The Official Martial Arts Movie Thread

[Bolt]

I think we had one of these before that only lasted like 8 posts before it died like Ellen Degeneres onstage just because pretty much nobody but me likes kung fu movies anymore. *laughs*

Basically, I was a huuuuuuge martial arts film fan long before I was into tokusatsu. I grew up on Shaw Brothers, Golden Harvest, anywhere from Steven Seagal to Robert Tai. I used to write reviews for Kung Fu Cinema (some of which that have been removed for some reason...) and a couple of other sites and used to have a pretty damn vast knowledge of a lot of actors/directors/choreographers, but I'm not sure how much I remember now, haha. If you love kung fu/action films like myself, go ahead and post about 'em here!

I'll speak on a few recent ones real fast before tea time:

1. Tom Yum Goong- For anyone still creaming themselves about Ong Bak, shut up and see this movie. It's pretty much Ong Bak x4 and features a lot more name talent and longer cuts/better action cinematography, and lots of classic Panna Rittikrai excellence like the original Gerd Ma Liu (not "Born to Fight")

2. Danny the Dog (US title: Unleashed)- This movie REALLY impressed, not as much for the action choreography (Yuen Wo Ping really does nothing for me anymore) as just to prove that Jet Li is a pretty damn good actor when he tries. One of the better martial arts films of the last couple years.

3. The Transporter 2- Ewww.


Any films/actors/crew you guys would like to add to the discussion?

 

[ForeverRed]

I

3. The Transporter 2- Ewww.

Heh... I knew the movie isn't that good and I'm glad I didn't see it yet. I loved the first film cuz it has Shu Qi. Dang... she's hot. The movie was good and I love it alot.

 

[Bolt]

The reason I didn't like it was because it was too much like the first film, only worse. Jason Statham is cool and all, but it's just really unconvencing to have a tall, stalky British guy being doubled by an obviously smaller Asian guy. Plus the villains seriously sucked bad.

A good film I forgot to mention: New Police Story. Jackie's age is starting to show but he still puts on an excellent performance and we actually get some serious acting out of him; all the humor in this movie (and there's very little) is from Nic Tse who's pretty much the comic relief and didn't get as many fight scenes as I was hoping he would (he's really been on the ball lately in terms of fight performance). Andy On was the showstopper for me... this kid can REALLY move, and his kicks remind me of vintage Hwang Jang Lee: their FAST, his legs look like rubber when he's snapping off chain kicks. I didn't even give him a second thought after Black Mask 2 since, 1. That movie sucked and, 2. He was doubled for practically every scene, but he's definitely got a lot of talent.There are some really good falls and nice choreography in his fight with Jackie in the Lego store; that fight pretty much made the movie for me.

 

[Akiyama]

Versus is the shizzle.

 

[Ragna "D" BloodEdge]

What's the general consensus here about the Heroic Trio? That was my first taste of seeing Michelle Yeoh in action.

 

[Bolt]

Meh... a heroic trio of thumbs down... and I don't even have three.

Sorry D.

Versus is the shizzle.

Indeed, it's one of my favorite films of all time.

 

[Akiyama]

Isn't there a sequel announced? IMDB has an entry for it...but we all know how reliable they are. Versus is truely a fantastic ride. Zombies, gun play, sword play, super powerful beings, the acult, role reversal, fate...the flick has it all.

 

[Bolt]

Kitamura has said several times that there will be a Versus 2, and that Sakaguchi, Sakaki, and Misaka (and probably Matsuda in some role) will be involved, but Sakaguchi is currently busy filming another samurai/zombie actioner Death Trance for Tokyo Shock with Kamen Rider Ryuki star Takamasa Suga and Versus action director/Donnie Yen stunt-team member Yuji Shimomura, Sakaki is involved with several film and TV projects, and Kitamura himself is finishing Bandage and has announced 2 more films that he'll be working on next, not leaving much room for a Versus 2. He'll get to it though... I can't see how he wouldn't, seeing as how hugely, unexpectedly successful Versus has been and how much fun him and the cast had working on it.

Kitamura and Sakaki also both mentioned that they are already writing Alive 2, and that this time it won't be based off the original manga in any way. Kitamura stated that Versus had all the action, and Alive had all the story, so Versus 2 would have more story and Alive 2 would have more action. Other than that there hasn't been anything said on this potential film since.

 

[Takumi]

Lately I've been watching a lot of Korean movies. Check out Arahan, the action in it is nice.

 

[Forever Knight]

I watched Unleashed a few weeks ago and I must say I was really entertained by the fight scenes. ****, some of that **** is just so awesome.