The Grim Reaper's Martial Arts Movies Station

Alive and still kicking...

2016-11-18T11:54:00.000+02:00

Greetings to all!

Just to let you know that I'll be visiting this blog of mine more often from now on, to share something interesting from the martial arts movies world and probably I have to be more persistant in keeping this blog alive. It's not a promise, maybe a statement for myself, rather than firm obligation to write in here.

All the best and see you soon!

The Grim Reaper

Quick Punch: Revolution or movie pollution?

2013-05-04T13:14:00.003+03:00

Hello to anyone who still here, waiting for new article – to be honest I was having troubles getting the right inspiration (that includes one nasty boss and a haystack of bad news), lack of initiative and my mind being occupied by storm clouds. Anyway, whining aside I’ll try to redeem myself giving you my next look over one movie, which I want to forget as quickly as possible and throw it away on the garbage dump like some irritating stone in the shoe.

When some actor is making his 100^th movie, you’d probably expect some grand in scale and production piece, which might not be a masterpiece but would possess some qualities to entertain the crowd and fans alike. Here the situation was a bit different – when I’ve heard the title and the subsequent explanations and plot points it became clear that I’m facing a sad movie and ever more sad Jackie Chan as a general of the Great Revolution in China, when the last dynasty was overthrown and the country started new way of progressing and teaching how to apply republic rules in one society which had only one ruler to admire. A revolution and its major points and purposes might be good for any society which demands change and new hopes for the better, but here it smells of Propaganda all the way and to make things even worse the release date of this movie matches with the anniversary of the Revolution in China (100^th movie of Jackie Chan – 100^th anniversary) thus providing the Communist Party with mighty shield against any negative comments from the “bad” capitalists out there, by putting the blood crusting face of Jackie on a battleground. Clever marketing that is.

"Where is my bottle?!!? - in search of something dear...

Well, as the Monty Python gang would say:”Get on with it!!!” – I’m going to try and give you more details on this picture, where I saw one big bubble ready to burst and stain my screen with patriotic feelings, flags in the wind, grim determination, deaths and sacrifice for a better world. But for a better movie – sadly this is one of the worst examples in Chan’s career and I don’t get his recent obsession of standing next to party leaders and supporting them in whatever cause they might make proclamations to the public. The plot is quite straight forward and do not provides for any twists and surprises whatsoever – the path of Sun Yat-sen of preparing the world and China for the new revolution and that of Chan (playing on of his generals), on their quest for saturation of the audience with speeches, battle cries and ultimate “Revolution Wins!” sign at the end of the movie.

"...and there we were surrounded by three monstrous trolls..." oops wrong story

The whole plot was easy to follow (it even had a explanatory sequences after each long scene), the battles were tedious and unispiring, the emotions were only two kinds, the brave determination in eyes, and the loss of dear beloved people… All the characters were displayed as one-sided only, no other feelings were allowed but he above mentioned, the overall feel which dominated was that the Revolution is the GOOD and the rest who opposed were the BAD – choose your side and then Fight! (Round One). It was a pain to watch Jackie in his next drama role – he was way better as such character in Shinjuku Incident, Heart of Dragon, Crime Story even in recent Karate Kid, but here he is simply used as name to generate more interest and audience to see his 100^th movie (as the sign on the front says). The whole scenario was going quite plain and quite simple from the beginning, after short gun battle (which was pretty quick) I was introduced to boredom and cliché dialogues, from time to time a few battle scenes, Jackie rolling in dirt and yelling commands to the soldiers, and after several speeches of Dr. Sun the movie ended.

I guess there is no singing in the rain...

Oh – there was one 30 seconds action sequence with no relation to the main plot – Jackie simply throw some hands and legs towards imperial spies (not Stromtroopers) in a secluded place on board a ship and that’s it – why I was treated to such abomination I do not know. They should’ve been better without it. Let Jackie embarrassing himself without showing that he can put a 30 seconds fight into a utterly useless movie. It’s Pathethic… And I’m angry on myself for expecting something different here while the whole movie screams: I’m the Voltron of Propaganda – all who see me must obey!!! It’s completely forgettable experience for me and my brain – that was the only good thing about this movie at all.

The Empress and the Advisors - new remake

If you’re into history lessons and like any revolutions watch it, but otherwise stay away from it – it won’t broaden your sight or change your mind and implant great ideas for liberation of the poor and weak – leave that to the Communist party in China, they will free us all. At least they are better than the comrades in North Korea – we are talking serious business here. What else I can say for this movie – it is sad, it is heavy on drama, it is grand in ideas, it has Jackie Chan in it, but all of the above does not make it a good movie, not even close – I would rated as low as Fantasy Mission Force, The Prisoner, and most of Lo Wei’s early efforts with Jackie – 1911 will feel right at home there, believe me. I’m struggling to squeeze more impressions out of this film, but my brain is stuck already, there is nothing interesting about it, nothing significant happened in the course of the movie, Joan Chen is boring, Jackie is boring (and old), Dr. Sun was unable to bring any charisma on his quest for liberating the Chinese people, the battle scenes were trying to get in the vain of the other war movies, there wasn’t one single character I cared about, all was I praying to finish quickly and to spare my mind.

Another look upon the lost glory of The Forbidden city...

The thing is that I had to watch 1911 to the very end, where I knew what was going to happen, but was keeping a grind of hope inside me that someway, somehow all of a sudden I’ll see a light. In comparison “Bodyguards & Assassins” was light years ahead of this – it had more impulse, more energy, more interesting characters, more of everything, and even I was starting to sympathize to Dr. Sun when the killers were after him. Here I had to watch wooden performances by equally wooden characters, lead by a wooden script – lots of firewood to burn, let us all gather around the cozy fire place and sing together the Rain song like the Native Indians – it will sooth my sorrow and pain in the eyes inflicted by this so called movie proudly bearing the name and reputation of one J.Chan…

He found it, it is not a bottle, but close enough

The final judgement is clear from 100 miles – it is one of the worse movies I’ve ever seen in my life:

0.02/10

Near Death Experience for Jackie

2012-12-09T00:22:00.000+02:00

I’ll start this one with a quote from Markgway from one highly respected forum in Internet – “Remember when Jackie Chan movies used to be in Cantonese?” (All copyrights goes to Markgway). After this obvious attempt for copyright theft I’ll try to share my thoughts over one quite old and significant movie from Jackie’s filmography. Old, because it was made in 1986 and significant as this was a near death experience for poor, battered body of Jackie Chan.

Probably it changed Chan in certain way, however when I first saw it (on a schoolmate’s birthday party, where the most anticipated moment was watching bootlegs with old martial arts movies, while eating a traditional birthday cake and drinking lemonade – blissfully and unaware about most things happening around us) I didn’t pay enough attention to it, maybe because I was too busy with my piece of cake and cold fizzy lemonade – a feast which won’t be easily forgotten. But some scenes was already stuck in my mind and soul – the chase down the old streets of Dubrovnik (it is located in now present Croatia, then it was part of former Yugoslavia), Lola Forner showing off her shooting skills, the music piece performed by Alan Tam side-by-side with the capture of Rosamund Kwan character by monks with AK-47, Jackie in the final duel against 4 amazons (not like the latest batch).

Jackie sings

Months later, when I get acquainted with Five Superfighters I borrowed the Armour of God for second time and then I enjoyed it completely. For those who haven’t seen the movie here is a brief description of it – Jackie plays an adventurer called Asian Hawk, who search high and low for rare artifacts around the globe and then sell them for a good amount of money in auction houses. A real profit. Having such high class business must be real fun and Jackie gives one entertaining performance, which filled the movie with easy going atmosphere with distinct trademarks for Chan. But I was talking about the plot – I’m easily distracted when I have to speak for one of my favorite actors. Occupational hazards. Anyway, after Asian Hawk manages to steal an impressive sword from a tribe of uneducated African rednecks he puts it on sale and waits to reap the fruits of his labor. It happens that the same piece of craftsmanship is sought by a vicious society of so called monks, who are acting as multinational company with strict plans of supply and demand. We are talking serious retail skills.

"Did I missed, honey?" - Lola Forner in doubt with sniper

To get hold of the sword they kidnap one part of the love triangle in the movie Lorelei (Rosamund Kwan) – the other two being Alan Tam & Jackie in a brutal scene over the music accompaniment of some pop rock piece – quite suitable for the nature of the sequence. Soon after this Alan arrives to seek help form his friend, as now Lorelei is his fiancé and in the past it was with Asian Hawk, therefore he still holds an emotional connection and the game is on. They make a deal with a local wealthy man (Bozidar Smiljanic) to acquire the whole set of the so called Armour of God for him in return of his sponsorship and probably good will. After series of stunts and misunderstandings Jackie gets a hold of the precious artifacts, but only briefly as the whole place was destroyed due to careless usage of dynamite and fire. Bad luck at its finest. At the end the famous outtakes make a short glance at what appears to be the near fatal fall from the tree, resulting in serious skull trauma and permanent hole in Jackie’s head.

Mitsubishi Motors in action

In an interview on some documentary Jackie stated that he landed first on his back/hip and then on head, and this probably saved him from death or being paralyzed for the rest of his life. Always look on the bright side of life. I cannot say whether this incident change the way Chan looks upon the world, life and people around him, but for it would be quite scary to be so close to The Grim Reaper, hanging a scythe on your head, waiting to be forever in his kingdom. Only Jackie knows what came through his mind that time, and after the operation, sitting in his room with so many questions and not so many answers. It was really brave of his side to came back and finish the movie and when it’s not one of his masterpieces it certainly has a solid foundation and altogether a nice film with some nice action scenes and stunts. It hasn’t got a pure martial arts sequences, but it compensates with awesome visuals and impressive action choreography, maintaining one balanced flow from start to finish.

Lucky bastard...

The chase scene is nicely put and it was its own merits as standalone piece, where explosions and car crashes are edited together with good timing and rhythm. The Mitsubishi car was the hero there and when the Twin Turbo effect was not as impressive as it should be it deserves credit for handling each part of the sequence with admirable precision. Talking about big stunt scenes, the opening one is not with some qualities itself – Jackie (or a double) is jumping off some walls and rocks, sliding down a hill and escapes by small plane, it has a part reminiscent to Indiana Jones and Temple of Doom, where Dr. Jones was hiding behind big metal gong from Thompson bullets, but here Jackie uses a small cauldron to protects himself from incoming spears – some creativity despite the homage to the scene from Spielberg’s trilogy.

Ruuuun for your lives!!!! Leeeroyyy!!!!

After the slowing down in the middle section of the movie I ended up with great final battle situated in a cave, where the showdown between Jackie and the monks was real highlight and the double flip from the table was a marvel to watch (I’m not sure whether this was John Ladalski or Ken Boyle). It was even better staged than the fight against the amazons and therefore I enjoyed it immensely. And of course the free fall jump onto the balloon was a something that you don’t see in every movie, but to be honest as I was looking at the outtakes it seems to me that some of the scenes were accomplished on the ground instead of filming the whole stunt in the air, but I guess it’s all to director’s discretion. Which doesn’t mean that it was not impressive, it had certain impact and still holds a wow factor, although not as strong as it was the first or second time of viewing. The middle section was dragged a bit with comic bits and pieces, where Alan Tam was main entertainer, especially when they entered the monastery for the first time to rescue Lorelei. But Lola Forner is definitely a seducing girl even more than she was in Wheels on Meals, and here in the scene with Jackie I wouldn’t just leave with cheesy comment, but carrying her to the bed and please her in many ways instead. But I’d guess she had to go by the middle of the movie and leave the end to Jackie and Co.

I would certanly not having these in the kitchen...

And he managed to compensate for her MIA status by implementing all of his trademarks by the end of the movie and at one point I completely forgot that she was in the movie – guess that all the stunts and action was more important for me, and I’ve been thinking from time to time what would happened if Jackie got paralyzed or even died in that awful stunt gone wrong? The whole thought of this gives me shivers, however I think that martial arts movies would suffer a great loss indeed, not as big as the gap opened after Bruce Lee’s death, but at ’86 Jackie was still at his prime and delivered most of his best work to life. Why I’m trying to share my opinion over Jackie, while the article is about Armour of God? Because I want this article to not only be a simple review, but to include all my emotions over Chan as an actor, performer and person as well.

Boob Punch!!! A nice echo though

I remember when the second time around I watch this movie, I’ve already been hooked upon the mystery of martial arts technique in Five Superfighters, but as if I was looking about something, I was missing an important part of the picture and it all became clear – Jackie infused my obsession on a whole new level. I have to admit at first glance I was thrilled by seeing Armour of God, however after so many years watching martial arts movies, my taste refined and now I think that it wasn’t so great, it had a few down sides too – one being the tedious middle part, the not so comic Alan Tam, Rosamund Kwan & Lola Forner are there just for a brief, not truly developed in character and in a way they were simply like an extended cameos. The rhythm of the whole movie was uneven, jumping from amazing sequences to boring bits, on some occasions it was clear that Jackie got doubled (but I presume that was necessary due to the hospitalization of Chan himself), however the end fight was make it worth waiting for.

Jumping from cliffs 101

I’ve read that Cynthia Rothrock was about to fight Jackie for the grand finale, but she declined accepting more substantial role opposite Yuen Biao in “Righting Wrongs”. In both movies she was about to get killed, but it’s really up to her. The amazons does not provide real resistance towards Jackie and in some parts of the fight it was obvious that men were kicking and punching, which was hilarious as I was seeing some weird transgender show. Good thing that they were filmed from behind. In all Armour of God was a decent mixture of martial arts and action wise stunts, but it just missed some opportunities to become a true top fighting picture in Jackie’s filmography.

Behind the scenes - bloody edition...

The final score for it – I may be a bit harsh, being Jackie’s fan for more than 20 years – 7/10

Quick Punch: ancient beauty contest

2012-11-25T18:44:00.001+02:00

Another day, another movie, another review, which I wanted to be at least better than the previous entry, but alas – again I found underwater rock and my positive emotions sunk like Titanic, with even more casualties. The movie itself is produced by the legendary Jackie Chan, however here his name is not even enough to generate the needed impact on my martial arts movies feelings, due to numerous factors, which I’m going to explain further down. It’s epic in scale, grand in patriotic feel, and with the same weight it crashes flat on its back and cries lonely on the bottom of the vault for useless movies.

You can see by the title it manages to captivate the essence of the movie and what it’s all about. As you could guess it involves a clan of female characters (neatly explained in the introduction, via brief scenes emphasizing on each character’s strength), which are going to war in order to protect the last man in the house. The man is entitled by the Emperor of China to lead an army against and intruders to the Mainland, where we see the main bad guy – collaboration between odd acting and similar hair style. Poor thing.

The leg is important as to keep the flying in right direction

It appears that the last man in Yang clan is an ambitious young person, with suspicious spear skills and plenty of heroic stances and dialog. Struck by fear that the last male subject in the family could suffer the ill fate of his father (Richie Ren), who fell in battle protecting some part of China, all the rest of the family decide to join the army and you have about a 17 female characters (from all ages) showing off their powers on screen. Following them through deserts and caves we finally approach the end credits and then it’s all over. It was quick isn’t it?

The bad is his good mood today... and his horse too.

The filling between most of the battles is mostly sand and rocks, nothing particularly memorable or impressive – as if they had other than JC funding this project. It felt like a TV novel instead of big scale wu xia pien, maybe some of the money went for the special effects, but they were simply disappointing, maybe another part of the budget was spent on nice choreography, but in that department I saw the usual wires and no creativity, plus laughable edit and atrocious acting during these bits. It was playing heavily on the patriotic string, so popular amongst most of the recent Chinese productions, however I was not moved at all by the artificial emotions, wooden pose and tedious info dumps throughout the movie as the story unfolds – it supposed to be epic epicness of epic proportions, instead I received a lukewarm portion of something already chewed and recycled.

On your right - the Chariot on fire.

The whole drama was too heavy and it takes itself quite seriously besides one truly LOL-moment at the final battle. There were absurd situations, which I do not know if happened in real life, such as human bridge over precipice and it was well built to withstand the safe passing of almost all members if the clan, but I suppose that as females they were on a strict diet, so to make the scene accomplished. Then the final defeat of the bad guys was made possible by the simple use of black pepper, some stilts and few brooms – a typical housewife items when they are in the kitchen, so everything was in order.

The Human Centipede - chinese variation.

Somewhere in the middle of the story I witness a sweet family reunion and the future of the clan is no longer threatened, but it was made through a retrospection as Richie Ren’s character escapes the battlefield using a chariot which looked like an ancient version of James Bond car, including all the gadgets necessary for outsmarting bad guys on horses – really its worth the watch – it’s giving a run for its money on any Aston Martin/Lotus/Ford/BMW from the series about the famous spy. Apart from this happy occasion all the rest is bad enough to not stand even above the average rating in my book – the main problem is that it tries to present all the amazons within 90 minutes, but most of them died so quickly over the course of the movie that we barely managed to get knowing them little more detailed.

Oh well, this one goes into "No Comment" section.

The lion’s share of the acting is divided between Cecilia Cheung, Cheng Pei Pei, Liu Xiaoqing and Xiao Ming Yu – all the rest are like Chinese version of The Expendables, where I couldn’t care anymore how they died and for what purpose. The most entertaining bit was at the end when the outtakes are seen and it was pure gold to watch how the actresses are thrown on the ground and then learn that filming a JC production comes with bruises and pain, not just glamour and Miss Beauty Pigeon contest. The martial arts choreography is mostly with weapons and hand-to-hand combat is very difficult to find, but I suppose that they tried to be true to the source instead of using some elaborate sequences to keep the fans excited.

The Birds has left the Nest, awating further instructions...

Production values – poor, martial arts – weak, characters development – ridiculous, story arc – ruined, level of patriotism achieved – over 9000. All the element gone wrong here for me, and I think that JC should remove his logo at the beginning of the movie, not to be ashamed of what other people done with his money…

Final cut: 2.5/10 (for the overall female presence)

Quick punch: flesh and bullets...

2012-11-15T15:18:00.000+02:00

A long time ago I saw a movie involving chicks with guns, and all I remember was the odd looking shattering glass all over the place. It wasn’t so bad as a martial arts movie or as action wise, however it was nothing above average. Nice stunts, good choreography and some fine looking women – Shu Qi, Karen Mok & Wei Zhao. Corey Yen was there as a director and I strongly suspect that he was involved in the martial arts department too. Why am I explaining this to you, and what relation has with the title reviewed here – all is revealed further down.

As the title suggests it will feature almost naked people who particularly likes to fight in different ways and with different tools of mass destruction. The premise is simple enough, not to distract you from the action, but I have to mention it there in order to get acquainted with the main characters. The big name of legendary Sammo Hung is on the top of the list here, showing that at this age he still can pull something out of his pocket in relation to martial arts scenes.

Sammo is cooking - Chef's knuckles

He plays police inspector who manages to capture a big shipment of any drugs, thus earning respect from his colleagues and the hatred of the criminal organization behind the shipment. As it usually happens they storm his place, killing all in sight and taking Sammo Hung’s little daughter for medical treatment, close to brainwashing, so it can later becomes a ruthless killer with nice breasts and legs. Sammo teams up with pair of Interpol investigators (Timmy Hung & Andy On) in order to bring down the criminal organization for good. Well you know the rest – the good beat the shit out of the bad and Sammo has his daughter back with full capacity of memory. Happy ending is in order.

Beauty x3 - ok, maybe only x2

Along this family reunion a few fighting scenes emerge, so to keep our interest at certain level, however after the second view it all felt flat and boring. I didn’t saw anything out of the ordinary, the usual jumps and punches, with occasional wire work and short cuts. Corey Yen & Yuen Tak are taking care of the martial arts choreography and they tried to keep it at average level throughout the film, without presenting any out-of-the-box creativity. Guess the money were mostly spent on horrifying special effects such as broken glasses and windows, which are laughable and it should be better off without them.

Too much to drink?

And probably some part of the budget was gone for transforming Luxia Jiang’s tan and outlook as man. At first I wasn’t able to recognize her, few minutes later I saw some bulks in front and it came to me that it was a female fighter. Poor, poor Luxia Jiang – what have you done with your personality – yes she has some rough look, but in Vampire Warriors she was pretty acceptable with her long hair and tight wear. Here she looks simply ridiculous and despite some nice leg work it has nothing else to show.

The guy is the woman, the girl is the man - what a relationship

Jennifer Tse is the main killer here and the lost daughter of Sammo Hung, but she does not fit in the term “assassin” completely, as it obviously has her mostly on wires and all the good side of hers was smile and face – the rest is forgotten. Andy On is here as another pretty face in, but he is not fighting as I was expected, besides a brief 1on1 showdown with Sammo at the beginning. Later on he falls in love with Phoenix (Jennifer Tse) and everything is only sugar and spice and all things nice…

My name is Wong... Anthony Wong

There is one big final fight where the quantity was more than the quality, but hey at least they thrown a good 20 minutes of wirework, average fighting and Sammo Hung vs. Anthony Wong – the finishing move was something taken out of WWF and it reminds me of Rikishi style. But it was at least funny… The rest is quickly erased from my mind, as to make room for more substantial movies to remember.

HEADBUTT!!! In your faceeee!

If you liked So close you’d probably like this one too, but for me it has nothing above the average in the genre, hence the final judgement:

4/10 (for Sammo’s presence and some not so bad scenes)

The Four - a mixture of something...

2012-10-19T12:17:00.002+03:00

Significant portions of my days now are being taken by sleeping, eating and watching movies, however due to the fact that I'm a father of a 4 years old daughter, these movies are far from the martial arts universe (well, except Ninja in the Dragon's den, Kung Fu Hustle & Drunken Master), therefore I wasn't much present here to write something really inspiring. But after watching the last movie I thought to break my stiffness and deliver another review in style. Now I'm boasting myself, but that's only temporary event. So how come the title suggest one thing and in reality is happened to be another? Answers follow up - please feel free to read.

The title probably reveals it all, but to me it was holding some mistery and interest, and again on trailer level was holding a specific charm, which even I can not describe at the moment. Maybe later. If I have to be brief in explaining the movie in two words only - odd movie. But as I'm not writing a column in some newspaper dedicated to the movies this week, I'll be more detailed and will try to explain the feelings which rose iside me while watching it. In general the story is about a special investigating department assigned by the Emperor, which investigates (naturally) cases with very high importance to the Royal Court - on this ocassion we have fake money printing (or crafted). The beginning was quite interesting, where we see the main characters and their special powers on display, although some of them revealed more complex personality throughout the entire development of the plot.

Why does the bad guys always wear the best garments?

We have one character who can command various objects to float in the air, another who can make really firm grip with his hands, a third who is into deep defence and utilise a sort of Shell/Protect enchantment (such as one of the later spells in FFX) when fighting. A fourth is like morphing itself into somethign resembling a wolf or hyena (it was hard to tell form the dark angle) and goes Berserk when attacked. The other two with powers are the chief of the department, which powers are never fully shown on a big scale (probably he is quite modest and shy guy) and the other is the main bad guy, who is a refrigerator and an oven at the same time - interesting combination, which could find application in any big Tesco, Wallmart or Carrefour.

All bow before the Emperial power - you show them Mr. Wong!

Apparently the bad guy is plotting something quite evil and the initial plan of making fake money is a screen for his master consipration which include an army of undead people. Mr. Vampire to the rescue! It was interesting to see the way these moving bodies work, and it made me feel nostalgic when I saw the needles stuck in their skulls, which was first shown to me when I was watching Magic Cop with the late great Lam Ching Ying. The scene in the hospital where our heroes were fighting a moving body with bodybuilding structure was both hillarious and entertaining. But let's not dwell on the past, but examine the present as there is another movie with similar twists laying in front of me. But it was still a nice touch though. To some of the scenes there were a faint steam punk flavour, although it was strange for me how in the ancient China one could have made a battery for wheelchair, but I guess it's part of the whole special powers agenda here.

Nice colours and flashy effects are in place.

The whole action was passing pretty quickly in fornt of my eyes and I thought it was a bit rushed at some point, I do not know why, just the thing were happening way to quickly and all the sub-plots just come and go in a few brief scenes. Later on after a small research I found that the whole movie was based on a series - that's why it felt as something put in between a new season of the series and not as complete movie afterall. Yes, there were some interesting characters in it, but some of their features were unexplained or just left hanging in the mid-air like leaves frozen by Sub Zero's touch. It wasn't taken time in putting more substance and detail to the characters, maybe just the one of Liu Yufei's Emotionless was a bit more full bodied and vivid than the rest.

Our lovely duo in a love story - so much sugar it would melt your teeth.

Antony Wong is very charismatic as the chief of the department and has some dignity and respect flown in his character, but I wanted to see him in action, rather than standing aside and acting like a support mage. Colin Chou is showing off his martial arts skills again, and has one quite dynamic scene with Ronald Chang's character when storming the undead army, trying to protect the prince. A combination between well made special effects and nice choreography is always a cool touch to any movie. Some scenes again was meant to be present in 3D for the audience, but they weren't as bad as those in New Swords of Dragon Gate, so I'll leave them unattended. But something was missing, something was wrong wit hthe whole pace of the movie and the scenes connected in it was somehow bit loose, scattered peices of images and actions, which all felt disconnected. It was based on a television series, but this doesn't mean that it has to look like an unfinished story of the same universe, but more like a whole breathing movie of itself. In my opinion it should be made as entirely new approach to the story which won't leave people not acquainted with the original parts a little disoriented or confused (as in my case).

Coldblood is ready to recite his favourite poem.

Definitely it would be a shame if they didin't construct a love story to go by here, but at one point I was trying to follow 3 separate romantic tentacles, which left me cross eyed and from one scene onwards I just stopped paying attention. Being part adventure, part love story and part wuxia pian all the elaborate movements by our heroes were as usual shown as compulsory flying on roofs or any surface - this was laughable and out of place for me, ok put the damn wires on, but don't exaggerate it to a point where people can fly get a whole new meaning, not as the one portrayed in the cult trance hit from Astral Projection. Although there was some nice panoramic overhead shots, which compensated a bit the negative side of flight attendants involving in this movie. Some unnecessary scenes were thrown here and there, but they were in the vein of erotic Cat III movie instead to add something substantial to the plot or character development.

Happy people, all over the world are celebrating...

The bad guy could be more mysterious instead of being revealed in the middle of the movie, it reminds me of Robert van Gulik's novels on Judge Dee for the infamous cat and mouse game in which we all knew how it would end. This movie was trying to be several things at once, but on few departments just went short of time, and probably budget to fully present it to the audience. It has its pros and cons, but after the end I was left more puzzled than in the beginning, thus my final judgement is right in the middle which reflects my entire opinion on the movie, and you may ask why I've said The Seven in the title? Well the seventh being me writing this review as my special power is to connect some words into article for the attention of all my readers.

Nice try indeed, but it should have been more strong.

5.5/10

Greetings from The Grim Reaper

B-movie? Nah, it's more like F+ to me...

2012-09-14T12:04:00.000+03:00

In history of martial arts movies many titles were close to the definition "bad", but only few made it into Hall of Fame, being the cream of the top in worse to awuful filmmaking. Unfortunately such underwater mines can't be detected by simply watching the trailer, so you just have to sit and "enjoy" the full length of medieval acting, combined with lousy production values, ugly actors, plot as simple as drawing a line and last but not least - unique blend of idiotic martial arts choreography only surpassed by the idiotic dialog.
This is something tough to achieve, even in the martial arts department, however the movie reviewed here managed to complete all of the above 100%. A rare gem indeed.

The title could be misleading tough - just look at it: Fist of Dragon, two words which can raise any fan's interest (and mine too), as on trailer level it looked decent, I thought to find it and give it a chance. The chance was given alright, but after the 90 minutes of pain I simply wanted to take my brain out and put it to rest. And also my eyes... Shall I describe the plot...well I'll try to make it, but I do not know where to begin.

Ok, at first I witness a scene almost taken from the beginning of "City of Violence" - some bad guys are chasing down a couple through dirty, dark streets and it ends up in beating the male subject to death in front of one of the main characters in the movies - an old and odd looking person, who seemed to have been taken out of some Saturday morning cartoon. In a bad sence. Then we get to know our good guy - a young fellow who is in a fight with another one, where I was supposed to be amazed by the incredible choregraphy, but it was a bit scattered for my personal taste. The firts impression is good to be nice, however here I was left being uncertain what should come next. It took me less than 10 minutes to understand what has came next - another retarded movie upon which I can write my negative review.

Even Michael Chuah is confused...

But first things first - as it happens, our good guy Jie (Michael Chuah) is set to help his uncle in his quarrels with local gangsters (teen gangsters to be precise), and so we have our main plot foundation. Upon arrival the hero gets a opportunity to handle one extremely stupid "leader" and his mates in usual duel of fists and kicks, thus getting the teens angry and I could predict that they'll be back for more in greater numbers. I guessed it right - then follows an alley fight, where our hero served the bad guys a meal of bare knuckles and frsh kicks, with a slight pinch of undercranking and bad editing. Mmmmm tasty isn't it...

A glimpse of the alley fight - nice buttocks Michael.

The whole scene was constructed as a crowd sitting in front of doctor's office - one by one the people were attacking and all that the hero could add is just yelling: Next! after he is done with the previous patient. It was laughable and poorly executed - 20 guys surrounded Jie, swinging metal pipes and bamboo staffs around, but not attacking until he knocks out one of them on the gorund and then another is on the line to be kicked. Probably it is some warrior's code, where you are not allowed to handicap a fight and have to patiently wait your turn. Interesting, but totally inapropriate if you want to add a bit of realism into the movie (any movie that is).

The Three idiots and their leader.

Soon after tedious fighting I was introduced by the main bad guy, which was clearly showing his skills in "Jacket on/jacket off", and believe it or not he beats up Jie and by some wicked grins showing he is mentally disabled, the show is over. After this scene I was expecting that Jie will find a secret technique or style to counter attack, but he just went of somewhere as MIA or as Tony Jaa disappearing from the set of Ong Bak 2 and headed to the jungle for meditation. Well until the return of our hero I witness a conspiracy being unveiled as the bad guys were conducting some kind of experiments with human beings turning them into a zombie looking species - I really lost it completely at that point.

The only sweet thing here - the rest is salty and sour...

The conspiracy was discovered by the daughter of Uncle Chen and the love interest of Jie - nice looking girl named Xiao Qing (the only good thing about this movie infact) and as you can guess these girls are in grave danger (actually it was barrel danger) and had to be saved by our returning hero Jie, who was wandering aimlessly until the final fight with the retard. The final fight is introducing the same bad editing, undercranking, boring moves, crappy close ups and new flavour - adding a wires, which didn't helped at all, it just makes thing even worse, especially for the finshing move of Jie when he sent the bad guy sky high by simply punching him in the ribs. What an intense fighting, what a brilliant performance...not.

The finishing move - it looks worse on screen...

At the end all is good, everybody is happy and the film goes straight to the garbage bin by my standards. Ok you want to create a B-movie, do it properly - the whole set was having a television play flavour, all the action and acting was performed on one street probably with a different props, most of the light was from a street lamps, pathetic dialogue, over-the-top mimics and grins, yells, strike-a-pose gestures, as I was in some preparations for the new Lady Gaga video. The production is obviously cheap - I do not know if Singapore/Malaysia companies should give money to do such idiotic piece of turd, but it's their money and it was money spent unwisely in my opinion. The movie is straightforward
plot is stupid, choreography sucks big time (I thought to give it a chance after the first fight), characters are so unrealistic and unconvincing that it was painful to watch them pull some sort of emotion.

When you see it... I already did...

Michael Chuah is trying to be a fighter, but it take a lot of charisma and skills to get ot the top as a newcomer, but with his face looked like someone slapped him with a shovel, he is not even remotely presentable. He is using same moves over and over again, punch and kicks were having no impact on target, nothing as powerful or impressive, on one ocassion I just saw how he hold the punch and just lightly touched the chin of the opponent. Simply disturbing. The Fist & Dragon were not getting along good this time. Instead they have to hide and not show up until the Chinese New Year. And Michael Chuah should go and work over his martial arts skills, as he has done plenty of damage to the genre and now it is time to rest and watch how this thing is executed by Iko Uwais, Wu Jing, Tony Jaa & Jeeja Yannin as newcomers. You just hit the wrong door mate.

The bad guy in his Jacket On mode.

I'm surprised that this movie is worse than Choy Li Fut/The Sorcerer and White Snake combined and this is something. As you can expect my final judgement is negative and it is no more than:

0.3/10

Simply stay away from this movie, unless you want to have brain damage and thoughts of blinding yourself - it is THAT bad...

The Grim Reaper

A dream came true - my trip to China

2012-09-01T15:07:00.001+03:00

To all my foreign readers - regretfully I must put this next article in Bulgarian language only, as my vocabulary is not capable of expressing my emotions on such large scale, maybe in future I'll manage to contemplate an English version of it. Part of this exists here under the title "Once upon a time in Foshan". Accept my sincere apologies.

Bulgarian version

Първо бих искал да спомена, че мечтата ми да отида в Китай се зароди някъде около 15-та ми годишнина (когато пък прохождах в света на филмите с бойни изкуства) и когато 2007 ми предложиха да работя там едва не ударих главата си в тавана на офиса от радост, изумление и прочие колоритни емоции, съпътстващи такова предложение.


На китайска сватба - исках да кумувам, но вместо това хванах жартиера.

За жалост нещата не се развиха по позитивен начин и си останах само с този един месец, впоследствие компанията, която искаше да работя за тях фалира и целия балон се спука. Както и да е - нека не се отплесвам, а да представя подробности около това пътешествие.

Поради факта, че в последния момент трябваше да си вадя виза за пътуване (висях около 8 часа пред посолството в София), се наложи и смяна на полетите - от София до Мюнхен, после до Франкфурт и оттам до Гуанджоу (главен град на провинция Гуандун) или по-известен с името Кантон или Градът на Петте овена.
Пътуването от Франкфурт до Гуанджоу отне 12 часа от живота ми и добре, че когато набрахме оптимална височина вече можех да се търкалям на воля из самолета, който беше претъпкан със семейства с малки деца и в тоалетните започна едно сменяне на памперси - ум да ти зайде.
Когато кацнахме на летището видях пропорциите и мащабите между БГ и Китай - там всичко беше в пъти по-голямо от тук, летището беше на няколко етажа, отвсякъде имаше разни ескалатори и стълбища и всички хора се юрваха нанякъде като стадо хлебарки подгонени от Райд.

Оправихме се в този лабиринт и тръгнахем да дирим такси до града където щяхме реално да бъдем - FoShan (Фасан (кантонско наречие) ФоШън - не знам дали е точно така произношението на Мандарин - китаистите във форума да кажат тежката си дума), който се намира съвсем близо до Гуанджоу и е с население от 5 300 000 - малък град, както ни го описа брокерката, с която сключихме договор за офис под наем.
Той почти колкото БГ, но по тяхните стандарти е явно от малките. По тъмно пристигнахме в един от 5 звездните хотели там Fortuna и доста смазани от пътуването се залепих за леглото - по-точно малко след като заснех първия материал от нощен Фошан (между другото този град е една от люлките на повечето майстори по бойни изкуства в Китай от близкото минало и града има традиции в това отношение).

На сутринта се заех с опознаването на околността и на дневна светлина видях други форми и цветове от пейзажа - първо самия хотел се намираше доста далеч от центъра на града, но близо до индустриалната им зона и по-точно до всички складове за мебели и обзавеждане - целта на пребиваването ни беше във връзка с най-големия Изложбен Търговски Панаир в света - Canton Fair, който се провежда два пъти в годината - през Април и през Октомври на площ от 100 000 кв. м. се разпростират изложбени стаи предлагащи стоки и материали от хоросан до хартиени тапети за прозорци.

В ролята на пилон, липсваше ми българското знаме.

Самият панаир се разделяше на две нива - първата седмица стоки за индустрията и строителството - бар, киреч, цимент, машини, стругове, фрези, автомобили, трактори, багери и прочие, после една седмица почивка и ново зареждане на стоки за бита - от дивани и столове до тоалетни чинии и картофобелачки.
Наистина богат избор за всякакъв вид търсене и нужди - на всеки потенциален купувач бе даден специална карта и трябваше да платим входна такса от 100 юана (около 20 лв), а само на откриването имаше може би над 100 000 души (по информация от местните медии), което е една солидна печалба за бизнеса.

Но преди този момент с панаира аз бях в Мемориалния Комплекс на майстора Wong Fei Hung - една от най-почитаните личности от близкото минало на Китай и герой от над 300 филма с участието на различни звезди от жанра.

По този повод се въоръжих с камерата си и заснех моето ходене по стълбите и етажите на този комплекс, който е бил реставриран в пълния си блясък и съдържа в себе си историята на този голям човек, заедно с малка кула на барабана, параклис, езерце с костенурки (орк. Каменци - Костенурка) и масивна каменна статуя на змия върху гърба на костенурка - ако успееш да хвърлиш монета във вътрешността на навитата на кълбо змия, се считаше че желанието ти ще се изпълни - та вместо да целя беззащитните костенурки се опитах да се кoнцентрирам върху метателните способности на ръката ми.
И за мое учудване успях, докато си пожелавах нещо наистина важно за мен. Самия комплекс е бил част от жилищния ансамбъл където се е помещавало домакинството на Уон Фей Хун и имаше даже малка площ за тренировки, където сега имаше танц с лъвове.

Опрян на коляното на майстора.

На втория етаж на една от сградите имаше кино зала, където прожектираха ами какво друго - филми с героя на Фей Хун и за малко да се изкуша да вляза и да остана, понеже даваха мой любим филм - Once upon a time in China 2.
Надмогнах изкушението и продължих да обикалям като хипнотизиран из стаите, заличките и накрая се спрях до статуята на самия майстор в уголемен размер и се увековечих подпрян на коляното му.
След тази разходка до мястото на човека, който само съм гледал на филми бях решен да остана тук, колкото мога по-дълго.

Та след като си напълних очите (и си взех едно сувенирче за спомен - китайския знак от зодиака под който аз съм роден с елемент Земя) се отправихме в търсене на офис за бъдещия бизнес - открихме свободен апартамент на 41-я етаж в най-високата сграда в центъра на града, която започваше с Бай и нататък ми се губи.
Брокерката се оказа една доста привлекателна девойка с малко слаби познания на английски, но ние като едни вещи лица в жестомимичния превод се оправихме с езиковата бариера.

Интересното беше, че моя колега всички девойки ги караше на Минке/Жечке подхода, който на мен ми беше страшно забавен и нямаше момента да не избухна в смях от такива негови изказвания. платихме офиса за няколко месеца напред и се заехме да изучаваме местните ресторанти - понеже първата седмица бяхме в хотел Фортуна, нямаше възможност за много обикаляне, но после се преместихме в Golden Lake почти на центъра и спокойно се шляехме с ръцете в джобовете по улиците и обръщахме внимание на всеки детайл, особено женските.
За първата вечер в новия хотел (който предлагаше и безплатен автобус до Панаира) отидохме в ресторанта им - там май бяхме единствените посетители от чуждоземен произход и направо ми стана съвестно като видях колко обслужващ персонал се впрегна да ни сервира и отсервира - цели 5 девойки в еднакви носии ни обградоха и синхрона между тях беше идеален.

Две девойки ни наляха чай, други две дадоха менюто и последната ни зареди прибори, после една от тях се върна за питиетата (бира Tsing Tao, може би най-вкусната бира която съм пил някога), а две за да вземат поръчката ни за вечерта и после се наредиха и петте да ни гледат сеира.
Поръчах си пилешко в сладко-кисел сос и оризови спагети с три вида месо и разликата между тези в нашенските китайски ресторанти и там е огромна - имаха напълно различен вкус и вид. Хапнах предоволно, но трябваше да питам допълнително за хляб, че хич не им се даваше май. Българска му работа.

Колегата взе да им вика (след третата бира) на някои от девойките да седнат при нас, ама на български, а те милите само се усмихваха (и сигурно са ни нареждали наум) и толкова - като видя, че този вариант не върши работа ме накара да използвам ограничения си запас от китайски думички и да я поканя да седне при нас.
След моето предложение, момичето се изчерви като божур и ожесточене заръкомаха, с една такава широка усмивка. Колко ли ни е псувала наум - доста, според моите представи.

В двора на клиниката Po Chi Lam

В следващите няколко дни извършихме подготовка за свободното време - купихме си комплект за бадминтон и набелязахме евтини ресторантчета в района около хотела.
Имаше два един до друг, но в първия видях някакъв мазен готвач с изцапана престилка да си бърка в носа и никакви клиенти, доакто втория се пукаше по шевовете от посетители и мириеше значително по-приятно. Не сбъркахме в избора си - уютна обстановка, хубава манджа и бира - какво повече му трябва на човек?
Но след няколко дена прекарани в тази обстановка на колегата му писна от китайски гозби и реши да потърси нещо по-интересно - намерихме го на една пресечка от главанта улица, почти европейски стил на интериора, но предлагаха предимно пици, спагети и други италиански ястия, освен това можеше да се пуши вътре.
Една порция спагети беше около 17 юана, което прави около 3 лева в наши пари, а това заведение се водеше от снобските - явно сме се причислили към каймака на обществото там.

Средната работна заплата тогава във Фошан беше около 700 юана, и си мисля ,че тези 17 юана за някои прослойки са висока цена за вечеря в подобно заведение. Никога обаче няма да забравя лицето на колегата събрало в себе си толкова щастие и радост, доакто отпиваше блаженно от бирата и издухваше дима от цигарата си - край нас младежи играеха WoW на разни лаптопчета, вървяха някакви разговори, а ние се наслаждавахме на храната и си говорехме за утрешния ден.
А когато той дойде се отправихме в близкия парк зад хотела, където си спретнахме супер игра на бадминтон, изгубихме 2 перца, скъсахме трето, събрахме зяпачи и зяпачки, които даже пляскаха при някой особено трудно отиграване или плонжиране в тревата след неуспешен опит за връщане на трудното перце.

Кеф на квадрат.

На втория етаж - вдясно се намира киното.

След турнира по бадминтон, започнахме да се готвим за предстоящото откриване на панаира и затова се разходихме из местните магазини за дрехи и всякакви други атрибути към външния вид, за да блеснем с облекла по модата.
Имаше толкова много малки, големи и по-големи представители на висшата мода, че по едно време ми се зави свят от обикаляне - и навсякъде малки китайки с усмихнати лица се надпреварват да ти предлагат различни модели и марки.

Повечето стоки бяха Made in China демек оригинални такива правени за вътрешния им пазар и след няколкочасово ходене си харесах един панталон, риза и чифт обувки, с които се пренесох в тъмните цветове и се трансформирах в купувач на дивани, плочки, столове и прочие джунджурии - това беше обзавеждането и вътрешното оформление на едни от сградите в комплекса, където работех в БГ. Обувките струваха 500 юана (100 лв.) и мога да кажа, че за китайски обувки са доста издръжливи - още ги нося и даже с тях работя на летището, понеже са меки, леки и много удобни - евалата за качеството. Панталона и ризата също се оказаха от здрава материя и въпреки, че малко избеля цвета на панталона, когато ми се наложи да изглеждам casual smart (ама само да изглеждам, щото иначе съм си простак през повечето време) се докарвам за съответния случай.

Така че, има китайско и китайско - това което видях като продукция за вътрешния им пазар не отстъпва на големите марки в индустрията по нищо - вярно има и много плява сред марките, но повечето магазини залагаха на качествените стоки и то на напълно приемливи цени. За пример ще дам една политика на повечето магазини за дрехи - в началото на престоя ми видях едно яке от Гортекс материал, с доста впечатляващо издържане на воден стълб, с модерна кройка, джобове за различни функции, с дебела подплата и качулка за 500 юана, след една седмица беше намалено на 350, след още една седмица на 150, и послените няколко дена го продаваха между цени от 50-75 юана.

Стана ми интересно и попитах един от продавачите защо го правят - той ми обясни, че с това прогресивно намаление на цените и въпреки, че продават последните бройки на очевидна загуба, всяка една социална прослойка ще може да си позволи качественото яке, вярно че бяха останали не повече от 3-4 бройки от този артикул, но все пак това е доста интересна търговска политика.
Всяка седмица имаше тотални разпродажби на стари колекции и там цените бяха повече от символични - 3 чифта чорапи за 5-10 юана, фланелки по 10 юана, къси гащи по 10 юана и прочие оферти. Интересен беше и подхода към нас като чужденци - във всеки магазин имаше въртящи погледи към нас и приглушено шушукане съчетано със смях - може да сме им се сторили по някакъв начин забавни, даже на улицата някакви младежи ни спряха и искаха да се снимат с нас - като музеен експонат се почувствах.

Та в един от тези магазини лично аз бях наобиколен от 4 девойки, докато си търсех риза (не съм изключително красива личност и малко се посмутих от това внимание) и когато взеха да ме питат дали си имам приятелка, им показах брачната халка и те в един глас: "Аааааааааа" и после през смях ми пожелаха Kung Hei (в Кантонския диалект това е обичаен поздрав към човек, когато е имал някакъв повод - пожеланието за Нова Година е - kung hei fat choy) в един глас.
Много се смях тогава - изобщо в магазините им попадах на такива образи и личности, в един друг се спряхме да потърсим пуловери за колегата и докато по колоните звучеше някакъв комерс, единият от продавачите каза нещо на другия и след малко оттам прозвуча песента от филма "Shaolin Soccer", която Стивън Чоу и аверчето му пееха пред аудиторията в бара - направо се сгънах от смях, като я чух и даже взех да си припявам.

В близък план се виждат искрите на задоволство.

През деня обикаляхме улиците, през вечерта се прибирахме в стаята и се отдавахме на алкохолни вечери - още повече, че брат ми имаше имен ден, а майка ми рожден ден през този период в Китай - напихме се подобаващо с колегата Тошко и ми беше супер. Една вечер се прибирахме малко по-късно към хотела и по улиците беше пълно с разни амбулантни търговци, опънали една рогозка на плочките и предлагайки какво ли не. За скромната цена от 10 юана колегата си взе целия трети сезон на Изгубени, DVD version, който впоследствие изгледахме и този сериал така и не ме впечатли.

Така неусетно се приближи деня за откриване на панаира - стегнахме чантичките, метнахме се на безплатния трансфер до мястото на изложбените площи и потеглихме...

Така, пътуването между двата града (които съвсем наскоро разбрах че са се обединили и сега са под общото име Guangfo), отне някъде около час при положение, че се намираха на не повече от 10 километра един от друг - минавахме през плетеница от мостове, детелини и магистрали, докато стигнем до комплекса - те всъщност бяха 2 - Liuhua & Pazhou, единият се намираше в центъра на града, близо до университета на СУн Ят Сен, другия на брега на Перлената река (толкова е замърсена, че наистина има цвят на перли) под формата на риба като се погледне напречното сечение на сградата - Ю на китайски означава риба, но със същото произношение е и йероглифа Ю, който пък от своя страна означава изобилие - добро съчетание на думи.

Докато влезем имаше малко хамалогия, входни такси и обработка на документи за издаване на карта и после като влязохме се втрещих - хора, хора, хора, различни щандове, сектори, машини, съоръжения, плочки, фаясни, теракоти, гранитогрес, цимент, вар, киреч, инструменти, строителни материали и навсякъде народ, глъчка, разговори, пазарене, даване на визитки и други дейности съпътстващи бизнес делата.
Първоначално тръгнахме да обикаляме всеки щанд, но е бяха толкова много, че за един ден не успяхме да ги видим - наложи се да идваме три дена поред за да разгледаме всичко - а то не беше малко, имахме един списък със задачи и вървяхме като в супермаркет сред щандовете.

Намерихме каквото ни трябваше, но след дълги разходки из целия комплекс, в самите изложбени площи нещата бяха добре организирани, обаче вън от тях имаше още толкова щандове, под бели тенти, където бяха структурирани малко по-хаотично и ни отне малко повече време да намерим това, което търсим - естествено на цената на доста типично нашенски изрази към организаторите и даже участниците. Българска му работа.
Имаше едни китайчета полицаи, които стояха на всеки вход и изход на панаирния комплекс и тез ихора май бяха роботи - стояха в една стойка по 8 часа и после се сменяха - сякаш бяха командвани с дистанционно. Роботчета-китайчета - we're fucked.

Тежка работа, но някой трябва да я свърши.

Другия изложбен комплекс се помещаваше в една по-стара сграда и там пък беше мазало по отношение на различните щандове - от единият етаж се бухнеш на друг, картата беше абсолютно безполезна, лутахме се като богомолки без глави и псувахме архитекта и помощниците му до девето коляно. Общо взето голямо нареждане падна.
След изморителните пътувания до панаира и обратно имахме почивка една седмица, докато заредят новите щандове и през това врме издирвахме адресите на хората дали ни визитни картички из целия Гуанджоу - въртяхме таксита, щурахме се по разни улички и кръстовища, гледах как край нас реве стълпотворение от автомобили, моторчета и разни колела, натруфени като великденски яйца, с разни кошници и пакети. Мравки в действие.

Имаше красиви жилищни комплекси, съчетани с архитектурни забележителности, и старинни сгради, навсякъде се строеше с уникално бързи темпове и всички такива обекти бяха обгърнати с бамбуково скеле и зелени мрежи - но странно нямаше прахоляк никъде по улиците.
За сметка на това влажността и замърсения въздух компенсираха картинката - малки дечица с маски на лицата прекосяваха по обяд кръстовищата, а около тях се вихреше такава симфония от ръмжащи автобуси, пърпорещи моторчета и дрънчащи колела на вечно забързани люде.
Аз на втората минута бях със залепнала тениска по тялото, която очертаваше остро не-културистичните елементи, като стърчащи кокали и настръхнали зърна...

Споменах натовареното движение по техните пътища, в сравнение с нашата столица - тя изглежда като процесия от католически богомолци на поклонение пред папата - в Китай няма такова нещо, при сигнал червено всичко се юрва в различни посоки, а при зелено - само половината и се налага да прибягваш като дивеч пред хайка, докато стигнеш до заветния тротоар, където те чакат мърляви китайци, качени на стари моторчета - умалена версия на нашите таксита.
Хубавото е, че с таксиметровите шофьори можеш да се пазариш на воля, от предния хотел до центъра на града беше около 8 километра, тръгнахме да търсим подходящо такси и от близките храсти изскочи едно човече метър и 50, което разпалено все да ни обяснява предимствата на своето превозно средство, но цената хич не удовлетвори колегата Тошко и отказахме да се возим, упорития китаец не спря дотам - даде две крачки назад и скочи показвайки с пръсти колко ще вземе този път - за 30 юана (някъде около 6 лв), човека ни прекара през всевъзможни улици и ни спря точно до главната сграда.

Без никакви въпроси и пререкания - мил човечец - обикновено всички таксита стояха на групички от по 10 коли, всички в зелен цвят и без стикери на фирми, но там се борят за всеки клиент и този с най-добра крайна цена печели - просто и ефикасно.

Ухилен до уши сред зеленина и декорации - зад мен е входа на панаира.

И предупреждение към всички ентусиасти, забелязали кокетни триколки със закрит салон за сядане - не се качвайте на такова нещо, няма никакви амортисьори и седите на твърдо дърво за седалка, по едно време имах чувството, че топките ми са тръгнали да се качват някъде към сливиците, а всички камъни в бъбреците всеки момент можех да изпикая - това чудо на автомобилостроенето друса по-зле от това да ми бяха вързали за задника хидравличен трамбовчик на асфалт...

Повече не повторихме, имах да лекувам остри травми в кръста.

Чувството на остър дискомфорт изчезна чак след 5-та бира Чин Тао и колегата на място констатира, че това преживяване го е разтърсило до основи...

Продължихме с обиколката на знайни и незнайни места из Гуанджоу, търсейки адресите на евентуалните продавачи, опознахме бързия начин на придвижване между светофарите и после се върнахме до Фошан за да направим равносметка от обиколката - две кърпи от бамбук/памук, един килограм визитки и много каталози на различни фирмички.
Като цяло Гуанджоу ми беше няколко идеи по-шумен от Фошан, и главата ми бучеше доста след като се бяхме върнали, но една игра на федербал оправи нещата.
На следващия ден отидохме до един от партньорите на строителната компания, който предлагаше фаянс и всевъзможни артикули от плочкената индустрия и очаквах дребен китаец с припрян говор, но се оказа висок колкото мен човек с едни такива живи очи (или може би бляскаха от бъдещите приходи в наше лице), който се представи като Анди и беше чуден домакин - разведе ни из офиса и ни показа пълното портфолио на компанията Sincere Ceramics (ако не бъркам), много приказваше, но ни даде полезна информация за всеки един продукт към който проявихме интерес.

Взехме няколко мостри и се завърнахме в хотела за да обмислим цялата информация над няколко бутилки бира.

Тройка кебапчета без гарнитура.

След посещението на офиса на Анди направих първото си самостоятелно посещение на панаира - колегата реши да си поспи този път и да ме пусне по течението на ленивата Жълта река и да ми гледа сеира. Изобщо не се притеснявах, още повече, че той ми даде указания какво да търся и от какво имаме нужда на този етап от бизнес дейността ни.

Сутринта се качих на микробусчето и за мое учудване до мен седна една девойка от Таджикистан, която учеше в Гуанджоу, но тук била като преводачка на някакъв предприемач за панаира. Първо разговора тръгна на руски, обаче аз тогава го бях свел до минимум и превключих на английски, където мисълта ми течеше значително по-бързо, а не ми лепнеше като разтопен бонбон, забравен на дъното на нечий джоб.
Неусетно единия час от прехода премина в разговори за китайски мислители и философии и различни забележителности из региона, успях да споделя с девойката личната си философия за живота и неговата приемственост, от което тя остана най-малкото изненадана и се замисли над някои от аспектите - май постигнах първото си просветляване на човек, сега вече мога да основа собствена школа и да разпространявам учението си. Къде са старите даоисти и дзен-будисти да ме видят.

Пристигнах на панаирна земя и преди да вляза заснех прочутите танци с лъвове (или дракони) точно на входа пред изложбения център - чувството да наблюдавам на живо такова изпълнение беше наистина неописуемо - преди това го бях гледал само на филми и въздействието му беше огромно и по влияние и по визуалност.
После започнах да си обикалям щандовете, но тъй като вече беше втората част на самия панаир търсех предимно информация за мебели и вътрешно обзавеждане - но това не ми попречи да си тръгна с няколко каталога на компании за производство на всякакъв вид мечове, саби, катани и прочие атрибути за окастряне на непослушни крайници.

Обиколката ми отне точно 6 часа и ме изуми още един път мащабността на този комплекс (бях само в Pazhou), ескалатори и вътрешни коридори свързваха отделните изложбени площи, наредени щандове като малки кутийки с надлежно изписани имена на производител и какво предлагат, удобни места за водене на бизнес срещи прикрепени към всеки щанд - организационните умения на китайците тук бяха на абсолютно високо ниво.
Нищо не беше прекалено забутано или трудно откриваемо - следвайки една пътека лесно можех да изляза на нов ред с щандове и така ми беше много лесно да запомня отделните посетени щандове, понеже на следващия ден се върнахме двамата с Тошко.

Даже като един смел рицар помогнах на едно дребно китайско девойче да пренесе два стола (очевидно прекалено тежки за нейната крехка структура) до мястото, където трябваше, след което ми се отблагодари с множество поклони, та чак се почувствах неудобно.
Натъпкан с няколко килограма каталози и заснет материал, се отправих към микробусчето за обратния път - запознах се с една двойка кантонско говорящи и успях да упражня няколко фрази, които бях научил от филмите за бойни изкуства и онези люде останаха някак си изненадани, че воек от другия край на света може да говори (макар и незначително малко) на техния роден диалект - разпространен предимно в Хонконг, и малка част от провинция Гуанджоу.

Докладвах на бат' Тошко и отидохме да вечеряме - на следващия ден трябваше да ставаме рано пак.

Още една снимка за спомен - тематичното облекло по мен е без коментар.

След обсъждането на няколко бири имахме още един ден по-свободен и Тошко беше напълно решен да намери свестен нощен бар/клуб - когато попитах на рецепцията ме насочиха към едно такова място, но не можаха да кажат името на английски (явно малко памет на компа) и се наложи да ми обясняват къде се намира. Бидейки като една прахосмучкачка за всичко от заобикалящия свят се сетих, че съм минавал покрай това място увенчано с две огромни фигури на коне с ездачи в различни героични пози и закимах утвърдително с глава, като пътьом обрах Тошко към изхода.

Самият клуб се казваше Tian Ma - което означава Небесен Кон - колко небесни създания и колко коне щяхме да открием вътре оставаше под въпрос. Самата сграда изглеждаше не по-малко внушително на фона на останалите архитектурни образци по улицата и представляваше един куполообразен покрив изцяло от стъкло и метални рамки в графитен оттенък.
Две масивни дървени врати с дръжки от месинг ни въведоха в едно фоайе от което тръгваха стълби в ляво и дясно нагоре - някакви старинни мебели допълваха обстановката, но странно, от никъде не се долавяше някаква глъчка или звън на чаши. Качихме се горе и пред нас зейна един дълъг коридор с множество врати от двете страни - още една загадка, която ни озадачи още повече - Тошко изрази моментното си състояние в съчетания на думите "тъп" и производно на "секс", като окачестви самия бар за одушевен предмет.

Счупих се от смях - но той бързо стихна като вой на чакал пред динозавър, когато пред нас в края на коридора изникнаха фигурите на двама китайци с доста конфуцианско изражение на лицата - демек бяха сериозни като държавен глава изричащ новогодишна реч. Гледаха ни сравнително изпитателно и сигурно са ни псували наум като хамали, но ние с вродената си скромност само им кимнахме и понечихме да се връщаме, тъй като не видяхме нито бар плотове, нито бармани, да не говорим за бутилки с алкохол.
В този момент една врата до нас се отвори и групичка от 5-6 девойки смеейки се премина коридора, в компанията на някакъв дебелак с пура и изчезнаха в друга врата, откъдето се долавяха някакви китайски песнички.
После картината се повтори пак и пак и по едно време се чуваше само "тупуртупуртупур" и "хиххихихихихих" - две изнервящи комбинации, особено ако ги чуеш повече от 10 пъти за 1 минута. Този път и двамата с Тошко изругахме яко и се отправихме към изхода, разочаровани, че сме попаднали на караоке клуб с компаньонки, отколкото на нощен бар в чистия му вид - пиене, сепарета и приятно подрънкване на чаши.

Явно техните забавления не са точно като нашите - но поне се потвърди поговорката, че който пее зло не мисли.

Тръгнахме пак по улиците (доста километраж навъртяхме) и попаднахме на мероприятие за деца, които показваха талантите си на импровизирана сцена, точно до една от най-оживените улици във Фошан - дечицата свиреха, пееха и декламираха явно някакви текстове, докато техните родители снимаха с всевъзможни инструменти изявите на своите наследници, като малко ми напомни за бате Енчо и неговото предаване Кой е по-по-най - само, че конферансието не приличаше и грам на него - поне това беше малка утеха.
На няколко преки от вечеринката открихме друго неочаквано събитие - латино танци (преобладаваше тангото) на минали златните си сватби двойки - от някои почти можех да доловя слаб мирис на пръст, на други наполовина напечатан некролог, подаващ се от джоба, но те търпеливо се учеха на стъпките на тангото и после бавно се понасяха в що-годе вихрен танц - все пак видях наблизо болница и се успокоих, че поне ако има инциденти ще се реагира бързо.

Тошко все повече заприличваше на буреносен облак и побързах да умилостивя урагана от БГ непристойни фрази по всичко китайско, като го заведох до любимото му местенце и бурята се размина благополучно.

Силата на една бира от 750 мл е огромна.

Плочките зад нас наистина бяха от високо качество.

Дойде и обиколката на индустриалната зона във Фошан - гидът ни естествено беше Анди, а ние тръгнахме с една торба очаквания и две такива скептицизъм, че все пак не се знае какво ще ни поднесат другарите от КНР.
Първо се метнахме до офиса на фирмата, като отново се зазяпахме в перфектните плочки и теракоти и за спомен си направихме по една снимка с китайчето - колежките му бяха прекалено свенливи (оох котьоооо на батьоооо), за да отклонят тактично и с цената на много поруменели бузки, нашите покани за обща снимка. Явно ще си останем във вариант "Трите Пръча".
Качихме се в едно лъскаво китайско возило (приличаше на Тойота Авенсис, но с китайски йероглифи отзад) и потеглихме към друг офис, където Анди гордо ни показа една папка със сертификати и явно разрешителни за бизнес, но понеже си бяха на неговия език, ние тактично се направихме, че всичко ни е пределно ясно и няма нужда от такава показност, при което той, видимо зарадван от нашата стратегически бизнес реакция отпори една широка усмивка и ни подкани да се метнем пак в колата. Road Movie.

Тръгнахме отново, провирайки се между тесни улички и огромни халета, отвеждайки ни далеч от цивилизования свят и колкото повече навлизахме в територията на безкрайни складови помещения, през главата ми взеха да прескачат разни кадри от документални филми за тъмнатта страна на Китай и интересната част с намирането на органи за трансплантация по "другия" начин... Добре съжителствуваха параноята и развинтеното ми въобръжение - даже като спряхме пред едно хале с два камиона отпред за миг си представих как от тъмната каросерия изскачат неколцина с извадени режещи инструменти и се насочват към нас - май е по-добре да намаля психарските филми нощем.
От каросерията действително изскочиха няколко китаеца, които се забързаха покрай нас за да помогнат на един това от опаковани плочки да бъде качен на платформа, а ние навлязохме в сумрака на халето, заобградени от поточни линии и мръсни ламаринени офиси, съчетани с мирис на печена глина и въздух направо гъст от частиците фаянс, които се въртяха като огромен облак и затрудняваха дишането ни.

Докато Анди ни развеждаше из обекта и говореше на човека до него, аз попивах подробностите от пейзажа и забелязах неугледното поддържане на машините - всички бяха полу-ръждясали, покрити с фин прах и ужасно скърцащи - тоталната мръсотия наоколо, съчетаваща празни опаковки от китайска храна, фасове, счупени плочки, остатъци от бутилки и парцаливи дрехи, и неусетно стигнахме до експлоатационната линия, която представляваше една дълга нагъната линия, на която бяха поставени плочи, въртящи се обратно на часовниковата стрелка, равномерно влизащи и излизащи от пещта и димящите им повърхности допълнително се грижеха за белите ни дробове в една смърдящо-задушаваща смес.
В единият по-тесен завой на линията стоеше дебел и потен китаец с боси крака опряни на импровизирано столче пред него и чоплеше замечтано носа си, а в другата си ръка държеше нещо като ръжен, с който закачаше вече готовите парещи плочи и буквално ги събаряше на една купчина слама до него. Китайски прогрес в действие. Самата линия сигурно беше на 50+ години от зората на комунизма в Китай, когато преизпълнение на плана е било жизнено важно - damn you Mao.

Явно този китаец беше нещо като началник в халето, понеже веднага щом плочката паднеше в сламата, един друг с чевръсто движение я мяташе на една количка и ги оставяше да се охлади, за да може десетината бачкатори (с едни прости маски на лицата, като от митинг на антиглобалисти) да ги опаковат след няколко минути в една какофония от тракане и блъскане. Почти нищо не се чуваше от този невъобразим шум, все едно се намирах на летище и самолетите преминаваха над мен с развален двигател. Както и да е, не видях някакви филтри или други средства за обезопасяване на въздуха от вредните частици и ми беше пределно ясно, че всичките отрови и гадости си заминават направо във въздуха - вече не се учудвах на смога и постоянната замъгленост на слънцето в града.
С почти затлачено дишане от състоянието на въздуха излязох навън и се върнахме обратно в хотела, за да можем да коментираме току-що видяното. Без съмнение качеството на плочките беше много високо, а цената напълно достатъчна за да поръчаме поне един контейнер, културата на работа и пренебрегването на всякакви хигиенни и трудови норми беше друга тема, която не можеше да я обсъждаме - все пак не сме испектори по Труда.

Оставаше да вземем колкото се може повече рекламни материали от двата последни дни на панаира и после щяхме да се прибираме в БГ.
Наблъскани с подаръци, каталози и плочки се забихме до летището и обратния път беше също толкова еднакъв както и на отиване, но този път се вглъбих в книгата си (Властелинът на Пръстените) и времето мина неусетно, най-тегавото беше, че чакахме 6 часа на летището във Франкфурт за полета до София и то в транзитен салон - голямо седене падна, даже се притесних да не съм развил някакви хемороиди от толкова седене.

С това приключвам моите странствания из Китай, ако бях споменал всички онези подробности, като разходките из други магазини, комуникацията с различни индивиди и размяната на множество визитки, щеше да се получи много дълъг текст с малко интересна информация.

Благодаря ви на всички за търпението и за четенето, надявам се да ви е било поне малко интересно.

Поздрави

Кирил

Retro Fu: The Golden Age...

2012-07-22T18:26:00.000+03:00

A long time ago when the martial arts industry in HK was flourishing (according to my humble opinion) many fine movies were produced and executed with such refinement, that not many films are reaching it nowadays. Being old enough myself, I prefer to watch over and over again any of the fine examples from the period between late 70's to early 90's where characters were one dimensional, driven with the help of vengeance, following their purpose until the end - no matter happy or bitter.

So, forgive my obsession with old school flicks and prepare for a glorification of the obvious talent and martial arts perfection, which was at the time I watch it - enlightening. Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao & Lam Ching Ying teaming up to create one of the most solid performances captured on celuloid ever... I told you about the bloody favouritism and glorification, didn't I? Please read along.

Crafted in the early 80's it exploits the art of Wing Chun in a detailed and complex way, which differs from the rest of the screen adaptations before, some of them made by the same fat Sammo Hung. Which here stands back and leaves the show to Yuen Biao & late Lam Ching Ying, as he is taking the director's seat and one comic relief character thrown in for an extra flavour, but it is quite important for the flow of the movie itself. Anyway, it involves the old story of vengeance and testing skills in front of an audience (or few doves), measuring egos and maintaining student-master relationship in a very direct and even stubborn way, trying to show how difficult is to find a top master and become a hero in martial arts.

Probably all of you are already familiar with the synopsis, however I'll be brief and explain it to people which are going to watch it for the very first time. Yuen Biao is one of the main characters (maybe a real historical figure) named Leung Chang (Jan), who is living in Foshan as a spoiled brat, only fighting and kidding, not carrying about anything else in life, his ego is enormous and his actual kung fu skills are pathethic. his whole happy-go-lucky style change in a flash when he meets a real master - Leung Yee Tai (Lam Ching Ying), who is a performance player in chinese opera troupe. After a little showdown between the two, it becomes clear that Leung Chang does not possess any kung fu and he is now easily embarassed and humiliated.

Yuen Biao strike a pose...like a vogue

The situation actually made him rethink his previous life and he decided to learn under the guidance of Leung Yee Tai, by leaving his advantages and immature activities and setting up new goals and purposes. However this transition was not very smooth at all, as he has to endure many rough teachings from his master, who appears to be a Wing Chun practicioner with a secret. Later on, in whole opera picture, new enemy emerges - one with enough power and skills to just wander around the country seeking worthy opponents. Naturally when the two rivals meet it all goes pretty ugly, pretty quick and the whole movie changes direction from having light comedy fetures, to a brutal conclusion resulting in injured Leung Chang, being carried out from Leung Yee Tai to a secluded and quiet village where both will meet a new teacher with not so strict teachings. Enter the Fat Dragon himself Sammo Hung, who will add some extra flavour to the Yuen Biao's growing up and learning real kung fu. You know what is coming next - in the final duel Leung Chang will beat the carrots out of the bad guy (Frankie Chan) using combined techniques from two masters.

Chinese Opera - serious business.

Well, this wasn't so brief, but I got carried away - it's looove baby, what else can I say. On to the rest of the article - it started off as almost a theatrical play, a narrator and group of people frozen in front of the camera, nice touch indeed as we get acquainted with the main characters. Yuen Biao has been on of my favourite martial arts actors since the short sequience with Cynthia Rotrock in "Righting Wrongs", as a part of the documentary "Best of martial arts films". I do think that he is one of the most physically gifted person of his age, surpassing even Jackie, Sammo, Jet & Donnie in flexibility and somersault department, I mean this guy has really amazing skills in jumping off buildings and other utilities, not to mention his acrobatic moves, which makes any circus troupe envy to the bone - Dragons Forever, Eastern Condors, The Iceman Cometh, Righting Wrongs are just some of the examples and testimony to his outstanding reflexes and jumping capabilities. Too bad that he just stayed in Sammo & Jackie's shadow and couldn't break out of it, a really underrated actor and martial arts wonder.

The first blow is most important...

He is the star here, he is the running engine of the whole movie, giving it all to create a convincing portrayal of Leung Chang and to show Wing Chun in a way highly realistical, filled with power, angst, determination and even comic bits thrown ocassionally. the relationshi[ between master-student is so diverse here, as neither of them is backing up - Leung Chang is standing firm in his decision to learn under the guidance of Yee Tai, on the other hand Lam Ching Ying character is not giving his skills quite so easily, and refuses to become a full fledged master to the young and relentless Leung Chang. When finally we see the crack in the wall, the training sequences are something to marvel and enjoy, each move and pose are executed with utmost attention to detail and flow, I really seldom see in most recent pictures from the genre. Well personally I thought that the involvement of Sammo Hung could be less comedic, as it changes the grim and gritty tone set around the massacre in the theatre, but I guess that it was a necessary change nevertheless. If such change is well incorporated into the initial speed and tune of the film it does not distract the viewers from the action or plot sections, however it has so many examples on the negative side, due to crappy funny scenes or empty emotions on screen, just to fill the remaining time between the action set pieces.

Here I think nothing is out of place, except bit overreacted performance by Sammo as the new teacher of Yuen Biao. All the martial arts sequences are placed with very good timing each setting up the standard higher, until the last fight, but to me two scenes before the end were more impressive in scale and execution - the first duel between Frankie Chan & Lam Ching Ying and the escape from the theatre, as they represent features of Sammo's direction, like long shots, tight editing, solid foundation for the martial art shown on screen, close-ups and nice camera angles, with a touch of slow-mo (I can't say the same things for other movies directed by Sammo like Moon Warriors & Mr. Nice guy, which are showing his down side). Too bad that Frankie Chan hasn't appeared in many movies after The Prodigal Son as he really possess charisma and would be brilliant in heroic character. The chemistry between Yuen & Lam is not like an ordinary master-student relation, each of them give different emotions, but when the actual training begins it all concentrates in Wing Chun, the preparation for the final battle/revenge and nothing else matters...

Enter the Fat Dragon

I can not say how acurate the movements are, but they were convincingly well executed, and Sammo obvously knows his abilities to make it look like the real thing, and both Lam & Yuen are presenting great amount of power, speed and confidence in any of the martial arts sequences. A well done tribute towards the Wing Chun, towards the fans and towards the actors taking part in this classic - something which nowadays is very rare to achieve. The film industry is heading to new territories, sometimes forgetting about the roots and foundation given by old school titles, and that's why I personally find most of the new ones disturbingly boring and lifeless, like a torn jellyfish on the scorching beach.

After all this movie is one of the milestones in martial arts film history and should not be put in "retired" section just yet, as it can beat in every department most of the shiny brand new examples, filled with cheap wire-fu, glossy characters, artificial fight scenes and stupid plot. I told you about the inevitable glorification, so you already could've guess my final judgement, apart from the small bit with comedy-gone-out-of-place, the rest is perfect, just perfect.

9.5/10

Greetings from The Grim Reaper

На български ще ми е малко по-трудно да не бъда многословен и затормозяващ, но ако все още някой чете и този вариант, ще се постарая да бъда по-малко субективен (което ми е доста голям проблем, когато пиша за някое от любимите си заглавия). The Prodigal Son маркира един от възходите на кино индустрията в Хонконг и не може да бъде подминат с лека ръка, считан от мнозина за едно от най-добрите представяния на бойния стил Wing Chun, той е събирателен образ на най-доброто излязло изпод режисьорския поглед на Само Хун, който тук показва развитие след Warriors Two, Knockabout, Spooky Encounters & The Victim, макар че намирам Magnificent Butcher за също толкова добър, но там заслуга има и Yuen Woo Ping.

A sommersault and fire show - nice attractions.

Тук имаме почти перфектната комбинация от типичната тема за отмъщението, взаимовръзките между учител-ученик и съпътстващите тренировъчни сцени (познати от всички стари филми за бойни изкуства), главен лош, който е представен в по-различна светлина и комедиен елемент, който обаче беше малко излишно разтеглен. Перфектните бойни сцени само допълват цялостното усещане за епичност макар и в по-малки пропорции, но определено единоборствата са върха на сладоледа и за мен са едни от най-добрите някога излизали изпод режисурата на Само Хун. В общи линии следваме една част от живота на Люн Джан в малкия град ФоШан, който в началото е разглезено богаташко синче, но научава или по-точно се сблъсква с реалността, когато бъдещия му учител Люн Йи Тай му показва истинската сила на Wing Chun и оттам насетне младият Юен Бю следва като кученце майстора с надежда да го приеме за ученик.

Това е една много важна стъпка за духовното и физическо израстване на главния ни герой и постепенно ставаме свидетели на неговото съзряване под строгия поглед и на моменти бруталните тренировки, за постигане на съвършенство. След няколко наистина прекрасни бойни сцени, където се запознаваме и с лошия герой в цялата история, неговите подчинени и търсенето на битката на живота му, която се увенчава с трагични последици, стигаме до подготовката за кулминацията на самия филм, в чийто край Люн Джан и Нгай Фей показват своите умения и по-добрия побеждава, мака и с малко кръв и пот на челото. Само Хун и Юен Бю са страхотен екип тук и наистина представят един спектакъл за феновете, в който нищо не е излишно (с дребни изключения) - има драма, смях, желание за победа, добри и лоши, финес и градация на бойните сцени направени с размах и страхотен усет към детайла, хореографията и отделните елементи на всяка екранна битка.

Villagers or hidden dragons?

Лично аз, когато за първи път гледах този филм бяха като закован и не можех да мисля за нищо друго, умът ми и съзнанието бяха приклещени от ставащото на екрана и нямаше сила, която да ме отдели от поглъщането на всяка сцена, кадър и движение. А те не бяха за подценяване, умело вмъкнатия монтаж подобри цялостното усещане за реализъм и старание да се представи една различна трактовка на бойното изкуство наречено Wing Chun. Излишно е да казвам, че всеки от героите беше обрисуван с типичните за него черти - Лам Чин Йин като учител беше показан като строг и непоколебим човек, с огромно достойнство и чест, Юен Бю - като неуверен и нетърпелив младок, решен да научи на всяка цена стила, който ще му донесе прекомерна слава и почитатели, но след средата на филма това желание бива изместено от признателност към учителя си и непоколебимост в последния дуел с лошият, Франки Чан от своя страна предлага малко повече размисъл като антагониста тук, понеже не е типичния злодей, а просто човек търсещ самоусъвършенстване чрез бойните изкуства.

The battle to end all battles...

Само Хун предостави по-леки краски на историята, като неизменния скрит учител, боравещ с малко необичайни техники, но целта му не е по-различна от тази на Люн Йи Тай - да предаде уменията си на по-младите и да бъде горд с последователите си. Получи се нещо като при героя на Майкъл Ангарано от Забраненото Кралство, когато Джеки и Джет го обучаваха заедно, за да получи подготовката на живота си. Определено тук се е получило доста по-добре и си личи умението на Само да поддържа разказа с необходимото темпо, за да достави една завършена картина с всички нужни части, балансирани по впечатляващ начин. Откъдето и да го погледна - операторска работа, сюжет, развитие на героите, хореография, емоция - няма почти слабо място, жалко че вече много рядко се получават такива продукции (последните две за които се сещам са The Raid & Gallants), в които няма излишни ефекти, жици, тъпи и необосновани действия, смехотворни герои, плачевна бойна хореография и/или скапан монтаж.

Идеален пример за бъдещите филми от жанра, как трябва да се направи и изглежда един филм с бойни изкуства. Лекинко понижавам общата оценка заради малко разтегления комедиен елемент след средата.

9.5/10

Ваш The Grim Reaper

O.M.G. - impressions over The Raid...

2012-05-29T19:14:00.000+03:00

My stomach is still turning and vibrating from the enourmous amount of raw power and sheer ingeniuty spread over 100 minutes in what appears to be one of the best martial arts movie in the last 10 years - a collaboration between realtively uknown players on the block, it delivers kicks and punches which was sending me through martial arts bliss, and this is not happening everyday.

After rather interesting excercise in Merantau Iko/Gareth are teaming up to create brutal and adrenaline pumping feature named simple The Raid (The Raid: Redemption for the American market), and many of you may already seen trailers and part of movie in previous article, published not so long ago.

Let me start with a personal note - The Raid is one of the finest examples I've ever seen to this date and I'm looking forward to the Hong Kong/China/Thailand answer. It won't be easy to surpass its fluidity, charisma and last but not least almost perfect martial arts sequences, choreographed with exquisite touch towards details and fast paced takes, combined with execution seldom seen in recent years. After the initial hype and after few trailers I was waiting for it to emerge and I had to admit - the waiting is definitely worth it.
The plot is quite simple - a police special task force unit is going on a mission to apprehend local drug lord, well guarded and hidden within 30 floors in a building full of bad people with killing skills. 20 determined people facing a certain death as they are diving head first into chaos and mayhem, and only goal is to survive at any cost. From start to finish is one bloody and raw ride, no matter it's within the walls of a building - tight shots, almost claustrophobic, wide angles, swinging camera movements and exquisite editing is one of the positive sides here.

The Good

When you have to create something memorable on screen you just have to go the core of this genre, to the one pulsating and sparkling centre, where men shows what they are made of. And in such period that movies are now heavily relying on CGI and green screens, here only the blood effects were kinda artificial, all the rest is executed to a highest level. I wasn't paying so much attention to the fake blood, because I was mesmerised by the martial arts sequences, each crafted beautifully and actual improvements over the previous one. Iko shows remarkable skills and after seeing Pencak Silat for second time it is something which shouldn't be taken lightly by any opponents.

The Bad

Gareth Evans really outdone himself here, after Merantau, and his performance as writer, director and editor is something amazing to watch, each scene was presented with such effort to get the viewer into the action, into the emotions of the main characters, into the pain and scent of hopelessnes. After the intial 10 minutes, when we are getting acquainted with the plot and who is the object of the raid itslef, through the exhausting scenes of murder and fight, up to the gripping end I saw the pure amount of sheer power, represented in a gruesome and grim way, but staying true to the core, and foundation of any classic martial arts movie from the early Shaw brothers features to the latest high-fly imagery. It has heart, it has lungs, imbued with vengeance and honor, with dignity and determination, with sweat and blood.

The Building

The movie is brutal on many levels, so as any John Woo's exploits on gangsters tales, the movie is raw, like any of the Tony Jaa/Jeeja Yanin feature, the movie is straightforward as any example from the late 70's to the early 80's - it has good guys, bad guys, purpose and feeling. It doesn't need the latest flashy technology to show impact, it doesn't need complex plot and hundreds of characters to imply grand scale, it does not need a watered-down violence to appeal to wider audience, it needs only a proper appreciation of the fans throughout the world. It is a polished product, reflecting in different ways its vision, its presence, its craftsmanship - yes, I know I probably sound like a teenager after this first sex experience, but this movie delivers excitement by the second, thrills by the minute and martial arts choreogaphy which has to be seen...

Getting a slice of something

Every punch or kick or grab is expressed through really long takes, no slow-motion and without the shaky cam experience or the annoying close ups, when you are struggling to see how the fighters are complimenting each other. Iko Uwais has put his name in martial arts movies history with this movie, and all the rest should look up to him now, as he showed how martial arts movies made a full circle and return to their source once again. If you still haven't notice, I'll say this once more - the movie is simply A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! In relation to the title here - I can add more abreviations, but lets not make it so complicated. After so many positive points, you are probably wondering has it some negative flavour - yes it has, I wish it could be longer in running time. But I hope that this would be improved in the next part (which i think has started filming), but then again, what else left there to be improved? Interesting times ahead I'd reckon...

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly... Idnonesian version.

I guess you've already figured out my final score and it could be no les than: 10/10 - for me it is one of the best and finest martial arts movie in the past 10 years...

Yours Sincerely

The Grim Reaper

А сега към родната реч да се обърна - може би ми е малко трудно да пиша за такъв филм, нищо че от вчера вечерта го гледах два пъти и все така адреналиново ми действа. Очаквах го с огромно нетърпение, а след изгледаните задължителни материали като трейлъри и снимки плюс постери, апетитът ми за наистина здрав (може и корав) екшън се изостри неимоверно. Ако някой е гледал предния филм на дуото Ико Уваис/Гарет Евънс (Мерантау) и си мисли, че е видял всичко на което са способни тези двамата, е по-добре да погледне The Raid, за да получи едно съвсем различно усещане и емоция, въпреки откровенното насилие и прекалено брутални сцени, които се вписват в общото темпо на филма прекрасно.

A bad day for any van...

Сюжетът е изтъркан отвсякъде, но пък в тези филми рядко ще видите дълбоки разсъждения и философски теми (има, но не представени по традиционния начин), многопластови герои и вербални еквилибристики - за това си има определени творци, известни с такива ленти. Тук получаваме сурово изживяване от висока степен, в някои отношения напомняше на оркестрираните стрелби във повечето филми на Джон У, в някои отношения представяше приказка за отмъщение, позната тема в ранните филми с бойни изкуства през 70-те и началото на 80-те, но във всяко едно отношение (според мен) е един малък шедьовър в жанра, който напоследък се пренасити с летящи клоуни и циркови номера, облечени в компютърни одежди. В The Raid имаше толкова много сила събрана на квадратен сантиметър, колкото не бях виждал в над 90% от филмите в жанра за последните 10 години, а това казва много за качествата на самия филм.

A good day for a hatchet...

Умелата игра на осветлението и минималното количество ефекти (забелязани най-вече сред кървавите добавки), както и прецизния монтаж и ъгли на камерата при всички бойни сцени, ми дадоха едно усещане за сурова ярост и стремеж за съвършенство, което бях забравил напоследък. Нямаше излишно разточителство на кадри, всяко едно действие на екрана беше отразено по възможно най-добрия начин и въпреки, че на моменти имаше и quick cuts, те бяха толкова плавно внедрени в общата картина, че изобщо на намали скоростта на екшън сцените, а ги подсили до ниво на pure awesomness.

Pistol vs. knife - the outcome is...

Честно казано не мислех, че ще видя филм с бойни изкуства с такъв заряд и енергия, с толкова огромно сърце и с толкова големи топки (простете грубия ми изказ) - най-нагло хвърля ръкавицата към останалите играчи на сцената от Хонконг, Китай, Корея и Тайланд, че не може да бъде по-очевидно - да, Ong Bak, Tom Yum Goong, Chocolate също са сурови образци, със собствено излъчване и изразителност при бойните сцени, но тук нещата са полирани до съвършенство, всички елементи за един такъв филм са интегрирани по изключително плавен начин, с внимание към всеки детайл, с невероятно изпълнение и съдържащ в себе си пулсираща сърцевина на гняв, отчаяние и безпомощност, трансформирани в жива енергия от удари, хвърляния и шамари с крак, които ме държаха в увеличено количество на адреналина ми през цялото време. Всеки ъгъл, всеки поглед, всеки начин на неутрализиране на противниците беше като по учебник, такъв в който максимата "Свобода или Смърт" се прилагаше със забележителна успеваемост.

Fly away, but don't forget to land safely

Самият Гарет Евънс освен режисьор, сценарист и editor, се изявява и в отдела за бойните сцени, заедно с Ико Уваис (Rama) у Янян Рухиан (Mad Dog), показва изключителна свобода на действие и умение да разкаже и най-кървавата история по зрелищен начин, който не отстъпва по нищо на големите образци от жанра и го прави с лекота и финес, реализиран от малцина преди него. Заснетите минималистични сцени извън битките, използват всеки сантиметър от площта на стаите, коридорите и други клаустрофобични помещения, предоставяйки на мен една особена съпричастност към всеки от героите, дори и за не толкова добрите. Въпреки, че следва познатата формула и се придържа към еталоните, маркирани от много други заглавия преди него, на финалния бой се бях напрегнал до степен да окуражавам добрите да прекъснат живителните връзки на противника си, който просто ги размазваше като валяк-гущер и почти ми идеше да крещя (нищо, че беше 2 сутринта) в подкрепа на Ико и компания. Явно имам още да раста на възприятия.

To be continued...

Но това не променя факта, че изгледах един от най-добрите филми на последните 10 години в жанра martial arts - какво ще ни донесе продължението, което вече се снима, на този етап не зная какво да кажа - още ме тресе еуфорията по оригинала. Оценката е ясна и от птичи поглед: 10/10 и само един негатив - жалко, че не беше малко по-дълъг.

Толкова засега от мен, следващият път повече.

Chinese Zodiacs 2012 - new trailer!!!

2012-05-19T14:10:00.002+03:00

After the teaser (which was more like a behind the scenes) here it is the first official trailer of the new Jackie Chan movie - Chinese Zodiacs aka Armour of God 3.

I hope that you'll enjoy it as much as I did (and I even shed a tear at the end) - the film is due for release on 12.12.2012:

6ZUPENVJYUJJ

New kids in FoShan: Look! It's plane, it's a bird! Alas, it's a sword...

2012-05-09T15:31:00.000+03:00

In history of flying and aviation many great people left their marks throughout the ages, from the uneasy start to the modern day experiements in improving mankind's transportation and bringing us closer to technological perfection.

In history of martial arts movies a particular sub-genre is aiming towards new hights, presenting fantasy myths and legends (and powerful love element too) where good & bad are in constant clash and strive for air superiority - wu xia pian movies combine different segments wrapped in ethereal cloth, floating gracefully in thin air, thus defying gravity and laws of physics with such ease, that made it believable. It most certanly gives to "I believe I can fly" a new meaning...

To me this genre was (and still is) full of unrealistic display and exagerrated human emotion, no matter how pure and clean they were supposed to be. And here it is the last seen effort in that direction, given to me by Tsui Hark in collaboration with Jet Li & Fan Siu Wong - Flying Swords of Dragon Gate...

Being a Horse (in Chinese astrology) with element Earth I look for more ground-breaking shots than people sailing through the air like superheroes - it might work in Hollywood, but for me it looks plain boring. Maybe the problem is just me, probably a lot of people like such movies and appreciate the amount of flying powder in it, but I prefer more steady approach with any martial arts choreography. Well, I admit that if not so annoyingly done a proper presentation of "flying" martial arts can score high in my own vision and the last really good wuxia movie was Michelle Yeoh's "Reign of Assassins" - intriguing plot, nice characters and wire fu that was really elaborate and well-made.

The majority of movies in that genre I saw were with so sloppy wire fu that I lost interest after the initial fights and to the end my expression was flat as ironing board and tastless as I've ate a sheet of paper, despite it's healthy dose of celulose. However, now I have to share my thoughts and emotions about a different movie, which sounded bit promising at first. Again I was fooled and terribly wrong in my impression that it might be at least better than The Lost Bladesman (it was better than It's love, but compare to this manure any other film with Jet Li might be a masterpiece, except Once upon a time in china 3, where Yuen Bun makes extraordinary things with wires, but this is a subject I'll discuss a bit later in this article).

Nice hat, Mr. Li - please explain how many straw houses did you destroy...

Tsui Hark is a man of many talents indeed - director, producer, screenwriter, actor - the only elusive thing left for him, to be a martial arts choreographer, but he leaves that to experienced people with some impressive background. Or such with a repetitive one. Anyway - here we have something like a remake inception - this movie is a remake of New dragon gate Inn (although Tsui Hark claims that it has no relation), which itself is a remake of Dragon Gate Inn by King Hu (I think) in the late 60's. So we have familiar pattern now here, old ideas getting recycled and refreshed, just like the Hollywood tradition of putting numerous reboots, remakes, and extended series. So nothing new here, probably I would move along and pay no attention, however I decided to stop and see this new extravaganza from Tsui Hark. Which was shot in 3D - for good or bad.

The plot is simple enough for you to follow - we have a bad guy terrorising the population in China and on the opposing side, the good guys led by none other than Jet Li, formed a band of brothers to put on the throne some exiled prince (as usual). They join forces with some other guerrila strike force and lure the bad guy into a trap in Dragon Gate Inn, which happened to be close to a treasure town, accesible only at midnight on February 29, during a full moon and when the owls are howling only three times. Well, almost... During a climatic fight, which gave an anticlimax experience the good are victorious and they lived happily ever after. Well, almost...

Fly is in the air, just make a clean landing this time...

Jet Li was somewhat distant here, not a main character, but more like an extra or extended cameo (sort of like Jackie Chan in Twins Effect, but he was at least funny) and not doing much up until the end, where he has to fight the last battle (well, who else). It seemed to me that he is a bit bored and just doing it for the money, not for the thrills anymore - not because of age, but because he is probably tired of movie business in general. No wonder, seeing the latest additions to the martial arts genre. He flies in the air, here and there, trying to show some emotions, but at the same time has to keep his image as tough guy - it must be challenging. But at least he has improved since the wooden dummy performance in It's love, which is something positive to notice. On the other hand again I see that his name was used to generate box office success, but I'm just wondering when this formulae will be left dry and all the producers would have to search for a new ground getting steady flow of money. For now this trick is still working I'm just curious about the lifespan of it. Time will tell, there is no point for me to dwell on the unknown, it will bring me more frustration and wrinkles over my old forehead.

Back on track - there were couples of female characters, which balanced the macho charisma in the movie, and they were equally good with weapons making them a worthy advesary. Of course a love sub-story is involved too, but it wasn't something of great importance for me, a needful detail to keep the audience touched and mooved - well I guess I was made out of stainless steel, because it didn't move me a bit. It was just there, hanging in the midair, floating like all the characters as if to keep up with the overall feeling and tone of the movie. Afterall a wuxia without a love story inside is like disabled person without crutches - it always fall off-balance.

Nice eyball, however I do think that you look better with your mask on

I was most interested with the action choreography, but when the name of Yuen Bun appeared (bringing mediocre wire-fu since OUATIC 3) my expectations went down the drain. It was nothing new, nothing amazing, nothing jaw-dropping (although there is a scene which takes place inside the eye of a tornado), the same game of flying objects, scattered around the premises until you get mixed sensations in your eyeballs, finding it difficult to tell where are the actors in the picture. I was having trouble with CGI too, it wasn't very well implemented into the movie and some scenes were deliberately put in there as to emphasise the 3D effect, wihtout any other reason.

Okay I know that 3D need some shots to stand out and blah blah, but here it's just wrong. I'm not too fancy of blurred action scenes enhanced with visuals and bad wires all over, I'm sorry but it's hard for me to appreciate the whole effort, when I do not know where to look, as our heroes jump from side to side like some hyper active rabbits on steroids. Talking about the Duracell/Energizer bunnies...

The Flying Circus is on fire tonight, don't mind the cows and other objects...

Another weak point for me, was that after the initial 40 mins all righteous fighters gather inside a mud made cottage and start planning their trap - I almost fell asleep during this piece - it was so slow, so boring, so uninteresting, filling the time until the final battle with dialogues made of serious business, charts, presentations and other office tools like I was on a staff training trip. And then the last fight ensues and the movie was over. As I saw on the character list the name of Fan Siu Wong I was trying to find him on the spot, only to realise that it was another cameo, which had nothing to do with the main story - a famous name thrown in just like an exotic flavour to a already tasteless meal. I mean, what is the point of all this - you are afraid that the movie is weak, so hire a couple of big shot names from the industry to boost up all the stats and then sells it to the public. Pathethic.
Some clever way to hook the audience, but it's getting rather tedious now - maybe the stars themselves are feeling comfortable in such place, not trying to go out of the box or routine in recent movies, I understand that some of them are getting older, but this is not an excuse for me - I felt really dissapointed by this approach and with sadness I have to admit that the good days are over for at least Jet Li.
But he should draw the curtain in style not as he doesn't care anymore for his fans - people which remember his old exploits and know he can do better.

Nice couple, but I do not wish to see their offsprings... Although the female have a naughty look.

Here in this movie the story was again attached to the action (which was nothing spectacular), characters were being seen in most of the movies from the genre, I was not gathering any emotions towards any of them, all felt disconnected and scattered, as the scenes were thought as they go, and apparently I was left in dismay. Once more it proved that Hong Kong cinema industry is going down, heading at a greater speed towards concrete wall... I hope that someone will put the brakes on at certain point, so to balance things out and reduce the casualties from the initial impact.

For the whole spectacle I can give no more than - 3.5/10 - for the beginning and the end, and some nice scenery thrown here and there.

Yours Truly
The Grim Reaper

The Raid - a Gareth Evans/Iko Uwais experience

2012-04-12T20:51:00.002+03:00

Maybe I should've put this here a long time ago, due to the nature of it, however after its American premiere this movie is heading to UK where it would have an exclusive screening date at May 18th.

I would like to popularise this by spreading the word through my article - providing some trailers too, to make all the fans of martial arts movies a glimpse of what is coming next.

After Merantau put Iko and Gareth on the world martial arts movies map, with The Raid I think they've made a solid statement that will be followed by many others. Good luck to all involved in filming this entertainment.

On to trailers - the original, the one for the american audience and a brief scene from the movie. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Jackie Chan!

2012-04-07T02:47:00.002+03:00

Today one of the most famous martial arts movies star is turning 58 - Chan The Man is getting older and wiser, as he point out some time ago that "Chinese Zodiac" will be his last action movie.

Anyway, he proved to be quite versatile actor, starring in both drama and action movies with decent success (Shinjuku Incident & Little Big Soldier for example).

I would like to wish him plenty of health, lots of happiness, discovering new talents for the martial arts scene and not to go off camera too soon.

Happy Birthday!!! Kung hei!!!

58 is just a number and not something which might worry Mr. Chan, however with a career so active and demanding, he would most certanly need lots of HP (health points), to achieve more accomplishments in the RPG called Life.

Don't worry, be happy and sing in the rain...

Martial arts Station reborn with a kick

2012-03-31T00:04:00.003+03:00

Greetings to all my readers - after a brief consideration and serious thinking (my brain still hurts from the enormous activity) I decided to make some changes here.

From now on I'll post not only reviews of new and old in martial arts cinema, but some interesting news and trailers of the most recent in martial arts world. Some different titles when a new and old review is coming up.

For the new ones - New Kids in FoShan, for the old ones - Retro Fu, and for the news - Strike a news.

Hope that these changes are for the better and my blog will become colourful and refreshing for all fans throughout the world.

Peace. Over and out.

Fighter in the Wind

2012-03-29T23:33:00.003+03:00

At the tail-end of World War II, Choi Bae-dal is a young Korean man who longs to be able to fly fighter planes. Stowing away to Japan in order to join their air force, Bae-dal's first experience of the country is when a con-man tries to steal his funds. Bae-dal discovers that the man is a fellow Korean called Chun-bae (Jung Tae Woo), who has survived the harsh treatment of Koreans in Japan by turning to petty crime. With their different motives: Bae-dal driven by desire for action & Chun-bae needing to escape from some gangsters, the Koreans stow away in a van to the air force training camp.

The commander in charge of the camp is a pompous imperialist called Kato (Masaya Kato). Having mistreated the Koreans, they is amused by Bae-dal's fighting spirit & says that if Bae-dal can beat him along with his inferior "foreign" fighting style, they will release them. The men fight with Kato basically defeating Bae-dal, but an American assault on the airforce base allows Bae-dal & Chun-bae to escape.

Meanwhile, Bae-dal has taken to working as a rickshaw driver, honing his fighting skills by defending Japanese ladies from the rapacious advances of American servicemen. His success at defending the ladies makes him something of a local hero, although his actual identity is not known. of the ladies they protects is the beautiful Yoko (Aya Hirayama), with whom they strikes up a romantic relationship.

Later, Bae-dal is found helping Chun-bae to run a pachinko stall in a Japanese marketplace. When local gangsters try to take protection funds from Chun-bae, Bae-dal tries to defend him but is beaten up & humiliated by the gangsters. His ordeal is ended by the intervantion of Bum-soo (Jung Doo-hong), a martial arts specialist from his home town who had also emigrated to Japan. Bum-soo invites Bae-dal back to the circus where they, & lots of fellow Korean immigrants, work & where they is trying to build a respectable standard of living for his countrymen. After some persuasion, they agrees to teach Bae-dal a quantity of his more sophisticated fighting style.

When Bum-soo is killed by local gangsters, the Koreans from the compound vow revenge & assault the Japanese gangs. The fight ends abruptly for Bae-dal when they is knocked unconscious by a blow to the head. Bae-dal, vowing to never again lose a fight, retreats to the mountains where, living in his karate gi, they trains day & night; walking in the mountains, lifting tree trunks & using makeshift training equipment to harden his body & fighting spirit through austerity.

Returning from the mountains, Bae-dal takes a Japanese name: Masutatsu Oyama, & sets about challenging the best fighters Japan has to offer. Wearing his ragged karate gi & looking like a cave-man along with his unkempt appearance, Oyama challenges the first dojo they passes. They defeats every fighter in the dojo - often with only a single strike.
As word of his notoriety spreads, Oyama's actions come to the attention of the head of the Japan Karate Association - the former Air Force camp commander Kato. Kato is hugely offended that a foreigner would not only try to learn Japanese martial arts, but would think about himself worthy to beat Japanese fighters. Nevertheless, Oyama continues to defeat every fighter that Japan has to offer, including competitors in karate, judo, ninjutsu and kobudo, becoming a sensation in the Japanese media. Oyama explains to Yoko that, although they is terrified of dying, they is more terrified of living as a cripple, and this is why they is willing to sacrifice anything to win.
When the organization sends of his followers to challenge & kill Oyama, the agent is in lieu killed by Oyama. Learning that the man they killed had a spouse & son, Oyama feels a great deal of guilt for his actions & tracks down the relatives to apologise & offer to work for them to make up for killing the brother of the household. Oyama surrenders his uniform to the spouse, vowing to never again fight in martial art duels. Although initially annoyed & unaccepting of Oyama's offer, after fulfilling the son's wish of being carried to the top of the nearby mountain to view the dawn, they finally convinces them that they is a man of honour & not a violent thug. The spouse asks Oyama to take back his uniform & become the best fighter in Japan.

Returning to the city, Oyama finds that Kato's martial arts association has threatened his own relatives (Kato is not involved) & demanded a challenge between Kato & Oyama. Dressing in his weathered gi one time again, Oyama treks out to the countryside location where Kato is waiting for him. Basically defeating Kato's henchmen, Oyama then faces a final showdown with Kato himself. Although it is clear that Kato would like to see Oyama dead, Kato's ankle is broken after receiving a kick in the fight sequence. When Kato stands up, they falls to a one-knee-down position, Oyama shows mercy to Kato, by stopping two cm short of punching him squarely between the eyes, defeating him in combat but not killing him.

At the finish of the film, Oyama is shown fighting with a bull, grasping the horns & digging in to the ground to cease him, & at last delivering a bone-shattering chop to the middle of the top of the head.

Masutatsu Oyama

2012-03-29T23:15:00.001+03:00


Masutatsu Oyama

Masutatsu (Mas) Oyama was born Yong I-Choi on the 27th of July, 1923, in a village not far from Gunsan in Southern Korea. At a comparatively young age they was sent to Manchuria, in Southern China, to live on his sister's farm. At the age of nine, they started

An early start

In 1938, at the age of 15, they travelled to Japan to train as an aviator, to be like his hero of the time, Korea's first fighter pilot. Survival on his own at that age proved to be more difficult than they thought, as a Korean in Japan, and the aviator training fell by the wayside.

studying the Southern Chinese type of Kempo called Eighteen hands from a Mr. Yi who was at the time working on the farm. When Oyama returned to Korea at the age of 12, they continued his training in Korean Kempo.

Gichin Funakoshi

They did however continue martial arts training, by participating in judo and boxing, and day they noticed some students training in Okinawan Karate. This interested him very much and they went to train at the dojo of Gichin Funakoshi at Takushoku University, where they learned what is today known as Shotokan Karate.

So Nei Chu

His training progress was such that by the age of seventeen they was already a 2nd Dan, and by the time they entered the Japanese Imperial Army at twenty, they was a fourth Dan. At this point they also took a serious interest in judo, and his progress there was no less amazing. By the time they had quit training in Judo, less than years after they had started, they had achieved the rank of fourth Dan in Judo.

Mountain Training

The defeat of Japan and the later indignity of Occupation very proved to be much for Mas Oyama, who very despaired. Fortunately for all of us, So Nei Chu came in to his life at that time. Master So, another Korean (from Oyama's own province) living in Japan, was of the highest authorities on Goju Ryu in Japan at the time. They was renowned for both his physical and spiritual strength. It was they who encouraged Mas Oyama to dedicate his life to the Martial Way. It was they who suggested that Oyama ought to retreat away from the remainder of the world for three years while training his mind and body.

When they was 23 years elderly, Mas Oyama met Eiji Yoshikawa, the author of the novel Musashi, which was based on the life and exploits of Japan's most famous Samurai. Both the novel and the
author helped to teach Mas Oyama about the Samurai Bushido code & what it meant. That same year, Oyama went to Mt. Minobu in the Chiba Prefecture, where Musashi had developed his Nito-Ryu style of sword fighting. Oyama thought that this would be an appropriate place to commence the pains of training they had planned for himself. Among the things they took with him was a replica of Yoshikawa's book. A student named Yashiro also came with him.

The relative solitude was strongly felt, & after 6 months, Yashiro secretly fled in the work of the night. It became even harder for Oyama, who wanted over ever to return to civilization. So Nei Chu wrote to him that they ought to shave off an eyebrow in order to get rid of the urge. Surely they would not need somebody to see him that way! This & other more moving words satisfied Oyama to continue, & they resolved to become the most powerful karate-ka in Japan.

Soon however, his sponsor informed him that they was no longer able to support him & so, after fourteen months, they had to finish his solitude.

A few months later, in 1947, Mas Oyama won the karate section of the first Japanese National Martial Arts Championships. However, they still felt empty for not having completed the years of solitude. They then decided to dedicate his life to karate-do. So they started again, this time on Mt. Kiyozumi, also in Chiba Prefecture. This site they chosen for its spiritually uplifting surroundings.

After eighteen months they came down fully confident of himself, & able to take control of his life. Never again would they be so heavily influenced by his society around him (Though it is probably safe to say that his circumstances were also probably never again as traumatic!).

This time his training was fanatical â�� 12 hours a day every day with no rest days, standing under (chilled) buffeting waterfalls, breaking river stones together with his hands, using trees as makiwara, leaping over quickly growing flax plants hundreds of times each day. Each day also included a period of study of the ancient classics on the Martial arts, Zen, & philosophy.

In 1950, Sosai (the founder) Mas Oyama started testing (& demonstrating) his power by fighting bulls. In all, they fought 52 bulls, of which were killed instantly, & 49 had their horns taken off with knife hand blows. That it is not to say that it was all that simple for him. Oyama was keen on recalling that his first attempt resulted in an enraged bull. In 1957, at the age of 34, they was killed in Mexico when a bull got a quantity of his own back & gored him. Oyama somehow managed to pull the bull off & break off his horn. They was bedridden for 6 months while they recovered from the usually deadly wound. Today of work, the animal rights groups would have something to say about these demonstrations, despite the fact that the animals were already all destined for slaughter.

Bulls, Challengers, & the Godhand

In 1950, Sosai (the founder) Mas Oyama started testing (& demonstrating) his power by fighting bulls. In all, they fought 52 bulls, of which were killed instantly, & 49 had their horns taken off with knife hand blows. That it is not to say that it was all that simple for him. Oyama was keen on recalling that his first attempt resulted in an annoyed bull. In 1957, at the age of 34, they was very killed in Mexico when a bull got some of his own back & gored him. Oyama somehow managed to pull the bull off & break off his horn. They was bedridden for 6 months while they recovered from the usually deadly wound. Today of work, the animal rights groups would have something to say about these demonstrations, despite the fact that the animals were already all destined for slaughter.

In 1952, they travelled the United States for a year, demonstrating his karate live & on national tv. In the work of later years, they took on all challengers, leading to fights with 270 different people. The giant majority of these were defeated with punch! A fight never lasted over minutes, & most never lasted over a few seconds. His fighting principle was simple â�� if they got through to you that was it.

If he hit you, you broke. In the event you blocked a rib punch, you arm was broken or dislocated. In the event you didn't block, your rib was broken.

If he hit you, you broke. In the event you blocked a rib punch, you arm was broken or dislocated. In the event you didn't block, your rib was broken. He became known as the Godhand, a living manifestation of the Japanese warriors' maxim Ichi geki, Hissatsu or "One strike, definite death". To him, this was the true aim of process in karate. The fancy footwork & complex techniques were secondary (though he was also known for the power of his head kicks).

It was in the work of of his visits to the United States that Mas Oyama met Jacques Sandulescu, a large (190 cm & 190 kg of muscle) Romanian who had been taken prisoner by the Red Army at the age of 16, & sent to the coal mines as a slave laborer for years. They quickly became friends & remained so for the remainder of Oyama's life, Jacques is still training & still active as Chairman of Kyokushin-kan International Committee & a mate to lots of Kyokushin Karateka around the globe. You can read his autobiography at http://donbas.com.

Mas Oyama opened his first dojo in Ikebukuro, Tokyo at the age of 30, & called it "Oyama Dojo." It was here that he took all that he had learned from the various styles that he'd practiced through the years, combined them with what he'd learned in the work of the lots of thousands of hours of self-training & full-contact fighting, & created a new style of karate, which he called Kyokushin. In 1964, a new dojo in Ikebukuro became the world headquarters of the International Karate Organization, Kyokushinkaikan, which had over 12 million members in 133 countries at the time of his death.

Oyama Dojo

Practitioners of other styles came to train here , for the jis-sen kumite (full contact fighting). of the original instructors has said that they would observe those from other styles, & adopt any techniques that "would be nice in a actual fight". This was how Mas Oyama's karate evolved. He took techniques from all martial arts, & did not restrict himself to karate alone.

The beginning of Kyokushin

The Oyama Dojo members took their kumite seriously, seeing it primarily as a fighting art, so they expected to hit & to be hit. With few restrictions, attacking the head was common, usually with the palm heel or towel-wrapped knuckles. Grabs, throws, & groin assaults were also common. Kumite rounds would continue till person loudly conceded defeat. Injuries occurred on a every day basis & the drop out rate was high (over 90%). They had no official do-gi & wore whatever they had.

The World Headquarters were officially opened in June 1964, where the name Kyokushin, meaning "Ultimate truth" was adopted. From then, Kyokushin continued to spread to over 133 countries, & registered members exceed 12 million making it of the largest martial arts organizations in the world.

The Finish?

Sadly, Sosai Mas Oyama died, of lung cancer (He was of work, with no doubt, a none-smoker human being), at the age of 70 in April 1994, leaving to the world a legacy of the world's strongest karate

Jackie Chan Filmography

2012-03-29T22:52:00.000+03:00

Being an avid fan of Jackie since 1987 (when I saw "Armour of God"), I am surprised that i didn't put his fimography earlier on my blog. However, now I'm sharing this with you and all fans of martial arts movies, so we can discuss his appearances since the early years when jumping off clock tower was easy as pie.

Filmography

Year	Title	Chinese Title	Role	Notes
1962	Big and Little Wong Tin Bar	大小黄天霸	child actor (intro)	Lost film
1962	The 7 Tyrants of Jiangnan	兩湖合	child actor
1963	The Love Eterne	梁山伯與祝英台	child actor (extra) (uncredited)
1964	The Story of Qin Xiang Lin	秦香蓮	child actor
1966	The Eighteen Darts (Part 1)	兩湖十八鏢(上集)	child actor	aka Seven Little Tigers (Part 1)
	The Eighteen Darts (Part 2)	兩湖十八鏢(下集)	child actor	aka Seven Little Tigers (Part 2)
	Come Drink with Me	大醉俠	child actor (uncredited)	Jackie Chan is rumored to have appeared in film.
1971	A Touch of Zen	俠女	supporting role
1971	The Blade Spares None	刀不留人	"Prince's fighter in the forest" (uncredited)
1972	Fist of Fury	精武門	"kung fu student" stuntman	aka The Chinese Connection
1972	Hapkido	合氣	"Black Bear student" (uncredited) stuntman (uncredited)
1973	Enter the Dragon	龍爭虎鬥	"prisoner" (cameo) stuntman
	Facets of Love	北地胭脂	"Xiao Liu" (as Chen Yuen Lung) (cameo)
	Not Scared to Die	頂天立地	"Si To" / "Shi Tzer" (cameo) stunt co-ordinator	aka Eagle Shadow Fist aka Fist of Anger aka Return to China
	Police Woman	女警察	"Mole Face Gang Leader" (as Jacky Chan) stunt co-ordinator	aka Rumble in Hong Kong, Young Tiger, Police Woman Against Jackie Chan, and Heroine This film was marketed as a Jackie Chan film, although he only made a cameo appearance
	Kung Fu Girl	鐵娃	"Japanese thug" (cameo) martial arts director stunt co-ordinator	aka Attack of the Kung Fu Girls aka None but the Brave aka The Heroine
	Little Tiger of Canton	廣東小老虎	"Jackie" / "Ah Lung" martial arts director stunt co-ordinator	aka Cub Tiger from Kwang Tung Ten Fingers of Death Snake Fist Ninja Snake Fist Fighter
	Freedom Strikes a Blow	碼頭大決鬥	"thug" (extra) stunt co-ordinator	aka Chinese Hercules aka Black Guide
1974	Fist to Fist	除霸	Guard(cameo) stuntman	aka Fists of the Double K aka Hong Kong Face-Off
	The Golden Lotus	金瓶雙艷	"Pear Seller Brother Yun" (cameo)
	Supermen Against the Orient	四王一后	supporting role (uncredited) stuntman stunt co-ordinator
1975	All in the Family	花飛滿城春	"Hsiao Tang / rickshaw driver"
	Bruce Lee and I	李小龍與我	(cameo)
	No End of Surprises	拍案驚奇	Secretary Chen (cameo)
	The Himalayan	密宗聖手	"Tsengs men" (uncredited) stuntman
	The Young Dragons	鐵漢柔情	action choreographer stunt co-ordinator
1976	New Fist of Fury	新精武門之精武拳	"Lung"
	Dance of Death	舞拳	stunt co-ordinator (as Chen Yuan-lung)	aka Eternal Conflict
	Shaolin Wooden Men	少林木人巷	"Tiger" stunt co-ordinator action director	aka Shaolin Chamber of Death aka Shaolin Wooden Men: Young Tiger's Revenge
	Hand of Death	少林門	"Tan Feng"	aka Countdown in Kung Fu
	Killer Meteors	風雨雙流星	"Wa Wu-Bin / Tiger / Immortal Meteor" stunt co-ordinator	aka The Killer Meteors, Jackie Chan vs. Wang Yu
	The Private Eyes	半斤八兩	stuntman	aka Mr. Boo 1: The Private Eyes
1977	The 36 Crazy Fists	三十六迷形拳	supporting role in opening scene (uncredited) stunt co-ordinator	aka The Blood Pact
1977	To Kill with Intrigue	劍花煙雨江南	"Cao Lei" stunt coordinator
1978	Snake & Crane Arts of Shaolin	蛇鶴八步	"Hsu Yiu Fong" stunt co-ordinator
	Magnificent Bodyguards	飛渡捲雲山	"Lord Ting Chung" stunt coordinator	aka Eye of the Dragon
	Snake in the Eagle's Shadow	蛇形刁手	"Chien Fu" stunt coordinator
	Drunken Master	醉拳	"Wong Fei Hung"	aka Drunken Monkey in the Tiger's Eyes
	Spiritual Kung Fu	拳精	"Yi-Lang" stunt coordinator (as Chen Yuen Lung)	aka Karate Ghostbuster
	Half a Loaf of Kung Fu	一招半式闖江湖	"Master Jiang" writer martial arts director stunt co-ordinator
	Two in Black Belt	黑帶恨	(cameo)
1979	The Fearless Hyena	笑拳怪招	"Shing Lung" (as Jacky Chan) director action director	aka Revenge of the Dragon
	Dragon Fist	龍拳	"Tang How-Yuen" action director
	Immortal Warriors	百戰保山河	action director stunt coordinator
	Master with Cracked Fingers	廣東小老虎	"Jackie Chan"	aka Snake Fist Fighter This film was created from an amalgamation of footage, primarily from the limited-release 1973 film Little Tiger of Canton.
1980	The Young Master	帥弟出馬	"Dragon" / "Master Lung" director action director writer
	The Big Brawl	殺手壕	"Jerry Kwan" / "Lung" action director	aka Battle Creek Brawl
	Read Lips	孖寶闖八關	producer
1981	The Cannonball Run	砲彈飛車	"Jackie Chan the Subaru driver" (cameo)
1981	The Gold-Hunters	老鼠街	producer
1982	Dragon Lord	龍少爺	"Dragon Ho"/ "Lung" director action director martial arts choreographer co-writer	aka Dragon Strike
1982	Fantasy Mission Force	迷你特攻隊	"Sammy" (as Jacky Chan) stuntman	aka Mini Special Force
1983	Fearless Hyena Part II	龍騰虎躍	"Chan Lung" / "Stone" action choreographer (footage)	This film was created by Lo Wei, derived from alternative footage recorded during the filming of the original The Fearless Hyena. It had no input from Jackie Chan.
	Winners and Sinners	奇謀妙計五福星	"CID 07"	aka Winners & Sinners: Five Lucky Stars
	Project A	A計劃	"Sergeant Dragon Ma Yue Lung" director writer action director	aka Mark of the Dragon
1984	Wheels on Meals	快餐車	"Thomas"	aka Spanish Connection
	Cannonball Run II	砲彈飛車2	"Jackie" (Mitsubishi engineer)
	Pom Pom	神勇雙響炮	Motorcycle Cop #2 (Cameo)
1985	Police Story	警察故事	"Chan Ka-Kui" aka "Kevin Chan" director action director stunt coordinator fight choreographer
	Heart of Dragon	龍的心	"Tat Fung" aka "Ted"	aka First Mission
	Ninja Thunderbolt	至尊神偷	(cameo)	aka To Catch a Thief aka To Catch a Ninja aka Ninja Fury
	The Protector	威龍猛探	"Billy Wong"
	My Lucky Stars	福星高照	"Muscles"	Winners & Sinners 2: My Lucky Stars
	Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars	夏日福星	"Muscles"	aka "Seven Lucky Stars"
1986	Naughty Boys	扭計雜牌軍	"prisoner" (cameo) producer
1987	Armour of God	龍兄虎弟	"Jackie Condor" aka "Asian Hawk" director stunt co-ordinator	aka Operation Condor 2: The Armour of the Gods
	Project A Part II	A計劃續集	"Dragon Ma" director action director stunt coordinator
	That Enchanting Night	良青花奔月	producer
1988	Police Story 2	警察故事續集	"Chan Ka-Kui" aka "Kevin" director stunt coordinator
	Dragons Forever	飛龍猛將	"Jackie Lung" production supervisor	aka Cyclone Z
	The Inspector Wears Skirts	霸王花	producer
	Rouge	胭脂扣	producer
1989	Miracles	奇蹟	"Charlie Cheng Wah Kuo" / "Kuo Chen Wah" director producer writer action director	aka Mr. Canton and Lady Rose aka Black Dragon aka The Canton Godfather
1989	The Inspector Wears Skirts II	神勇飛虎霸王花	producer
1990	Island of Fire	火燒島	"Lung" /"Steve Tong" / "Da Chui"	aka The Prisoner
	The Outlaw Brothers	最佳賊拍檔	action director
	Stage Door Johnny	舞台姊妹	producer
	Story of Kennedy Town	西環的故事	producer
1991	A Kid from Tibet	西藏小子	"airport passenger" (cameo)
	Armour of God II: Operation Condor	飛鷹計劃	"Jackie Condor" director action director producer	aka Operation Condor
	Angry Ranger	火爆浪子	producer
	Beauty and the Beast	美女與野獸	"Beast" (voice)	Chan performed voice acting and singing in the Chinese dub of the film.
1992	Police Story 3: Super Cop	警察故事III超級警察	"Chan Ka-Kui" aka "Kevin" executive producer	aka Supercop
	Twin Dragons	雙龍會	"Ma Yau" aka "John Ma" "Die Hard" aka "Boomer" action director stunt choreographer	aka Double Dragon
	Centre Stage	阮玲玉	presenter
	The Shootout	危險情人	producer
1993	Once a Cop	超級計劃	"Inspector Chan" (cameo)	aka Project S aka Supercop 2 aka Police Story 3 Part II
	City Hunter	城市獵人	"Ryo Saeba" aka "city Hunter"	Based on the Japanese manga City Hunter
	Crime Story	重案組	"Inspector Eddie Chan" stunt co-ordinator
	Kin chan no Cinema Jack	陳健沒有傑克電影院	producer	This is an anthology film, a joint production between Australia, Hong Kong and Japan. The HK section was produced by Jackie Chan and featured Yuen Biao.
1994	Drunken Master II	醉拳II	"Wong Fei Hung" co-director stunt co-ordinator martial arts choreographer	aka The Legend of Drunken Master
1995	Thunderbolt	霹靂火	"Chan Foh To" "Alfred Tung" action director executive producer stunt coordinator	aka Dead Heat
1995	Rumble in the Bronx	紅番區	"Ma Hon Keung" action director martial arts director stunt director
1996	Police Story 4: First Strike	警察故事IV之簡單任務	"Chan Ka-Kui" aka "Jackie" action director stuntman (uncredited)	aka Jackie Chan's First Strike
1997	Mr. Nice Guy	一個好人	"Jackie" stunt coordinator (uncredited) stuntman (uncredited)	aka SuperChef aka Mister Cool
1998	Who Am I?	我是誰	Jackie Chan aka "Who Am I?" director action director co-writer stunt coordinator
	Rush Hour	火拼時速	"Detective Inspector Lee" stunt coordinator
	Hot War	幻影特攻	producer
	An Alan Smithee Film Burn Hollywood Burn		"himself" (cameo)
	Mulan	花木蘭	"Captain Li Shang" (voice)	Cantonese and Mandarin version
1999	King of Comedy	喜劇之王	"unnamed extra actor" (cameo)
	Gorgeous	玻璃樽	"C. N. Chan" action director action choreographer co-producer co-writer	aka High Risk
	Gen-X Cops	特警新人類	"fisherman" (cameo) executive producer
2000	Shanghai Noon	西域威龍	"Chon Wang" excutive producer stuntman (uncredited)
2001	The Accidental Spy	特務迷城	"Buck Yuen" co-producer stunt coordinator
2001	Rush Hour 2	火拼時速2	"Chief Inspector Lee"
2002	The Tuxedo	燕尾服	"Jimmy Tong"
2003	Shanghai Knights	飛龍再生	"Chon Wang" action choreographer executive producer
	The Twins Effect	千機變	"Jackie" the Ambulance driver (cameo role)	aka Vampire Effect
	The Medallion	西域威龍2皇家威龍	"Eddie Yang"
2004	Around the World in 80 Days	環遊世界八十天	"Passepartout" executive producer fight choreographer
	The Twins Effect II	千機變 II – 花都大戰	"Lord of Armour" (cameo)	aka The Huadu Chronicles: Blade of the Rose
	New Police Story	新警察故事	"Senior Inspector Chan Kwok-Wing" action director executive producer stunt director
	Enter the Phoenix	大佬愛美麗	"Mr. Chan" (cameo) executive producer
	Rice Rhapsody	海南雞飯	executive producer
2005	The Myth	神話	"General Meng Yi" "Jack" action director stunt director	aka Jackie Chan's The Myth
	Everlasting Regret	長恨歌	co-producer
	House of Fury	精武家庭	executive producer
2006	Rob-B-Hood	寶貝計劃	"Fong Ka Ho" aka "Thongs" action director co-producer co-writer stunt coordinator	aka Robin-B-Hood
2007	Rush Hour 3	火拼時速3	"Chief Inspector Lee"
2008	The Forbidden Kingdom	功夫之王	"Lu Yan" / "Old Hop"	aka King of Kung Fu
	Kung Fu Panda	功夫熊貓	"Master Monkey" (voice)
	Run Papa Run	一個好爸爸	executive producer
	Wushu	武術之少年行	executive producer
2009	Shinjuku Incident	新宿事件	"Steelhead" executive producer
	Looking for Jackie	尋找成龍	himself	aka Jackie Chan and The Kung Fu Kid aka Jackie Chan Kung Fu Master
	The Founding of a Republic	建國大業	"Li Jishen's Interviewer" (cameo role)	aka Jian Guo Da Ye (lit. The Great Cause of China's Foundation) aka Founding of the Nation aka Lofty Ambitions of Nation Building
2010	The Spy Next Door	鄰家特工	"Bob Ho"	aka Double Mission
	Little Big Soldier	大兵小將	"Big Soldier" producer writer	aka Big Soldier, Small General aka Junior Soldiers
	The Karate Kid	功夫夢	"Mr. Han"	aka The Kung Fu Dream
	The Legend of Silk Boy	世博冠軍湖絲仔	"Xu Rongcun" (voice)
2011	Shaolin	新少林寺	"Wu Dao"	aka The New Shaolin Temple
	Kung Fu Panda 2	功夫熊貓2	"Master Monkey" (voice)
	1911^[1]	辛亥革命	"Huang Xing" director executive producer stunt co-ordinator stuntman
	Legendary Amazons	楊門女將	producer
2012	The Great Magician^[2]	大魔術師	(cameo) action director
2012	Chinese Zodiac^[3]^[4]	十二生肖	"Asian Hawk" director	aka Armour of God III: Chinese Zodiac filming
2013	Karate Kid 2	功夫夢2	"Mr. Han"
2013	Kung Fu Panda 3	功夫熊貓3	"Master Monkey" (voice)

The East Resurgent: Why Karate, Taekwondo and Judo Are Making a Comeback in MMA

2012-03-29T22:28:00.000+03:00

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If they were to examine the styles most often adopted by Mixed Martial Arts competitors it would be difficult not to conclude that Muay Thai, wrestling & Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu lie at the core of our sport.

Indeed, it is debatable whether any successful competitor can claim total ignorance of these disciplines, so embedded are they in our new, international fighting culture - if MMA is, as some commentators argue, becoming a "style" in its own right, then our own Frankenstein's monster is wielding Thai kicks, shooting thunderous doubles & rending flesh from bone with Rio's slickest subs.

The world's fastest-growing, fastest-changing sport is on the move one time again, leading us to ask which styles fighters are using to broaden their combative horizons, & why? Why are fighters using Karate footwork, Taekwondo kicks & Judo throws over say, movements drawn from Shaolin Kung Fu & Aikido? To find out, they must examine what these re-emerging styles offer the aspiring fighter, also discussing why knowledge of the "big three" alone will seldom lead a competitor to success from this point onwards.

This much is without a doubt true, yet, as any martial arts fan will excitedly tell you, the Octagon is becoming increasingly crowded as of late - Thai, wrestling & BJJ are losing their hold on the middle of the cage, being forced to share the glare of publicity with techniques drawn from a range of historicallyin the past marginalized disciplines.

They will first examine both Karate & Taekwondo, highlighting aspects of these arts which can push an MMA fighter's game to the next level.

Our first point of note relates to stances & footwork - while Thai fighters have become famous for their plodding, stalking movement, they are now seeing fewer & fewer fighters achieving success with this approach.

The striking game is changing - has already changed, in fact, selecting fighters who use the more hand-oriented "Dutch style" of kickboxing over proponents of pure Muay Thai.
With 4oz gloves & increasingly-skilled competitors, successful fighters increasingly eschew the "rock-em-sock-em robots" approach, looking in lieu for ways to keep away from being hit; Karate is of obvious interest to those who seek to improve their evasive movement - lots of Japanese styles like Wado-Ryu & Shotokan emphasize diagonal movement & "in & out" footwork, allowing competitors to increase their traditional boxing/kickboxing defense with a sophisticated process of cutting angles, leaving opponents with nothing but air to counter.

Alongside Taekwondo, Karate training also provides strikers with the ability to fire "chambered" kicks, circumventing the necessity to "switch step" & telegraph the slower, albeit more powerful, Thai kicks they normally associate with MMA. Indeed, a brand spanking new generation of fighters are beginning to add Taekwondo to their training, following in the footsteps of Anderson Silva, Ben Henderson & Anthony Pettis by diversifying their kicking game & reaping the multiple benefits of improved leg dexterity in the cage.

No-one is proposing that boxing & Muay Thai have become useless in MMA - fighters arriving in the Octagon with nothing but a Karate or Taekwondo belt around their waist will have their legs battered black & blue, as they would expect; , what they are seeing is an MMA "arms race" - as competitors refine often trained styles, both up-and-comers & prescient veterans seek to unveil weapons that opponents do not regularly encounter, putting a spanner in the best-laid game designs & maximizing their "ways to win".

What does a Judo player bring to the table? Ask any BJJ player who has rolled with a champion Judoka, & they will immediately point out things: strength, balance & posture. Judo players are nigh-on impossible to take down, hard to keep down as well as a nightmare from the top position, when pitted against guard specialists.

Contrary to what they might think, it is not only the Western boxer or seasoned Thai fighter who might need to think about grabbing a phonebook in MMA's current climate of modify - grapplers must keep their finger on the pulse, being attentive to the interest shown in Judo by lots of successful competitors, including both Nick & Nate Diaz.

As with Muay Thai, while no fighter will be able to enter the Octagon without solid fundamentals derived from wrestling & BJJ, they may yet see a time in the near future when the Uchi-mata is learned alongside the double-leg shot as a "bread-and-butter" technique.

This much they know, & have always known about Judo, yet the takedowns present in the "gentle art" have often proved technical or "gi-centric" to be applied successfully in MMA - until now, that is, as fighters like Manny Gamburyan & Ronda Rousey (in a manner not dissimilar to Fedor Emelianenko) start to make use of Judo together with a comprehensive "no-gi" skill set, countering Greco-style clinch takedowns with a series of stunning leg elevation throws & sweeps.

The point, ladies & gentlemen, is this: day, each & every useful technique will have been adopted in to the MMA canon, & fighters will only be able to get better at what they already know, being unable to add new strings to their bow - that day, however, is a long, long way off.

For brevity's sake, this news story has neglected to analyze the one-thousand-and-one new movements being practiced in MMA, ranging from the stunning guards associated with Eddie Bravo's 10th Planet technique to flamboyant strikes drawn from systems like Capoeira.

While they may not think of MMA's infancy when they watch a master like Anderson Silva strutting his stuff, the fact remains that our sport is very, very young - expect to see more Judo, more Karate, more Taekwondo; when these styles become normalised, expect the unexpected, perhaps even some Kung Fu. As MMA fans, they live in an period of perpetual modify - sit back & enjoy the sheer dynamism of our sport.

Long Round: 3 in 1 package

2012-02-25T21:14:00.001+02:00

Greetings to all my readers (anyone still left?), I was in lazy & busy mode for a long time, however today I just decide to stop blaming the keyboard and mouse for not being able to perform instead of me and while dusting off hands and fingers I start this new article here. It might be a bit longer than my previous entries, but that is due to the fact that I'm going make 3 reviews instead of traditionally only one. Big applause for me being so generously lazy.
Anyway, without any further chatter I'll unveil the three movies, decapitated before you - sort of like the public executions in ancient China, during the Tang dynasty - The lost Bladesman, My Kingdom & The Sorcerer and White snake aka It's Love.

In all three we have some of the brightest stars from recent martial arts history in movies - Yuen Biao, Jet Li, Donnie Yen, Yu Rongguang and some wannabe actors which are infact either clothing models or singers, thrown in for a greater effect on my old school teachings. This trend in modern martial arts movies keeps bothering me from the start - at one point, why would you put someone, who has been walking on the catwalk (presenting flickering jackets and mesmerising pants to a bunch of retarded fashion fanatics) in a movie with very limited martial arts background surrounded by veterans? Because it sells, because it is quite popular amongst teen and pre-teen fans of those models/singers/serial drama participants and therefore it will generate bigger cash flow.

Well, I was disgust and in rather cryogenic status while I was watching the ultimately pathethic moves, scenes and emotions made from these well dressed lads, trying to be the new improved (lol) generation of such movies... I have a bad news for you ladyboys - you suck, in each aspect of your miserable tryouts on the big screen - but enough negative thinking, let me divert the conversation into more appropriate mode.

After this intro, which had to be put out here I would like to prepare your senses for the "Taste of things to come" (copyright George S. Clinton - Mortal Kombat OST) - the first being last from Donnie Yen - The Lost Bladesman, which depicts the story of real general Guan Yu, during the Three Kingdoms period - a portion of Chinese history, which've given material for many other articles, such as books, comics and other items for the hungry masses - one should not underestimate the power of distribution. So back on the movie - Donnie Yen is playing one of the prominent figures in Romance of the Three Kingdoms franchise which left China in a state of a giant puzzle, made by 3 parts each led by it leader - Cao Cao, Liu Bei & Yuan Shao, but here the main story involves the first one, the aforemention general and one of newly discovered concubines - a great team I say, gathered for thrills and drama all the way.

Well, for me the main emotions were boredom and laughter, as I was trying to see beyond Donnie Yen's rigid performance as he was a distant cousin to oaks. Indeed someone should take care of his out-of-fighting scenes as they were showing not even a glimpse of creativity and range - of course all this was changed in next his movie Wu Xia, where his talents were shown to their maximum and nothing was left out - all the elements were nicely put together, balanced quite well and overall experience was far greater than this one here. Donnie Yen can proceed of other such pictures inspired by real events and heroes, but even if he depicts the life of the last common soldier fighting in this "romance", I still will take him to the cleaners. Portraying a famous general does not play to my excitement string and I still qualify his performance bellow medium requirements. The old-and-true drama/love thing is so worn off, that I wanted to pick my eyes out from the cliches thrown in and the "moving" relationship between Guan Yu and the concubine - okay the code of honor does not permitted Donnie to jump in her panties (or string) and express his love with utmost honor and creativity, but they were so distant as if they were some kind of relatives, instead of sharing a pasionate emotion towards each other.

General Guan Yu vs crappy decors

Donnie Yen was basically expressing his emotions by either raising his eyebrows or stare at his opponent when his weapon is drawn, the rest are not even hinted - afterall a general of historical proportions can not be seen acting like a human being with hormonal disbalance - but at least seeing him as a frantic female admirer in bed, would give his character a whole lot more dynamic range of emotions and presenting like a man, not like a ancient chinese weapon master on steroids, invincible and not even moving a finger (at least) upwards to satisfy the woman next to him. Okay, from a chinese point of view probably it would be inappropriate to depict him in such light, propaganda must go on, but then the screenwriters could've remove the whole drama/love part from the movie. Anyway the thing which is more attractive to me, while watching a martial arts movie is indeed the fights, and here they were slightly better than those portrayed in Legend of the fist, it resembles the old Donnie, but again so unadeqately combined and presented that I almost lost my interest towards who is beating who and for what purposes. The fisrt one is tightly choreographed within a narrow backside of some huts, where our two heroes were sharing blows of steel while horse riding - I can see a sense of creativity here, but all was lost like a lonely cattle in ravaging tornado, when the second fight was on.

OMG - this is going to be epic... not

It had all three basic ingredients known to movies - beggining, middle section and end - each pointing out specific details about the fighters and the battle itself. In the beggining Donnie walks in a house yard surrounded by no less than 30 people, slowly going towards some guy enjoying his meal with such pleasure as it was the finest French dish ever.

Nice carvings, I marvel at the craftmanship...

Few dialog lines spoken as to give the atmosphere a hint of pressure and when the bad guy slammed the unfinished chicken leg on the plate, still chewing, I told to myself "oh-oh here the hell breaks loose" and the last thing I saw was Donnie removing the blade cover with dignity, before they closed the door. CLOSED THE BLOODY DOOR. All I heard were voices of dead and swung of weapons - it was like watching porn movie while being blind - I can imagine a lot of things happening, but it was not the same as not seeing it happening actually. No matter how vivid my imagination was I simply acumulated certain percentage of anger and hatred towards the action director or whoever thought out this quite ridiculous way of telling a fight - I would rather watch Legend of the Wolf again - at least there were people fighting in your face, ignoring the fact that these fights were undercranked and some of the scenes filmed with little light.

The final outcome - impressive indeed...

The whole agonizing piece of craptastic aciton lasted few minutes and when the doors were being opened again, Guan Yu was walking away from the bodies, left in miserable condition on the ground. Impressive. It was pretty obvious the outcome of this battle, but heroic images had to exist - just to remind us how great and invincible was the ancient general. So far I saw how boring he could be, so probably my heroic string was somehow torn from the initial chords in this laughable movie. Before the end I saw another boss fight (won by Guan Yu again, but there was a glimpse of some nice weapons work) and some political touches, as to give us the insight of the whole drama and for the grand finale there was a forest battle with crossbows and jumps - at one point it seemed to me as Donnie Yen's character were at some carnival shooting some wooden figures just to get a cuddly prize for his girlfriend at St. Valentine's eve.

Brilliant, simply brilliant - next please!

What I received was poorly executed movie, full of unadequate acting, tedious fighting scenes and flat characters. Another example of how not to entertain the audience - well done indeed. My final word is:

3/10 (it could have been a lot better without the drama and complexity)

I'm moving now to my next subject of provoked anger and low rating - My Kingdom at least on trailer level was looking decent, and when I saw the faces of Yuen Biao & Yu Rongguang doing a fighting routines, my heart went two strokes off beat - having seen Yuen Biao in the ultimate parody "Just another Pandora's box", I thought of his fighting days some years ago and when I saw the trailer expectations of seeing at least good martial arts movie were slightly raised.

The story centres around the fate and life of two opera students - one of them part of last chinese dynasty (played by Han Geng) and the other (Wu Chun) already under the apprenticeship of one opera master (Yuen Biao). It appears that these two will be the main characters and I was a bit curious how they handle the action pieces, although I've already seen Wu Chun before, where his was going against Donnie Yen in "14 Blades" - I recognised his sleek face right away. With Sammo Hung as action director, one can think that nothing would go wrong in the fighting department, however in the credits across 'action choreographer" is placed Chin Kar Lok, while Sammo is directing the way all the battle scenes should be filmed like, and has nothing to do with the actual action choreography. Misleading much?

Anyway - the first martial arts piece comes up quite early in the movie showing a duel between Yuen Biao & Yu Rongguang - something like opera honour battle of the masters. It was decent, nothing out of the ordinary, but a solid one, considering the fact that both actors are not in their prime anymore. After that the story unfolds, placing two youngsters in early 20's searching for the opera master which disgraced their school last time. The very familiar vengeance section is on display, and yet another fight followed, and I was surprised to see a second one so early in the movie (at some 25 minutes into it), thus made the false conclusion that I'll be entertained in the fighting segment. Oh, how I pity those deluded souls... Anyway, the honour was restored and the two now were prominent players in one of the most respected opera house in pre-war China, and as a bonus they received a fine woman (played by Barbie Hsu), whose motives were not clear, and actions uncertain - sneaky foxy lady.

Now kids, behave and smile for the camera

There was something like a gap between all characters there, a disjointed company consisting of two clothing models/singers, a Tissot watches model and some other undistinguished people for the rest of the movie. It was meant to have a love string pulled somewhere in the middle of the movie, however the reactions and emotions were so badly executed and forced, that I would rather watch beer advertisements on the TV, than this theatrical nonsense, no matter how beautiful the performers were. At some point there were another vengeance sub-plot involved, but it was obvious to me who was the killer and what motives he shared, and probably it was there as to fill in some time from the movie, when everything else failed to generate substantial interest. And it failed indeed. After those initial 25 minutes, followed an hour of boredom and siesta, followed by climatic final fight which lasted for few minutes and was ultimately boring, and then the end credits roll, I can't even remember what happened at the end and who died, I just wanted to finish it up quickly, so I could forget about it.

The models are entering the big city - mothers, keep your girls at home!

I didn't care for any of the characters portrayed, because there was nothing to care about - the clothing models were populating the screen with different garments and posed as if they were on a catwalk, and I just wonder when this stupid newborn tradition of casting models/singers/boy bands gigolos and failed artists in productions such as martial arts movies, just to invoke drooling of certain magnitude in the audience, compiled of teenagers, people with excess hormones and Twilight fans, as well as cries of lust and pregnancy posters held high in the cinema... What about the fans of martial arts movies, seeking the good old screen fighting criteria, looking for something new and refreshing from their favorite actors, well so far I saw as much refreshing as in smelling decayed fish and seaweeds from a mile over on poluted beach... None whatsoever.

And I feel betrayed by the industry itslef, trying to trick me with flashy trailers (Hollywood style), and new faces tearing the screen, but actually bring me to tears of anger, by seeing such genre being ruled from some 20 years old mannequin twats, with pretty faces, brain the size of peanut and martial arts skills of an aged turtle. Even the solid figures in that industry turned to this formulae, disregarding the negative reception amongst die-hard fans, and then wondered why the movie stinks of rotten eggs and smelly feet in first place. Well, do not wonder little asian friends, for as long as you allow people with no martial arts background (Leung Kar Yan is an exception) to strike a pose in front of the cameras, there will be such turmoil and withdrawn of people eager to see some decent martial arts movie.

Chinese Opera female lead - it has a certain lust meter...

In all I wouldn't recommend seeing this movie twice, as after the first 25 minutes there is nothing interesting left to watch, my personal mark is based entirely on that amount of time and do not represent the whole judgement:

4.3/10 - as for the whole movie - 2.2/10 (I wish that Yuen Biao wasn't underused again)

The third turd in this combination comes from Jet Li himself in colaboration with Ching Siu Tung (martial arts coordinator and choreographer of movies such as Hero, Shaolin Soccer, Swordman 2, Belly of the beast, House of flying daggers and many more) - as you can see from his selected choreography Ching Siu Tung is a man heavily relying on wires and wire enhanced fight, where all the flying heroes overshadows China Air and most of the air carriers companies around the world. I can think of some decent flying fight choreography here - Shaolin Soccer, Hero and Belly if the beast - here as well as being an fight choreographer he is also a director, which gave me the creeps after finishing the movie.

       I couldn't think of anything as bad as this, but then I remember an old Indiana Jones like type of martial arts movie named Dr. Wai: Scripture without words, where the above mentioned people were on the same positions - Ching Siu Tung director & martial arts choreographer, Jet Li - actor & poor performer. I see a familiar pattern here and the result is being even more bad. As the movie was so badly made I hardly can retrieve the plot information from my brain as it was not even remotely noticeable, but it goes about a Buddhist abbot (Jet Li), chasing after some mysterious woman (creature known as White Snake), which fell in love with some mortal, while her sister (the Green Snake) cares for abbot's follower - basically the abbot has to fight both reptiles in order to end the movie and bring happy ending.

On special effects side - nothing special, on acting abilities - it's more like aching abilities, pain to watch, even more pain to watch them struggling in scripted emotions and scenes, fighting department - I'm speechless, but if I have to go being honest: "Fuck you Ching Siu Tung!!!!" . I feel better now, however I do pity Jet Li - from a very promising martial actor, now he is like a laughable addition to some of his last movies and I do not know where this will lead to - a total disaster or a renaissance of some sort... The story was based on chinese legend, but I've seen better performance in fantasy movie in Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain (although poor on effects and some scattered plot points) & Mr. Vampire - damn, even in Magic Cop I saw so much charisma and interesting scenes than here. In general this movie is like combination of poor scrpit, poor action scenes, poor effects, so is there anything which is rich and good about it - well only the presence of Jet Li, period.

Old, old Jet Li - what have you done with your career?

In IMDB I came across an information that Jet was tricked to appear in the movie under the influence that fighting would be limited, and thus he signed for the role, but actually he wasn't doing fighting at all - he just flies from on side of the decor to the other, looking for a suitable landing place. So basically it wasn't a trick after all, it was something else, much more worse than trying to act like a character from Twilight, it's like acting like idiot and thinking it is cool. Maybe Jet was doing this entirely for the money, so he can continue with his charity and spreading Buddhist teaching, but even those honourable reasons, does not save him from being plain stupid in this movie. As if he doesn't care anymore to the projects he is in, or plot, or character driven features - long gone are his days as Wong Fei Hung and Chen Zhen, sad sad story indeed. I'm not questioning his personal or material intentions when filming a movie, but at least has to do something substantial for a simple fan pleasure - let him under Yuen Woo Ping, Sammo Hung, Lau Kar Leung choreography, under direction of Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam, Jackie Chan or even Donnie Yen and enjoy the results - well, I may exaggerate a bit, but I'm just making implications of how he could boost his career to new heights (or box ofice bombs).

Special effects vs. martial arts - the first is crap, the second is invisible...

He looks pretty tired in this movie about sorcerers and snakes, he looks as if he was obligated to do it, no matter all the stupidity in it, but I hope that Ching Siu Tung will not direct any movie in the next 10 years at least. The female cast was as well nothing out of the ordinary, just some of beauty pigeons, showing little of themsleves both psychically and mentally. Forgettable from start to finish - avoid at all costs, don't be like me. Final rating:

1/10 - one of the worst movies I've ever seen. One is for Jet Li only, who was at least part of this circus play.

Sincerely Yours
The Grim Reaper

Сега следват редовете за Бг аудиторията - наистина не бях писал тук от дълго време и се извинявам за някакви пропуснати ползи, но какви ли биха могли да бъдат те от един пробит блог с ограничено съдържание. Отдавна се навивах да напиша някой по-обстоен материал с ново заглавие, но все не намирах достатъчно смелост да прескоча бариерата на Мързелград и да се впусна в ожесточено описване и възхваляване на последните представители на този жанр. Затова в един гениален проблясък, реших да комбинирам 3 в 1 комбинация за по-лесно предаване на всички онези емоции, които завладяха съзнанието ми и отприщиха нов гейзер от заключения на основа актьорска игра и бойна хореография - пък и така ще четете за три филма вместо един и ще имам повече време да скалъпя нов материал (който да види бял свят поне до Великден). Тримата глупаци или The Lost Bladesman, My Kingdom & The Sorcerer and White Snake в пакет - започвам с първия.

Дони Йен с брада и фьешън прическа - аман от модни корифеи...

Дони Йен ме радва, определено - имаме качество съчетано с правилни филми и сравнително интересни персонажи, напоследък нещо кривата му дръпна надолу и не съм особено впечатлен от екранните му изяви, но като фен гледам всичко излязло напоследък, за да мога после на воля да се ядосвам и да давам негативи, все едно раздавам купони за храна. В този филм отново става въпрос за Трицарствието - период долюбван от историци и кинематографи, заради богатството от сюжети и множеството битки за надмощие и съревнование, нещо като мерене на пишки древнокитайски стил. Епоха на враждуващи царства, на интриги, на сърцати герои и доблестни постъпки, там са се раждали и умирали герои и един от тях е генерал Гуан Ю, който според хрониките е бил ненадминат с всякакво режещо оръжие, затова и бил желан съюзник на всеки владетел от онова време.

Филмът проследява житие-битие на тази личност, като показва някакви наченки на любовни терзания сред иначе стъклената му мутра и дървесно подобните емоции и изражения. В най-общи линии тук Дони Йен има за задача да пребие 3-ма противникови фигури с подобаващи средства и прийоми и да служи като ескорт на една от конкубините (звучи ми като кубинка) на някой от тримата владетели по онова бурно време (толкова и обърнах внимание, не е било явно жизнено важно). Дотук добре, имаше разгърната история, поставени герои, сега чаках първата битка за цвят и тя дойде - интересно поднесена, започна като надбягване с коне на Тодоровден и завърши с Guan Yu wins!, за радост на агитката. Тук Дони Йен акцентира върху уменията си с оръжия, отколкото използване на някакви крайници за решаване на двубоя, малко да се различава от показността и тъпотията в предишния си опит - Legend of Chen Zhen. Имаше някаква идейност в първия тупаник - тясно пространство ограничаващо движенията му с дългата алебарда, но изходът от неприятната ситуация беше решен по доста прост начин и така се измъкна победител.

Голяма сила, голяма мощ - в доста окъсан пакет...

Личеше му желанието да представи нещо по-различно от преди, но като цяло не беше впечатляващо на фона на останалите му добри образци от кариерата като Iron Monkey, In the line of duty 4, Tiger Cage 2, SPL & Flashpoint, просто иновация нямаше кой знае каква, понеже всичко с такава хореография съм го виждал в един доста стар представител с името Odd Couple, виновник за едни от най-солидните бойни сцени с копие и меч, които съм гледал някога. Явно Дони е искал да възроди този аспект на бойната хореография, но не му се е получило толкова добре, както в предния му филм 14 Blades, където и драматичната нишка беше много добре изразена, без да е изнасилена, и бойните сцени превъзхождаха отвсякъде. Да не подхвана пък следващия му проект Wu Xia, който според мен се нарежда сред върховете в кариерата му и рядко виждам толкова добре направен и въздействащ филм.

Но да се върна към повествованието на генерал Гуан Ю, което не блести с някакви послания, а прилича на нещо като преминаване на нива в action adventure с boss fights, започва се от най-лесния, и се вдига трудността като се прогресира - баш като видео игра го бяха направили - получава заповед да отиде на едно място и да премахне най-главния там, после следва същата схема и така до края на филма. След първия двубой, за пълнеж бяха сложили някакви сантиментални искри между нашето момче и девойката, но те бяха май някак по принуда и без особена изтъкната емоционалност, все едно гледах как две дървета се опитват да правят любовен танц на ухажването. После бях пред заспиване от скука и безцелни диалози и дойде и втория двубой - Дони Йен влезе през едни много добре издялани порти с красиви орнаменти и веднага го обградиха 20 въоръжени тиквеника, докато техния шеф, кротко обезкостяваше някакво печено пиле, тотално незаинтересуван от новодошлия. Размениха обичайни любезности и тъкмо Дони развърза калъфа на оръжието си и останалите се втурнаха към него с надежда да го разфасоват, портите се затвориха и не гледах битка, а чувах викове, бляскат саби, щитовеее...

Тук имаше наченки на добра хореография, но кенефа взе да прелива...

Като пълен тъпак стоях и слушах радио предването, с малка надежда че ей сега ще отворят портите и ще погледам малко клане, но уви такова нещо не се случи - просто Дони Йен си излезе през тях, оставяйки трупове по земята, като че ли загатването за неговите умения, беше крайно интересно, вместо да ги видим в действителност. Режисьорско хрумване с оценка по дебилност 10/10 - когато гледам такива филми бих искал да виждам какво по дяволите се случва на екрана, а не да ми пробутват митове и легенди или уж оригинални похвати, оставящи на въображението ми да сглоби липсващите сцени... Сега и кино за умствено развитие ли ще ни се пробутва - хайде не.

Дотук нищо съществено - дойде поредната порция скука и пълнеж (от жълт крем) до третата битка, която беше малко по-добре позиционирана и изпълнена - класически дуел без хвърчащи елементи и намек за "креативност" - просто двама еднакви по умения души с различни убеждения и възгледи, хареса ми като цветове и като визия, имаше сила, имаше подходяща среда, имаше изчистени движения - тук Дони се е постарал да покаже умения и усет към хореографията. Но малко късно се е сетил, всичко друго отдавна замириса на плесен. Все едно да ръсиш цветчета върху прясно лайно - колкото и да изръсиш, то пак ще мирише на кафяво. За жалост на финала ми беше поднесена една удивително тъпа сцена, на която Дони Йен се превъплъти в играч на NES и влезе в ролята на пистолета (в този случай арбалета), който отстрелваше патки по екрана и при пропуск се появяваше едно дразнещо куче и се хилеше със злобен оттенък. В смисъл, нашето момче просто вървеше, търкаляше и стреляше, а враговете му падаха като презрели круши димитровки без да го докоснат - бива прехвалени умения, ама това ми бръкна дълбоко в бойната картотека и го записах под името "Панаирджийска стрелба". Е, мотивът му беше спасяване на любимата, но се поувлече в стремежа си да блесне по-ярко от всички останали във филма. Егоцентрик скапан.

Явно мъглата е била част от очарованието на боя...

Оценката ми е ниска, понеже самият филм попада под средното ниво на забавление по моите критерии и не беше положено и грам усилие да се повиши качеството, а се представяха патриотични картини и такива на тотална неуязвимост. Супер героите да гледат и да се учат.

3/10 - повече не мога...

Следващия рзчленен представител на бойната общност се нарича My Kingdom и там пък видях един от по-добрите актьори от близкото минало - Юен Бю, който този път беше конкуренция на Yu Rongguang и някакви изтръпнали моделчета и рекламни лица. Нещо загниваше сериозно - вярно, че трейлъра показа повечето стабилни сцени и ме изпълни с някакви частици надежда за по-нормален филм с добри бойни сцени и интересни герои, за които да стискам палци или да искам да умрат по-бързо. Тук имаше и двете реакции, но те се отнасяха до това излишните да изчезнат от екрана... Новите личица са тези на Хан Гън и У Чун (втория се сбори дори с Дони Йен в 14 Blades), а за първия нищо не ми е известно, но не ми и трябва, достатъчно ми беше да гледам тъпата лъскава мутра на У Чун, ами и тоя другия да ми се бута с екранно време.

Добрия стар Юен Бю - набразден и помъдрял, тогава защо се снима в това?

Защо за кой ли път филма е провален от участието на такива нещастници - но какво ли питам, киноиндустрията в Китай/Хонконг е вече подчинена на други правила и изисквания, едно от тях е да имаш поне един зализан певец/модел/идиот да пръска хормони и сексапил за радост на екзалтираните фенки, ревящи за евентуални деца от тях... Тъжно и глупаво, но такива са днешните критерии за филми с бойни изкуства - клоуни и бивши красавици от подиумите, делят сцена с едни от най-изявените звезди от миналия век, за да генерират интерес и пари - криза е все пак и всеки гледа да се спасява както може. Едни с дебили, други с женски камили.

Май вече никой не го е грижа за основата на тези филми - бойната хореография, та ми предложиха претоплена манджа от стилове и начини на заснемане дъвкани и предъвкани от десетилетия. Къде отиде изобретателността, оригиналния подход, дългите сцени заснети без прекъсване, ефектни кадри на забавен каданс, ясно е къде - в задника на продуцентите и в плюнката на режисьорите решили, че правят монументални късове кино-история, само че за мен са довели кретенията на ново ниво в азиатското кино. След тази гневна тирада, да се върна към кино бълвоча - историята се завърта около две деца, едното (Хан Гън) потомък на последната китайска династия, другото вече започнало обучението си в китайската опера (У Чун) под ръководството на стария майстор (Юен Бю). И двете стават свидетели на падението на тяхната школа, когато учителят им е победен в един приличен двубой от конкуренцията (Yu Rongguang) и той им отнема церемониалния надпис с името. Въпрос на традиции. Порастналите деца решават да си върнат надписа и пребиват конкуренцията, като стават основните звезди на в неговия театър и като бонус получават ридаещата съпруга-вдовица (Барби Су), която си има свои планове и цели, разгадани малко преди края на филма - да има интрига. Впоследствие се появява мистериозен убиец, раздаващ правосъдие (беше толкова очевадно кой е извършителя) и развръзката ме остави в делириум от болка и тъпотия. Но иначе филма започна доста добре - до 25-та минута гледах точно две бойни сцени - едната беше сравнително прилична, другата не чак толкова и бях приятно изненадан, но всичко се засили с бясна скорост към падението, след втората бойна хореография и премина в нещо като драма с елементи на любовни трепети, задъхани погледи и безупречни костюми. Направо прелест.

Модерна визия - това палто от порове може да е скъпо.

Тъкмо се зарадвах, че Юен Бю ще раздава ритници, той взе, че завърши кариера след онези 25 минути и се наложи да гледам двама олигофрени в диалогова битка с повехнала красавица. Поне имаха един тон сценични костюми да обличат и така оправдаха заплатата си - пък и да не губят тренинг като се завърнат в света на висшата мода и дефилирането пред погледа на куп критици, повечето с обратни наклонности. Дупе да им е яко. Останалото беше комбинация между наранени души и някаква генерална омраза, съчетана с показни убийства, като между другото имаше песни и танци на народите, все едно бяха на международен фолклорен фестивал. Ще пусна един мой цитат от форума на Eastern Spirit и ще продължа с анализите:

Току-що го изгледах - с английски субтитри, не ми се чакаше за БГ

Какво да кажа - ами първо бих искал да направя разграничаване между action director & action choreographer. На обложката гордо стои името на Само Хун като първия, но той не е правил самите бойни сцени, дело са на Chin Kar Lok (брат на Chin Siu Ho), който се е справил сравнително добре.

Само Хун като режисьор на бойните сцени е имал думата в това как да бъдат заснети, а не как да бъдат изпълнени.

Така преминавам към самия филм, драма, Шанхай през 20-те години, малко тупаници и нещо като сърцераздирателен прочит на някоя от Шекспировите пиеси с азиатци.

Ами като претоплена манджа ми беше, прекалено туистове и сюжетни нишки се опитаха да вкарат във филма и за капак неубедителната любовна история - така и не можах да симпатизирам на никой от героите, може би само на Yuen Biao, Yu Rong Guang & Han Geng (относително).

Жалко, че се опитаха да правят пак драма с бойни изкуства (по примера на Wu Xia), но с по-модерен сетинг, по дяволите дайте ми качествени бойни сцени и не загрозявайте пейзажа с тъпотии както при Legend of Chen Zhen! Обаче, не сега е модерно да се снимат такива неща и давай всички се юрваме към подобни постановки.

В крайна сметка се обърках от многото отмъщения - кой за кого и на кого да отмъщава, баси драматизма се получи ама с обратен знак. Бойните сцени бяха добре направени, но нищо над средното ниво - това сме го виждали и преди по много пъти, излъсканите лица на главните герои ми контрастираха с техните бойни умения, но май е по-добре да си останат на модния подиум или на певческата арена (доколкото разбрах за техните истински поприща).

Чудно ми е как всеки новопроходил манекен или певец си умира да се покаже и като добър актьор, владеещ бойни изкуства - аман от такива вече - да правят това което умеят най-добре, а да не разводняват таланта си като се блъскат във всяко едно възможно арт-звено изпречило им се на пътя - губи се ценна енергия и Дао-то им започва да отслабва и съкращава

Ами знам, че сипах с големия черпак, но от толкова изгледани филми от жанра съм станал май прекалено рафиниран и претенциозен - дано не се задълбочава

И все пак предпочитам да бъда откровен за слабите качества на филма, вместо да звуча като екзалтиран фен от Замунда или Арена

За мен филма е под средното ниво, затова и оценката е някъде там:

4.2/10 (искаше ми се има повече сцени с Yuen Biao)

Ами да побеседвам върху моето кратко изказване - значи първия абзац е много важен - наистина на обложката гордо се мъдри името на Само Хун, но истинския хореограф е друг, който изобщо не се споменава с главни букви - ето колко са долни братята китайци - лицемерни душички. Пускат две-три имена (някои от които се появяват за 10 мин) и публиката се настървява като гладно куче на обелки от кренвирши, сигурно и керемиди да му дадат, от глад ще ги изплюска без окото да му мигне. И аз се подлъгах по лъскавия трейлър и ефектните кадри, и като видях големите имена сред участниците, изобщо пропуснах "малките хора". А те се оказаха доста главни, макар че имаше и изключения от тази формула, където новите лица бяха еднакво интересни наред с доказалите се в жанра - за пример мога да дам Wushu. Но тук от толкова много козметика и дефилиране ми стана лошо и реших да се насоча към друг представител с по-улегнала визия и постижения.

Лъскав, гладък, тъп и превзет - да се връща на подиума...

Оценката обаче претърпява малка промяна - 4.2/10 е за първите 20 гледаеми минути, за целия филм е доста по-занижена - 2.2/10, така че на свой риск гледайте и наистина ми се искаше да има повече сцени с Юен Бю.

Следвайки посланието след предния филм действително се насочих към нещо по-улегнало и той се появи в лицето на Джет Ли, който щеше да се изправи срещу някаква бяла змия. Фентъзи сюжетите от китайската митология не са чак толкова зле и реших да дам шанс на батко Ли, да видим какво може още да покаже. Ами показа ми едно голямо нищо. Чак се чудя, на какво се дължи този свръх непукизъм, поне да се беше постарал в бойните сцени, а те едни летящи, пикиращи - ум да ти зайде.

Дали се чуди защо участва тук или мисли какво ще направи с парите?

Режисьорчето е отговорно за повечето китайски авиации през последните 10 години и затова хич не се учудих от ниското качество на псевдо тупалките, показани тук. Нулева емоция по отношение на историята - Джет Ли е будистки наставник/игумен, който търси свръхестественото с цел да го унищожи и попада на Бялата Змия (оттам и заглавието The Sorcerer and White Snake aka It's love), която иска да сподели любовта си със смъртен човек, а сестра й пък обсебва ученика на игумена - т.е. преди края на филма Джет ще трябва да се справи с две жени, които се оказват изключително трудни за умиране. Това е филма в който ефектите би трябвало да са водещи и на ниво, но те се оказаха като пляснати ей така, без някаква по-впечатлителна окраска, а като упражнение на някой прохождащ в обучението с такива програми. Уж имаше и бой, но той беше представен като излитане и кацане по покриви и тераси, без някакво по-реалистично и земно ниво на заснемане. Уж трябваше да има и някаква емоционална заигравка, обаче толкова зле бяха горките участници, че ми стана жално за тези нещастници, май спешно трябва да се преквалифицират в нещо като рекламни лица на Телешоп за конкуренция на Хорст Фукс. Поне ще са по-красиви от него.

Джет Ли ми изглеждаше отегчен и уморен от сцените си, правеше всичко по някаква ленива инерция, май е чакал да свършат снимките, че да изчезне от снимачната площадка по-бързо и да прави нещо далеч по-полезно като примерно, садене на божури и пиене на китайско вино с осолени зеленчуци. Тук просто той беше излишен, както и всички останали в картинката, защото без този филм, животът ми щеше да бъде доста по-жизнерадостен. Сега е просто по-тъжен и вече със страх подхождам към новите заглавия, било то и на светила като Джеки Чан, Дони Йен или Само Хун. Двете девойки (май едната беше от дуото Twins) бяха като силно преживяваща версия на горепосочения дует, като всяка тяхна емоция беше придружена с охкания и превземки от друга планета и толкова се опитваха да ми набият очеизбождащата любов, струяща на талази, като от спукан пожарен кран, с техните половинки, че направо усетих как кръвното и захарта ми се покачиха с няколко единици. След като взех медикаментни средства за минимизиране на последващи покачвания, продължих да гледам смешното напъване на Джет Ли като убиец на свръхестествени същества - нещо като подсилена версия на Mr. Vampire - ахканията и охканията на четворката влюбени синигерчета и се молех това изращение за сетивата ми да приключи по-бързо.

Оттук започва любовта...

За край на излиянията ми, ще оставя краткия си коментар по въпроса пак от същия форум:

Вчера го изгледах - по моите стандарти филма е пълна скръб, горкия Джет Ли, но какво да се прави - и той семейство храни, и той разпространява будисткото учение, иначе му ходи ролята на игумен - имаше някаква достолепност в излъчването му.

Встрани от това, нищо друго положително не видях - нито сносни бойни сцени, нито пък някакъв що-годе интересен сюжет, някакви любовни истории, драми, романси, малко ефекти (ама от по-евтините), накрая уж трябваше да ми е гадно за раздялата на всички влюбени, обаче ме напуши на смях, понеже толкова изнасилени им бяха емоциите, че ми напомни за покитайчена версия на "Здрач".

В сравнение с този филм, Zu:Warriors from the Magic Mountain, Mr. Vampire, Spooky Encounters, Magic Cop са направи светлинни години напред от този филм - дори и първия с неговите прохождащи ефекти и некохерентен сюжет

Жалко, много жалко за Джет - но поне има и други проекти напред в бъдещето, може и да ме изненада по-приятно.

Сега направо със страх се чудя дали да гледам новия на Джеки - 1911, че като обърнах внимание как неговия 100-ен филм съвпада със 100 годишнината от обявяването на Китайската Република, ми става доста плачевно. Уж Доспехите на Бога щеше да бъда номер 100, но явно когато генралния секретар на партията говори, всички останали мълчат... Баси малоумието...

А за Джет Ли - слаб филм, дано намали малко провалите в кариерата си, че ще отблъсне аудиторията

Оценка за филма барабар с всичките му достойнства:

1/10

Ами това е - по-горните редове изказват всичко, оценката не търпи промяна и все още е 1/10 - определено един от най-слабите филми на Джет Ли изобщо, единицата е само заради що-годе достолепното му представяне като будистки монах.

Стискайте палци следващият ми материал да е по-кратък и по-скоро появил се тук :)

Кирил - The Grim Reaper

Vampires are back on the stage - Twilight fans beware!

2011-09-11T17:29:00.002+03:00

It was a bad omen to watch two bad movies one after another - I was just getting myself coming out of the shock from the abomination named "Choy lee Fut" and yet another example of the same lineage came on screen.

Two words - suck this...

But before diving in my own pool of hatred, I would like to have a little chat about a particular sub-genre in martial arts world. Geung si (or Jiang shi in Mandarin) is indeed a popular article between all other different sections of the martial arts movies, and one of the most recognised artist impersonating a Taoist priest is without doubt the late Lam Ching Ying - star of such classics as "Mr. Vampire", "The Prodigal son", "Magic Cop" and many more.

His career has been put to a stop by liver cance, however he is one of the most distinguished actors in martial arts department.

This movie, which I'm about to disect is probably something completely different in scales and in quality - apparently after the world wide success of Twilight franchise, many other people (or companies) thought that it would be cool to follow their steps and creating something watchable for the audience. Well, mixing martial arts (or more precisely wire-fu) with such dramatical relationships as described in Bella Swan & Edward-Ambilight-Cullen is a hybrid strictly avoidable from any Asian filmmakers for years to come. In my cinematic experience the last decent "vampire" picture was Twins Effect, where the carefully incorporated action choreography by Donnie Yen and watchable directing, not to mention the extended cameo by Jackie Chan himself, were put pretty good together.

The last bad example of this sub-genre was Tsui Hark's Vampire Hunters and as I thought I couldn't possibly see any worse a new challenger appeared in the face of "Vampire Warriors" a tale of swords and soul eternally be told (oops that was form another game), actually a tale of teeth and ugly faces, put together by some sloppy camera work, pretty visible wires and dialoges which can mentally disable your brain receptors for a certain period of time (for a quick erase of this malware, drink plenty of alcohol). As I no longer drink you can imagine the scale of damage done to my alpha and beta brain waves... However in life you have to sacrifice something for the sake of others and this is what carried me on towards protecting any potential readers to stay away form this vampire fest without the festivities.

Jiang Lu xia in her good light - she is ready to kick her career to the bottom...

Let me start with the story first - it begins with a few couples trying to make out after scandal involving flying dishes and sauce pans - apparently it turns out that the female company is actually a vampires, which sole purpose in life is to suck dry any male object - talking about feminism and emancipation here... Very wrong indeed - as the sharp teeth are about to turn the skin into air conditioning our main hero Ar (played by Jiang Lu Xia - starred in Coweb, Bad blood and True Legend), a vampire hunter having a strange realtionship with a vampire. Anyone seen the glimpse of originality here - no, well let's get on with it then. As you can guess Ar gets rid of the bad (vibrations) people from a dark world, she then returns to her vegetarian vampire friend (Twilight nod much?) to retell the battle in full details. Then we meet our main protagonist - played by the old and odd looking Yuen Wah (who seemed to have subscribtion to every bad movie made in HK recently) as the Big Bad Vampire who kills each and everyone in his way, thus gaining enough energy to become The One or something like it - absorbtion skills were taken from The Matrix I'd guess.

Nothing interesting so far - and the story continue to be more dull and embarassing - the vegetarians were trying to kill themsleves drinking water (WTF???) and jumping from high places, the vampire hunter throws ocassional kicks and punches with no effect on my martial arts spirit, and the Vampire keeps killing people standing in his way with such ease as they were some kind of amateur football team from fourth league. Lame and quite laughable, except that I wasn't amused at all - I was gathering anger and hatred towards all the people involved into this movie, which evolved into a hideous hybrid having all the chracteristics of bad movie - stupid plot, non-distinguished characters, plenty of bad wire-fu, dialog with one liners and flat words, nothing really to care about in it.

Yuen Wah, Yuen Wah - where is your sense now?

I was again bittered by inappropriate casting and wasted talent - in this case both Chin Siu Ho (The Tai-chi Master, Fist of Legend) & Yuen Wah are misused (or abused) by the film makers - I do not know what is going on with martial arts movies recently despite some of the bright names on the poster. Even Donnie Yen's "Legend of Chen Zhen" was mediocre (in my eyes) and totally boring, about Choy Lee Fut I do not have anything more to add, The Lost bladesman was somehow not very well structured and a bit chaotic, and all the actors involved there were either misplaced or ruined from a movie perspective. Anyway I shouldn't distract myself from the current article, which is about love between vampires and is it a good foundation for a strong family relationship. As the movie progressed we get to meet the new Adams family - all the relatives of the vampire girl, including an anabolic brother with emo issues, another sister (I think) with high self esteem and father who can't really keep the little guy (S.S. Johnson) into his pants within 10 seconds time period.

The father is played by Chin Siu Ho - talented person, but here he is like taken out of some mental institution (not to mention the weird outfit) and put on some strong drugs (or sedatives) to play such one side, flat nosed character, who is not amusing even. At least they could throw some comedy in it, not trying to make it quite serious as a soup drama, made to entertain the housewives between noon and 4 o'clock in the afternoon. The sets are so limited and confined as the money were really short of budget and all we get is some urban ladscapes, plus a final battle in a warehouse (or docks) at night. All the dialog scenes are put into rooms and corridors and you don't get any chance to see any daylight (with a few exceptions) and it seemed to me like a cheap version of "Blade" with some crappy martial arts sequences.

Chin Siu Ho is receiving a treatment without lubricants - move along people, nothing to see...

Yuen Wah was doing nothing different than killing other vampires without any facial expression, however this doesn't made his character more cool, just more dumb and empty. In comparison with Twins Effect - at least there we had a bit more money put into it, had some very funny cameos and scenes, nicely crafted martial arts sequences (by Donnie Yen) and overall the production was more detailed and crisp, having characters which I found interesting, not too cartoonish and not too standard. Here with Vampire Warriors we have quite the opposite - I won't repeat myself over and over again - you could spot the differences right away.

About Jiang Lu Xia - in Coweb she was a bit static, but then she showed here skills in Bad Moon (although she played a numb girl with no lines, and it was made by the same director), and the cameo in True Legend was a plus. Here she just kicks and hits - no acting abilities, no emotions, not even little feminine touch - she kinda look to me as more appropriate for girl-on-girl action in the late night programs, and that's it. Maybe she had instructions from the director to act as cold as ice, but it was just too pathetic to watch. I didin't really cared much about any of the characters and the plot, or the martial arts scenes (they are simply awful), so the whole movie was in the list of "pointless" titles.

It's the love birds - all singing and dancing - sweet, now man the harpoons!

As I try and search for something positive - well at least after seeing Choy Lee Fut before this one, I just watch it with a vacant expression and that's it - although I was a bit angry it wasn't on the same levels as before. I guess I'm just getting older.

A final judgement - as I saw some nice moves from JIang Lu Xia, I'll add a half point to the rating (am I not a good guy):

1/10 (close to total disaster) - but still stay away from this movie :)

Sincerely Yours: The Grim Reaper

А сега малко на родна реч (омайна сладка) - като за първи път видях това заглавие из родното нет пространство (разбирайте торентите) се скептицизирах и след като изгледах и трейлъра не бях особено надъхан да го видя в целия му блясък, но в крайна сметка любопитството ми взе връх и си наложих да го прегледам, заради участието на Yuen Wah & Chin Siu Ho. Тези двамата не са се появявали в прекалено лоши филми - дори Twins Mission си беше даже приличен на фона на помиите от този жанр, а Fist of Legend & The Tai-Chi Master са сред любимите ми заглавия.

A brief spark of emotions, or bad case of constipation - not sure yet...

Започна относително еднотипно - група младежи с покачени хормони решени да ги оползотворят по най-възможно добрия начин в някакъв запустял склад, но се оказа, че девойките са всъщност вампири, целящи да изсмучат живителните сокове на партньорите си. За щастие на ошашавените момци в картинката се намесва главанта ни героиня Ар и разбира зъбатите изчадия скоропостижно. С това добро дело завършено тя се завръща при духовната си подкрепа (а може би и платонична) - вампирка, която не желае да пренася кръвна плазам от хора, а само от животни - някой да усеща прилив на Здрач? И така се заформя една житейска връзка с много предсказуем край.

От друга страна на хоризонта се появява героя на Yuen Wah, който е основния лош типаж и без всякакво предисловие започва да скача на всеки вампир изпречил се на пътя му, като по този начин събира power-ups за да се превърне в свръх вампир (или нещо от сорта). Както може би сте се досетили той ще влезе в битка със семейството на заблуденото вампирско девойче и ще се наложи накрая да се бие с Ар, и доброто ще победи. Но това добро го прави толкова инфантилно и с такъв смешен размах, че направо ми се плаче само като прехвърля определени сцени през съзнанието си. Докато гледах дебилните диалози и неспокосаните бойни сцени, разчитащи на гадни ъгли на камерата и прекалена употреба на жици (но от лошите, които се виждат от километър), както и на тъмнината - знам, че е подходяща за такъв вид филми, но тук действието се развиваще само през нощта, следвайки абсурдни действия като надпиване с вода и скачане от високи сгради. Обяснението за тези идиотизми, беше че, самите вгетариански вампири не искат вече да живеят като такива и желаят да се самоубият или да избягат от скуката да си безсмъртен. Баси дилемата.

We now witness the art of kissing between male subjects - shapren those teeths, laddie!

Направо се трогнах до дъното на душата си - но нека не изпадам в драматизации по Шекспир, някъде по средата на филма се пръкна и Chin Siu Ho, като кръстоска между Дон Жуан и емо типаж - беше просто голяма болка за моите очи... Не прекара много време на екран, понеже главния лош се появи и го прати да събира гъби - както и много други от семейството на вампирката, която бе защитена от Ар (женски вариант на Блейд) и се започна една психологическа война на умовете (общият капацитет на всички участници беше половин мозък), където Yuen Wah държеше за заложник брата на девойката с уголемените зъби, а Ар си гукаше тихо със своята възлюблена и се чудеше как да каже, че е силно влюбена в нея. Не можеше без любовна история - иначе нямаше да бъде завършен филма на емоционално ниво.

В края на краищата Ар придобива нова сила, чрез ухапване от девойката и така запасена се мята на двубой с Големия Лош за съдбата на цялото човечество - много оригинален сюжет и развръзка. След като умря по абсолютно не-зрелищен начин, двойката девойки започнаха нещо като любовна игра, прелитайки от една страна на друга, само дето не можах да разбера кой ще е бащата и кой майката. Не че ми дремеше особено. И толкова - филма свърши, напълно предсказуемо, пълен с елементарни герои изтъкани от клишета, малоумен сюжет, плоски лафове и диалози и никому ненужни бойни сцени - този параграф беше безмилостно потъпкан и натирен в някакви нови измерения, където всичко е от кретенско, по-кретенско. Жалко за състава - Yuen Wah & Chin Siu Ho имат много качествени заглавия зад гърба си и още недоумявам защо по дяволите, първия е решил да се снима в два тъпи филма последователно - дали защото банковата му сметка е отъняла до неподозирано ниски нива или просто се кефи на идеята да участва във възможно най-много глупави продукции за определен период, като че ли е потенциален кандидат за книгата на Гинес.

That's what lef of the bad guy and the movie itself - a stinking pile of crap...

Жалко, много жалко - относно втория - той също страда от липса на средства и внимание и е попаднал в тази продукция май на някакъв случаен принцип, вместо на изнасилен кастинг. Провал и то голям за тази двойка - що се отнася до главната героиня Jiang Lu xia - тя се опита да блесне в дебютния си Coweb, но там беше доста вяла и някак бледа - дори боят с Кейн Косуги беше разочарование. После дойде по-добрия Bad Blood (от същия режисьор) и там в компанията на Simon Yam, Andy Oh, Xin Xin Xiong & Bernice Liu показа, че има голям потенциал като martial artist, след него дойде и краткото появяване в True Legend, но и то имаше стойност. Докато всичко се срина във Vampire Warriors по невъобразим начин. Колко малко му трябва на човек да опропасти кариерата си.

Ако е възможно стойте надалеч от този филм, ако вече сте го гледали - моите искрени съболезнования.

Крайна оценка - 1/10 (заради напъните на Jiang Lu Xia)

Дружески поздрави от

The Grim Reaper

Sammo Hung, Yuen Wah, Kane Kosugi, Sammy Hung, Dennis To - who of them does not belong in the picture?

2011-08-30T20:34:00.002+03:00

I was thinking how to begin this article, because of its nature - a shiny shell, with really tasteless core, as if to put a brand new pants to an already brown coloured arse... It won't cover the smell and stains - it will just make them even easier to spot from a distance.

At first I was really excited when I saw the trailer (damn you marketing tricks!) and I had a hope of seeing something different - Sammo Hung & Yuen Wah teaming again, Sammi Hung (one of Sammo's sons), Kane Kosugi (son of Sho Kosugi) and fast-paced battles on screen - that's what I saw from the brief videoclip.

The real picture was far, far, far from being any good...

And I'm still trying to erase this movie from my mind and eyes - plenty of my brain cells are now dead due to this movie experience and I think I reduced my IQ a bit...
But let me start with the name first - Choy Lee Fut...

There is no speed nor light - it's dark as elephant's ass and slower than sloth...

So where to begin - difficult, very difficult (as the famous hat in first Harry Potter says) - the opening is absolutely dull and hillarious, as Sammy Hung rides his bike (on your bike, son) through the streets of some unknown European town making non-funny activities and even more stupid one-liners. The same goes for the non-Asian people shown in that part of the movie - flat, pointless and without any emotions whatsoever...

If it was presented as a example of the silent era it would be more appropriate as I won't be able to listen to the craptastic voices or dubbing. Then we switch to some kind of restaurant where we find Kane Kosugi posing for an Head & Shoulders advertising and start kicking some bad guys. The scene is short, quickly cut and absolutely boring (as the whole movie infact). It appears that the bad guys (some really wicked Caucasian guys there) are trying to take on a rivals and making some kind of competition on which to be decided which is the ultimate martial arts. As you can guess it's up to our guys to save the day.

The story is very simple and easy to follow as it was created for a people with mental disabilities, nothing out of the ordinary, and obviously the authors of this peice of monumental manure were being under the influence (get sober you worms!) of such hits as "No retreat, No surrender" & "Bloodsport" - as I can't quite clearly see the connection between these titles, except the final fights, which takes place in a boxing ring - Get ready to rumbleeeeee!!! And it probably became obvoius for all of you what will follow - the good guys will find teachers, learning the mysterious and lightning fast art of Choy Lee Fut and at the end of the picture everything will be sorted.

Kane Kosugi is scared shitless of being in this picture, while Sammy is smiling as being double penetrated...

To be honest I didn't felt the so called Speed of Light of this particular martial arts technique, it was presented in a way too obscure to "see" anything in detalis. All the fights were just plain "I hit, cut, you hit, cut" without any long takes ever and ridiculous gangsta' hip-hop soundtrack as a background, which left me ever more puzzled - WTF moment all the way... It was neither fitting nor improving the weak martial arts choreography and all the scenes involved with. Apart from these poor performances the rest of the training sequences are shot in the same way, jumping along, crossing hands and wrists as I was on the ballet show of the "Swan Lake" - boring and completely brainless. And there is even a romantic subplot, but I won't waste words and time to describe it - it is on the same stupid level as the rest of the film.

At some point we meet the main three chracters seen on the DVD cover - Sammo Hung, Yuen Wah and Dennis To - as the first two does not need an explanation, the third you saw in "Legend is born: Ip Man", where he was pretty decent.

Don't get me wrong - Sammo Hung and Yuen Wah are indeed talented martial artists and many of their movies are considered classics amongst the fans, however in this "masterpiece" they are just old and boring, do not be fooled by the cover - the most substantial acting time is for Yuen Wah, but he didn't do much, just posing as a retired person, with lines written by some 9 years old.

Sammo Hung is in for a good 10 minutes (or less) and all I saw was a sparring with Yuen Wah filmed on a artificial background (CGI most ptobably) and all they were doing was dancing with these poles and jumping around like some fat frogs. Simply awful... And painful to watch too... I have no idea why these two were in the movie at all, it's not making the movie any better, just more stupid and uninspiring.

Old guys on the front seat - the back is reserved for Rebeca Black...

Dennis To is shown for less than a minute and he does the same - showing off the "speed" of Choy Lee Fut surrounded by pink blossoms (most likely cherry trees) and that's it. As I said do not be fooled by the cover - it is highly misleading and it left me with curses spreading out of my mouth towards all the people involved in this embarassing picture.

As for the rest of the cast - Sammy Hung is really not my type of martial artist, taking into consideration the fact that his dad is one of the highly respected person in martial arts movies world, he is far from being any good - I didn't saw any skills or acting abilities, as I was watching some sort of cartoon for little kids on broadcast early Saturday morning. Sammy is struggling to be the main star of this movie, but to be the son of Sammo Hung is not enough - you'll need a lot more to prove yourself in front of the audience - it's better for him to start acting or to switch his skills to more appropriate area of expertise - a clothing model or waiter.

Kane Kosugi is still trying to find himself in the few titles he starred, but so far nothing special - in Coweb he was showing more skills that here, but it was not good enough, and in Choy Lee Fut he is making the only three movement without quick cut - which could be taken as something positive.
The fights as I said were pain in the eyes and brain, the characters were flat, the acting was stinking bottom, the script was retarded, the camera work - atroucious...

As you see the angles are such that shows the main characters most valuable Asset...

You just DO NOT waste any time with this movie - you do not deserve such pain...

My final judgement - the movie hits the bottom...of the Mariana Trench itself.

0.5/10 (it's the one of the worst martial arts movies I've seen so far)

А сега да излея мъката си и в БГ вариант - едва ли ще бъда толкова многословен както направих това с горното писание, но нека все пак споделя ужаса на който бях подложен докато гледах (или по-точно се мъчих да гледам) това подобие на филм с наченки на бойни изкуства.

Още от началото бях свидетел на огромни актьорски недоразумения и превъплъщения - синчето на Само Хун просто не става за каквото и да било - надявам се да няма следващи филми с него...

Историята е доста проста (или опростена), и е най- обикновен филм по мерене на "патки", завършващ с дейно участие на забавено действие и тъпи ъгли на камерата, която просто се пречкаше на зрителното ми поле и от самите боеве не видях абсолютно нищо. Знам, че повечето филми с бойни изкуства нямат особено богато развита история или сюжет, компенсиращи с отлични бойни сцени и забавни герои, но тук ми идеше да си извадя очите с лъжица от некадърното изпълнение.

It's sweet enough to cause your blood sugar to rise high, however he is still looking like gay...

Направо ми стана жал за всички онези зрители, които са го гледали вече и им съчувствам - такова недодялано нещо отдавна не бях гледал. В сравнение с него "Legend of the Fist:Chen Zhen" изглежда като "Тигър и Дракон" - Дони Йен успя да се провали в моите очи с този филм, но винаги може и по-лошо... И това по-лошо дойде в лицето на този плачевен опит за генериране на финансови средства за пластична операция на създателите на самия филм (да не би разгневени фенове да ги издирват за жесток линч).

Започна по абсолютно идиотски начин с някакви наченки на комедийни изблици удавени в рядка лучена супа, синчето на Само Хун се опитваше да генерира някакви емоции, но уви при мен емоциите бяха близо до това да избухна в истеричен смях или да повърна малко от бобената си салата... Да не говоря, че не-азиатските индивиди в картинката бяха по-еднопластови от полиетиленова торбичка от Кауфланд и по-елементарни от таблицата за умножение.

В първата сцена с малко тупалки героят на Кейн показа някакви ритници срещу лошите, които приличаха на добре поддържани манекени, но всичко се изпари напълно, когато боя се превърна в гледане под вежди тип "Скалата" в ранните му години като кечист и позиране като за пред модно списание на фона на хип-хоп (хоп-троп) семпли. Убийствено... Поне за моите мозъчни клетки, които сигурно са намалели с около 20% (като взема предвид и следващия филм, общо загубата става на 40%) и сериозно са понижили мисловната ми дейност - не знам кога ще се възстановя от загубата.

Everybody was Kung-Fu fighting... Let's dance!

Та да се върна към историята на това подобие - след проявата на мачовщина двамата главни герои решават да вдигнат гълъбите и заминават от сцената, както може да се досетите от праволинейния сюжет, който е по-прав и от път в пустинята, нашите приятелчета се озовават в школа по бойни изкуства и решават да научат ново бойно изкуство за да ступат лошите - малко преди това те обявиха състезание за да се реши един път завинаги кой е по-по-най (без участието на бате Енчо). И оттам се започна - тренировки, някакви движения, и чичо Юен Уа като добрия човечец, който ще бъде като морална подкрепа на новите попълнения в школата, но по-скоро се излагаше в опитите си да бъде оригинален и забавен - старчески неволи. Само Хун пък играеше ей така за цвят и допълнителни парички в китайския боксофис, но за не повече от 10-на минути в целия филм.

Но на обложката греят в големи размери горепосочените двама и Денис То (човекът, който изигра младия Ип Ман в Legend is born: Ip Man), той пък от своя страна се появи за по-малко от минута изобщо. Недоумявах, защо по дяволите тези тримата са се съгласили да бъдат в това жалко кино мъчение, и се отказах да ровичкам и без това размекнатия си мозък. Последваха малко пози и забавени каданси (без особен успех да ме накарат да се прозявам дори от скука) и се стигна до тъпата сцена с "двубоя" между Само и Юен - за фон служеше компютърно генериран фон (и то скапан) те двамата въртяха пръчки и толкова - показаха кати и основни положения от бой със сопи и стига толкова - май са се увморили от цялото това филмиране, щото после до края на филма седяха като двмата мрънкащи дядки от "Шоуто на Мъпетите". Живи да ги оплача...

Box! - now we'll enjoy the art of fighting with boxes...

И ето че достигнахме до финалната размяна на крако-юмручни съчетания в сложни форми, демек състезанието между добрите и лошите, тук в гърдите ми заблещука мъничка искрица надежда, че ще видя нещо по-интересно. Надеждата ми беше потъпкана в безименна локва от стадо диви мустанги, още при вида на първите кадри от състезанието - slow motion простотия, съчетана с едносекундни кадърчета и за капак, прословутите гангстерски ритми. Ужас на квадрат, че и отгоре... Самото състезание протече на три етапа, като последния бой се оказа решаващ (както винаги се получава), предсказуемостта бликаше на огромни талази от тази идиотщина, която се опитваше да блесне с някакви качества, но пред мен блесна в доста кафяв оттенък със съответната миризма и консистенция.

Да, филма смърди от километри и е един от най-лошите, които съм гледал досега... Някак не мога да го увъртам - тъпотия и кретенизъм, съчетани с елементарни диалози, герои достойни за дом за бавноразвиващи и бойни сцени в деградирал вариант - пълната комбинациа за едно некадърно отроче излязло изпод умовете на малоумници.

Не го гледайте при никакви положения - гори КИ със скоростта на метеорит прелитащ през космоса.

Тъп. До безкрайност.
Жалко за големите имена от обложката - искрено ги съжалявам и им съчувствам.

0,5/10

С дружески поздрави

The Grim Reaper

One look at my cinema affections... Or something like it...

2011-05-31T14:50:00.000+03:00

As I was browsing in different blogs, searching for something interesting, I came across a nicely done article in Operation Kino blog - a blog which is written by highly sklilful people, dedicated to the world of cinematic experiences and delivering quality materials for all fans.

So, there I found one article, which was shaped as Q&A subject with some truly imaginative cinema questions. I've already gave my comments and answers (the Bulgarian readers my found them in the second part of this article), however I wanted to prepare a different set of answers related only towards the world of martial arts movies.

And there it is - my ultimate view over my favorite genre - behold its mighty stance!

1. A film from my past – basically a few titles I remember from my youth and their influence was enormous – Shaolin Temple, The Undaunted Wudang & Hong Kil Dong (1986) - clearly these were the movies for which you had to buy tickets in advance at least few days before the actual screening - it was a cinema phenomenon all over Bulgaria in the early '80's.
2. Favorite movie ever – way too many, however the closest example to that description is Drunken Master - a classic which still is unsurpassed in my mind.
3. Film which makes you cry – I do not allow myself such burst of emotions very often, but Ocean Heaven changed all that - four times I felt my tears go by as the movie progress.
4. The funniest movie you've ever seen – Just another pandora's box was a movie on which I cried from laughter and got muscle fever on my belly muscles and other two are Kung fu Hustle & Shaolin Soccer - all getting my seal of laugh approval.
5. The scarriest movie ever seen – I can not think of any such title in the martial arts movies world
6. Favorite animation - in the world of martial arts I haven't found the right title, maybe Shadow skill & Ninja Scroll.
7. Film, which no one think that you might like - and that's the Indian movie called Dabangg - plenty of copy-paste, but outrageously funny and the final fight is probably 99% the same as the one in Flash Point.
8. A movie with a favorite actor - too many indeed, however God of Gamblers is one fine example.
9. Film with a favorite actress - not too many, but Royal Warriors aka In the Line of Duty with Michelle Yeoh is pretty good.
10. A movie with an actor, which you can't stand - Ninja in the Dragon's den - wonderful movie, but Conan Lee is one cheeky bastard...
11. A movie with an actress, which you can't stand - in the martial arts world, there is no such actress or movie (for me), so I'll leave this question without answer.
12. A movie, where you can quote all lines - that would be Rush Hour, and a few without any martial arts basis whatsoever :)
13. The most boring movie ever seen – Let the hate begins - Choy Li Fut, Medallion, Accidental Spy, Legend of Chen Zhen, Legend of the wolf, City Hunter, New legend of Shaolin, Flying Daggers, The Promise, Kung Fu Wing Chun, Bulletproof Monk, Moon Warriors, License to steal and many, many more.
14. A movie which you never wanted to see – it's not a movie, but most of the wu xia movies are a real pain in the ass for me... And when the flying gets really airborne I wish that they were used in WWII...
15. A movie which you couldn't finish – mostly I finish each movie when started, however some of them I prefer to watch in fast forward mode instead to trouble my eyes and brain - the last example is Legend if Chen Zhen...
16. A movie supposed to be sad, but it is not – I would rather go for the description "a movie which tries to be serious, but instead it is tedious" - Police Story 2
17. A film which you think it is overestimated – Legend of the Wolf, Zu: Warriors from the Magic mountain, Hero of Swallow, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and few more.
18. A film which you think is underestimated – On the run, The Iceman Cometh, The Myth, Dirty Tiger, Crazy Frog; Magic Cop :)
19. A movie which describes your character – Drunken Master all the way.
20. A movie seen countless time – Project A – after the 65th time I stopped counting.
21. A movie which you are ashamed to say that you like – the so called guilty pleasures - The Forbidden Kingdom, The house of Fury, Dragon Tiger Gate - I know they are full of crap, but I still like them.
22. A movie with a favorite soundtrack – Once upon a time in China, Ip Man, Fearless, Crouching Tiger, HIdden Dragon.
23. Favorite romantic stroy in movie – I'm not much into romance myslef, but I must admit the relationship between Maggie Chung & Yuen Biao in The Iceman Cometh was something really nice to watch.
24. The most hideous movie suggested by friend – The Promise - I still haven't find this "friend" so I could thank him :)
25. A movie with best twist – I would use "ending" - Spooky Encounters - it was WTF all the way, but immencely funny though.
26. A movie which you don't understand – I didn't quite get the purpose of the third installment in the OUATIC trilogy - pointless for me, oh and the so called "genius" in CTHD...
27. The most beautiful movie – surprisingly for me, here I would put a pure wu xia movie, one with real quality - Hero, where the dance between colours and angles and cinematic sequences was on a very high level.
28. Favorite old movie – Five Superfighters - one of the first I saw and it is simply perfect for me.

That's the end of the quiz show - sorry for the obvious delay in my blog, but apparently my lazyness is something really special :)

I await your answers in the comments - be well ;)

А сега предоставям на БГ читателите си пълния вариант на отговорите ми, без съкращения и с напълно различни представители на повечето въпроси :)

1. Филм от детството ти – Манастира ШаоЛин, Непобедимите от Удан, Хон Гил Дон – дърти до немай къде, но те бяха запомнени, после дойдоха Уилоу, Star Wars & Indiana Jones.
2. Най-любим филм – прекалено много са – няма как да дам еднозначен отговор, но мисля че Пияният Майстор от ‘78 се класира близо до това определение.
3. Филм, който те е разплакал – Рядко позволявам на съзлите да си текат по лицето ми, но на Ocean Heaven не успях да ги задържа…
4. Най-смешният филм, който си гледал – ами те са няколко – Life of Brian & Monty Python and the Holy Grail, са само няколко от тях – тук бих добавил и Just another pandora’s box
5. Най-страшният филм, който си гледал – Преди беше втората част на Злите Мъртви, но после не намерих филм който да ме е стресирал по някакъв по-особен начин, но си признавам, че на Бял Шум въздействието беше много голямо
6. Любим рисуван филм – Akira, NInja Scroll, Patlabor, My neighbour Totoro
7. Филм, който никой не очаква, че харесваш – Dabangg – индийска простотия, но беше добре направена простотия
8. Филм с любим актьор – много са любимите актьори, но бих казал, че God of Gamblers с Чоу Юн Фат е един от тях.
9. Филм с любима актриса – Royal Warrirors aka In the line of duty с Мишел Йо.
10. Филм с актьор, който не понасяш – И трите, опа - двата епизода на Star Wars с Хейдън – това недоразумение не трябваше да се случва…
11. Филм с актриса, която не понасяш – всичко с Доли Партън и Барбара Стрейзанд.
12. Филм, от който можеш да цитираш всяка реплика – Star Wars, Indiana Jones trilogy, Rush Hour, The Matrix, Dirty Dozen.
13. Най-несправедливо спечелилият Оскар филм – може би Ани Хол през ‘77 година, когато на небосклона се появи Star Wars и през ‘95, когато Pulp Fiction & Shawshank Redemption бяха за мен доста по-добри от инфантилната история за Форест Гъмп…
14. Най-скучният филм, който си гледал – Доста са и тук, от последните представители I am number four, Корабокрушенецът, и куп други…
15. Филм, който никога не искаш да гледаш – Не мога да дам само един отговор, но бих казал, че романтичните драми са ми трудно преглъщаеми.
16. Филм, който така и не успя да догледаш – доглеждам ги понякога с големи мъки, но го правя с ясното съзнание, че после ще мога хубаво да си ги нахейтя
17. Филм, който се предполага, че е тъжен, но не е – Ами Титаник – много се смях на това грандиозно представление
18. Филм, който смяташ, че е надценен – Не намирам нищо толкова уникално в трилогията Кръстникът, така и не успях да схвана гениалността му… А, да и Аватар…
19. Филм, който смяташ, че е подценен – Не се сещам.
20. Филм, който описва характера ти – ами може би Пея под дъжда – жизнерадостно музикално изживяване за мен
21. Филм, който си гледал безброй пъти – Project A – след 65-я път спрях да ги броя
22. Филм, който те е срам да кажеш, че харесваш – признавам си, че поставените в графата “детски филми” от повечето мои приятели, т. нар martial arts movies ме кефят неимоверно много – хич не ме срам даже
23. Филм с любим саундтрак – Mortal Kombat 1&2, Judgement Night
24. Любим филм, правен по книга – Lord of the Rings trilogy
25. Любима романтична история във филм – No comment.
26. Най-ужасният филм, препоръчан от приятел – Не е толкова ужасен, колкото тъп – Сезонът на вещиците се оказа точно такова…
27. Филм с най-добър туист – Ще повторя някои заглавия на г-н Дринов – Шесто Чувство, Обичайните заподозрени, но ще добавя и Неуязвимият
28. Филм, който не разбираш – не точно, че не разбрах, но трябва да го гледам още няколко пъти, за да схвана идеята – Inception.
29. Най-красив филм – Hero – играта на цветовете и камерата беше много високо
30. Любим стар филм – The Good, The Bad and the Ugly – вече не правят такива филми за жалост

Ами май това е засега - да се надяваме, че следващия материал няма да бъде написан догодина :)

Поздрави и умната.

Righting Wrongs - Yuen Biao at its finest...

2011-03-10T19:01:00.002+02:00

Due to my enormous lazy mode I was unable to keep my blog with some new articles, so I do apologize for this delay. More to come - as I know myself pretty well :) Anyway, after a bit of thinking (as my little brain is limited) I decide to share my opinion on one of the finest martial arts movie example from the 80's starring Yuen Biao, Cynthia Rothrock, Melvin Wong and Fan Siu Wong (Ip Man 1 & 2, Legend is born: Ip Man), under the direction of Corey Yuen, who shows an eye for a detailed fights and not too complicated plots.

In brief - Yuen Biao plays a lawyer, who decides to go to Rage mode, killing some of the local mafia bosses in an impulse reaction towards the disorder in law and court systems. However, his exploits caught the attention of one foreign police inspector (Rothrock), which goes on investigating the leads to all the murders. Soon, a few more characters appear in the picture as one skilful assassin, corrupted superintendant and kid thief with valuable eye witness testaments - all of them in between wonderful displays of martial arts choreography. Which is something to watch and behold - Yuen Biao in his prime and he shows amazing array of abilities upon his opponents and even he takes on Rothrock 1on1 in a short, but powerful match. It is an interesting combination between Asian and foreign nationalities, each with its unique style and skills.

Yuen Biao is one of the martial arts choreographer and it shows his presence on screen - diverse fights, good vs. bad, and many more fractions of pure martial arts genius, completed with awesome stunts, some of them I do believe, were made by Biao himself. Pay attention to the first fight of Cythnia Rothrock in the gambling hall - on few ocassions for a split second you could see Yuen Biao's face as doubling Rothrock on most of the jumps and kicks. It was really funny to see Biao in a skirt - although yellow isn't his colour. I'm not sure what exactly Corey Yuen was trying to build in this movie, however it was a good idea to include non-asian actors on the scene - it adds more flavour to the action and you are not seeing the same faces all the time.

However, all fights were done in a detailed and crisp manner, utilizing lots of angles and shots, which helps the viewer to get involved in the fight itself - at least for me it was such emotion. Although the short fight between Karen Shepherd and Cynthia is extensively doubled on most ocassions it doesn't ruin the scene, and it shows some nice moves from both of the actressess - which have passed their prime some time ago. The movie was following its pace with a slight twist, which was bit refreshing - not every time the bad guy is revealed at the beginning - and there were so many changes in the teams that I lost count at one point. Fan Siu Wong is making a nice cameo as thief, but also he becomes a valuable witness and target of course - it's the moment when Cynthia Rothrock teams up with Yuen Biao to bring justice and peace. Interesting cause, but it appears that she have found her match in Melvin Wong's hands (or to be more precise - items) and then it's up to the brave little lawyer to save the day :)

And he does it in quite spectacular way - the final fight scene is fast, brutal and shows the remarkable abilities of Yuen Biao as the perfect acrobat-kicker. Not like Hwang Jang Lee, but something which is very close to marvel and it is a real pleasure to watch - as fan I was thrilled when seeing for the first time this movie and it went straight away to my Top 20 list of the greatest martial arts movies of all time. On the downside - some of the characters were not so deeply developed - Bad Egg and his father, even the bad guy was somehow put there without some strong reason, he was just killing everybody, the foreign fighter (Peter Cunningham) was just thrown in for an extra flavour, but it was too pale and plain - he could be used in more scenes, not just he usual fight and die example. Well, I know that the main stars are Biao & Rothrock, but it won't harm anyone if a bit of development was put into other characters as well - it would make the movie much interesting, despite the cliche plot. It is a little compaint, when I'm looking at the big picture, but that's what I saw as flaws there - even the perfect movie can be dodgy on some moments.

As for the different endings - the righteous one is more realistic though, making Biao to pay for his crimes and Rothrock alive, but I found the one where all characters are dead to be more up to my taste - more gritty and dark and it was in the entire tone of the movie also - as I watched "On the Run" with fight sequences - Yuen Biao is not as dramatical as in that movie, but it certanly shows all different emotions, which can't be left unnoticed.

As for my last words - a solid movie with great fighting scenes and nice pair of main characters, if you decide to add it to your collection, look for the Fortune Star remastered version, alongside DTS track and clean up image of this movie, the previous Universe Laser edition was having problems like scratches, interlacing and crappy sound, something which doesn't impressed me at all.

So, my final word is purely subjective (again) and it is:

9.5/10 - close to perfection

Yours sincerely

The Grim Reaper

А сега за онези, които не биха искали да се напрягат с чуждоземната реч - ще поприказвам малко за самия филм и на български (доколкото мога). Както всеки един филм, който съм успял да гледам в този жанр и този си има малка предистория. По времето когато видеотеките управляваха забавлението в града и аз жадно изпивах всяко едно заглавие по няколко пъти, попаднах на едно документално филмче наречено "The best of the martial arts movies" aka The Deadliest Art - сборна формация от отделни сцени на доста филми от жанра, като се споменаваха задължително имената на Брус Лий, Джеки Чан, Джет Ли, Само Хун, Юен Бю, Шо Косуги, Синтия Ротрок, Ричард Нортън и още доста други в по-малко екранно време от горепосочените.

Та именно там почерпих информация за повечето известни филми до '92 година, като една сцена ми направи голямо впечатление - бой между Синтия Ротрок и Юен Бю в някакъв филм наречен от диктора (Джон Саксън) "Above the Law". Впоследствие разбрах и истинското име на филма а именно "Righting Wrongs", който започнах да издирвам под дърво и камък за да го гледам и същевременно да го приобщя към моята колекция.

След години търсене опититe ми се увенчаха с успех и го намерих в един онлайн магазин за всякакви азиатски филми. За жалост първото ми копие беше на компанията Universe Laser с доста лошо качество, какт она образа, така и на звука и не останах особено доволен от това, но преди да го подменя го изгледах поне 10-на пъти. Историята не блести с оригиналност и дълбочина и в общи линии разглежда старата приказка за отмъщение и как добрите биват наритвани накрая. Юен Бю е адвокат, който води двойнствен живот - през деня е уважаван съдебен служител, борейки се с несправедливостите и криминалните отрепки, а през вечерта собственоръчно избива онези, които са се измъкнали без наказание от съдебната зала. Всъщност нашия човек преминава на режим "Вбесен", когато разбира, че важен свидетел по делото срещу двама босове на престъпния свят е брутално убит, заедно с цялото му семейство. И погва съответните виновници със собствени средства - най-вече ритници и юмруци. За жалост неговите виждания за справедливост и наказание привличат вниманието на нахакана полицейска инспекторка (Синтия Ротрок) и тя тръгва по следите на адвоката. После в историята се намесват хлапе-крадец, местен висш полицай и един афроамериканец с афинитет към убийствата.

Yuen Biao as a lawyer - the wig is outrageously funny

До бруталния завършек на цялата тази мешана скара се стига чрез много стойностни бойни сцени дело на режисьора на филма Кори Юен и самият Юен Бю, които показват доста голям потенциал в тази област. Концепцията на филма е ясна, героите (поне някои от тях) са представени с добре очертани контрасти и на мен ми оставаше само да се наслаждавам на бойните сцени, които изобилстват във филма - качеството е също много добро - премерени ъгли на камерата, достатъчно дълги кадри, сложна хореография, здрави ритници и прочие благинки. Кака Синтия се опита да бъде на висотата на батко Юен, но някак не и достигна техника и изразни юмручни средства, просто на някои от по-засуканите удари си личеше, че е дублирана - обърнете внимание на сцената в залата за Маджонг - за части от секундата се вижда ясно как Юен Бю прави по-трудните удари :) Лошо няма, не отричам таланта и качествата на американката, но явно не е успяла да свикне с някои особености на бойната хореография.

Иначе боят между нея и Карън Шепърд е доста приличен, макар и да са били дублирани при по-опасните скоци и премятания - какво да се прави, застрахователните компании тръпнат в ужасТ, ако нещо се случи на звездите - все пак е било необходимо ограничаване на риска. Другият чуждоземен елемент в експозицията - Питър Кънингам се появи само за малко на екран, като безмилостния намемен убиец и добре, че малко говореше във филма, онова неговото ужасяващо "Come on", докато насочваше пистолет към мутрата на Юен Бю, беше едно от дразнещите неща в цялата хубава картинка. Краткото появяване на режисьора Кори Юен помага донякъде да се изгради комедийната част тук, но иначе се търпи - малкия (тогава) Фан Сиу Уон (Ip Man 1&2, Legend is born: Ip Man, Story of Ricky), също споделя малко екранно време като невръстен крадец и важен свидетел на тъй гадните деяния на големия лош чичко - Мелвин Уон, и е по-скоро внесен за цвят, отколкото за някаква по-стабилна причина. Но пък той именно действа като своеобразен катализатор и обединител на двамата главни герои, които разбират ,че са от едната страна на закона и заедно се впускат за да поправят несправедливостите извършени от чичкото с лоши намерения. И наистина в последния бой има всичко - каскади, хора падат на бетона, хвърчат каски, бляскат саби, щитове и акробатичните умения на Юен Бю - все едно гледах професионален цирков представител, но със спомагателните движения на юмруци и ритници - красота и радост за моите очи.

"Now I'm going to shoot you" - "Well first check for blanks, as I'm fast as the duracell rabbit"

Самия филм има два края - един оптимистичен (заснет за американската версия) и един доста мрачен (за хонконгската такава) - мрачния се вписваше много добре в цялостната атмосфера на историята (не беше от висотата на по-драматичния "On the run" - където Юен прави наистина силна роля) и ми се стори добър завършек на всичко видяно досега. Имаше и някои малки недостатъци - някои герои не бяха особено добре развити (но пък за 90 минути нямаше как), или само се появяваха за да станат боксови круши на нашия герой - прекалено бързо се развиха някои събития и в стремежа си да се различни малко от повечето филми на подобна тематика Кори Юен малко е избързал и е бутнал всичко и всички в режисьорския казан, пък после се е сетил да слага подправките и допълнителните аромати.

Не очаквайте Шекспиров сюжет и дълбочинни изрази - все пак тез ифилми се гледат заради бойните качества на участниците, а тук те са на много високо ниво (поне за мен). И въпреки малките забележки накрая ще сложа доста висока оценка, според моите субективни виждания:

9.5/10

Дано следващия материал бъде по-скоро написан тук, отколкото този - но мързела ми се обажда застрашително.

До нови срещи с всички фенове!

Ваш The Grim Reaper

A little retrospection of the year - excitement & dissapointment in 2010.

2011-01-05T02:00:00.002+02:00

I'm changing the language section this time and I'll start with the article in English, because it appears that my non-Bulgarian readers are more. Well to be fair to them, I'll write the first part in a language more appropriate to understand my random thoughts about the martial art world in retrospective.

I can't mention all the movies I watched over the year, so I'll limit my titles to the ones, which I found above average from all. I start with grandpa Jackie, who still awaits for his success as a dramatical actor in USA (he proved that he can be quite a versatile person by starring in Heart of the Dragon, Crime Story, New Police Story and Shinjuku Incident in a roles, which does not fit in the term "martial arts actor"), therefore he now chooses roles much more carefully.

"Karate Kid" is not a masterpiece itself, however I found it more entertaining than the original - ignore Will Smith's son and consentrate on the Man - Jackie Chan, which I think has made one of the best roles in american production since Rush Hour. Apart from the martial arts sequences (which are quite fine in their own merit), it was interesting for me to watch Jackie perform as mentally depressed person with heavy burden on his shoulders, living like a hermit not letting anyone to his world...

It was not as the drama performance of Jet Li in Ocean Heaven (a bit more about this movie further down), but very truthfull and honest. As a movie it was above average - decent script (almost taken all from the original), decent fights and nice accent on the drama. Will wait on Jackie's performance in Armour of God 3, to see how he get on his feet under the directing reigns of Stanley Tong :) Time will tell if this third installment will be successfull, however I think that it's coming a bit late...

Well, at least he is training hard (as seen on one picture) for this movie, so fingers crossed to come up with something really good this time :)

Next comes along a pure comedy in the face of "Just another Pandora's box" - I haven't laugh so much for ages - all I was getting was lame parodies of an old movies or remakes - highly dull and stupid. But this movie change it all - I rememebr laughing to tears on several occasions and my wife thought that I had lost it (finally). It was great entertainment for me and one of the very good movies last year. And small role from Yuen Biao in it - priceless (for everything else there is MasterCard).

Speaking of Mr. Biao - he made a very successful return to the martial arts world with "Legend is Born: Ip Man" - another retelling of the story about the great master - it had to fight with a bit superiour "Ip Man 2", but it stands in its own place - I liked it a lot - the movie was going smooth, nice fighting scenes, Yuen Biao in the house - well placed combination.

About Donnie Yen - well he did the good "Ip Man 2" and then he went on another project - "Fist of Fury: The Legend of Chen Zhen". which for me as a total disaster and dissapointment, both in fighting scenes and in the pace of the whole movie. It start really promising but soon after everything went completely down, like a rusty nail to the bottom of a lake. Too many wires, too many quick cuts, awful editing, and boring script - few negative ingredients, which left a bitter taste in my mouth. Pity, it could be a lot better...

But he did something really interesting in "14 Blades" - quite a good story, very imaginative fighting scenes and one different Donnie Yen, serious yet soft, determined yet caring. I hope that all upcoming movies from him would follow this pattern instead of going for the tried-and-true.

On the downside is one more movie - the highly anticipated return of Yuen Woo Ping behind the camera - True Legend was something looking pretty good on the trailer side, but something competelty different on the real one - it apperas as I was looking at two different parts of a mini series compiled into one feature film. The first part was really good, with the old theme of vengeance taking place, Andy Oh proved to be a decent villain, and Vincent Zhao a skilled martial artist, but then after their final duel to the death all was distorted and blurred. As I was looking at one totally diverse point of view. Too bad for Yuen Woo Ping - this could have been a lot better in execution.

On the positive side I'll put Reign of Assassins & Detective Dee and the mystery of the Phantom flame - the first is a very good example of really balanced wuxia pien (although I do not like this sub-genre much), and showed that Michelle Yeoh has still charisma and skills to present all. It had suspence, not too complicated plot, interesting characters and good display of wire-fu :) The latter is good attempt of Tsui Hark to give the audience a look at the character of Judge Dee (made famous by the books of Robert van Gulik). Andy Lau looked in that role very distinctive and add some of his qualities to the character - this has made Detective Dee a unique character to me. However the movie suufers from a bit irrelevant plot holes, not very good fighting scenes (although I really laughed at Deers Attack segment) and not too many developed roles. But overall it was good one.

And for the last I would leave one of the best Asian movies I've ever seen - Ocean Heaven starring Jet Li in one not typical role for him - one without any martial arts skills at all, purely dramatical and really tough to watch - I had tears in my eyes four times before the movie ends. A sad and realistic story, which touched me right in the soul, heart and mind - something not happened since "Shawshank Redemption".

Jet Li played his role with great acting and emotions, he himself is an uncle of an autist child and he wanted that by this movie many to learn and be aware of the problems of such people. And to a more compasionate note - he didin't take any money for his role - he was doing it purely on a charity cause. No comment...

Well, this was my short retrospective of 2010 - I hope that this year will bring to all much more entertaining titles, than cheap copies of forgotten classics :)

А сега към моите читатели от нашенска страна :)

Не бих искал да ви затормозявам с прекалени речи и лозунги, затова просто от чист мързел ще препиша текста от един мой коментар в уважаван от мен форум :)

Надявам се да не ме съдите прекалено строго за това :)

Понеже не съм особено експертен в оценяването на филмите, и се интересувам предимно от един специфичен жанр, ще дам моите виждания над такива заглавия, които са заслужили вниманието ми през 2010.

Дядо Джеки Чан се отдаде на по-малко рисковани филми и успокоява застрахователните компании с по-улегнали роли. Римейкът на "Карате Кид", беше приличен опит на азиатчето да покаже малко драма в иначе предсказуем филм
Не беше шедьовър, но пък имаше своите моменти...

При другите играчи от сцената нещата също се получаваха - Yuen Biao направи две появявания (макар и едното да беше като малк роля), но заслужи моето внимание С комедията "Just another pandora's box" просто се тресях от смях, който в един момент плашеше дори и дъщеря ми :)
Отдавна наистина не бях изпитвал пречистващата сила на смеха, понеже попадах предимно на лошо направени холивудски занимавки (римейкът на "Смърт на погребение" ми е особено пресен и отблъскващ) и този филм ми дойде като необходимата доза свежест.

Със следващия филм Yuen Biao показа, че все още го бива в тупалките и може да засрами повечето нахакани младоци с участието си в Legend is born: Ip Man.

Въпреки, че много хора го пренебрегнаха (в това число и Майора - няма лошо, всеки си е в правото да изказва адекватни коментари за даден филм), за мен това завръщане на батко Юен, засенчи останалото негативно, което беше видяно. И все пак - бойните сцени си бяха на ниво, нямаше прекалена употреба на жици и прочие помагала.
И си ми хареса.

При Дони Йен нещата също бяха доста добри - Ип Ман 2 беше неизбежното продължение на изключително успешния оригинал, но малко ми се видя по-слабичък, въпреки ключовото включване на Само Хун После последва и още по-добрия "14 Blades", където даже имаше история, по-различна и увлекателна от повечето образци в жанра.

Но, с последния си филм за миналата година, той успя да ме разочарова в голямо количество... Fist of Fury: The legend of Chen Zhen просто за мен беше едно претенциозно увлечение с минимум качествени бойни сцени и скучни герои... Жалко за потенциала...

Завръщането на Yuen Woo Ping зад камерата беше добра новина, но като че ли това му изигра лоша шега, имайки предвид с какви очаквания се бях заредил за новия му филм - True Legend. Да, в началото тръгна повече от добре, прекрасни бойни сцени, темата за доброто старо отмъщение беше представена подобаващо.
Но, после нещо се обърка и след първоначалната битка, се заредиха други сцени, нямащи нищо общо - все едно бяха направили минисериал в две части... Лош ход.

И накрая, но не на последно място поставям абсолютния ми фаворит за миналата година - Ocean Heaven - една изцяло драматична роля на Джет Ли - крайни нетипична от досегашното му амплоа, но той се справи прекрасно...
Преди време тук бях написал доста пространствен коментар и не бих искал да се повтарям...

Топъл и тежък филм, който наистина ме впечатли...

Забравих и още два филма, които поради напредналата ми възраст пропуснах да добавя - първият е Reign Of Assassins - филм с участието на Мишел Йо и продуциран от Джон У.
Доста добра комбинация се получи между балансирани количества драма, съспенс, летящи кинжали и древен артефакт - вярно, китайската авиация беше налице, но не в толкова дразнещ вариант, както при House of Flying Daggers, Moon Warriors, и още няколко такива представителя.

Определено един от запомнящите се филми за мен през изминалата година.

Вторият е прочита на Tsui Hark (Detective Dee and the mystery of the Phantom flame) върху неостаряващия герой на Съдията Ди (познат от поредицата Китайски Загадки на Робърт ван Хюлик) - имаше доволно количество мистерия и обрати, за да не успея пак да позная кой е убиеца.

Имаше необходимата атмосфера и Анди Лау изигра ролята с необходимата доза дедукция и изтънченост. Можеха да се постараят повече при бойните сцени, но не това е силата на повествованието, а по-скоро разказваческите умения и развитието на персонажите.

На места беше малко по-муден отколкото ми се искаше, но въпреки това добро попадение.

Ами това са моите 25 стотинки относно филмите, които са ме развълнували през миналата 2010.