Blog Archives

House of Flying Daggers (2004)

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Posted on March 11, 2007 by Eugene

I have to admit that when I first saw House of Flying Daggers, I felt somewhat ambivalent about it. I had somewhat decent expectations for the film since it was a Zhang Yimou film, the man who brought us Hero, and had a solid enough cast of Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau and Zhang Ziyi. Yet, while the performances were strong and set pieces impressive, the story was lacking and a great deal of the fighting lacked a certain … (read more)

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Fearless (2005)

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Posted on March 11, 2007 by Alison

This is apparently to be Jet Li’s final martial arts film, a fact which saddens the whole of martial arts fandom. So there was a lot riding on this one: would Jet the martial artist go out with a bang, or with a whimper?

Well, fortunately for all of us, it’s a definite bang. Jet, no in his mid-forties, may have slowed down a little, but he’s still got the effortless grace and balance that made him a star. Watching … (read more)

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Duelist (2005)

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Posted on March 4, 2007 by Alison

It’s rare to see a film that fetishises the male lead as this one does. Plenty of films do it for the female lead, by giving her lighting and camera angles that make her more alluring, or writing a character free of flaws yet still intriguing. But this time, it’s the man: an assassin known only as “Sad Eyes”.

This might sound odd, but if you watch the film you’ll see what I mean. A mysterious character clad all in … (read more)

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City Hunter (1992)

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Posted on March 3, 2007 by Alison

What can I say about City Hunter that hasn’t already been said? It stars Jackie Chan, although he’s forced by Wong Jing to be rather more of a buffoon than is strictly necessary. There’s Chingamy Yau, Joey Wong, and a couple of other glamorous babes, as should be expected in a Wong Jing flick. There’s a cruise ship, lots of rich people, and Richard Norton leading a posse of bad white guys (well, mostly white). Leon Lai Ming shows up … (read more)

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Brotherhood of the Wolf (2002)

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Posted on March 3, 2007 by Alison

I think the best word for this action film is probably “sumptuous”: costumes, locations, sets, characters, all rich and detailed. Another word, sadly, is “gristly”: the sound effects were particularly, well, effective. They conveyed quite realistically the sound of human meaty bits being torn asunder: one could almost discern the difference between bone-crunching and ligament-tearing noises. Not that one wished to, of course.

One might also wish to close one’s eyes during the opening sequence, unless one has a very … (read more)

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The Way of the Dragon (1972)

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Posted on July 23, 2006 by Justin

Way Of the Dragon was Bruce Lee’s directorial debut, after making The Big Boss and Fist of Fury with director Lo Wei. I’ve never been that much of a fan of Lo Wei’s direction, and it is interesting to see how this film differs under Bruce’s complete control.

As the film starts, the most obvious change is Bruce’s infusion of comedy into the mix. Gone is the tightly-coiled sombre hero of Fist of Fury: here he plays Tang Lung, … (read more)

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Game of Death 2 (1981)

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Posted on April 9, 2006 by Angus

When I was a wee boy (as opposed to the wee man I am now) my mum rented some videos. One of these films was my first foray into kung fu and Bruce Lee — Game of Death 2. Strange starting point, I know, but it was enough to keep me on the bandwagon for many years to come. To tell the truth, it’s not a great film, so I will have to keep my bias and nostalgia to … (read more)

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In the Line of Duty (1989)

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Posted on January 15, 2006 by Justin

When an immigrant Chinese dockworker comes into brief contact with secret evidence implicating American intelligence operatives and the Green Dragon crime syndicate in a major drug trafficking operation, he is marked for death. Now on the run and running out of time, his only hope for survival is two cops with nothing to hide and nothing to lose!
(from the Hong Kong Legends DVD)

I think whoever wrote the synopsis above really decided that to really nail the soul of … (read more)

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