Bullets of Love (2001)

Bullets of Love (2001)
Chinese Title: 不死情謎
Translation: Immortal Riddle

 

Starring: Leon Lai Ming, Asaka Seto, Terence Yin Chi-Wai, Michael Chan Wai-Man, Frankie Ng Chi-Hung, Saki Hayawaka, Richard Sun Kwok-Ho, Ronald Cheng Chung-Kei
Director: Andrew Lau
Action Director: Lee Tat-Chiu

 

Well, what do you know? An Andrew Lau film I actually liked! I generally don't care about his movies, as they are all style and no substance, from the story to the action sequences. Legend of the Fist was an exception to the latter thanks to Donnie Yen, but that film's story was just not very compelling. Conversely, Infernal Affairs had a great story (probably due more to the writers than to Lau), although its nomination for Best Action Choreography is probably the biggest head scratcher in the history of that award.

Then there are his infamous CGI fantasy films. The Storm Riders is just okay, with a couple of a decent wire-assisted sword fights in the beginning and the rest of the film being digital nonsense. The story is convoluted, but not presented in a compelling manner (except, perhaps, to fans of the comic book source material). A Man Called Hero find itself on similar footing, compounded by its wasting Yuen Biao. I liked the final swordfight on the top of the Statue of Liberty, but the plot refuses to find a sensical conciliation between the characters’ kung fu superpowers and the so-called “Real World” that it inhabits. And Initial D ruined itself by having the main character reject Anne Suzuki, which is just wrong. And don’t me started on the crappola that was The Guillotines.

Then there’s Bullets of Love, which actually manages to have a heart and compelling characters.

Leon Lai plays Inspector Sam Lam, who's trying to bust a pair of human-and-drug trafficking brothers Wong “Night” Po (Terence Yin, of Black Mask 2 and Skyline Cruisers) and Wong “Day” Fung (Richard Sun, of Bride with White Hair 2 and Gen-Y Cops). He manages to catch Night after a pitched gunfight inside of a nightclub that leaves a few officers down and his best friend with knife wounds in his back. Careful viewers will note that one of the participants in the gunfight is a woman in a leather jacket and sunglasses (Saki Hayakawa), who we saw in the very first scene executing a man in public with a sniper rifle.

Inspector Lam’s prosecutor girlfriend, Ann (Asaka Seto, of One Missed Call 2 and the Death Note movies), is the one on the case to put Night behind bars. The trial has this particularly amusing scene where the prosecution accuses Night of drugging six illegal immigrant women with the intent of raping them. The defense attorney objects with the argument, “Six women? In one night? Yeah, right!” to which Ann responds, “My boyfriend has taken me six times in a single night, so what’s your point?” The judge overrules the objection. In the end, the prosecution wins and Night is sentenced to five years in prison.

At this point, Sam and Ann decide to celebrate and go to Paris on vacation. During the trip, Sam proposes to Ann, and she accepts. However, Day has the aforementioned female assassin to take Ann out the game. The hit occurs in an outside elevator in Paris, in which Ann is shot in both shoulders and then in the throat—the assassin’s modus operandi. Years later, Sam has retired from the force and is living in the New Territories with his two Uncle Ox (Michael Chan Wai-Man, of The Shaolin Heroes and The Club) and the intellectually-disabled Uncle Tiger (Frankie Ng, of Young and Dangerous and Bio-Cops). There he meets a Japanese woman, Yu (also Seto), who looks exactly like Ann. The two gradually fall in love, although we the audience know that Yu is the assassin. Before she killed Ann, we the viewer were treated to a scene of her rubbing her breast and whispering Sam after eavesdropping on them having sex. The question then remains: how long can she keep up the charade?

The first and last twenty minutes of the film are heavily stylized, while the middle act, where Sam and You get to know each other, feels like an entirely different film in terms of tone, editing, photography, etc. It is interesting that the plot structure of the film feels very chiasmatic, with something close to series of concentric plot themes. The first part of the film is a crime thriller, followed by a romantic segment, followed by a “slice-of-life” portion, which then becomes another romantic segment, and then finishing off as a crime thriller. Parts 3 and 4—the “slice of life” and Romance #2 portions—are more or less intertwined, but it is still a unique approach to the story.

The performances are also generally good. Leon Lai has often been considered the weakest actor of the Four Kings, although he avoids the overwrought emotions that ruined Aaron Kwok’s performance in Divergence. Asaka Seto does a decent job, considering that she was acting in English or dubbed in Cantonese (by Sandy Lam, who does a lot of Cantonese dubbing for non-Cantonese speaking actors). Most importantly, Seto is extremely beautiful and I sort of hoped things would work out for her and Lai on account of her beauty. Yes, not a strong foundation for a relationship, but this is film. The final series of tragedies suggest the polar opposite of how Reign of Assassins ends.

Despite having a credited action director (frequent Lau collaborator Lee Tat Chiu), there is little action and nothing very flashy. The gunfight in the opening portion is pretty standard stuff—you could find the same thing in a Hollywood film. The same goes for an assassination attempt on Day and Night during the third act, which has Leon Lai crashing his car into the brothers’ and opening fire. Things get extremely bleak and bloody in the last ten minutes, which is sad, because I genuinely liked the characters. Lots of people get shot and stabbed, Michael Chan throws a few punches, and Asaka Seto performs a wire-assisted jump kick. That said, I felt myself caring about the characters and anxious about their fates. Very novel for an Andrew Lau movie!

Rumble (2017)

Rumble (2017)

 

Starring: Gary Daniels, Sissi Fleitas, Eddie J. Fernandez, Luis Gatica, Fabian Lopez, Justin Nesbitt, Pedro Rodman Rodriguez
Director: R. Ellis Frazier
Action Director: Gary Daniels, Marco Morales

 

According to the IMDB, Rumble is entirely a Mexican production, but with British star, an American director, and an American writer—everybody else behind and in front of the camera are Mexican. I would suppose this to be a co-production, but I really do not know. What Rumble is, however, is something of a throwback to the low-budget early 1990s martial arts films you used to see at the video store about people getting involved in underground fights. Given the general inflated costs of making movies, this one looks a lot cheaper than some of those did, but it a bit of charge.

David Goran (Gary Daniels, of City Hunter and Bloodmoon) is an over-the-top cage fighter who is something of a legend, but has been past his prime ever since he busted his knee in Reno some years back (it comes close to becoming a running joke with people he meets). These days, he mainly goes around Mexico, fixing fights with his girlfriend, Eva (Sissi Fleitas), and profiting off the betting. There is a certain reason that they are a) always on the move, b) in Mexico, and c) fixing fights in order to guarantee their income. You see, some years before Goran met Eva, she was working as a street walker. One evening, she murdered a client in self-defense. That angered her pimp, Rico (veteran stuntman Eddie J. Fernandez), who has been on their tails for a few years, trying to collect a large sum as a compensation for a treasured client.

These days, Goran and Eva have been staying at a hotel, where they are doing their usual business of fixing fights and betting from it. After some post-fight coitus, the two get in argument when David notices a larger wad of scratch in her purse than he was expecting from the fight, leading him to think she’s back to her old tricks (pun intended) in order to make more money. She leaves in a huff, and Goran decides to blow off some steam by going to a local fight bar with the bellboy, Ramiro (Fabian Lopez). Goran gets blackout drunk and wakes up the next morning at Ramiro’s pad.

This is where things get weird (for our hero). When he gets back to his hotel, his key card no longer works in his room. Then, the hotel staff goes all Gaslight on him: the receptionist informs him that the room has been empty for a week. The hotel manager (Pedro Rodman Rodriguez) denies even having met the guy. And when Goran reminds them who is, the two men uncomfortably reach for the phone. Although Goran doesn’t notice, we can see a Wanted sign behind the counter for Goran’s arrest. The hotel security guards chase him through the city, although David has very good sense of direction and finds his way back to Ramiro’s place rather easily, despite having arrived their drunk the night before.

Ramiro informs David that his face is plastered all over the local news, something about Goran having killed someone in a fight the previous night. And since David got sloppy drunk on Tequila the night before, he really doesn’t remember what happened at the fight club after he got sufficiently drunk. That’s when someone calls Ramiro on his phone, asking for David. A distorted voice informs Goran that he is not happy knowing that Goran’s fixing fights cost him money on the betting front, and that Eva has been kidnapped. If he wants to see his girlfriend again, he’ll have to participate in a series of fights in order to win back the money. Ramiro tells David that the voice probably belongs to Delgado, the most feared crime lord in the city.

So, now David has to get over his knee problem in order to fight off a string of local talent who are hungry for fame and fortune, using his off time to find anyone associated with Delgado and question them. Meanwhile, a Federal Policeman named Agent Fonseca (Luis Gatica, of Seized and Misfire), is snooping around the hotel looking for David, whom he thinks might be a lead to Delgado. And more he questions the hotel staff, the more he sees through their Gaslight tactics. Oh, and Rico has turned up him in town, too…

Rumble is a simple little martial arts film. The premise of a fighter being forced into clandestine fighting has been done since the early 1990s, if not longer. There is not much in the way of twists, save that of the final scene. I don’t think the film sells the final reveal in terms of how it fits into the story as a whole. It just begs a lot of questions that the film does even try to answer. And if you try reconciling the twist with certain subplots, you'll probably get a headache before declaring that it simply doesn't make sense. And, well, the villain's scheme does seem predicated on a number of assumptions that could have gone awry in numerous ways. 

There are a handful of fights, staged by Gary Daniels himself and Mexican stuntman Marco Morales (who has worked extensively in Hollywood and is a Muay Thai champion). The fights are very much in the 1990s pre-Hong Kong vein of Hollywood fighting. A bit slow in terms of general rhythm, with a lot of “punching bag” choreography moments. It is very much what you would see in a film like Lionheart or Bloodsport, but with a bit of extra grappling, because this is the post-UFC era. Thankfully, all of Daniels’s opponents are trained fighters, so it’s not just him cracking a bunch of dumpy men’s skulls. Daniels was 54 when he made this, and still has a bit of kick left in him. He does a few kung fu fast hands in a fight or two and can still do a nice jump kick when need be. There are also a few foot chases and a handful of gunfights to round out the action.

Rumble doesn’t really stand out as a martial arts movie, but it’s an easy watch and if you miss the days of picking up some random American martial arts film from the video store starring the likes of Don “The Dragon” Wilson or David Bradley, then this film should give you a sense of nostalgia. But it’s not much more than that.

Tapped Out (2014)

Tapped Out (2014)

 

Starring: Michael Biehn, Cody Hackman, Krzysztof Soszynski, Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida, Jess Brown, Daniel Faraldo, Nick Bateman, Tom Bolton
Director: Allan Ungar
Action Director: Emilio Chino Ramirez

 

After watching the bottom-of-the-barrel Fight Valley and the bland, mediocre Vale Todo, Tapped Out was something of a breath of fresh air for me. It is not a great film, but it was a perfectly entertaining MMA movie with a good performance from Michael Biehn (always glad to see him in stuff), some decent fight choreography, and a serviceable story. Yes, it does feel a little unoriginal, mixing in plot elements from previous movies like Never Back Down and Kickboxer, but is does so reasonably well.

Young Michael Shaw (Kyle Peacock) is having a good night. He has two loving parents and is being promoted at his dojo—one belt away from getting his black belt. However, his joy is short lived. While returning home, the Shaw family car is best by carjackers, one of whom is a little trigger happy. His dad gets blown away outside the car and the killer decides to off his mom, who’s still in the passenger seat and begging for her life, too. “No witnesses” and all that. Thankfully for Michael, he’s hiding on the ground in the back seat and the killer is too careless to check. Michael makes a break for it once the car arrives at the chop shop, although he does notice that the carjacker has a peculiar tattoo on the back of his neck).

Cut to seven years later, Michael (now played by 5x World Karate Champion Cody Hackman, who also wrote the story for his movie) has become a major-league slacker, organizing high school parties and getting beer for his classmates. When the police break up his latest party, he gets caught by Detective Len (Tom Bolton, “The Haunted Museum” and “Paranormal 911”), who takes him back to his longsuffering grandfather (James Neely). Len warns grandpa that if Michael gets caught again doing this, he’ll have to “go through the system.” We learn the next day at school that Michael is the only senior high school student who’s pushing 20, having flunked his senior year twice now. His principal (The Karate Kid’s Martin Kove) makes him an offer, arranging for him to do community service at his old dojo to help him meet graduation requirements.

Without much choice, Michael heads to the dojo after school, where he meets up with his old sensei, Reggie Munro (Michael Biehn, of Dragon Squad and Shadowguard). Reggie’s a bit of a crusty old man and with his own personal demons relating to past war experience. Michael is initially brought on to clean the floors, polish the trophies, and other menial tasks. When Michael shows a bit of a knack for helping the younger students, Reggie lets him help out as an assistant instructor and later lets him resume his training.

Michael is cleaning up the dojo one evening when he’s visited by Reggie’s niece, Jen (Jess Brown, of Death Down the Aisle and Nightbooks). She takes a liking to Michael and invites him to go see some local MMA with her. The main event is a bout involving a mountain of a man named Dominic Grey (MMA champion Krzysztof Soszynski, of Logan and Immortals). It’s during Grey’s fight that Michael sees a familiar tattoo on the man’s neck. You can see where this is going. He initially tries to go to the police, but he’s a bit too on edge to sit down and wait for a detective to talk to him (although Len eventually re-opens the investigation). He considers going all vigilante on Grey, but stops himself at the last minute. The only path he has, then, is in the ring…

When I watched and reviewed Never Back Down many years ago, I summarized the film as “The Karate Kid, but with lesbian make-out scenes.” In the case of Tapped Out, it is “Never Back Down, but without the pandering.” Like the early tournament films of the late 80s and early 90s, there is a revenge element motivating our main protagonist, although the initial crime wasn’t committed in the ring, like in films such as Kickboxer. The Never Back Down bit about the teacher not wanting to teach any student who uses his skills for gain is present, although Michael Biehn’s Reggie relents when he finds out what Michael’s true motives are. And like Vale Todo and The Undisputed 2 (and most kung fu films from the late 1970s), you have the scene where our hero has to train in a second style—Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in this case—in order to defeat his opponents. Where Vale Todo had Fernando Soluço, here we have Anderson Silva (Invincible Dragon) and Lyoto Machida (Unrivaled).

I would say this last plot point represent the film’s biggest failing. Like Vale Todo, our protagonist as a stupid-short amount of time to learn Jiu-Jitsu before having to put his skills to the test. In Vale Todo, Carlos Vallencia had three months. In this movie, Michael Shaw has three weeks. It was a little easier to swallow in Vale Todo because the main character was already something of a hardened fellow with his fair share of life-and-death street brawls. In Tapped Out, our character hasn’t formally trained in seven years and doesn’t have any real-life fighting experience. As a result, it strains credibility that he would be able to really up his game to the level he does in that short of time.

Speaking of fighting experience, the fight scenes were staged by Emilio “Chino” Ramirez, who appears to have been a silver medalist at the 2022 Ontario Open International Jiu-Jitsu Championship—I assume his fight record is more extensive than that. He also starred in the Canadian-Chinese fantasy film Fallen Angel, although I know nothing about that project. What I can say is that the fights are leagues better than what I saw in Fight Valley and Vale Todo, which I watched the same week. The choreography is solid by MMA movie standards (unlike Fight Valley) and the camera lets us see what’s happening (unlike Vale Todo). We’re not quite talking Flash Point-level stuff, but it gets the job done. All the fighters, including Cody Hackman, get a few good fights to show off their skills. It still doesn’t convince me that our protagonist can beat a man-mountain like Krzysztof Soszynski, but it gets the job done for the most part (and even that is more a story issue, then a fight staging one). I still haven’t seen Warrior, but I easily would rank this above Fight Valley; Vale Todo; Fighting; and Unrivaled. And that’s not “great,” but it’s better than nothing.

Vale Todo: Anything Goes (2010)

Vale Todo: Anything Goes (2010)
Aka: One More Round; Fighter; Vale Tudo

 

Starring: Carlos Valencia, Uriel Arce, Christopher Andrews, Lisa Mayo, Royce Gracie, Veronica Suarez
Director: Roberto Estrella
Action Director: n/a

 

Vicente Fernandez (Ecuadorian actor Carlos Valencia) is not having a good day. He is at work on a construction site when he finds out that his (abusive) father has been killed in a car accident. Before he can process what was happening, he arrives at his simple home in the slums of Guayaquil, Ecuador to catch his girlfriend (Veronica Suarez) getting plowed by another man. And she doesn’t even feign remorse, she insults the guy on her way out. And she steals Vicente’s savings, too. He does what most men would probably do: scrounge up what money he has left and buy alcohol.

Life hasn’t been just for Andres “Andy” Bello (Uriel Arce), either. A successful sports agent in the States, Andy is back in Ecuador to recover from a beak-up with his girlfriend. He meets up with his doctor friend and heads to the club with a bunch of pretty girls to drink away his sorrows. He drunkenly escapes the noise for a few moments to buy himself a hot dog from a vendor, only to get jumped by a bunch of muggers. Thankfully for him, Vicente is drinking away his sorrows several feet away. Vicente beats the hell out of the muggers, much to Andy’s surprise.

Andy is more than happy to buy his savior a drink. At the end of the night, Andy takes Vicente to his hotel and shows him a bunch of videos of UFC, which impresses Vicente. Vicente has never trained in any martial arts, but learned how to street fight in order to survive the slums where he grew up. His late father also “encouraged” him to learn to defend himself, usually by paying the neighborhood kids to attack him and then berating him if he didn’t do well. Anyway, Vicente is confident that his own experience with life-and-death fighting will help him where mere training would not and agrees to a proposal by Andy to become a fighter.

Andy takes Vicente to a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school run by Fernando Soluço (a real-life fighter whose name was Fernando di Piero). Andy gives Fernando three months to train Vicente while Andy organizes the guy’s travel papers and what not. Vicente is a quick learner and by the end of the three months, is ready to take on a fighter. Vicente starts off with some underground fights, after which he heads to the states for something more professional…

Vale Todo touts the participation of the legendary Royce Gracie in the film, although he only shows up in a glorified cameo as himself. When Vicente arrives in Southern California, he goes to Gracie’s studio to continue his training while Andy organizes his first fight. But Gracie doesn’t fight in this; he we see him showing Vicente a few moves. So, don’t get your Gracie hopes up.

I would say that the big problem with Vale Todo as a piece of entertainment is that Vicente’s journey never seems to be all that fraught with hardship and unexpected obstacles. His quest to become a fighter feels very bunch a linear A to B to C, with nothing that really generates suspense. No surprise betrayals by his agent. No unexpected attempt to prevent him from getting a passport. No bureaucracy that might stop him from getting into a professional fight. No sudden request for him to throw the fight to appease shady betters. He simply moves from Step 1 to Step 2 and by the end, has become a professional fighter. All of life’s disappointments pile in the first couple of scenes, and then rest is “all gravy.” Also, the scene where Vicente and Andy spend New Year’s Eve at the beach drags on too much.

People who train in mixed martial arts might enjoy some of the training sequences and identify with those scenes. There are two sets of fights. In the first, Vicente participates in a series of underground fights against a random brawler, a Capoeira expert and then a soldier (whom he defeats with a simple choke hold). Then there is the final showdown with an American Muay Thai stylist inside the Octagon. That fight is ruined by too much shaky cam and quick cuts. If you want semi-realistic MMA in a film, watch Redbelt. If you want entertaining and exhilarating MMA film, watch a modern Donnie Yen movie.

As a 90-minute commercial for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Vale Todo might be okay. As an actual film, it’s mediocre at best. 

Underground (2007)

Underground (2007)

 

Starring: Mark Strange, Nathan Lewis, Joey Ansah, Leon Sua, Glenn Salvage, Beau Fowler, Shane Steyn, Liang Yang, Zara Phythian, William Mickleburgh, Scott Houston, Chris Smith, Fidel Nanton, Danny John-Jules, Gary Webster, Leonard Fenton, Gordon Alexander, Sophie Linfield, Dave Wang
Director: Kee Cheong Cheung
Action Director: David Foreman, Matt Routledge, Mark Strange

 

Underground is surprisingly a good film, and deserves a higher score than the 4.2 rating it currently has on the IMDB. It is different from a martial arts film, and its unique approach to the “illegal tournament” sub-genre makes for an entertaining ride. Director Kee Cheong Cheung has worked on several other low-budget UK films in subsequent years, all of which are rated even lower than this one. But if he displays the same ability to do something a little different with well-worn tropes, then he may be a filmmaker worth revisiting.

The movie takes an almost documentarian approach to an illegal fighting tournament, centered in the UK. The general idea is that 12 fighters will fight each other in a series of eliminatory rounds until only one is left, who will walk away with a 500,000-pound purse. Said money will be provided by six “patrons,” all of whom will donate 100 grand into the proverbial pot. Each patron will choose two fighters on the roster to “sponsor.” The sponsor of the winning fighter will walk away with 500,000 pounds as well, with the remaining 200 grand going to the tournament organizer (Fidel Nanton) as a “handling fee.” I’m guessing that the organizer also makes money via online betting, as is implied by the number of newspaper clippings that appear onscreen during the opening credits.

The 12 fighters are selected from various walks and backgrounds in the UK, although we never really learn how the organizers find some of these people. The fighters spend six weeks sequestered in a gym—at least during the day—where they spend their time training until their fight. The tournament runs on a one-loss-elimination rule, with a special eliminatory round for the semi-finals (as it from twelve to six to three fighters).

Our fighters are:

The Homeless – An ex-con who served time for battering his wife. He spends his days observing his young daughter from afar. He is played by actor-stuntman Mark Strange, whose training focused on “Chinese Kickboxing,” which I assume is Sanda.

The Priest – A Catholic Priest who is a reformed fighter and who wants to build an orphanage with his winnings. He is played by actor Glenn Salvage, best known for Left for Dead and The Silencer.

The Triad – A Chinese gangster who needs the winnings that he borrowed from his uncle (who looks like Xi Jiping) and lost in gambling. Played by actor-stuntman Leon Sua, who was Donnie Yen’s stunt double in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Apparently, Sua studied Shaolin Five Ancestors, Taekwondo and Boxing.

The Kid – A young martial arts upstart who just wants to make a name for himself in the fighting world. He is played by Scott Houston, whose style appears to be a mix of wushu and parkour.

The Instructor- A martial arts instructor—presumably Taekwondo—who wants the money to build a better life for his family. He is played by William Mickleburgh, who is indeed a Taekwondo champion.

The Ex-Con – A former bouncer who served time for brutally beating a man while on the job. He is now a family man and wants the money to give his wife and daughter a better existence. He is played by Nathan Lewis, who has done stuntwork in films like Exodus: Gods and Kings and The Legend of Tarzan. Lewis is a kickboxing champion and trains in Lau Gar kung fu.

The Delinquent – A self-taught martial artist who has had numerous run-ins with the law, but always seems to come out on top. He appears to have anti-social personality disorder, but wants to give his girlfriend Jackie a better life. He is played by Beau Fowler (Accident Man: Hitman’s Holiday) and has studied karate, capoeira, and different kung fu styles, like Wuzuquan and Wuqiquan.

The Teacher – The only female participant is a teacher at a correctional school who is ready to throw down with the inmates when necessary. She is played by Zara Phythian, who studied Shotokan karate and Taekwondo.

The Soldier – A British soldier who went A.W.O.L. for…reasons. It just seems the guy likes to fight. Played by Chris Smith, who was on “American Gladiators” at some point.

The Model – A narcissistic misogynist model who wants to show the world just how great he is. Played by Joey Ansah, who studied Taekwondo and hip-hop dancing.

The Foreigner – A kid from China who works menial jobs to support his aging parents. He is played by actor-stuntman Liang Yan, who has a wushu background.

The Police Officer – A policeman with brutality issues who wants to give his cancer-stricken mother a comfortable send off. Played by South African stuntman Shane Steyn, who trained in Goju-Ryu karate and Taekwondo.

Because of the film’s documentary-like approach, there is no one main character. We spend time with most of the characters, especially those that move on to subsequent rounds. Their backgrounds and motivations are revealed before each fight, and we often get to see the reactions of the losers, which is often overlooked in your average Bloodsport-esque tournament film. We also are treated to the backgrounds of the Patrons and their interactions as they plan the fights and react to their sponsored fighters winning or losing. I for one liked this approach, because it does allow for a full and satisfying tournament, which is something I often complain about in these sorts of movies. Even Bloodsport doesn’t make a huge amount of sense in terms of the tournament bracket approach to the Kumite.

The only real villain is Fidel, the organizer. And even then, he’s not a villain in the absolute sense. He’s the organizer of an illegal tournament, which is bad. He is very callous to the injuries the participants sustain. But at heart, he is just a businessman who caters to a specific clientele with a warped sense of entertainment. He doesn’t rig the fights or do anything that would give any one fighter the unfair advantage, like in Undisputed III.

The fights are staged by veteran Hollywood stuntman David Foreman. He is best known for playing Leonardo in the original 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film. He has worked on lots of movies, and was the fight choreographer for The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Although there is a bit of quick editing and unnecessary close-ups (keeping within the pseudo-documentary style of the movie), the fight choreography is pretty solid by Western (the Hemisphere, not the genre) movie standards. The fights involving those actors with kung fu backgrounds are especially impressive in a visual sense. Most of the fighting is hand-to-hand, although there is some weapons dueling during the semi-final elimination sequence. All of the actors get to show off their skills, so that is appreciated.

In the end, Underground is an unexpected minor gem. And if Hollywood remade it—or did a sequel revolving around a States-centered iteration of the tournament--to give American local talent a chance, I actually would not mind.

Fight Valley (2016)

Fight Valley (2016)

 

Starring: Susie Celek, Miesha Tate, Erin O'Brien, Kari J. Kramer, Cabrina Collesides, Chelsea Durkalec, Jefferson Sanders, Ivy Lashawn, Steve Downing, Cris Cyborg, Holly Holm
Director: Rob Hawk
Action Director: Erik Aude

 

It isn’t often that I get completely blindsided by how a bad a film is. In the early days of my movie reviewing, I often used Hot Potato as the gold standard for awful martial arts movies, with a rating based around how many times I would watch a film before considering watching that piece of crap again. My measuring sticks were adjusted by Sunland Heat, a made-in-Brazil low-budgeter with awful fight choreography and the total lack of an actual climax. These days, I occasionally come across a lesser martial arts film, especially while investigating lesser-known movies for my Almanac. But then there’s Fight Valley, which manages to be even worse than Hot Potato and Sunland Heat.

The first few scenes don’t have much to do with anything that comes after, so I get the feeling that writer-director Rob Hawk was retooling the script on set. The story proper—following a series of random scenes involving “Jabs,” played by UFC Bantamweight Champion Miesha Tate—begins with Tori Coro (Chelsea Durkalec), a young woman in Camden, New Jersey, fighting a girl in the park for fifty bucks. Following the fight, she joins up with her friends, Yanni (Suburban Coven’s Kari Kramer) and Jamie (Cabrina Collesides, of Called to Duty and Talons of the Phoenix), and her girlfriend, Duke (Erin O’Brien, of The Wrong Tenant and The Getback). The girls hang out and watch some MMA fight between the aforementioned Jabs and a blonde chick named Payton (Holly “I Beat Ronda Rousey” Holm).  And then go back to Tori’s father’s place for lesbian sex.

Tori wants to get Duke out of the ghetto and to someplace nicer, but like in a lot of these films, lacks the funds to do it. If she were in Detroit, she could try robbing a blind, former Special Forces operative. Instead, she hits her sister, Windsor (Susie Celek), up for money, but there’s some bad blood between them because of stuff that happened when their parents divorced. Tori receives word from some Random White Guy about the opportunity to make big bucks fighting in “The Yard.” Six weeks later, Tori’s dead body is found in a forest. Exit Tori. Stage left.

This is where the film becomes about Windsor. After her sister’s funeral, Windsor leaves her posh house in somewhere that isn’t Camden, NJ, and heads for the hood to find out what happened to her sister. Nobody can give her a straight answer about what happened or what might have happened, probably because Rob Hawk’s script can’t give us a straight answer about anything, either. There’s talk of “Fight Valley” and “fighting in the Valley,” as if those are two different things. I assume “The Valley” refers to a section of the Ghetto. “Fight Valley” is supposed to be some secret place for fighting that you don’t talk about, much like the “Fight Club.” And “The Yard” is a…sub-division of fight valley for high stakes fights. I guess. I didn’t write the script.

Anyway, Duke and the girls take Windsor to see Stakes (Jefferson Sanders, who’s due to appear in the movie’s sequel…God help us all), a rich gym owner who also moonlights as a fight organizer of sorts. Their meeting with Stakes ends up in a big cat fight with über-bitch Gracie (Ivy Lashawn) and a bunch of other hoodrats. Duke is beaten into a coma and taken to the hospital. Re-enter Jabs, who decides to take on Windsor as a student for no apparent reason. Jabs trains Windsor in the art of street fighting so she can survive on the mean streets of Camden, The Murder Capitol of the World, until she’s ready to face off with her sister’s killer: Church (Cris Cyborg, who was 31 when she made this film, but looks like she’s pushing 50).

If you can get past the questionable acting and dialog, the film’s major problem is that the script does not make a lick of sense. The film reeks of a script that was constantly being re-written on the go, possibly(?) because the filmmakers didn’t have their UFC talent on hand for very long. The first few scenes are completely removed from anything we see later: we see Jabs (Miesha Tate) beating an opponent to death during a street fight, a “one year later” intertitle, and then Jabs working at an ice factory. I guess that was the original story: the traumatized fighter who reluctantly gets back into the game. That is followed by Jabs quitting her job to rescue her sister, Kate (whom I also think is Chelsea Durkalec), who was jumped by Gracie and her hoodrat henchmen. But none of that gets mentioned again, so I’m guessing the story was re-written and director Hawk just kept that footage in.

The movie also brings up the shady white guy who gets Tori involved in “The Yard,” but he never shows up in the film again. The rest of the story makes it look like “The Yard” is managed solely by Stakes and his buddy, Gamble (Steve Downing, who also is set to appear in the film’s sequel…Why, God? Why?). What was the deal with the white guy? There is also a flashback where we see Tori going to see Stakes to set up a fight, picking a brawl at Stakes’s hideout, and being put in an arm-bar by Cris Cyborg and possibly choked to death. Another flashback at the end shows that Cris choked her to death in an arm-bar, but in another location. So, was that a plot inconsistency? Or was Tori such a dumb broad that she got her ass handed to her in side brawl with Cyborg, and then willingly accepted a challenge to get beat down by Cyborg again?

Speaking of beatdowns, the fighting in this movie is pretty awful. It feels like uncoordinated brawling. I mean, bar fights in old John Wayne movies were more satisfying than the scuffles in this, and this movie employed three UFC champions! People who want to complain about Donnie Yen’s Special I.D. and stuff like that really need to re-appraise that film as a modern-day classic compared to this dreck. Us fans occasionally talk about how good screen fighters not being able to beat people in real-life fights, but often the opposite can also be true: some good fighters in the ring simply don’t look good onscreen. Oh, Benny “the Jet” and Keith Vitali did, I’ll give you that. But for every one of them, you have your Don “the Dragon” Wilson’s and your Dale “Apollo” Cook’s…and now, your Miesha Tate’s, Holly Holm’s and Cris Cyborg’s. Yeesh. And crappy fighting is the just final nail in the coffin of this awful film, which, did I tell is getting a sequel? May God have mercy on us all!

Ashura (2005)

Ashura (2005)
Original title: Ashura-jô no hitomi; Blood Gets in Your Eyes
Translation: Eyes of Ashura’s Castle

Starring: Somegorô Ichikawa, Rie Miyazawa, Kanako Higuchi, Atsuro Watabe, Takashi Naitô, Yukijirô Hotaru, Fumiyo Kohinata, Hanae Kan
Director: Yôjirô Takita
Action Director: n/a

It's almost fitting that I watched this (for the first time) after I watched Demon Slayer the Movie, as this movie does revolve around a similar premise: in the Edo period, the Capital is infested with demons. There is a corps of sword-wielding warriors known as the Demon Wardens whose job is to exterminate them. It sounds pretty similar to the immensely popular anime Demon Slayer, with the difference being that this is set in the Edo Period and the anime is set in the Taisho Period (1912 – 1926).

One of the aforementioned Demon Wardens is Izumo (Somegoro Ichikawa, who played the same role in the 2015 adaptation of the same material), retires from the force after a traumatic incident during a raid. But before that, we are introduced to the premise via a meeting between the head Demon Warden, Noboyuki Kuninari (Takashi Naitô, who did voice work in Spirited Away) and Bizan, the Demon Nun (Casshern's Kanako Higuchi, who looks like Michelle Yeoh from some angles). Bizan is the current leader of the demon realm, but she informs Kuninari that Ashura, the Demon Queen, will soon be reborn. We then segue into the aforementioned raid, which ends with Izumo striking down a young child who was pretty obviously possessed by a demon. At that point, Izumo starts to wonder that age-old question: “Who’s the real monster?” I’m pretty sure it’s those creatures who are killing people and sucking their blood, but I may be biased.

Izumo becomes a popular Kabuki actor, the sort of one who’s a huge hit with the ladies. I do like how Kabuki Theater is an integral part of the story in the same way that Peking Opera was an integral part of Vengeance! I also like that the current venue is for a play that involves the hero riding a giant fire-breathing toad, which leads me to believe that it’s the same story that inspired The Magic Serpent. The trope’s writer-director, Naboku Tsuruya IV (Fumiyo Kohinata, Dark Water and Beyond Outrage), is desperate for some new inspiration. The nutjob even goes so far as to ask his main stagehands if they could get themselves eaten by demons in order to inspire him.

Izumo meets a travelling acrobat, Tsubaki (The Twilight Samurai’s Rie Miyazawa, who looks like Michelle Yeoh from other angles), who seems to moonlight as a kunoichi, or female ninja, named “The Night Camellia.” At their first meeting—she’s hiding under a bridge from the authorities while Izumo is enjoying a Japanese gondola ride with his “leading lady” (actor Yukijiro Hotaru, of the 1990s Gamera trilogy)—Izumo comes into possession of her hairpin. She visits his quarters the next night in ninja mode and Izumo starts falling for her, even so far as to pull the “magical red thread” trick on her. What he doesn’t know is that their meeting has caused rose-shaped tattoo/scar to appear on her shoulder. And when a demon attacks her the next day, the scar goes into action and melts the poor bastard.

On hand to witness that strange event is Izumo’s former demon-slaying partner, Jaku (TV actor Atsuro Watabe). Jaku is a bit ambitious in the Demon Warden “corps,” so ambitious that the next time his boss and Lady Bizan meet up, Jaku just kills the old man and pledges allegiance to the demons. You see, Tsubaki is the vessel through which Ashura the Demon Queen shall be reborn. Jaku, like the wizard Saruman, thinks that the future favors the demons, and that if he goes turncoat now, he’ll be rewarded with a great amount of power. What Bizan doesn’t tell Jaku is that the key to unlocking the demon in Tsubaki is through love. And her blossoming relationship with Izumo may just be what the doctor ordered for a demon apocalypse…

The film is based off of a play, although I don't know if it’s a modern play or a kabuki play. I assume it’s the latter, which makes the film “meta” in that one of the subplots is how Naboku Tsuruya IV keeps on throwing himself in the middle of important events of the film so he’ll have something to write. By the end of the movie, he has written the tale of Ashura that is known to the Japanese people today. The film is mainly a love story, which permeates the proceedings right up to the final sword fight and its conclusion. I don’t mind that sort of melodramatic approach to the material, although at 118 minutes, the film is about 15 minutes too long. It needed to be tidied up a little bit in the last act, when the “big transformation” occurs and Izumo prepares to face Ashura in her castle.

Rie Miyazawa is very cute and a joy to watch. Apparently, she was a girl-next-door actress until she did a film called Erotic Liaisons and released a nude photo book, which was hugely successful. She had some personal problems in the late 1990s and dated a Sumo wrestler[1], but was able to put her career back together in the 2000s. She has since won multiple awards for her performances in films like The Twilight Samurai and Her Love Boils Bathwater. Somegoro Ichikawa makes for a convincing romantic hero, with a dollop of playful arrogance—or self-assured literacy--to complement his sword-fighting scenes. I guess that makes sense, as he was also in The Samurai I Loved.

There is a fair amount of action in the film, although it's choreographed more like a traditional chanbara film than in Hong Kong style, as many of its contemporaries (like Death Trance) were. The climax has our hero fighting of scores of ogres in an upside-down castle, with the camera moving in vertical circles around our hero, followed by a series of one-on-one duels.

The demons are very similar to those in "Demon Slayer," in which they look like normal humans until it's time to feast on blood. In this case, they have neon green eyes and green CGI blood. There are demons and trolls with more Wolfman-like faces that show up in a few scenes, especially during the final series of sword battles. Those creatures were designed by Tomoo Haraguchi, the FX guy who also directed films like Mikadroid; Death Kappa; and Sakuya, Slayer of Demons. Eh…this is not his most creative mercenary job, but that wasn’t really the point of the film.  There are also some Godzilla-style miniatures during the destruction of Edo sequence; I enjoyed watching old-style buildings explode in the way modern buildings do in movies like Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.

The entire film feels intentionally staged, as if it were a successor to the set-bound wuxia movies of the Shaw Brothers at its best. This goes back to the meta aspect of the film: a staged adaptation of a play, telling the story of the how the playwright had the idea for the play, much of which is set a theater itself. The best art direction—courtesy of Yoji Hayashida, who an impressive résumé that includes Uzumaki; The Great Yokai War: Guardians; Shin Godzilla; and the 13 Assassins remake. The most impressive visuals, set and costume-wise, come at the beginning during the raid on the festival. The cinematography is also strong, brought to you by Katsumi Yanagijima, whose credits include the Ju-On: The Grudge films, Takeshi Kitano’s Zatoichi, and Battle Royale.

It’s a good film, with great visuals—save for some dodgy CGI—a few good performances and some nice romance and melodrama (which is the intention). My major qualm is the aforementioned overlength, which is something that I often take issue with in Japanese films (a reason I often prefer the American cuts to Japanese Godzilla movies: they flow better). I also wish that they would have gotten Yuji Shimomura or Go Ohara to do the action. And gotten more and better creature designs out of Tomoo Haraguchi. But it’s still worth a view.

 

 

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[1] - Dating a sumo wrestler is sort of a “prestigious” thing to do, but it is still what amounts to a flower vase role in the media. But yeah, successful sumo wrestlers can bag some hawt babes in Japan.

The Ghost (2001)

The Ghost (2001)
Aka: Code of the Dragon; Thunderbolt Female Killer

 

Starring: Julie Lee Wa-Yuet, Michael Madsen, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Richard Hatch, Michael Paul Chan, James Hong, Louis Herthum, Brad Hunt, George Cheung, Brad Dourif
Director: Douglas Jackson
Action Director: Koichi Sakamoto

 

The Ghost is an interesting oddity, if not a completely successful one. It was made in 2001, when the success of The Matrix and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon—not to mention the success of Jackie Chan and Jet Li in Hollywood—meant that much of Hollywood action would have a Hong Kong flavor to it. The Ghost was a made-for-cable movie with a few recognizable names and faces, from Michael Madsen to the ubiquitous James Hong, and some Hong Kong-style action, courtesy of Alpha Stunts. The filmmakers also brought in a Hong Kong actress to play the lead: Julie Lee Wa-Yuet.

I would like to know how she was chosen for the role, considering that she hadn’t acted in Hong Kong since 1995. Nor was she a particularly huge name, even to Hong Kong cinephiles. Moreover, Miss Lee was mainly known as a Category III actress and not an action one. She had roles in Cat III favorites like The Untold Story and Love to Kill. She garnered a lot of attention in Hong Kong in 1995 when she wrote, produced and directed Trilogy of Lust and its sequel, which are known for mixing extreme gore with un-simulated sex. Although the first of those films did OK, the sequel did not. This came at the same time that her self-financed solo music album was released and also flopped, at which point she seemed to drop out of the entertainment industry. Once again, how she was cast in this is anybody’s guess.

An intertitle at the opening informs us that the real power in Hong Kong belongs to the Tong Societies, and that they often employ ninja-like assassins known as “Ghosts” to eliminate their enemies with extreme prejudice. This brings up an interesting point: What is the difference between a Tong and a Triad. Tong comes from the Chinese word for “hall” or “gathering place,” and refers to benevolent organizations or secret societies of Chinese immigrants abroad. They are not by definition criminal organizations, although there might be some interactions between them and the Triads, which refer to the Chinese organized group organizations. Interestingly enough, even the Triads started out as something benevolent (depending on your point of view), as they were secret societies organized with the intent of raising up rebellions to overthrow the Manchurian-led Qing Dynasty and restore rule of China to the Han people. But as these things go, they often had to engage in illegal activities in order to raise money for their cause.

Our main character is Jing (Julie Lee, credited here as Chung Lai), the adopted daughter of a Tong leader (James Hong, of Bloodsport 2 and Everything Everywhere All At Once). We learn that she was abandoned as baby for being a girl—darn that One Child Policy!!!—and raised by the Tongs to be a cold-blooded killer. Her mission at the beginning is to strike fear into the heart of a renegade Tong leader, Chang (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, of Mortal Kombat and The Man with the Iron Fists 2), who has gone a bit mad. Jing crashes his birthday orgy, which sets up the dark running joke of Chang shooting his girlfriends whenever he’s in a frenzy. She threatens his life if he doesn’t reign in his behavior and disappears.

Chang is pissed that another leader would send a Ghost after him, so he has Jing’s father and some other leaders murdered. One of the remaining leaders (stuntman George Cheung, who played Soo Yung’s driver in Rush Hour), tells her to leave Hong Kong for the States, even so much as giving her a new identity as a mail-order bride. As her future husband, Edward (Richard Hatch, best known for his roles in “Battlestar Galactica”), has been corresponding with another girl for some time, he has no idea what to expect when he sees her. That said, did the Tongs just kill the other girl and substitute Jing for her?

Jing arrives in the United States and meets her new fiancé, whom she is initially repelled at—she tells her Tong contact in L.A. Chinatown that he’s “weak and patronizing.” She gradually comes to like his “good man” ways and falls for him. But while she’s settling into her new identity, Chang and his spy on the HK Police Force, Detective Wu (Michael Paul Chan, of “Major Crimes” and U.S. Marshals—his filmography suggests that he’s the guy you get when you can’t afford Tzi Ma), are beating the information as to her whereabouts out of [George Cheung]. Wu then calls in a favor with his opposite number in Los Angeles, Captain Garland (Brad Dourif, of Alien Resurrection and the Child’s Play franchise). Captain Garland hires bail bondsman/bounty hunter Daniel Olinghouse (Michael Madsen, of Kill Bill Vol. 2 and Reservoir Dogs) to find her. But with two out-of-focus pictures and no name, Olinghouse has his work cut out for him. And the longer it takes to find her, the more people from Hong Kong will come to L.A. to speed up the process.

The Ghost was written by David Tedder and Douglas Jackson, the latter of whom also directed. Tedder only has four writing credits to his name, although he helped in the sound department for God’s Army, a popular film among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Jackson has been in the game since the early 1970s, although he has been mainly involved in making TV movies. His biggest film—one that I vaguely remember as a child going to theaters—was Whispers, with former Mrs. Steve Martin, Victoria Tenant. The story is the sort of “white guys write for Asian culture” that you’d expect in an early 1990s DTV movie. There is no real understanding for Tongs or Triads and their power structures in Hong Kong and abroad, and controversial issues like the One-Child Policy receive lip service, but in a shallow, sensationalist manner.

The acting is very much a mixed bag. Julie Lee stands out in that her performance is particularly stilted, even if her English accent is easy to understand. On the other end of the scale is Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, who overacts wildly as the main villain, breaking stuff in coke-induced rages and sneering and snarling so much that the scenery chews itself in fear. In the middle are Richard Hatch and Michael Madsen, whose roles don’t really require much of them. Then there’s Brad Dourif channeling his inner John Malkovich. A friend of mine said that John Malkovich always comes across as a man who’s perpetually irritated at the service he’s getting a restaurant. Dourif, with his deadly serious and over-annunciation of his lines, comes across very much like that.

The action was staged by Alpha Stunts and Koichi Sakamoto, best known for Drive (1997) and dozens of Japanese tokusatsu films and shows. Sakamoto also worked on DTV martial arts films like Martial Outlaw and Mission of Justice, which enjoy good reputations among fans. The fights, while generally short, have that fast Hong Kong vibe to them. Most of the fights involve Julie Lee—or to be more accurate, her stunt double—performing fast kicks and punch combos on a bunch of stuntmen: killers in Hong Kong, car jackers, killers at her house, thugs in Chinatown, etc. It’s clear that Lee isn’t doing any of the heavy hitting, since she’s notably slow the few times the camera focuses on her doing anything. Her double does some neat moves, like jumping backwards off a railing, performing the splits, and landing behind her opponent. There is also a legless black guy in Chinatown who gets in some fights (thanks to some accommodating stuntmen). The film ends on a big gunfight, although it has nothing on A Better Tomorrow 2…or even City War.

The film’s low budget (and script shortcomings) shows in numerous ways: Chinese people in Hong Kong who normally speak perfect American English; a Chinese assassin in Hong Kong leaving threats in English; L.A. Chinatown without crowds; the most chill police precinct in the entire L.A. metropolitan area, etc. In the end, there isn’t enough fighting from Alpha Stunts, nor does Julie Lee delve deep enough into her Category III roots to give the film anything to write home about. It’s just a mediocre little film all around.

Battle of Wits (2006)

Battle of Wits (2006)
Aka: Battle of the Warriors
Chinese Title: 墨攻
Translation: Mohist Attack

 

Starring: Andy Lau Tak-Wah, Wang Zhiwen, Fan Bingbing, Nicky Wu Chi-Lung, An Seong-gi, Chin Siu-Ho, Wu Ma, Sammy Hung Tin-Chiu, Choe Shi-won, Yu Chenghui
Director: Jacob Cheung
Action Director: Stephen Tung Wai

 

The Zhou Dynasty of China is the second dynasty for which we have definitive archaeological evidence for—the supposed Xia Dynasty is to have predated the Shang Dynasty, and shows up in literature from that period, but there is no real evidence for its existence. The Zhou Dynasty was founded in 1046 B.C. and ran for some 789 years, ending with its absorption into the Qin Kingdom in 256 B.C. The Qin Kingdom, founded during the famed Warring States Period (481 – 221 B.C.), eventually conquered all of the states and formed the Qin Dynasty, led by Shi Huangdi, China’s first emperor.

As it goes with most dynasties, a period of artistic and technological advancement is eventually followed a period of decline, as the Powers That Be grow increasingly corrupt and focused on their own pleasures, and less concerned about running a large kingdom (or empire). The complacent central government—the dynasty—becomes weak as local warlords grow in power in their respective provinces or territories, ultimately leading to the fragmentation of the kingdom (or empire). Sometimes the fragmentation is temporary, but in the case of the Zhou Dynasty, it lasted more than 250 years.

During the Warring States Period, seven major states were formed, with the Zhou royal family just hanging out in the capitol, unable to do much about anything. There were a handful of smaller states—in the case of Battle of Wits, the focus will be on the small kingdom of Liang—that just existed until they were ultimately overcome by any of the bigger kingdoms.

This film is set in 370 B.C. That puts it about 110 years after the death of Confucius and 100 years after the birth of Mozi. Just who is Mozi? Well, he is credited as the founder of Mohism, one of the lesser-known of the major philosophies—Taoism, Confucianism, and Legalism—that was founded during the Zhou Dynasty. The philosophy preached a “universal love” and were largely pacificists, albeit semi-practical ones. They came to be during a period of perpetual war between the neighboring kingdoms, so they were more about helping those cities that were on the defensive during those troubled times. They became the best military strategists of their time, trying to defend their client’s cities while losing (and killing) as few people as possible.

We open with an intertitle informing us that the Kingdom of Zhao (in northern China) has sent a ginormous army to the neighboring kingdom of Yan (in northeastern China/southern Manchuria). The army will pass through the mini-state of Liang on their way and will most likely conquer it without any effort. The King (Wang Zhiwen, of The Storm Riders and The Emperor and the Assassin) has sent for a Mohist strategist to assist them, although it has taken a bit too long for him to arrive and the Zhao army is already on their doorstep. So, the King hastily sends General Niu (Chin Siu-Ho, of Fist of Legend and Legend of the Fox) to sign a non-aggression pact with the lead Zhao general, Xiang Yanzhong (Musa the Warrior’s An Seong-gi).

While that is going on, Mohist strategist Ge Li (Andy Lau, of A Moment of Romance and Firestorm) arrives at the city gates. They let him in and he quickly convinces the townspeople that they need to defend themselves, on the logic that a non-aggression pact won’t stop the Zhao army from executing most of the ministers, raping the locals and pillaging the city. He heroically fires an arrow at the Zhao frontline General Gao (Sammy Hung, son of Sammo) to show them he means business. The Zhao army retreats to confer with General Xiang on how to proceed.

The worthless King is initially too drunk to receive Ge Li, but the next day he questions and tests him and ultimately decides to give him command over the city’s armys, much to the dismay of the Royal Tutor (Wu Ma, of 14 Blades and Swordsman). General Niu is also surprised to see his power usurped by a new guy, although he keeps it to himself for now. Ge Li’s first item of business is to dismantle one of the walls from the palace to build a fortress around the exposed southern gate of the city, as the other sides are protected by mountainous terrain. He also promotes talented archer Zi Tuen (Nicky Wu, of Love in the Time of Twilight and The Valiant Ones New) to the rank of general over the archery division. All this time he is closely accompanied by Crown Prince Liang Shi (Choe Shi-won, of Dragon Blade and Helios), who comes to admire Ge Li’s wisdom. Also admiring his wisdom—initially from afar—is Cavalry Captain Yi Yue (Fan Bing-bing, of The Shinjuku Incident and The League of Gods).

The Zhao army eventually decides to attack the city of Liang, but thanks to Ge Li’s tactics, they are able to repel the invaders. And this despite an internal mutiny by condemned criminals being forced to fight in exchange for freedom. They even manage to kill General Gao and wound General Xiang. Following the battle, more people start to trust Ge Li, including Yi Yue, who just flat-out falls in love with him—can’t have a post-2000s period piece without an unrequited love subplot. Ge Li and Yi Yue discover that the Zhao Army is planning to invade the city via a series of tunnels, but the former sets up a series of traps and is able to capture the tunnel brigade—most of them, the rest are burned to death inside the tunnel or presumably are able to flee.

At this point, Ge Li has become a hero among the populace. Everybody praises him, except for the Royal Tutor and the King, that lazy good-for-nothing lay-about. In fact, the King is so jealous that he convinces himself that Ge Li is planning a rebellion with the intent of putting himself on the throne of that rickety little state. This is very similar to the story of David and Goliath. David slays Goliath, repelling the Philistine army. People eventually start singing David’s praises, boasting of his killing ten of thousands while King Saul only kills thousands. And then King Saul gets jealous and turns on David. Same story here. So, the King will charge General Niu with quelling a non-existent rebellion. Not only does that guarantee that innocent people will die, but the entire state of Liang will not have the competent people in charge when the Zhao come-a-knockin’ a third time…

The film is based on (and shares the same title as) a Japanese manga known as Bokkou (“Mohist Attack” in Japanese), which was written by Hideki Mori and first published in 1992. Apparently, the manga was popular and ran for about four years, when the story was concluded. The manga was based on a novel of the same name, written by Ken’ichi Sakemi and published the year before the manga was written. Reading the synopses of both the manga and the novel on Wikipedia, they seem to be more or less identical to what happens in the film, although the size of the Zhao army seems to be off by a factor of ten. The manga and novel tell of a Zhao army of 10,000 soldiers, while the Portuguese subtitles in the version I watched said 100,000 soldiers. If the number was indeed 10,000, then the 5000 casualties that General Xiang talks about in his final confrontation with Ge Li means that not only did he lose half of his army, but he also lost his ability to attack the Yan Kingdom as planned.

One aspect that the film makes a certain ado about is the fact that Ge Li was not formally sent by the Mohist clan to take up the Liang’s cause. He comes on his own. He never explicitly states why, but the Wikipedia synopsis of the Bokkou novel states that the Mohist clan had already grown corrupt in its third generation of leadership. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that they probably started asking for gifts and monetary compensation, something that Andy Lau’s character is adamant in not receiving throughout the film. As they say (or misquote), every good cause becomes a movement, then a business, and finally a racket.

There are a lot of pontifications about the effectiveness of Mohism as a philosophy throughout the film. Universal Love is good. Fighting in self-defense is acceptable and perhaps even to be lauded. Trying to kill a few people as possible in an armed conflict would be great when possible—just see Sergeant York. I guess Mohism is really limited by the context in which it grew: the Warring States Era. Whether it was border conflicts, expansionist designs, or a race to see who could conquer their neighbors and establish a new dynasty first, the Warring States Era was simply not going to end by itself. And by simply going from one invaded state to the next—even if job #2 had previously been the aggressor in job #1—they were more or less perpetuating the war by not taking a definitive side. People like Shi Huangdi and Cao Cao/Cao Pi are often considered villains in history, but they were the ones who united China at different moments, even if they resorted to butchery to do so.

The battle scenes were staged by Stephen Tung Wai, for which he received two nominations for Best Action Choreography—at the Hong Kong Film Award and Taiwan Golden Horse Awards. He lost out to Yuen Woo-Ping’s Fearless, however. And I understand that. Battle of Wits is not Red Cliff (or even Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon), so don’t go in expecting that. As we have a very small army taking on a much larger one, the key to success is a lot more dependent on strategy, trickery, traps and long-range archery than on powerful generals taking out dozens of soldiers with a single swing of their guandao. So be prepared for hidden gates, creative uses of fire, and even a fun use of underground water sources. The relative realism of these battles may be a breath of fresh air to some, but those looking for weapons choreography in a mass battle scenario will surely be disappointed.

Beyond that, the film benefits from good performances, fine art direction, great cinematography, nice costumes and is just a great-looking production all around. It was a co-production involving Hong Kong, Mainland China, Japan and South Korea. Most of the Japanese influence was behind the scenes: Yoshinao Sakamoto (Tsui Hark’s Missing) was the director of photography; Yoshi Kawai, whose credits include the Ip Man films, Seven Swords, the ”When They Cry” anime, and the “Ghost in the Shell” sequels and Hollywood adaptation, did the music; and Yoshimitsu Yoshitsuru, whose credits include the Kuchisaki-Onna films and the Sex & Chopsticks movies, helped produce. I’m sure the Koreans contributed money and their actors, including Choe Shi-won, whose first film this was. If you want a good historical film, look no further than Battle of Wits. If you want something like Red Cliff, stick with Red Cliff.