Kung Fu Lion (2023)

Posted in Reviews
1 Comment
Kung Fu Lion (2023)

A delicate coming-of-age drama set in Rotterdam about two frustrated teenage boys who train at the same kung fu school. Jimmy (Tyrell Williams) is sifu’s star pupil who becomes something of a troublemaker, eager to fight with bullies and use his kung fu for power and prestige. His ego is bruised when wushu wunderkind Li Jie (Haye Lee) joins the school – the new kid in town with great martial arts skills who Jimmy quickly sees as a threat to his own sense of self. To curb their rivalry, sifu (played by Lau Kar-leung‘s nephew, the Hung Gar expert and …

Read More

Walid (2023)

Posted in Reviews
No Comments
Walid (2023)

This starts slowly and then gets really wild in the final act – a little too wild, perhaps, given how measured and earnest the movie begins. Walid (Megat Sharizal) is a nurturing, virtuous man of god who teaches poor, immigrant children how to read and write. He befriends Aisha (Putri Qaseh), a poor, illiterate country girl and refugee living with a no-nonsense mother (Feiyna Tajudin) who is not afraid to kick some thugs into touch if they step near her chicken coop. Despite being told otherwise, Aisha accepts candy from a stranger – the oldest paedophile trick in the book …

Read More

Knights of the Zodiac (2023)

Posted in Reviews
No Comments
Knights of the Zodiac (2023)

If this is Sony’s attempt at finding a new young adult franchise full of spectacle, spandex and superheroes to rival that of Disney’s Marvel films, then we’ve got off to a damp start. This adventure, based on the popular 1980s Japanese manga Saint Seiya, completely neglects the first rule of superhero school – to have fun – and is instead lumbered by a clunky script completely lacking in humour. Instead of leaning into full-blown fan service (it waits until the very end to really cut loose with gnarly costumes, buildings blowing up, lightening storms and so on), this long-awaited live-action adaptation …

Read More

Wolf Pack (2022)

Posted in Reviews
1 Comment
Wolf Pack (2022)

Michael Chiang’s fast-paced actioner is a bit too trigger-happy to ever convincingly work as a tense conspiracy thriller, and never settles into any of its set-pieces or character development long enough for the action to have any real impact. Instead, we have a handsome cast somewhat wasted on a routine desert-based shoot-’em-up which will undoubtedly be forgotten about as soon as the credits roll. For those paying attention, then; the story concerns multifaceted young medic, Ke Tong (Bruce Lee, My Brother star Aarif Rahman), a selfless yet troubled freelancer operating for something resembling Doctors Without Borders who is kidnapped via …

Read More

Enter the Clones of Bruce (2023)

Posted in Reviews
No Comments
Enter the Clones of Bruce (2023)

The ‘Bruceploitation’ film – a much-maligned and bizarre sub-genre of the kung fu movie boom – is given a detailed, heartfelt and humorous retrospective in this entertaining American documentary, the first to unite many of its leading lights, including new interviews with Taiwan’s Bruce Li, Korea’s Dragon Lee, Myanmar’s Bruce Le, Hong Kong’s Bruce Liang, and a wonderful moment with Japan’s Yasuaki Kurata, who seems perplexed to see himself billed as ‘Bruce Lo’ on a one-sheet for The Tiger’s Claw. Even Angela Mao makes an albeit brief appearance, billed sometimes as the ‘female Bruce Lee‘; plus Ron Van Clief (aka ‘the …

Read More

G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013)

Posted in Reviews
No Comments
G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013)

A big tonal shift for the second G.I. Joe movie, which starts as a comedic bromance between Duke (Tatum) and one of his new team members, Roadblock (The Rock). They attempt to out-alpha each other in macho displays of target practice, until Duke is ended in an ambush in Pakistan, orchestrated by the shape-shifting Zartan (Arnold Vosloo) who disguises himself as the president. With Tatum graciously bowing out of the franchise, his replacement is certainly an upgrade in the testosterone levels, with The Rock stepping in to lead the Joes on a merry rampage to restore their credibility, reinstate the real president, …

Read More

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)

Posted in Reviews
No Comments
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)

Taking its cues from another almighty yawn of an action franchise based on a Hasbro toy – Transformers – this live-action debut for the G.I. Joe brand somehow manages to be incredibly annoying, loud, and boring all at the same time. The Mummy filmmaker Stephen Sommers attempts to inject a fun sense of James Bond-like jeopardy into proceedings – aided by maniacal villains hellbent on world domination, stealing nuclear warheads fitted with weird nanotechnology and launching terror from their underwater bunker – but the film never quite settles into a groove, with literally every kind of spectacle thrown at the …

Read More

Hidden Strike (2023)

Posted in Reviews
1 Comment
Hidden Strike (2023)

Despite being filmed in 2018 – originally a vehicle for Jackie Chan and Sylvester Stallone called Ex-Baghdad – and with a whopping $80m budget (huge for a Chinese film), this explosive action movie was destined for the big screen both in the east and the west, but was instead held in a post-production quagmire for years, going through numerous name changes (including Project X-Traction, Project X and, briefly, S.N.A.F.U.) and a global pandemic to emerge, quite unceremoniously, on Netflix without any marketing and with a completely different title. So what happened?

Chan’s waning star in the west could be a factor – …

Read More

Golden Swallow (1968)

Posted in Reviews
No Comments
Golden Swallow (1968)

Excellently staged, evocative and brutal sequel to King Hu’s 1966 smash hit, Come Drink With Me – partially shot in Japan, which adds to its rather obvious leanings towards the chanbara film. The first film was a delicate, historical swashbuckler which sparked a postmodern revival in wuxia cinema not seen since the silent era. Chang Cheh – the ‘yin’ to King Hu’s ‘yang’ – takes over directing duties for this sequel, a calculated response to Hu’s decision to leave Shaw Brothers. Hu’s Taiwan-made indie masterpiece, Dragon Gate Inn, may have narrowly beaten this film at the box office, but Chang’s …

Read More

Profile: Eric Lee

Posted in Profiles
No Comments
Profile: Eric Lee

Date of birth: 30 July 1946 (Zhongshan, China)

Full name: Lee Wing Chow

Other names: Daniel Eric Lee, Eric W.C. Lee

Nickname: The King of Kata

Style: Kung fu, Aikido, Tai Chi, Judo, taekwondo, weapons.

Biography: Born in Zhongshan, China, Eric Lee was first introduced to the martial arts by his father, who taught him the Choy Li Fut style. Every evening after dinner, they would hit a gong to signal the time to train. At the age of seven, the Lee family moved to Hong Kong. During his youth, Lee also became inspired in his training by the black and white martial arts serials being …

Read More
« Previous Page
Next Page »