The Official Martial Arts Movie Thread

[Misfits923]

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

A good Korean martial arts movie is "Spin Kick"...it's pretty good.

 

[Hariken]

Wow... Haven't watched a kung-fu flick in a while. A few of my old favorites are... Chinese Super Ninjas, The 5 Deadly Venoms, The Kid with the Golden Arm and Iron Monkey.

 

[Bolt]

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

I liked Arahan a lot, but the last fight scene was just ridiculous. It last forever and there were only about 2 or 3 minutes of actual fighting, the rest was just standing around making faces or posing on stuff. The fight in that outdoor teahouse was the **** though, it definitely reminded me of some of Jackie's older Hong Kong stuff, mainly like Police Story 2.

Wow... Haven't watched a kung-fu flick in a while. A few of my old favorites are... Chinese Super Ninjas, The 5 Deadly Venoms, The Kid with the Golden Arm and Iron Monkey.

You have excellent taste my friend! Pretty much anything with the Venoms in it is a sure bet of excellence, though there are some rrrrreeeeaaaallllyyy bad ones too ("Nine Demons" instantly comes to mind). Chinese Super Ninjas (I first watched it as Five Element Ninjas) is a Chang Cheh masterpiece... it was shot entirely on a soundstage, so it has this semi-expressionistic surreal thing going on, and the fights are, of course, incredible. Robert Tai doesn't choreograph nearly as many weapons fights as he does hand-to-hand, but he should; the kung fu weapons demonstrations in this were insane. Kid With The Golden Arm was excellent too aside from a nearly criminal underuse of Phillip Kwok and Lo Meng (in really the only cut you can buy until Celestial gets their act together).

Iron Monkey is one of the "3 Musketeers" of what people consider to be truly classic in today's age... the other two being Jet Li's Fist of Legend and Jackie Chan's Drunken Master II. I like all three (Iron Monkey's my favorite) but honestly none of the three have ever tickled my fancy the way they seem to on others. I'm more of a sucker for oldschool Taiwanese kung fu extravagances, like Shaolin vs. Lama, The Secret Rivals, Death Duel of Kung Fu, 18 Weapons of Kung Fu, etc.

And I saw Spinkick, but I got the impression that it was more of a drama and represented modern sport Tae Kwon Do they way Remember the Titans represents football.

 

[ForeverRed]

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

The movie ruled. I loved it. Michelle Yeoh, Anita Mui (R.I.P), Maggie Cheung were awesome in that movie.

Iron Monkey was awesome. I'm glad I have it on DVD.

Also, I'm warning you guys... DO NOT BUY IRON MONKEY 2!! It sucked so bad! HORRIBLE. HORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIBLE!

Also, I must recommend you to watch SILVER HAWK! That was totally awesome! I have a review of this:

http://forums.henshinjustice.net/showthread.php?t=4190&highlight=Silver+Hawk

Also if you haven't seen the movie before, you might want to check my another review of The House Of Flying Dagger.

http://forums.henshinjustice.net/showthread.php?t=1511&highlight=House+Flying+Daggers

:buttrock:

 

[Bolt]

Hey! Iron Monkey 2 wasn't that bad. The thing you have to realize is that it was made looooong before Yu Rong Guang's Iron Monkey and they just gave it the title "Iron Monkey 2" to capitalize on the new one's success. Billy Chow and David Yang are pretty damn good in it at times.

I haven't seen Silver Hawk yet but then again, I don't really have any intention to. The costume looks ridiculous and judging by some of the cast and crew, I've already seen it before! :laugh:

 

[dmario]

Iron Monkey was my all time favorite

TaiChi master
Fist of Legend
Fong Sai Yuk
Comet, Sword, Butterfly

Unleashed was not a "martial arts" movie. i went in thinking that and was HIGHLY disappointed. it was decent but ther wasnt enough fighting in it for me.

Princess Blade - loved it i need to see it again.

Volcano high - I just watched this again for the second time since its release (i refuse to watch the dubbed MTV version) and this movie is pure eye candy, its border line suckage.

and of course....MASTERKILLER

 

[Keith Justice]

If you haven't seen it, find DRIVE. One of the best movies I watched in college with a room full of dudes hootin' hollerin' and cheering with ever kick, flip, punch and combo.

I remember seeing this by accident, when just flicking through the channels. Production seemed poor as hell, then outta NOWHERE the martial artist busted out in a level I'd not seen before!

Find it, watch it.

"Chinese Super Ninjas", eh? The name alone makes me wanna see it. :thumbs:

 

[Bolt]

Unleashed was not a "martial arts" movie. i went in thinking that and was HIGHLY disappointed. it was decent but ther wasnt enough fighting in it for me.

....

Princess Blade - loved it i need to see it again.

Wait a minute... you were disappointed with Unleashed but loved Princess Blade?

wtf.

Not only were Unleashed's fights better than that overwired, hollow Kenji Tanigaki/Yuji Shimomura mess, the story was tons better and there wasn't the pervasive crappy melodrama that seems to follow Yumiko Shaku around wherever she goes.

If you haven't seen it, find DRIVE.

Drive is a really good, fun movie. Mark Decascos did a wonderful job performing the fights and Koichi did a great job choreographing them. One of my favorite roles in the movie was John Pyper-Ferguson as Vic Madison... some really funny scenes there. Same with Kadeem Hardison. Interestingly enough, Bret RATtner ripped off a lot of stuff in Drive for his (suspiciously) similar film Rush Hour. He even said in an interview later "If it (Drive) had been released in theaters, I probably wouldn't have been able to get away with Rush Hour)." Hmmm.

Any sentai fan would probably enjoy Chinese Super Ninjas at least to an extent. The plot follows a clan of fighters serving the lord of an emperor, and after the lord is poisoned by a surprise ninja technique, the Ninja Warlord Ken Jun moves in to destroy their clan. The finale shows Cheng Tien Chi and his four ninja comrades taking on the "Five Element Ninjas," (i.e. Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth) that represent each respective element and finally fighting Ken Jun. It was made during the golden age of Shaw Brothers kung fu, and is one of (IMO at least) the greatest martial arts films of all time.

 

[Akiyama]

Anyone ever seen the flick "The Stormriders"? It's been a while since I've seen it, but I remember really digging it. It gives off a very mastery of martial arts = key to all things mystical vibe.

 

[Bolt]

The Stormriders was one of the better mid-late 90's wuxia-pan films that came out along with The Duel, Duel to the Death, Butterfly Sword, and The Three Swordsmen. It was based on a Chinese comic that I didn't really like but the movie was actually pretty awesome, and I'm not even a very big wuxia fan.