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Quan jing (1978)
Best 88 cents I've ever spent
I bought this movie for 88 cents Canadian, which is insanely cheap. It was definitely worth the money and then a little more. This movie is quite funny at times. Occasionally it's funny on purpose and occasionally it's funny by accident. The plot is just an excuse for Jackie Chan to learn the five fists technique for the inevitable show down with the seemingly invincible 7 fist technique villain who wants to become clan leader. Most of the action for the first 40 minutes or so is non-existent. Instead, we're left with bits of physical comedy, including a rather long scene when Jackie first meats the ghosts. Most of that scene is actually funny in a really goofy, weird, stupid kind of way. Once that scene is done with we're left with some above average fight scenes.
Chan has two fight scenes with the daughter of the leader of the Wu Tang clan and they're both entertaining due in part to the ridiculous dialog's. We also got to see some mildly entertaining scenes with the villain beating up other clan leaders. The real keeper here and what pretty much made this movie worth the 88 cents alone is when Jackie fights a whole load of shaolin monks at once. He begins fighting with a staff and then eventually tonfa's (I think that's what they're called). This whole scene is quite long and just keeps getting better; really great stuff. Jackie then has two fight scenes at the end. One is with the villain and it is well done due to the five different animal styles Chan amusingly implements. The other is with the Villain's father, which is mostly devoid of Kung Fu and starts with the physical comedy again.
I should also mention the awful dubbing and really weird synth music that sounds like a mix between 70's porno, traditional Chinese, and 80's sci-fi synth. If those ballerina ghosts weren't weird enough the music certainly was. The special effects are also awful. Someone already mentioned the fire cracker on the stick. Honestly, what can you expect? It was laughable and it actually made the movie more enjoyable. I laughed the most at the fire cracker and you probably will too. The plot is run of the mill and is just an excuse for fights.
Lastly I'll mention that the version I have is kind of weird in that half the time it appears that the top and side portions of the film are missing. I say that because routinely stuff was happening in the scene just off to the side that I should have been able to see and you really notice it during the fights where one guy is half off-camera and half on-camera. I don't think that was done on purpose. The quality of the video is awful too, but that's to be expected... however, the sound effects are better than most during this time period.
All in all if you can find this for as cheap as I did, or perhaps for a little more it's definitely worth owning if you're a Jackie Chan or a Kung Fu fan in general. There are 4 quality fights (for the time/budget) and depending on what kind of sense of humor you have, you'll probably find the movie reasonable funny as well.
Shi mian mai fu (2004)
Another Masterpiece?
I just finished watching this movie in the theaters and there are two sides of me that have different opinions of this movie. I'm the type of movie fan who enjoys great, fun "pop-corn" entertainment. With that being said I also enjoy artistic and thought-provoking films. House Of Flying Daggers really succeeds in being a visually stunning film. Hero was better in this regard, but that's not to take anything away from House Of Flying Daggers. Pretty much every outdoor shot is amazing and perfectly filmed. The action scenes are great as well, being more like an elaborate stage dance than straight forward kung fu. I would have liked more action scenes (that's the pop-corn entertainment side of me) but what's there is amazing. Once again, Hero was better in this regard and perhaps more inventive, but once again that doesn't really mean much because House Of Flying Daggers is still fantastic in this regard. The bamboo forest scene and the open field scene mid-way through the movie are visually stunning and are masterpieces of film making, not necessarily masterpieces of Kung Fu.
The actual plot of the movie is actually quite standard until the three plot twists occur, all of which are thrown in one after another. This is where the movie started go down hill ever so slightly. Call me selfish, but the direction I wanted the movie to go in, didn't happen. What was an engrossing love story of a supposed blind women and an undercover "police officer" (who is being torn between falling in love with this women and his duty to the government) turned into a big hoax with a surprising love triangle. Though the love triangle was surprising it was established too late in my opinion. I would really have preferred the movie to actually make Mei blind and then reveal Jin's deception... then go from there. That's just my opinion and personal taste though and though the plot wasn't what I wanted it to be didn't mean the movie was any less great from a visual and directing stand point.
The acting performances are fantastic. You really believe Mei is blind and just through her acting you can tell that she could actually see. Even if that plot point wasn't revealed, you would have been able to tell. You feel a real hatred between Jin and Leo and a great sense of a "fight to the death" at the end. I loved when the weather changed at the end fight and decisions like that are what's going to make Yimou Zhang a great film maker for many more movies. What I didn't like was the ending. For crying out loud, could we have a happy ending in one these movies. As much as I like the artistic and dramatic Chinese movies it would be nice if the love story didn't always end up in a tragedy where both parties involved or at least one get killed. Well, that's just me. I'll go back to my "dummied down" Kung Fu movies where the good guy always wins and walks away with the girl now...
Despite the fact that I didn't like the direction the plot took in the last hour, this is still a very good film that's almost great. The actions scenes, the drum scene, and visual/color/costume aspects of the movie are worth the price of admission alone. The love story is really powerful with great performances from everyone, it's just too bad (and I can't believe I'm saying this) the plot tried to be too complex and too dramatic for its own good. I was also hoping for a huge fight between the house of flying dagger members and the government soldiers though, oh well, one can dream. Recommended to fans of Hero and Crouching Tiger.
Wo de Ye man Tong xue (2001)
Surprisingly entertaining!
I saw the trailer for this movie when I rented Butterfly Sword with Michelle Yeoh and it instantly caught my eye. The premise was kind of interesting and very "video game-ish" and the fight scenes looked brutal and original. Essentially I was expecting a movie filled with fights and little else. Well, I didn't get what I expected, but instead was rewarded with a highly entertaining movie with few flaws.
The one thing you have to keep in mind with this movie is that it's not meant to be taken seriously. Yes, the fights are brutal and the movie does take on a more serious tone near the end, but when you have such over the top, almost cartoony characters, such as Mantis, Phoenix, and Big Dog, not to mention Phoenix's father, you definitely have a movie meant to be a parody and satire of similar films. It works very well on this level as well. Even with subtitles I was laughing constantly at scenes that were supposed to be funny and the buddy relationship these students had was believable and was actually quite interesting.
Furthermore, the Hong Kong setting helped it avoid a lot of clichés and seen-it-before aspects of Hollywood movies done in ghetto schools... and there were a lot of them in the mid 90's. It's a nice change of pace from a school full of African-American thugs and preggo Hispanic women. It doesn't even really focus on the school or teachers at all, it's just meant as a back drop, and perhaps an excuse for the fights and the relationships between the main characters.
The actual fights, there's roughly about 5 of them aren't really kung fu extravaganzas. The fights in the school take place on a bunch of desks, put together to act as a ring, along with 4 suspiciously close together and low "killer" fans spinning ultra fast only inches above the combatants. The stunts and choreography they do with this setting are extremely clever and entertaining, and the brutal representation of elbows, knees, and fists hitting faces is perfect. Those expecting some Jet Li, Jackie Chan, or Donnie Yen quality kung fu fights look elsewhere, but the street fight mentality and brilliant use of the sets makes for some great action.
I should also mention that the directing is fantastic. There's a lot of wide and far shots, with interesting angles and movements in almost every scene. This easily could have been filmed as a standard movie but instead it's filmed in a highly original way with many unexpected shots given the premise.
Overall this is a great movie. It may be too silly for some, or not have enough fights for others, or it might be too "video-game-ish" for most people, but these things didn't bother me at all. The fights that are there are entertaining; the relationship's between the characters are interesting; the directing is great; the sets give the movie a certain visual flair; and lastly, the comedy is actually funny.
Swiri (1999)
Great finish
*some spoilers* I'll admit that for the first hour I wasn't that interested in this movie. A lot of plot points didn't make sense, there were a lot of characters, and following through subtitles makes any story a little tougher to follow. There was decent action here and there and the story seemed somewhat typical but then after about a hour things started to take off.
The actions scenes became better but that's not why I liked this movie. Call me crazy but I felt Shiri was an emotionally powerful movie. I was drawn in as soon as the plot twist occurs and all of a sudden all those plot points that confused the hell out of me or that I thought were insignificant all of a sudden started to make sense. The whole love story was superbly done and through both the directing and acting, along with the emotional contexts in the Hyun and Ryu scenes were outstanding. There's also a very nice John Woo styled "face to face with guns" scene that I felt was very powerful as well.
A lot of people say watch this for the action, but aside from the last shoot out the action wasn't the greatest (not bad mind you, just not great). It was good, but the camera was too shaky for my tastes. I say watch it for the love story, the betrayal, and the emotional roller coaster that this movie eventually becomes. The plot itself is somewhat generic, but is well done and the fact that it involves Koreans and only Koreans is a nice change of pace from "US agent foils (insert whatever country the US doesn't like at the time) plans for world domination" that we are exposed to so much in North America. There's also a fantastic scene near the end that involves Park giving his reasons for the terrorist act he's about to commit. Park works very well as a villain because you can almost understand his point of view from certain angles. You might not agree with his actions, but you agree with his motive. Interesting stuff!
This movie has moments of brilliance and by the end I was actually quite astounded despite the movies pacing problems and the fact that everyone has horrible aim and likes to run into bullets in this movie. I think the Korean police/military are the modern day equivalent of the Storm trooper.
Enjoy the action and get drawn in by the love/betrayal story. Solid acting and occasionally really good directing. Recommended to fans of Hong Kong action operas.