of its time in terms of hand exchanges and editing. The use of wirework for some of the fancier moves is tasteful also. Chan Wai Man’s first fight is slow and static, and his fights get better as the film goes on, especially the one with Chiu Hung. A lot of the time the handwork veers between adrenaline pumping and too deliberate, which is very frustrating. Also unheard of in a film of the time with this standard of film makers, some of the hits don’t connect. Come on. Seriously. The end fight is suitably exciting and features Pearl Cheung and Chiang going at it with Danny Lee, with some extra long takes and cool flipping.

The director, screenwriter and producer of the film is Chen Ming Hua, who had a short lived career but also directed Pearl Cheung in My Blade My Life. He shows an assured hand at narrative cohesion and the dramatic characterisation of a formulaic genre, but the action lets this impressive approach down. The film is certainly worth checking out for a lot reasons – just don’t expect top quality.

Martin Sandison’s Rating: 7/10

Posted in All, Chinese, News, Reviews | Tagged , , , , |

Wild Panther | aka The Pursuit (1984) Review

Posted on December 1, 2015 by Paul Bramhall
"Wild Panther" Korean Theatrical Poster

“Wild Panther” Korean Theatrical Poster

Director: Lee Tso Nam
Writer: Cheung San Yee
Producer: Lim Kee Chye
Cast: Chen Shan, Don Wong Tao, Eagle Han Ying, Ching Kuo Chung, Peng Kang, Ho Hing Nam
Running Time: 90 min.

By Paul Bramhall

Taiwanese director Lee Tso Nam should be a name recognizable to anyone who considers themselves a fan of kung fu cinema. Active in the industry since the early 70’s, and still active today, he’s the man behind countless classics of the genre. Be it old-school kung fu (The Hot, The Cool, & The Vicious), Bruceploitation (Exit the Dragon, Enter the Tiger), fantasy (Kung Fu Wonder Child), and even Girls with Guns (Beauty Investigator). If you think you’ve never seen a Lee Tso Nam movie, chances are you have, but you just haven’t realized it.

Tso Nam was also the director of Shaolin Vs Lama, a title many fans consider to be a bonafide classic of the genre. Featuring Chang Shan, who delivers a fantastic villainous turn as the leader of the Eagle clan, he and Tso Nam would become regular collaborators, and just a year later would get together again to make Wild Panther. For good measure, they also brought onboard the choreographer of Shaolin Vs Lama, Peng Kang. Far from being another old-school kung fu movie, Wild Panther is a modern day action movie, and was in fact a co-production between Taiwan and South Korea.

Chang Shan himself is a Korea born Chinese, and spent most of his formative years living there, so in many ways the production provided him with an opportunity to return to his birthplace. Notably he would go on to feature in another Taiwan and South Korea co-production later on in his career, in the 1993 movie Rendezvous of Japanese Kanto. Wild Panther also stars another one of Tso Nam’s regulars, Don Wong Tao, however apart from Tao’s presence the key players are all Korean, and the movie was shot almost entirely on location in Korea.

Part of the appeal of Wild Panther is seeing some of the familiar faces of the old-school Korean kung fu scene in a modern day action flick. Eagle Han Ying, who was usually cast as a villain in the likes of Champ Against Champ and Magnificent Wonderman from Shaolin, here plays a one armed leather jacket wearing villain. He answers to Park Dong-yong, who almost always played villain roles in the likes of Hard Bastard and Secret Executioners. Chang Shan himself is teamed up with Peggy Min Bok-ki, who starred in the likes of Strike of Thunderkick Tiger. The factor which ties all of their characters together, is that they all served in the Vietnam War, were Shan and Bok-ki were part of an anti-crime unit called the Wild Panthers. It was during the war that Shan sliced off Han’s arm, which is shown rather graphically in a brief flashback.

The dubbing seems to make the plot slightly confusing though. Through dialogue it’s explained that everyone is after a list, which has the names of organized crime syndicates and the people working for them. Wong Tao is sent to Korea to find it, Eagle Han and Dong-yong are also after it, and Shan and Bok-ki get caught in the crossfire when it appears the list inadvertently ends up in their hands. The only problem is, the movie opens with a character drawing a map of a temple before being murdered, and it’s this map which is being passed around. What’s this list of organized crime syndicates!? As it turns out, the list is actually on a couple of negatives, while the map is a different plot point all together. I guess the dubbing team decided that “a list stored on a couple of negatives” didn’t roll off the tongues as easily as just “a list”.

The list/map isn’t the only thing the dubbing seems to play fast and loose with. In another scene Wong Tao and Shan agree to talk at the police station, and in the next scene they’re in an abandoned fairground together. Audiences who like their plots to be coherent need to either leave their brain at the door, or find the original language version for this one. The scene in the fairground is significant though, as apart from the opening scene, Wong Tao goes missing for a large portion of the runtime. His meeting with Shan sees him return to proceedings around the 55 minute mark, and a misunderstanding between them triggers a fantastic fight between the pair.

What’s unique about the fights in Wild Panther is the way they’re grounded in reality. Shan and Wong Tao’s showdown is an intense explosion of fists and feet, however within a minute they’re both on the ground exhausted, carelessly throwing fists at each other and attempting to stagger back onto their feet. It’s rare for a kung fu movie, even one set in modern day trappings, to display such realism, with fighters usually going at it for several minutes at a time with no sign of exhaustion. It certainly adds a welcome element of realism, as well as a sense of desperation, making the outcome of the fight seem less certain. The only other movies I can recall which display a similar sense of realism are Black Belt, and of course Sammo Hung’s Enter the Fat Dragon, when he humorously stops mid-way through the finale to catch his breath.

Budgetary constraints certainly show up in some areas though, particularly during the shootout scenes, which seem to pay no regard to the positioning of the shooters and those being shot at. In one scene I swear Shan is shot point blank in the head, however he’s either impervious to bullets, or we’re just supposed to presume that the bullet missed. Overall though these small quibbles aren’t enough to derail Wild Panther, and the movie reels itself back in for an impressive finale set in the woods. If I was to make a comparison, I’d say the same way people say Eastern Condors is an Asian version of Rambo: Fist Blood Part 2, then it could also be said that the finale of Wild Panther is the Asian version of First Blood, made a couple of years earlier.

Decked out in his army fatigues, Shan sets up a host of booby traps, which range from spikes to trip wires. Bok-ki also joins in the fray, and it would be a crime not to mention her fight scene which has one of the coolest sword concealments I’ve seen. Shan uses everything from grapple hooks to daggers in order to take out the enemy, and there’s some great use of slow motion in the sequence. One particular part has him running towards the camera, as explosions go off on either side of him, in a scene which predates similar sequences in the likes of Dreaming the Reality and Hard Boiled by a whole decade. Throw in liberal use of grenades and firepower, and in many ways the finale could be viewed as the template for many of the pyrotechnic filled Girls with Guns flicks that would flood the market in the early 90’s.

All of the bullets and explosions culminate in an intense showdown between Shan and Han, which has the two of them going at it with their fists and feet in a fight that makes great use of their surroundings. The pair are flung into ditches, against trees, and down hills in a confrontation which is suitably violent. While fans of Dong Tao may be disappointed that his role in Wild Panther remains largely peripheral, there’s no doubt that this is Chang Shan’s show, and to see him in a rare leading good guy role, ensures that it definitely warrants a watch.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7/10

Posted in All, Chinese, Korean, News, Reviews | Tagged , , , |
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