Recommend Martial Arts Movies

It's a memorable scene but other than that I don't think it stands up high in its era. You might have heard that the film was a huge flop until it got western distribution.

Eureka also releasing Project A parts 1-2 and City Hunter.

Very annoyed to find out the Police Story box set has audio and color correction issues. Apparently not completely Eureka's fault but Fortune Star sent them some older versions of the films (some said they lied about it too!), rather than all the newest masters for some of them. There is said to be a replacement coming in a month with all the right stuff.

I'm making do with this version of the box set. Absolute ton of extras and multiple versions of the two films.

Just watched Police Story 2. Might be better than the first in terms of overall quality but the first film is superior for it's best action scenes even if it does drag in the non-action scenes.

Further UK disc releases coming up

Eureka's Once Upon A Time In China trilogy box set (I wont be getting it as I bought the dvd set a couple of years ago).

88Films starting a Jackie Chan collection with To Kill With Intrigue and Dragon Fist.

Just saw that Once Upon a Time box. I've only ever seen the first, are 2 and 3 good?

I kind of prefer them, the first is a tad long.

Project A box set (two films) - Really impressed with these, the second film is one of the greatest sequels ever, but both are great fun, even better set than the Police Story 1-2 box, considering the films and their extras.

First film co-stars Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao (always happy to see him) and Dick Wei. Second film co-stars Maggie Cheung, Rosamund Kwan and features a really brilliant farce sequence in which lots of people gradually enter a house either avoiding each other or unaware of other presences.

There's lots of lengthy interviews in the features. Dick Wei is tired of playing villains and has an amazing house. Something that comes across from Yuen Biao and a lot of these actors is how eager to please large audiences they are, they even ask for negative feedback from fans (HK action films are one of the few instances where I think crowdpleasing doesnt necessarily mean garbage). Mars (who plays Big Mouth in this series) talks quite comfortably about the long line of cruel nicknames he has had, he called himself Mars because people often called him "the martian (that's one of the nicer ones).

Tony Rayns explains some political background, speculates about Jackie Chan's level of iinvolvement in the direction and wether he actually saw those Buster Keaton films that both films homage. I knew that a lot of Chan's fanbase had soured on him due to various politcal statements but I wasnt aware this was a widespread shift in Hong Kong and other parts of asia. Given what China has done to other huge film stars and celebrities who didnt toe the line, I'm willing to consider that Jackie Chan is understandably terrified of not doing so.

Now that UK labels have really started pushing this genre again like they haven't in too many years, I'm biting my fingernails wondering which old dvds to track down and what might plausibly come out on bluray soon. Maybe Eureka will stop after they release some big hits? Those Hong Kong Legends dvds can either be cheap or incredibly steep. Was disappointed see Dreadnaught is the latter but I can still get Magnificent Butcher and a few others for cheap.

Forthcoming

Eureka: Wheels On Meals
88 Films: Battle Creek Brawl and Snake & Crane Arts Of Shaolin

I like Wheels On Meals but it seems like an odd choice to me. Surprised Eureka hasn't went for Snake In The Eagle's Shadow yet. Maybe they felt it was too similar to Drunken Master to release so soon but Snake is so much better.

Are there any American labels with a martial arts line right now? Or anywhere else outside asia for that matter?

Watched the two Lo Wei directed/Jackie Chan starring films recently released by 88 Films: Dragon Fist and To Kill With Intrigue. I feel a tad sorry for Lo Wei because his reputation seems mostly based around Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan not getting on with him and that he supposedly didn't understand what they were trying to do and was trying to fit them both into an older mold (maybe the Jimmy Wang Yu mold), so Jackie is a very serious hero in these.

And people say that Wei wasn't a very good director but I still like these better than most of the hyped up Shaw Brothers films that 88 Films has released. Bonus features note that Spiritual Boxer was the first true kungfu comedy but I didn't think much of that one either. Dragon Fist and To Kill With Intrigue begin as straightforwardly as possible but they redeem themselves with the complexity of the fights. It's kind of refreshing to see the historians being frank about the films because as much as I appreciate c-man unearthing things and his commentary(I had NO IDEA he was a former ilxor member! He has some involvement with a great number of the films I've been buying over the past few years), his praise is excessive. Nice to see it acknowledged that when we buy these films, we're sometimes buying history more than entertainment.

In Dragon Fist Jackie hands out some surprisingly brutal beatings (a bit reminiscent of the one at the end of Police Story but less comedic). I'm not sure how the mother kills herself here, it looks like she quickly strained her own body to death through sheer will power.

To Kill With Intrigue has Hsu Feng (best known for her films with King Hu) and she has a little lakeside hut, I love these little hermit houses, there should be a video compilation of the best waterside hermit homes from martial arts films.

Snake & Crane Arts Of Shaolin - Often considered one of Jackie Chan's best early films. The first few scenes, the last fight and joke with the guy who keeps speaking in two word phrases are all great but everything else about it was tedious for me.
Beggar's Union and Fragrant Division are pretty good names for groups though.

I did not enjoy The Prodigal Son.

Very unsatisfying conclusion, with a baddie that weren't all that bad. Very little fu!

Not one of my favorite but I'm sure there are a few great people in there.

Eureka announced a Sammo Hung box set (Magnificent Butcher, Iron Fisted Monk, Eastern Condors) and I've heard about a few more coming (Warriors Two and Dragons Forever?). Filling in some gaps for me. I'm very happy about this but there really needs to be a new Spooky Encounters edition for people who haven't seen it.

people like me!

I think I got it under the (even worse) title Encounters Of The Spooky Kind. But it's great and it has one of the greatest film monsters, and unlike the other hopping corpse films, it has a really well thought out fighting style. Worst thing is that it pretty much drops the horror in the last part of the film, in favor of a black magic infused fight.

Will anyone vouch for the Jackie Chan films Crime Story, Protector and Miracles? I don't know anything about them.

Sammo Hung might have directed a Soul Calibur film. What a missed opportunity! But it went to the Final Destination and American Pie producer before dying.

Holy Weapon - with Michelle Yeoh and Maggie Cheung. Persistently silly, lots of gender bending, rape jokes tossed around everywhere, references to Evil Dead 2 and The Thing, a man who turns into a flying blade, metal winged men, a spider woman, a gloopy demon and most impressively, the fight scene where 6 women lock their bodies together to create a larger fighter.
Worth seeing for the audacious fights, some of which work amazingly well considering this couldn't have been that high a budget. How did the flying men and the 6 women fighter jumping around look so convincing?
I discovered this from Movie Bob showing a clip.

That sounds awesome!

I do wonder why it isn't better known considering the last fight. I youtubed it because its very hard to find and maybe only VHS, picture is a bit murky and English subtitles are half offscreen but I followed it fine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ9JnxgngG0

I hear that Flying Dagger from the same year is a semi-sequel, watch out because quite a few films are called Flying Dagger.
Here's the trailer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bAWBZB8kjc
Some reviews claim Maggie Cheung spends a lot of time screaming like a cat. Easier to find on disc too.

Holy Weapon - with Michelle Yeoh and Maggie Cheung. Persistently silly, lots of gender bending, rape jokes tossed around everywhere

― Robert Adam Gilmour

...yeah i feel like this is why i've kind of moved away from watching "classic" martial arts films

Just the rape jokes? (it's listed on Jing Wong's imdb as a trademark for him; he produced the Raped By An Angel series, the 4th film is subtitled Raper's Union)
or the silliness and gender bending too?

Sadly martial arts films aren't going to get better any time soon and I wouldn't be surprised if the rape jokes are still going.

Nice news for Region A viewers, a series from VCI
https://cityonfire.com/the-leg-fighters-blu-ray-vci-entertainment/

Somebody from Eureka said there's going to be a lot more martial arts next year. I'm wondering what's likely to be released because some things surprised me and I don't want to get Police Story 3 (wish it had been in the box set), Wing Chun, The Legend 1-2, Butterfly And Sword and Kung Fu Cult Master on dvd then have blurays turn up.
And apparently the Shaw Bros are coming back to 88 Films eventually.

nawww there's definitely a lot less rape jokes since the '90s

I thought it might be a possibility because Hong Kong seems to be the only place that still makes old school sex comedies (not that I care for them).

Next year from 88 Films: Heart Of Dragon (Sammo Hung/Jackie Chan) and Come Drink With Me.

The title is asinine, but Iron Fists and Kung Fu Kicks, now on Netflix, is a good documentary history of the genre.

I might go for it but I seen a really dreadful one earlier this year. Seems like Grady Hendrix is in this new one? Something I've never liked and makes me hesitant to see this new one, is when documentaries focus so much on the most popular things inspired by/based on the main subject matter.

The Eureka set of Sammo Hung films:

Iron Fisted Monk - I've seen few films that went to such lengths to make the villains so despicable. They kill a very old man, rape two girls (the film has become slightly notorious for this), bully children and headbutt an old lady. Film is far too long but mostly redeemed by the fights (for me at least). Probably included because it was Hung's directorial debut.

Magnificent Butcher - I was mistaken that this set is all directed by Hung, this one is actually by Yuen Woo Ping. Features a drunken laughing tramp with brilliant fighting skills, a bit like characters from other Ping and Hung films. I don't know if this is the role the director's dad was supposed to play because I've never seen him as a full-on drunk. It's fun enough but maybe it's just sitting in the shadow of similar films.

I cant recall which of these first two films contains the line "I hope your son is born with two arses, you'll be busy all day!", but that might be my favorite line from any martial arts film.

Eastern Condors - I've seen this one before, written about it upthread, my estimation of it has increased. For all the overly similar martial arts films, this is one of the less repeatable ones. Rumor says that Hung tried to fill this film with as much talent as possible so that Jackie Chan would have less people to choose from.
I still don't get why anyone says this is a mostly serious film, it's clearly still a comedy but with extra brutality and moments of seriousness.
Yuen Wah is particularly good in this; I didn't realise that this made him famous and that his role in Dragons Forever was essentially the same character, makes sense now in retrospect and I understand the temptation to re-use that character type.
Yuen Biao ripping off a snake's head was previously censored from export versions; some people are unhappy about this being fully uncut and it raises questions about films like Snake In The Eagle's Shadow (a cat fights a snake in the original). I like the idea of seing films as they were made/intended but I'm also worried less people will watch Snake In The Eagle's Shadow because that uncut scene is quite alarming (I'm guessing the snake's teeth were removed though, which is another cruelty but I think most of us are more worried about the cat).
Really unusual bonus feature: several of the stars performed a stage version of the story and we see excerpts from that.

I have to wonder about the film choices, were Knockabout and Progidal Son not chosen because Sammo is not in the lead role? When is Spooky Encounters coming? what films were available? Can we please have another Sammo set? But this set is a lovely unexpected gift. Must buy for region B viewers. Nice seeing all the original poster art too, older releases hardly ever shown you that.

A bit from the commentary: When Yuen Wah was cast in Australia with Hugh Jackman, he asked if he was going to fight Wolverine, then was told this wasn't an action film.

Checked around the Shaolin Chamber forum for best martial arts films of the last two decades and I'm a bit disappointed based on the ones I have seen, but I should check more out. Apparently Yuen Woo Ping never lost his touch, I should try True Legend and Master Z.

People seem excited about Scott Adkins, I actually hadn't heard of him but he's in Ip Man 4 and Triple Threat (with Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais and Jeeja Yanin). Oddly the gritty british hard bastard prison film Avengement appeals. All these films out just this year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUQzHB8hs_s

I've got a lot of Jet Li films to see but somehow he just never appealed to me as much as the other major stars.

Distribution is an obvious problem. I thought of getting Mrs K but it would have cost 30 pounds minimum. Some real digging and fan discussion is probably needed to highlight the best of recent times and more countries are making the stuff now. Are period films even viable on anything but a high budget now?

Mrs. K is pretty fun but probably less action than you would expect, it's a sorta ripoff of Taken - but with ass-kicking Kara Hui, so good! I saw a screening a few years ago. Definitely not worth 30 pounds tho.

True Legend and Master Z, though both imperfect, are recommended. (Particularly True Legend, which has a really bleh third act, but a great first 2/3rds).

How about The Thousand Faces of Dunjia and Crouchin Tiger Hidden Dragon 2?

Any other good stuff you seen recently?

8 Diagram Pole Fighter coming in march. Glad I held off on watching everything on prime streaming. 88 Films seem to be going with safer bets.

Zu Warriors From The Magic Mountain coming on bluray. A film I'll happily buy a second time.

Iron Fists And Kung Fu Kicks - Better than the other martial arts film documentaries I've seen so far (that's not saying much, some of them were godawful). Grady Hendrix is in it and he seems almost strangely passionate. I feel slightly guilty at enjoying the stories about the risks taken while filming.

I hate it when these documentaries spend so much time talking about how Hong Kong influenced american films but this additionally follows other kinds of influence (work out videos, dance, youtube, african films).

I wish it clearly labeled all the film clips it shows, especially when there are alternate film titles.

Although it did fire me up and make me want to see everything, I think there should be a tv series on this or even something that goes deeper into chinese film/tv history in general. Because the pure Hong Kong comedies are often referenced but rarely seen by western viewers and there's a whole lot of other things that probably should be discussed.

Police Story 3: Supercop - Really wish this was in the Eureka boxed set. Apparently it can be difficult to find a good version of this, there are a few mistitled or similarly titled films that people buy by accident. I got the Umbrella edition.
The train/helecopter/motorbike scenes with Michelle Yeoh are amazing.

Butterfly & Sword - Michelle Yeoh, Donnie Yen and a few other stars of the era (actually those two are still big stars). Some of the better wirework I've seen. Sadly the ending in my dvd version was cut off in an extremely clumsy fashion. Someone thought the ending was too sad! They should have cut a few seconds earlier.

Wing Chun - Michelle Yeoh and Donnie Yen again. Solid.

Flying Dagger - Jing Wong filmed this same year as Holy Weapon with much of the same cast. Fun to see Maggie Cheung ripping through a tree while screaming like a cat. Pretty costumes.

Kung Fu Cult Master - Imdb says that Jing Wong and Sammo Hung directed this together but Hung had no official credit onscreen.
This clearly was supposed to have sequels but they were cancelled (the translation of the Jin Yong novel should be coming out soon, so I can maybe find out if the incest-baiting wasn't just in my head. But he revises his novels a lot.) The old man embedded in the rolling stone ball is interesting.

Biggest flaw is how obviously sped up much of the film is, even dialogue scenes look like they are on fast forward. The lushness of the visuals makes it all the more awkward, if it was more cheap and nasty looking, it might have had a chance of working. A stunning blunder for such a big film.

Fate Of Lee Khan - As with other King Hu films, the buildup takes a very long time. This might be more inn-bound than Dragon Inn (someone in the features very aptly compared it to Fawlty Towers!), but the last third is excellent. I'm ranking this just after Legend Of The Mountain.
Only real flaw is that allies seem to just stand around watching each other fight when they most need assistance.

Fingers crossed that Eureka releases The Valiant Ones and Painted Skin.

Miracles/ Mr Canton & Lady Rose - Jackie Chan's 1930s HK gangster film. This is incredibly long, the international cut shaves off 20 minutes and it's kind of understandable.
I wasn't wowed by it but someone in the features makes a quite convincing argument that it shows Chan as a particularly strong director and ideally should have led to better things for him and maybe there was a huge missed opportunity.

The Protector - Jackie Chan teamed with James Glickenhaus in the hopes of doing something more serious and becoming a star in America.
I watched the HK version with added fights but after seeing the comparison feature, I realized that the american version would have been a better idea, as the non-dubbed dialogue gives the actors far more presence and it's more stylistically coherent. Glickenhaus' direction is deliberately slow and almost Michael Mann-ish at times.

Interview with Glickenhaus is great, he doesn't pull his punches about his dislike for the HK version and he talks at length how Golden Harvest didn't support Chan's ambitions and Chan possibly didn't put the right work into becoming a global star.
Some other good interviews about the american and hong kong crews working together.

Crime Story - Yet again Jackie Chan teamed up with a harder edged director in hopes of doing something more serious and fell out with Kirk Wong because he was ultimately too perverse for Jackie. Some deleted scenes are still vaulted. Why? It seems like this is part of Jackie's image control.
As seen in the documentary mentioned above, some buildings were blown up without permission; there's a genuine sense of danger in these scenes.
Like a more stylish, down to earth and dirty version of Police Story.

I watched David West's commentaries to Dragon Missile and Spiritual Boxer. I'm always in discussion with myself how much time and money I want to put into Chinese martial arts films but I'm really enjoying just learning about them, filling in the gaps, recognizing more and more actors, learning which actors were previously martial artists and who learned on the job.

West mentioned the freeze frame endings both times and although they are initially confounding I think they are often the best kind of endings. I generally dislike endings that settle down and tuck you into bed.
Bringing back more abrupt endings might be a risk but people might come around to them. I think Killer Joe had one of the best endings of relatively recent times.
I wonder how Peter Jackson's Return Of The King might have been if it had ended with a freeze frame of Golem falling in mid-air.

I'm not a big fan of Spiritual Boxer but somehow the brief scene of Lau Kar-Leung shouting and posturing with his top off made my week. I've never seen him like that.

More forthcoming UK disc releases: Throw Down, Clan Of The White Lotus and Operation Condor.

8 Diagram Pole Fighter - I had some misgivings about this to start with. It's often treated as the last great Shaw studio film but the fake plain at the start (why couldn't they have used a real one?) makes the battle look like a reenactment and the two heroes who spend much of the first half lashing out in anger and madness get really annoying. But the very high complexity of the end fight, the bamboo cart used like a cannon and the dental devastation redeems everything.
The studio was so confident about the film that there's some text at the end saying something like "an undeniably good film". This is relying heavily on the second half.

The final fight scene in "8 Diagram Pole Fighter" is thoroughly insane.

I keep meaning to see that one.
Saw Martial Club recently; not one of the best overall, but the final fight scene is spectacular. Also, Kara Hui A+ as always.

This is a pretty good guide to Shaw blurays around the world.
https://www.36styles.com/kungfufandom/index.php?/topic/22567-shaw-brothers-on-blu-ray/

Germany is doing quite a lot but it's strange how little common ground there is between countries.

The Eureka bluray of Wheels On Meals is pretty great for interviews (and the film better than I remembered, I totally forgot most of it somehow), especially with the american martial artists. Benny The Jet was so energized and inspiring.

There's a super long podcast about martial arts with Tarantino
https://pca.st/gc7rtv9w
List of films discussed
https://letterboxd.com/juanmotoa/list/pure-cinema-podcast-kung-fu-cinema/

Was quite annoyed he was so positive that Kao Pao-shu/Gao Baoshu was THE ONLY female martial arts director. I'd be surprised if she and Pearl Chang were the only two.

Wikipedia says Dark Lady Of Kung Fu is a sequel to Wolf Devil Woman so I might check that out soon.

I don't suppose that's transcribed anywhere, because I am not gonna invest 2 and a half hours into that

I wouldn't recommend it that much. Quentin spends at least the first 15 minutes talking about people he interviewed early on (no martial arts people) and his voice is really echoey (I thought the technical things like that wouldn't be an issue for him).

Most interesting for me was how he rates Lo Lieh as the best martial arts actor, he thinks Jimmy Wang Yu was a really great director and talks about double and triple bill combinations that get an audience excited. It's very fixated on the early 70s, that seems to be his preference.

Didn't know Lee Yi Min starred in a Kamen Rider knockoff called Super Rider, but not so sure it is a complete knockoff because Toei are listed as the co-producers.

QT wrote a long article about Jimmy Wang Yu if you're more interested in that:
https://thenewbev.com/tarantinos-reviews/wang-yu-superstar-super-director/

I read a bit of it but I mostly taken away his main recommendations, which he also talked about in the podcast. Most of the films he talks about are on the Wu-Tang Collection on youtube, which seems sorta legit (they're on amazon prime) but I can't imagine they own the rights to them all or that they're public domain. I'm sure there's some Golden Harvest films in there.

Kind of taken me by surprise that Wang Yu is rated as such a great director because I've never before heard anyone say anything positive about him. Everything is about how badly he treated people, being accused of murder or that he didn't cut the mustard as a martial arts performer (Tarantino disputes this last part but admits his kicks weren't very good).

a timely thread. i only know the most famous martial arts movies and would like to know more. i watched the jet li 'fist of legend' tonight with my kids and they liked it.

we're going to watch 'wing chun' tomorrow (my third time seeing it)