2 Capsule Reviews - Late-Period Shaw Films

Secret Service of the Imperial Court (Hong Kong, 1984: Tony Lou)
Chinese Title: 錦衣衛
Translation: Jinyiwei (Embroidered Uniform Guard)

Starring: Leung Kar-Yan, Lau Wing, Nancy Hu Kuan-Chen, Ku Feng, Lo Meng, Lo Lieh, Eric Chan Ga-Kei, Lau Yuk-Pok, Fong Yi-Jan, Phillip Ko Fei
Director: Tony Lou
Action Director: Tony Lou, Tong Gwok-Gei

Late-period Shaw film set in the late Ming Dynasty about the Jinyiwei, or Ming Dynasty secret police. The current emperor is a useless lecher, thanks to the Eunuch Wang Chun (Lau Wing). Wang Chun has cleverly "suppressed" the Emperor's power by keeping the young man supplied with a constant supply of female flesh, allowing him to run the Jinyiwei and eliminate his enemies and the true Ming patriots. The Guard is run by Zhao Wuyi (Ku Feng) and the captain of the guard is his son, Zhao Bufa (Leung Kar-Yan). Zhao Bufa begins to question the necessity of murdering different generals who are faithful to the emperor and, when he begins to spare them, finds himself at odds with the Eunuch, his fellow guardsmen, and even his own family.

Said to be the basis of 14 Blades, this is a much superior movie with a stronger emotional core, even if it gets extremely bleak. I'm guessing that the general sentiment at the Shaw Brothers at the time was that of despondency and desperation, which also showed up in 8 Diagram Pole Fighter. A lot of innocent people die and people are placed in awful situations where their capacity for humanity is stretched to the breaking point. And people are thrown into awful dilemmas, such as "Is justice worth enough to sacrifice an entire family?"

The fights were staged by the director himself (who also choreographed the Bastard Swordsman films) and Tong Gwok-Gei (The Big Sting). The action is mainly swordplay and all of it is well staged. Sun Chien shows up as one Bufa's colleagues and gets to fight Beardy with swords and shuriken. Lo Meng plays Beardy's brother, but don't expect much fighting from him. But yeah, the fights are good, but man, this film is really gory. Expect lots of blood geysers, severed limbs, and even someone getting split in half right down the middle. I'm sure the graphic violence will stick out more than the choreography itself.

New Tales of the Flying Fox (Hong Kong, 1984: Lau Shut-Yue) -
Chinese Title: 新飛狐外傳
Translation: The New Flying Fox Chronicles

Starring: Alex Man, Kara Hui Ying-Hung, Felix Wong, Tai Liang-Chun, Ku Kuan-Chung, Leung Kar-Yan, Lau Yuk-Pok, Michael Tong, Chan Sze-Kai, Chu Tit-Wo, Yuen Qiu
Director: Lau Shut-Yue
Action Director: Law Keung

Another wuxia pian from the latter years of the Shaw Brothers, this one based on the novel The Young Flying Fox, which was also the basis for The Sword of Many Lovers. This year also saw the Shaws producing (or releasing) The Hidden Power of the Dragon Sabre (also based on a Jin Yong novel) and Return of the Bastard Swordsman, based on a novel by Wong Ying. This one is notable in that much of the talent in front of the camera aren't really Shaw veterans (or at least not your usual headliners), nor are the director (his first film--he directed The Young Vagabond the following year) or the action director, Law Keung.

An opening narration introduces us to the two great heroes of the Qing Dynasty: Wu Yi-Dao (Leung Kar-Yan) and Miao Ren-Feng (Alex Man). Both men are not only supreme swordsman, but are also anti-Qing rebels. The Court decides to deal with them by buying out Miao's martial brother, Tian Guan-nung (Ku Kuan-Chung), who is having an affair with Ren-Feng's wife (Chan Sze-Kai). Tian goads the men into having a duel. They fight to a draw and are interrupted by Wu Yi-Dao's wife (Yuen Qiu) going into labor. While Yi-Dao and Ren-Feng are exchanging martial arts pointers--which Yi-Dao's wife draws and places in a book--Guan-nun poisons Ren-Feng's sword, which results in Wu Yi-Dao's demise and his wife committing suicide.

A guy whom Yi-Dao had rescued earlier (Lam Fai-Wong) rescues the baby Wu Fei and takes him into the forest to raise him and lets him learn kung fu from the manual his mom had made. Wu Fei grows up to be played by Felix Wong (the guy Jackie Chan fights at the fish market in Drunken Master II). He meets Guan-nung and Ren-Feng's wife, who are on the lam for being adulterous bad people. Guan-nung tells Wu Fei and Miao Ren-Feng is the bad guy, which leads to all sorts of misunderstandings and conflicts. He also meets a female martial artist named Yuen Ziyi (Kara Hui) who is on a mission to protect all of the regional martial artists from a trap set by the Qings. He also meets the "heiress" of the Poison Clan (or Medicine Clan), Ching Ling-Soo (Tai Liang-Chun), who helps him cure Miao Ren-Feng when he is blinded. Both her and Yuen fall in love with Wu Fei...

The movie movies at a swift pace, is never too convoluted, and the viewer is never far away from the next fight sequence. It does become a tragedy at the end thanks to the characters' visible flaws, although the final sacrifice comes out of nowhere and is so rushed that it'll probably make the viewers say "Huh?" more than "Awwwww!" The fight scenes are all well-staged, although they feel more like an early 1990s wuxia than an early 1980s one. There is a lot of wire-fu in this movie, which is actually staged quite well considering the modest filmography of Law Keung. Expect your average barrage of swords and sabre, plus a contingent of soldiers armed with rope-darts, Kara Hui armed with two-fisted daggers, and a bunch of a Lama monks armed with sharpened rings and monk's spades. The final showdown between the two heroes and the evil Tian Guan-Nung rests on the heroes using an empty-handed approach to fighting that is reminiscent of The Odd Couple.

2 Capsule Reviews - 2 Hwang Jang Lee movies (part II)

5-Pattern Dragon Claws (South Korea, 1983: ) 
AKA: Dragon Claws; Nwoi Fighting Technique; Thunderfist; Fist of Lightning

Starring: Dragon Lee, Hang Jang Lee, Baek Hwang-Gi, Kim Ki-Beom, Lee Hwa-Jin, Park Wan-Soo, Kim Ki-Hong, Choe Hui-Jeong, Moon Jong-Geum
Director: Kim Shi-hyeon, Godfrey Ho
Action Director: Baek Hwang-Gi

One of three old kung fu movies that Dragon Lee and Legendary Superkicker Hwang Jang Lee made together, the other two being Secret Ninja, Roaring Tiger (1982) and Martial Monks of Shaolin Temple. As aficionados know, they two men teamed up again in 1994 for Emperor of the Underworld, which I have not yet seen. I'm not even sure just how available that film is. In any case, this one is notable because the choreography manages to ape Hong Kong/Taiwanese shapes to a 'T", despite having a South Korean action director (Baek Hwang-gi, who doubles as Hwang Jang Lee's second-in-command).

The film starts with a "tournament" between the layman students from the Damoh School and the monks of Shaolin. This is where the film loses me, because it is suggested in the dialog that Shaolin is an extension of Damoh...or vice versa: laymen can train at Damoh and graduate to the temple after their kung fu reaches a certain point. The film is never completely clear. In any case, the five layman students, including Dragon Lee's Wong Lung, defeat their monk opponents and are admitted into Shaolin to learn Wu Fat Kung Fu under the tutelage of Master Kwok (Kim Doo-han, of Enter the Invincible Hero and Dreadnaught Rivals).

One of the students, Kong Lee (Moon Jong-geum, of Warriors of Kung Fu), is little too ambitious for his own good and tries to steal the Four Kung Fu Manuals of Shaolin from the Abbot (Kim Ki-beom). He ends up stealing the books and tries to run away with his girlfriend, Su Ching (Choe Hui-jeong, of Shaolin and Tai Chi). However, before he can make a break from Shaolin (or Damoh, or both), he is confronted by Master Kwok. Both men disappear. News of the abbot's death and Kwok's disappearance reaches the Golden Monkey Palace school, run by Kam Fu (Hwang Jang Lee). Kam Fu sends his thugs, led by his brother, Ling Fu (Baek Hwang-gi), to harrass the remaining Damoh students and try to get them to join him.

We learn that Master Kwok has retreated into seclusion where he is crucifying Kong Lee in order to force him into repentence. Kwok orders Wong Lung to divide up the kung fu manuals between him and the other three layman students--played by Kim Ki-hong, Park Wan-soo, and Lee Je-gyu. For reasons that never seem to make much sense, Wong Lung goes against Kwok's orders and refuses to divy up the manuals between his martial brothers. Kam Fu and Ling Fu ultimately kill the layman head of the school, three of the layman students, and severely injure Wong Lung. As only the latter has survived, it falls on Master Kwok to help him train in order to get revenge against the Golden Monkey Palace school.

Like I said, the main thing that kept on taking me out of the film was the confusing relationship between the Damoh School and the Shaolin Temple. Most of the dialog suggests that both are the same entity. But if that's the case, why did the laymen have to duel with the monks in order to train in Shaolin kung fu? As I suggested, perhaps they have a beginner's school that, once passed, will allow one entrance into the temple for more advanced training. But that is never really clarified, so I spent much of the movie listening to the dialog in hopes of making sense of that.

The fighting is pure Hong Kong-style shapes, courtesy of Baek Hwang-gi, who also choreographed that year's Martial Monks of Shaolin Temple. I think this film had the better choreography overall. Hwang Jang Lee is good form with his usual mix of Taekwondo kicking and Southern Eagle Claw handwork. He does some of his patented aerial kicking here, mainly like the one where he jumps past two people and does two side leg extensions to kick both men. Dragon Lee never goes into Brucesploitation mode here, instead fighting with a mixture of animal styles and his usual Hapkido kicking. The handwork is very complex by the standards of South Korean chop-sockies, which is impressive. It very much feels like it was choreographed by the likes of Mang Hoi, Corey Yuen, or Chin Yuet-Sang.

There is a little bit of undercranking here and there, but never enough to detract from the action onscreen. There is a little bit of South Korean nuttiness when Hwang Jang Lee unleashes his secret style, which are multiple roundhouse kicks that cut to stock footage of lightning, leaving the opponent with a smoking burn mark on his clothing. That style is actually alluded to by the monks early on in the film; at one point, Hwang does get his hands on the manuals. When Wong Lung and Kwok have to fight him at the end, they find a neat way to neutralize that move: tie a cord around his leg and cut off the blood circulation so it loses power. From a choreography point of view, the best fight is probably the first showdown between Dragon Lee and Hwang Jang Lee. The last fight has better moves, but sacrifices crisp choreography for sloppy intensity. Nonetheless, 5-Pattern Dragon Claws is still a worthy film for genre fans.

Martial Monks of Shaolin Temple (South Korea, 1983: ) 
Aka: Shaolin Yong-Pal (or Yong-Pal in Shaolin Temple)

Starring: Dragon Lee, Hwang Jang Lee, Choe Min-Gyu, Seo Jeong-Ah, Baek Hwang-Gi, Lee Seok-Goo, Yeong Seop, Park Woo-Yong, Kim Doo-Han, Jeong Joo-Hyeon
Director: Kim Shi-hyeon, Godfrey Ho
Action Director: Baek Hwang-Gi

This actually came out before 5-Pattern Dragon Claws (see review above) and like that film, it was picked up by Filmark for release. As you would expect, Godfrey Ho was given director's credit while producer credit went to Tomas Tang. The action director was credited as Philip Yuen, but it was actually Baek Hwang-gi, who had also choreographed Dragon Claws. When all is said and done, I think 5-Pattern Dragon Claws is the better movie overall, although this one has a better end fight.

The movie starts with some guy going to the Abbot of Shaolin (Kim Doo-han) to complain about Wudan attacking people. The messenger and the abbot go to investigate and are attacked by a guy wearing a silly silver wig (Lee Je-gyu). That guy kills the messenger and then the head of Wudan, Kurt Wong (Hwang Jang Lee), shows up and kicks the abbot into oblivion. News of the abbot's death spreads and reaches the ears of both a kung fu student named Dragon Lang (Dragon Lee) and a monk named Chi Yen (Choi Min-gyu). Chi Yen comes across as a violent-but-righteous monk who goes around fighting injustice, like some dude with a handlebar mustache and a man-sized sword (Kang Yong-gyu). 

Chi Yen meets Dragon Lang when he sees the latter running a street hustle involving a game of Whack-A-Mole involving a sword and his own head. Chi Yen also runs into a girl named Pinky Poon (Seo Jeong-ah...oh dear, what a name), who goes around dressed like a beggar. She tries to seduce Chi Yen for...reasons. The film never elaborates on why. They also run into Dragon Lang, who is now out of a job after Chi Yen ruined his hustle. Chi Yen gets Dragon a job at the inn where he's staying, but then takes him as a student after he sees how strong he is.

Long story short: it turns out Chi Yen is actually one of Wudan's enforcers and the real Shaolin Master is Dragon Lang (the hustler bit was just a ruse). Dragon Lang is defeated by Kurt Wong and imprisoned at Wudan, but is rescued by Pinky Poon and another fighter (Park Woo-yong). Pinky Poon nurses him back to health and he goes back to Shaolin to train for revenge.

The story is a little easier to follow than 5-Pattern Dragon Claws, but it does feel a bit too simple and the plot spins its wheels for too much of the first half. Most of the fights involving Dragon Lang and random bandits just don't feel related to the story. At one point, I thought the film was going to play a bait-and-switch and make Chi Yen the actual hero and Dragon Lang his comic foil. Then, suddenly the monk turns out to be one of the bad guys and I realize that I have been M. Night Shyamalan'd!!!

Once more, the fights are staged by Baek Hwang-gi and he does a reasonably good job of aping the Hong Kong shapes style of fight choreography. Hwang Jang Lee steals the show as usual, although Dragon Lee arguably looks even better in this movie than he did in 5-Pattern Dragon Claws. Lee performs a lot of Praying Mantis kung fu, which he had also performed in Dragon on Fire. He also has a John Liu-esque move where he holds his ankle and does multiple high roundhouse kicks with it. To be honest, although his fight scenes are limited, Park Woo-yong, who plays a traveling fighter who turns out to be an ally of Shaolin, gives a great kicking showcase and even outfights Dragon Lee in his own film. I wanted to see more of him.

The highlight is the big finale, which starts with Dragon Lee going into Brucesploitation mode against all of the lesser enforcers and flunkies of Wudan. After dispatching everybody, he has lengthy final showdown with Hwang Jang Lee that mixes Dragon's unique kicking style, spears, nunchaku, Praying Mantis, and the use of a barrel. And true to form, Hwang Jang Lee is so powerful that none of that is enough to defeat him. The tables only turn when one of the Shaolin monks (also Kim Doo-han) shows up to help, at which point the fight starts to resemble Secret Rivals II. Beyond that, watch for a contingent of Wudan fighters shooting ropes out of their feet by kicking (it's as weird as it sounds) and Choe Min-gyu using cords and ropes as part as his own unique fighting style. 

Mortal Kombat II (2026)

Mortal Kombat II (2026)

Starring: Adeline Rudolph, Karl Urban, Jessica McNamee, Mehcad Brooks, Ludi Lin, Josh Lawson, Martyn Ford, Tati Gabrielle, Tadanobu Asano, Chin Han, Lewis Tan, Max Huang, Hiroyuki Sanada, Joe Taslim
Director: Simon McQuoid
Action Directors: Michael Lehr, Malay Kim

Well, color me impressed!

I thought that the 2021 Mortal Kombat reboot was “pretty good” at best. I liked the idea of setting the film before the actual tournament, with the Outworld trying to cheat its way to victory. But like most people, I wondered what the point of the Cole Young character was, since any other character could have been used as the audience proxy. And the action was disappointing, with the two bookend sequences being standouts, but the action in the middle being “Meh” at best. Much of the problem stemmed from the filmmakers not finding that sweet spot between the choreography, the powers, and the gore: the former suffered the most.

But director Simon McQuoid and his producers seemed to have learned from their mistakes and in this sequel, all of that has been corrected. In fact, considering the acting, story, cinematography, FX quality, and overall action, Mortal Kombat II may very well be the best live-action entry in the franchise to this date.

The movie opens a number of years (or decades) before the events of the first film in the Kingdom of Edenia. Edenia is located in the Outworld, and the place has been targeted for conquest by a powerful warlord named Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford, of the Red Sonja remake and The Intergalactic Adventures of Max Cloud). The reigning king, Jerrod (Desmond Chiam, of Joy Ride and “Falcon and the Winter Soldier”), accepts the challenge. Although Jerrod gets in some good hits, Shao Kahn is the better fighter and kills Jerrod. He then marries Jerrod’s widow, Sindel (Primitive War’s Ana Thu Nguyen), and adopts her daughter, Kitana.

Cut to a few days after the events of the first film. We are introduced to Johnny Cage (Karl Urban, of Doom and the Pathfinder), a washed-up martial arts actor whose glory days are long behind him. It has gotten to the point where people don’t even pay attention to him at conventions, although I honestly think that’s a bit exaggerated. I’m more than sure that any once-successful martial arts actor could garner some attention: the power of nostalgia is real. Anyway, Cage is approached by Raiden (a returning Tadanobu Asano) and Sonya Blade (same for Jessica McNamee), who inform him that he has been chosen as a combatant for the Mortal Kombat tournament.

Cage is initially skeptical, although he humors him and learns for himself that a) there is indeed a tournament and b) even the human combatants have developed gnarly powers in order to face off with opponents from a completely different realm (or dimension) with neat powers of their own. Still believing that his best days are long past, Cage declines the invitation to train with the likes of Jax (Mehcad Brooks), Liu Kang (Ludi Lin), and Cole Young (Lewis Tan).

Meanwhile, back in the Outworld, Shao Kahn is organizing his own (new) team of fighters. That would include his now-adult adoptive daughter (Adeline Rudolph, of Do Not Enter and Hellboy: The Crooked Man); Kitana’s bodyguard, Jade (Uncharted’s Tati Gabrielle); Sindel; and himself. And who will be Fighter #5?

Well, that is where things get interesting. In Shao Kahn’s employ is a powerful sorcerer and necromancer by the name of Quan Chi (Damon Herriman). Quan Chi uses his powers to revive not one, but two characters from the previous movie. The first is Kung Lao, who had gotten his soul sucked by Shang Tsung (a returning Chin Han). The second is Kano. Kung Lao is revived to fight for the Outworld, while Shao Kahn has other plans for Kano.

You see, Shang Tsung made it clear in the first film that the Outworld has never been above cheating in Mortal Kombat and this last tournament would be no exception. But since the original plan to murder all the fighters before the tournament was a failure, they plan to cheat via other means. Those particular means revolve around an amulet belonging to the Chaos God Shinnok…and amulet that was stolen by Kano during the events of the first film. The amulet can transfer God powers from one being to another, including instant healing, rendering the receiver functionally immortal.

The tournament soon begins and both sides start taking losses. But once the details of Shao Kahn’s plan reaches the Earth fighters—it shouldn’t be difficult to know who the spy is—our heroes will find themselves having to fight both inside and outside of the tournament in order to prevent Shao Kahn from winning.

So, this film is about the tournament (unlike the last film, but like the 1995 film), but the amulet subplot gives the characters other things to do, especially those among the Earth fighters who actually lose, but still manage to walk away with their lives. And that goes especially for one of the main characters who would have no logical reason to win their particular fight, but needs to stay in the movie anyway. I think that is the film’s strength is giving certain characters things to do while the tournament progresses, with the success of the amulet subplot being integral to the other characters being able to win Mortal Kombat. It keeps both the action and story from going stale.

The main characters this time around are Johnny Cage and Kitana, although they receive ample support from the other returning characters and a few new ones, too. Fans questioned the portrayal of Cage as an over-the-hill has-been—the games usually portrayed him as being in the prime of his career—but I think it works in the film and for Cage’s particular character arc. Cage’s film-within-a-film was a hoot and he gradually gets his confidence as an actual fighter (something he hadn’t been in many years) back. Cage goes from a nothing to a) someone who has something to fight for, and then b) someone who has the means to fight for it.

Kitana’s story is more about subverting her step-father’s quest for power and seeking her own personal revenge. She herself doesn’t grow in the way Cage does, but she does get the final fight against her father’s killer, which makes more dramatic sense. Her journey is less about her own personal growth and more about her attempts to keep the Earth fighters abreast of what’s going on in the Outworld, but at great personal risk.

Surprisingly, there is some character development saved for Kano as well. We saw in the last film that he was initially going to fight for humanity, but then allowed himself to be bought out by Shang Tsung. And while he initially is on the Outworld’s side after his resurrection, he does have a change in heart, albeit for a reason that is very typical of Kano’s character.

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation suffered from a story that often threw characters into the story to randomly get into fights, only to exit stage left after a few moments. That was especially true for Baraka, Mileena, and the Reptile clones. And to a lesser extent, Scorpion and Sub-Zero. That happens a little bit here, but not as bad. At least two of the combatants exit the film after their initial MK fights. And two more characters return from the first film (just look at the credits), once the search for the amulet moves from the Outworld to the Netherworld.

Speaking of exiting movies, one of Mortal Kombat II’s other strengths is that no character is given plot armor. Not all of Earth’s champions will make it to the end of the movie. You feel like the Paul W. S. Anderson didn’t want to kill our favorites in the two 1990s films, so only the villains and maybe one good guy would die. Not here. To quote Joe Bob Briggs, “Anybody can die at any time.” And when they get it, they get it good. People die hard in this movie, which is to be expected after the last one.

Speaking of dying hard, how is the action? Well, it is both more plentiful and more consistent than in the last movie. The action directors were switched, with Michael Lehr and Malay Kim taking up the reins. Both are veteran Hollywood stuntmen, with Malay Kim having done stuntwork for a few of the MK video games, plus action direction on the John Wick spin-off “The Continental.” Michael Lehr also worked on “The Continental”, but also has films like Fast 9; Extraction; and Day Shift on his résumé as fight coordinator. As I stated earlier in the review, these two manage to hit that sweet spot: the perfect balance of choreography, powers, and graphic violence. I’ll have to watch it again if anything will beat the original Cage vs. Scorpion and Liu Kang vs. Reptile fights—which are iconic because for many, this was the first time American viewers saw Hong Kong choreography in action—but I liked what I saw.

In my mind, the fight that stands out the most is the throwdown between Liu Kang and Kung Lao. Besides being an emotionally-charged fight, it is set up in a neat way. Long story short: both men are exchanging blows—Max Huang looks to be a wing chun stylist—while Kung Lao’s razor-sharp hat is flying around and coming at both men. So, both have to fight each other while dodging or deflecting the hat, which results in some creative action direction.

I also must point out that Shao Kahn, as a tournament participant, gets to have multiple fight scenes and is not just an end boss. The finale is broken up into two parallel fights. One of them is (SPOILER ALERT) is set in the Netherworld, as Kano, Johnny Cage, and Scorpion have to team up against Bi Han, who has been resurrected as Noob Saibat (I presume). There is some nice, complex choreography as they have to fight him and one of his clones, often simultaneously with swords, Scorpion’s rope weapon, and good ol’ fashioned fisticuffs. It’s a better fight overall than Shao Kahn vs. Kitana, even if it’s that fight that will determine the fate of the world. And I’m glad that Joe Taslim and Hiroyuki Sanada returned, even if just for an extended cameo.

Mortal Kombat II offers lots of quality fight action, a decent plot (maybe even a good one, by fighting game standards), solid acting, and a whole lot of gore and should be enjoyed by most fans of the franchise. I certainly liked it and look forward to the next one, which I assume by this point will have to involve Shinnok (who gets name dropped here). Bring it on!