Fist of Fury (1972) Movie Review

Director: Wei Lo
Writer: Wei Lo
Starring: Bruce Lee, Nora Miao, James Tien

Chen Zhen is furious. He also has fists. That’s why they call him ‘the Furious Fist’. No, they call him the Fist of Fury. That was an awful joke but I really had no idea how to start the review so I thought I’d just write something silly. I hoped it would be funny but it really wasn’t. I suppose I’m well and truly into the review now. It wasn’t good but here we are. Let’s go!

The teacher of Chen Zhen’s martial arts club spontaneously dies in a manner a little too suspicious to have not been caused by the Japanese. The Japs lovingly create a sign calling the Chinese ‘Sick Men of Asia’. Chen Zhen is none too pleased and proceeds to punch and kick every person he sees. This begins an awful feud between the two martial arts clubs.

Fist of Fury is GREAT! In Enter the Dragon, there are so many protagonists that Lee never truly displays his prowess as an action hero. The story is one of revenge (as with the majority of Asian martial arts films). This setup is a perfect platform on which to stage some incredible fight scenes. Having Bruce Lee as the protagonist of your film is a sure-fire way to get the audience behind him. There is not a point during the film when I wasn’t routing for him… even when he literally murders people and hangs them from a lamppost – it’s brutal but justified. Unlike his other films, Lee is given room to shine outside of fight scenes. There is a particularly fantastic scene in which Lee goes undercover as an electrician, fooling every member of the Japanese dojo. It’s an absolute joy to see Lee actually act for once rather than just being cast as the awesome guy who can kick things. He still does kick things very well. Make no mistake.

Look at him! He's fantastic. I'd love to be kicked in the face by him!

Unfortunately, there are some scenes and sub-plots that I didn’t particularly like in the film. Namely, Lee is given a romantic interest. Sure it humanises him but he is plenty human already and it forces extra scenes into the film, which drastically slow the pace. The scene showing Zhen’s more tender side was the only one that didn’t have me with a massive smile on my face. To me it just felt entirely unnecessary. I was never thinking ‘I hope Zhen doesn’t die now or he won’t be able to run away with his girlfriend.’ I really just wanted him to get revenge on some dirty racists.

Perhaps the most important about the film is that it is supremely satisfying. At the beginning, the Japanese martial artists are shown as detestable slime balls. You are never not on the side of Zhen.  This makes the ending all the more beautiful. The final fight with both the Russian and the leader of the Japanese is a double whammy of both fantastic martial artistry and a pre-established hatred of the enemy.

I have not watched a more entertaining martial arts film in a long time. Bruce Lee excellently portrayed what is likely his most complex character of all time, (that’s not particularly hard) not only providing wonderful action but also some comic relief. While there are some moments I would omit, I still enjoyed Fist of Fury an enormous deal.

Fist of Fury receives an: 8/10

This film is sometimes referred to as 'The Chinese Connection'. Don't be confused. It's actually 'Fist of Fury'.

Dragon (2011) Movie Review

Director: Peter Chan

Writers: Joyce Chan, Oi Wah Lam

Starring: Donnie Yen, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Wei Tang

There are two things I love in this world: Martial arts films and Sherlock Holmes (or crime thrillers in general but Holmes is consistently excellent). Wouldn’t you know it, someone decided to mash the two violently together into a cinematic pulp. Unfortunately, the result of this merging process caused the product, the film ‘Dragon’, to be quite messy. If nothing else, the idea to mix the two genres was an excellent one and whoever thought that up should be commended. So whoever you are, I commend you.

Crazy hands man, Donnie Yen, plays Liu Jinxi, a simple papermaker who, when trying to fight a duo of robbers, he accidentally kills one of the most wanted men in China. However, not all is quite what it seems when hat-wearing detective, Xu Bai-jiu (Takeshi Kaneshiro), becomes suspicious of Jinxi’s outward innocence. Perhaps, Bai-Jiu was right to be suspicious.

Undoubtedly, the best part of this film is the first act. As the film establishes Bai-Jiu, some really incredible visuals are utilised, reminiscent of Sherlock (both the BBC version and Guy Ritchie’s films). A part of the character that makes him so interesting is his motivation. Having been taken advantage of in the past, Bai-Jiu now uses needles to chemically inhibit his empathy; he sees empathy as something that only gets in the way of the course of justice.  The scenes that show his deduction process are by far the best in the film as he uses his seemingly endless knowledge of both history and biology.

In terms of the action scenes, this film is par for the course. There are some crazy moments but the fighting itself is nothing that isn’t expected. Considering this film is a relatively unknown one in the martial arts film scene (you would have to go a long way to find someone who knows about this film).

Mediocre action is somewhat forgivable in this film because, in this film, the fighting serves as context for the sleuthing adventure rather than being the focal point of the film, which is the norm for martial arts films. This is mainly just to say that if you are looking at this film expecting a conga line of spectacular fight scenes like in Ip Man or Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon; that is certainly not what you are going to get.

The main issue that I have with this film is pretty much the only thing that stops it from being a hugely fun martial arts film. That issue is that the second and third acts of the film squander all the originality built up in the first. It’s not that the rest of the film is particularly awful but in comparison to the beginning, it felt massively generic. Something about a gang and we need to kill this guy. That is a comprehensive synopsis of the last two thirds of this film. The worst part of all: I was waiting the whole time for some cool detective skills from Bai-Jiu; they never came.

One more thing! Why the hell is it called ‘Dragon’? Whoa… I got a bit angry there. Seriously though, there is not a single dragon in the entire film. I personally think that it should have been called… ‘Crazy Cool Kung-Fu Sherlock Adventure’. You can have that one for free Peter Chan.

But on the whole, worth watching.

Dragon receives a: 6/10

Ip Man (2008) Movie Review

Director: Wilson Yip

Writers: Edmond Wong, Chan Tai-Li

Starring: Donnie Yen, Simon Yam, Siu-Wong Fan

There is a weird notion in the UK that says that teenagers learning history in school would rather learn about how people died due to poverty in some minor British cities in the 1800s than anything outside of Europe for the past 2000 years. I personally find Asian history far more interesting than anything the UK has ever done. Perhaps Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors have somewhat skewed my view on the matter but compared to the utterly dull events of Britain’s sparse history, Asia just seems far more interesting to me. This film’s true story seems somewhat to be proof of this idea.

Ip Man sounds like a superhero name but alas he is but a man. Despite this, he really may as well have fighting superpowers. He is a master of the martial art Wing Chun and no human in his town of Fo Shan can beat him in a fight. During the subjugation of his town by the Japanese in World War II he struggles to get even a bag of rice. Fighting also occurs.

First and foremost, the fights in this film are some of the most impressive in terms of filmmaking and straight up martial arts that I have ever seen. Dust is flying about after hits and when fighters get knocked down, they seemingly defy

physics and push themselves back onto their feet. Not only are the actors impressive but also the way the fights are shot is incredible. The film uses speed-ups and slow downs masterfully (slowing down time is an important thing with Donnie Yen because he could likely unleash 15-20 punches in a second – which he does many times). It strikes a perfect balance between being too slow to be exciting and too fast, making it overwhelming and confusing. On a slightly unrelated note, much like the Raid films, I would like to disclaim some of the brutal shots in this film. If you don’t want to see a guy’s leg get utterly snapped, you may want to brace yourself during the fight scenes.

At the end of the first act of the film, there is a violent shift from a pretty light-hearted mood to a much darker tone. While the grimmer of the two atmospheres is fantastic and tense throughout, the difference is far too stark between the two and moreover, the first section very much overstays its welcome. All the fights (while excellent) in this section seemed purely expositional. The start in no way prepares you for what is coming next. While this may be seen as smart storytelling for maximum audience response, you are somewhat left realising that the film instantly went from the people of Fo Shan chanting ‘Master Ip’ to a man getting shot in the face at point blank range by Japanese soldier. While the misstep of the tone of the first act seems minor after seeing the spectacle of the film’s latter sequences, it does exist and did certainly detract from the film overall.

I mentioned earlier that the darker section of the film was rife with tension and atmosphere and it is what sets the film apart from other films in the martial arts genre. These films are often either entirely comic (anything Jackie Chan has done) or entirely visceral (either of the Raid films). This film on the other hand takes both of the approaches and slams them together. While the seams stitching the two styles together are hugely apparent, the film is made better by both being present. The part of the story during the Second World War totally conveys the horror that really occurred in true history. The setting is dank and the comparison between shots of downtown Fo Shan before and after the switch is incredible (and the production value of this single street is vastly detailed and has clearly been laboured on for countless hours – which I am certainly impressed by). The use of colour is a huge shift in the film as well making the Japanese soldiers the only characters wearing anything other than shades of grey and I love smart use of colour in films. The second and third acts are incredible visually and conceptually.

Ip Man is a meticulously produced film about the eponymous master of martial arts. The fights within the film are incredible from both choreography and cinematography standpoints. The first section is unexpectedly upbeat but the latter half more than makes up for it. It is undoubtedly one of my favourite martial arts films, which is a difficult position to get to.

Ip Man receives an: 8/10

The Raid 2 (2014) Movie Review

Director: Gareth Evans

Writer: Gareth Evans

Starring: Iko Uwais, Yayan Ruhian, Arifin Putra

It would be an understatement to say that I was excited to watch the sequel to The Raid. Unfortunately, the second film is strikingly different to the first.

After Rama escapes the building from the original raid, a police official offers him an opportunity to go under cover and wreck the entirety of the Indonesian organised crime ring.

If this film were to consist only of the fight scenes that the movie has, it would be one of the most entertaining experiences put to film. There are great characters who have signature, recognisable weapons who are all part of excellent fight scenes. This being said, the general idea of a lot of the fight scenes is that the main guy you’re looking at walks forward while people attack them one at a time and the camera looks at them from the side. While each of the individual moves is impressive, you know who is going to win the fight and, generally, what it is going to look like. Because of this, the fight scenes that have very few people involved in them are far more impressive and entertaining. The idea of one guy taking on a silly amount of people may sound cool but when you always know the outcome, all suspense is lost.

The biggest difference between this movie and the first is the over abundance in story. There is likely no difference in screen time of story scenes between this movie and the average action film but these scenes drag on so much because of the repetitiveness of them. They all look the same, people sitting down talking in a room we’ve seen multiple times before. It makes it so that even though we should have been interested in the story of the film, we are just left waiting for another fight scene to watch.

I feel that it is important to mention that this is one of those Asian action movies in which people’s bodies become action figures and limbs get snapped like toothpicks. The first raid was blatantly and gratuitously violent but this something else. I think I saw a guy ripping another man’s jaw off with his bare hands. So fair warning, if you are unable to withstand gross violence, you may not enjoy this film.

While this film has a ratio of action to story that really doesn’t work, said action is fantastic when very few people are fighting each other at once. It may seem that I dislike this film but some of these action scenes are some of the best I’ve seen. If only about a third of the story scenes existed, the film would have been outstanding but unfortunately they hold the film back. As much as I would like not to compare the two films in this series because they feel so different, I feel that I must mention that I prefer the first film.

The Raid 2 receives a: 7/10

Please feel free to leave a comment on either the movie or the review. Say if you liked or disliked the movie. I'm interested to find out what you think!

The Raid (2011) Movie Review

Director: Gareth Edwards

Writer: Gareth Edwards

Starring: Iko Uwais, Ananda George, Yayan Ruhian

This is exactly what I have been looking for in an action movie. I don’t need you to tell me that you’ve got a particular set of skills; you don’t even have to speak English. People have often called ‘The Raid’, “balls to the wall”. They’re not only right but I’m pretty sure that these actors would just know the wall down. It is one of the most impressive and tense movies in recent memory.

A raid is set up upon a heavily fortified apartment building and the physically skilled Jakarta police force attempt to take the building floor by floor but all hell may or may not break loose.

I take pride in the amount of martial arts movies that I have watched. I haven’t perused Jackie Chan’s entire filmography but I consider myself rather well versed in the genre. Of all that I have seen, ‘The Raid’ has easily the best fighting. Iko Uwais deserves to be the next Bruce Lee or Donnie Yen. The actor’s superhuman abilities coupled with the fantastic cinematography makes for the most jaw-dropping and incredible fight sequences I have ever seen. For fight cinematography to be outstanding it only takes a lack of mistakes. All you need is to wait. If I see cuts between each hit, it looks false. Much like a oner, stringing together multiple moves is far more impressive than a single move. This film lets you see everything (although some might not think that is a good thing if they are adverse to gore).

Even outside of the hand-to-hand combat, the direction is great. The pace slows to a palpable rate and these unforgettable shots burn into your memory. There is a moment when the lights go out in the building and neither side can see the other. A shotgun flashes and you see the shadows of the assailants pulse up the wall so you know what is going on before the protagonists can even register it. These moments are provided abundantly making the struggle seem even more uphill.

The problem most people have with the movie is that it supposedly has no plot. Firstly, it really doesn’t matter because the film is so mesmerizingly impressive but also there is more nuance than first appears. There are some characters who are more than meets the eye.

The one issue I have with the film is that the first act I expect could drag on when re-watching it. You know that there is going to be incredible martial arts skills but instead you start bogged down by the police officers firing guns at each other. I even found this on my first watch. Guns in cinema are boring because it is so easy to find yourself in a drought of interesting situations. The most interesting gunmen are the snipers in stories like Saving Private Ryan and Phone Booth but in this, you are blinded by muzzle flashes for ten percent of the first act.

Don’t misunderstand this. This criticism only exists to show that the film isn’t perfect. By the end there isn’t a chance that you are dwelling upon the tiny parts of the movie that aren’t fantastic. If you want to get into martial arts movies or even foreign films in general, there is no better place to start than ‘The Raid’.

The Raid receives a: 9/10

Please feel free to leave a comment on either the movie or the review. Say if you liked or disliked the movie. I'm interested to find out what you think!