Review All Years, Part II: 2015

 Back in August of 2022, I did my first "Review All Years" marathon. The focus was on 1992. Sadly, I did not create a specific page for that. That will change now. During the month of August (of 2024), I will once again try to fill in the blanks of years not covered at the site yet.

So, this year we will cover 2015. 

What happened that year in film? The top five films worldwide were: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens; Jurassic World; Furious 7; Avengers: Age of Ultron; and Minions. Action fans were blown away by Mad Max: Fury Road. All the prestigious awards would go to The Revenant, including Leonardo di Caprio's first Oscar. Robert Eggers's career got off to a promising start with the slow-burn horror film The VVitch. Meanwhile, Jeremy Saulnier got punk culture right with his thriller The Green Room. 

...but we're here for martial arts and Asian action.

What can we expect?

Hmm...let's see: Taiwanese arthouse, Korean period pieces, Mainland Chinese Fantasy, one of Jackie Chan's last decent films, belated sequels, and Scott Adkins (a double feature if I have time).

Movies covered:

Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe
The Assassin
Close Range
Rattlesnake Kung Fu 
Wolf Warrior
Transporter Refueled, The 
Empire of Lust
Beyond Redemption 
Ip Man 3



(warning: posters below do not represent what I will review this month)

A Girl Called Tigress (1973)

A Girl Called Tigress (1973)
Original Title: 雙面女煞星
Translation: Double-Faced Female, Evil Star

Starring: Polly Shang-Kuan Ling-Feng, Yasuaki Kurata, Kam Kong, Shan Mao, Cheng Fu-Hung, Blacky Ko Shou-Liang, Lung Fong
Director: Wang Hung-Chang
Action Director: Gam Ming (Tommy Lee), Leung Siu-Chung

Polly Shang-Kuan Ling-Feng participated in pratically all of the different sub-genres of martial arts movies of the old school period, from 60s wuxia pian to kung fu comedies. In 1973, Polly starred in a series of basher movies, including the Golden Harvest production Back Alley Princess, which turned out to be her most successful film. Four of these basher movies paired Polly with Japanese martial artist Yasuaki Kurata. I still have not seen Lady Whirlwind and the Rangers, but as of now, A Girl Called Tigress is probably the best of the others.

Polly plays Miss Hsi, a young lady who has shown up in some Republic-era Chinese town. After looking around and stopping at the local restaurant for some hot buns, Hsi is set upon by the lecherous locals...because film experience has taught me that it never did pay to be a beautfiul woman in Republic Era China. The locals try to flirt with her, but she beats the hell out of them instead. She runs into more of them outside of town later on, and kicks the shit out of them again. The second, however, she is joined by a stranger (Kam Kong, of The Crane Fighters and Thou Shalt Not Kill...But Once), who also is good at kung fu.

The stranger kindly invites her back into town and offers to pay for her hotel room. The hotel owners react strangely to her presence there, however. One of the employees slips her a roofie and informs the local crime boss, Chow Kun (Yasuaki Kurata, Tiger vs. Dragon and The Angry Guest). Chow Kun arrives at the hotel and has the sleeping Hsi whisked away to his house. This is where things get interesting: Hsi is a dead-ringer for Chow's girlfriend (also Polly). The latter denies it, although we know she surely recognizes the girl.

It doesn't take long to figure out what is going on. Hsi and the other girl are twin sisters. The latter ran way to be with her boyfriend, but eventually ended up as Chow Kun's girl. Their dad is dying, but the sister is too embarrassed to return home. The stranger is actually a detective on the heels of some riches stolen from a bank a few years back. Long story short: the sister's then-boyfriend stole the money at about the time she absconded with him and hid the money on the territory of a second crime boss (Chao Chiang, The Bride from Hell and Heroine Susan). Chow Kun killed the boyfriend, unbeknownst to the sister, and shacked up with her. Miss Hsi proposes a switch between her and her sister so the latter can leave and visit her dad on his deathbed, but Chow Kun is a possessive bastard...

A Girl Called Tigress is a low-budget production. The sets are minimal. The costumes are basic. It encapsulates why both Hong Kong and Taiwan had switched over to bashers almost completely by 1973: the overhead for producing them was far less than the wuxia pian both territories had been making. The plot is perfunctory. It even throws in a quick flash of boobs (not from Polly) for good exploitation measure.

But the action is terrific. The fights were staged by Gam Ming aka Tommy Lee, who was still early in his career here--known mainly for his collaborations with Chan Sing up to this point. Gam also worked with Polly Shang-Kuan on Lady Whirlwind and the Rangers. Joining him is Leung Siu-Chung, who had worked with Polly and Kurata-san on both Seven to One and A Gathering of Heroes. There are a number of dust-ups in this film, including a handful of fights between Polly and A Bunch of Thugs, including a lengthy bout at Kurata-san's mansion. Taiwanese regular Shan Mao and a young Blackie Ko show up as fighters working for Kurata-san's rival, and the latter shows off some nice kicks in his fights. Kam Kong, who had trained under Dorian Tan Tao-Liang, gets a chance to fight mainly with his legs, which he didn't always do in his movies. He's not a bad kicker, and his larger size gives his kicks more "oomph!" than some of his contemporaries.

The finale is one of my favorite old school fights, especially by early 1970s standards. Kam Kong and Kurata-san go at it for several minutes at a railroad/mine. Kurata's shito-ryu karate gets a great showcase, with fast reverse punches and high kicks. There is some brief weapons work in the form of them two men swinging pick axes at each other. Kam is eventually dispatched, leaving Polly Shang-Kuan to pick up the slack. Shang-Kuan had black belts in both karate and Taekwondo and gets to show off her strong punches and kicks like few other movies, especially once they started focusing on more comic and camp elements. As a pure showcase for Polly's training, few of Polly's movies compare to her demonstration in A Girl Called Tigress, especially the long finale. She once said that Bruce told her "If I'm the dragon, then you're the phoenix."  From a straight action point of view, A Girl Called Tigress places Polly alongside Angela Mao and Chia Ling as one of the great divas of the 1970s.

Tough Beauty and the Sloppy Slop (1995)

Tough Beauty and the Sloppy Slop (1995)
Original Title: 怒海威龍
Translation: Raging Sea Dragon

Starring: Yuen Biao, Cynthia Khan, Waise Lee Chi-Hung, Monsour Del Rosario, Billy Chow Bei-Lei, Tam Suk-Mui, Jerry Bailey, Shum Wai, Lam Wai, Alex Man Chi-Leung, Alan Chui Chung-San, Yuen Wah, Peter Chan Lung
Director: Alan Chui, Yuen Bun
Action Director(s): Alan Chui, Lee Chi-Kit

Despite being one of the greatest physical performers of all time, Yuen Biao had something of a slump during the mid-to-late 90s. He left the OUATIC franchise after the first film, which would have been solid work for the time. I assume that he had already spent enough time in the shadows of Jackie and Sammo, so he did not want that to be the case with Jet Li. So, he worked on other projects, including some wuxia films (like Deadful Melody), a OUATIC spin-off (Kick Boxer), and even his first directorial effort: The Kid from Tibet. Sadly, none of these films set the box office alight. Even a big-budgeted attempt to revive the Shaw Brothers with Hero (1997)--a remake of Boxer from Shantung--failed to garner attention.

Often when a Hong Kong action actor career flounders, the alternative is making low-budget action schlock in Thailand or, even worse, Filipino productions. Many Hong Kong actors had strong followings there, especially Girls n' Guns actresses like Cynthia Khan and Yukari Oshima (known there as Cynthia Luster). The last gasps of breath of the Girls n' Guns genre were made mainly in the Philippines, who seemed to still enjoy that sort of thing. Yuen Biao found himself in a few Filipino cheapies during the second half of the 1990s, with the nadir being The Millennium Dragon--which might not have been a Filipino film, but it was a Philip Ko Fei production, who worked on a lot of those. So, I'll lump that with the likes of this and The Hunted Hunter.

Tough Beauty and the Sloppy Slop is a low-budget remake of Police Story III: Supercop, with the premise of a hard-line Mainland policewoman teaming up with a Hong Kong cop to bring down drug dealers in SE Asia...although this time we have the Philippines standing in for Malaysia and Thailand. The film begins with a pair of Filipino policemen, Officers Wan (Alex Man, of The Dragon Fighter and Super Lady Cop) and Sandos (Monsour del Rosario, of Ultracop 2000 and The Trigonal), busting a bunch of drug dealers after a pitched gunfight near a bus. Later that evening, they arrest a lady named Yu Yung-Chi (Tam Suk-Mui, of Tiger Cage III and Royal Tramp 2), the wife of the head drug dealer, Wai (Waise Lee, of A Better Tomorrow and Bullet in the Head). Wai gets his revenge by having Officer Wan gunned down in front of his family at his mother's birthday party. Sucks to be her.

Shortly afterward, Mainland policewoman Captain Yiang (Cynthia Khan, of Yes Madam '92 and In the Line of Duty V) is busting some drug dealers, including Yuen Wah. She learns that the money used in the deal was counterfeit and that a drug ring based in the Philippines has been used counterfeit money to buy drugs from Mainland dealers, which is then sold in Hong Kong. She is given the mission of befriending Yu Yung-Chi and finding out who's behind all of this. As per her cover, her "husband" will be a Hong Kong cop named Li Chin-Tang (Yuen Biao), who's working undercover in the Philippines.

Yiang goes to a Filipino jail as an inmate and befriends Chi after protecting her from the fat lesbian rapist girlboss. Li Chin-Tang arranges for them to escape by feigning illness, at which point he'll hijack the ambulance and get them to safety. The plan works, although not quite as planned--they could have had it go wrong in catastrophic ways for maximum comedy gold. A grateful Chi invites them back to her house, since they're now fugitives. Wai offers to let him join his gang, although not before he gives Li a chance to prove himself. First, he has to spring the drug dealers from the first scene out of prison. Then, he has to kill Sandos, who is his contact with local law enforcement.

Li eventually catches the attention of Wai's boss, played by Billy Chow (of The Gambling Baron and Fist of Legend). Wai gets mad at Li for showing him up, and starts to suspect him even more after a run-in with another criminal (a cameo by Alan Chui) at a nightclub. It will not be long before Li and Yiang's cover is blown...

As a budget alternative for Supercop, Tough Beauty and the Sloppy Slop does an alright job. There is enough action to satisfy, if not fill you up completely. And Yuen Biao's charisma is a highlight as he BS's his way through his role as the undercover cop. The film has a strong cast of HK action veterans, from Biao to Wah to Chow to Khan. Look for Shum Wai in a cameo as a drug dealer at the villain's headquarters, similar to a cameo he had in Supercop.

I do wish more of the movie had focused on the interplay between Khan and Yuen Biao. Their early scenes are funny, with Biao stealing kisses from her for the sake of "their cover," much to Khan's chagrin. Most viewers will remember their first night at Waise Lee's house, where the two get into a kung fu fight that everybody mistakens for rough bedroom activity. Khan does drift a bit more into the background as the film progresses, standing out again only once the climax starts.

The action was staged by Alan Chui (The Rebellious Reign and Shaolin Temple Against Lama) and Lee Chi-Kit (Vampire vs. Vampire and Magic Cop). I never considered the latter, who is actually Sammo Hung's brother, one of the heavy hitters: he was a C-lister at best. He worked with his brother on a lot of the latter's later films and on a number of post-Mr. Vampire jianshi movies, too. Alan Chui was a bit more distinguished, although he still was not working at his best like he had done during the old school days. Chui spent the last decades of his career mainly leading wire crews on Hong Kong TV, which makes sense you see how many people get knocked back dozens of feet from being kicked or shot in this film.

Despite being directed by Yuen Bun, the gunplay sequences are nothing really special. Bun himself had done some great gunplay in films like City War and Just Heroes. But he relegates the gunplay duties to Chui and Lee, who take the Commando approach to the firefights: people fire a 3-round burst from an M-16 and the camera cuts to three or four stuntmen falling over. Rinse and repeat. The finale is reminiscent of the Thai village sequence in Supercop, although not quite as explosive.

The fighting is limited to a handful of short skirmishes here and there: Cynthia Khan throws a few kicks against Yuen Wah; Khan and Biao beat up Waise Lee's men; the aforementioned kung fu bedroom scene, etc. The only real sustained fighting comes at the end, when Khan, Biao and Rosario face off with Billy Chow, who plays the nigh-unbeatable villain. There are lots of nice kicks from both Biao and Chow. It is not Biao's best 1990s performance, but he could still bust a move in 1995. I just wish there was more (and better) fighting from both him and Khan, who both deserved better. That said, this is still light years ahead of crap like Yes Madam 5. 

Rest in Peace, Cheng Pei-Pei (December 4th, 1946 - July 17th, 2024)

Rest in Peace, Cheng Pei-Pei (December 4th, 1946 - July 17th, 2024)

Cheng Pei-Pei is widely seen as a pioneer: the benevolent great-grandmommy of all contemporary martial arts movie actresses. The same way Come Drink with Me is oft considered the first modern martial arts movie--not considering Japanese jidai-geki films--it's star is considered the first modern martial arts--wuxia to be specific--herione. In tha way, she is like the female Jimmy Wang Yu, who set the standard for future male martial arts heroes.

If you had a family tree of female swordplay/kung fu movie actresses, Cheng Pei-Pei would occupy a special place at the center. Below her would be the likes of Polly Shang-Kuan Ling-Feng (who actually was something of a contemporay), Chia Ling, Shih Szu, Angela Mao Ying, and Kara Hui Ying-Hung. Below them would be your 1980s Girls n' Guns actresses, like Michelle Yeoh, Moon Lee, Cynthia Khan, Yukari Oshima and Cynthia Rothrock. Below them would be the likes of Zhang Ziyi, JeeJa Yanin, and Jiang Luxia.

Not that Cheng Pei-Pei was a martial artist. She was a classically-trained dancer. After the communists took over China in 1949, it wasn't long before her father, the owner of an ink factory and supporter of the deposed Kuomanting (Nationalists), was shipped off to Mongolia for "re-education," as the CCP was wont to do at the time. Cheng's mother gave her money to pay for dance lessons for her younger sister, but she was not interested. Cheng was. Cheng studied ballet and Chinese dance for six years, even after her mother and siblings fled Shanghai for Hong Kong. It was not until 1961, when Cheng was 15, that she finally left Shanghai and was reunited with her mother and siblings in Hong Kong.

The following year, Cheng Pei-Pei enrolled in the Performing Arts Training Program at the Shaw Brothers Studios. She also earned money teaching dance and performing with Peking Opera performances. Following her graduation from the program in 1963, Cheng signed a seven-year contract with the Shaw Brothers. Her first film was The Last Woman of Shang (1964), where she played a dancing girl and also worked behind the scenes as a dance choreographer. She played in both dramas and period fantasy films. But things came to a head in 1966, when she was chosen by King Hu to star in Come Drink with Me. In this wuxia pian, Cheng played the deadly Golden Swallow, who fights off an army of bandits in order to save her brother, the son of a Ming general. King Hu was fascinated with Peking Opera and his action director, Han Ying-Chieh, was trained in Peking Opera. Although Cheng Pei-Pei was not a martial artist, her dance skills were more than enough to allow her to perform Han Yin-Chieh's choreography, a mixture of Peking Opera and Japanese chanbara sensibilities.

Come Drink with Me was a success and Cheng Pei-Pei quickly became a top box office draw in Hong Kong. She followed with films like The Dragon Creek and The Thundering Sword. In 1968, she appeared in a sequel to Come Drink with Me, titled Golden Swallow, co-starring Jimmy Wang Yu and directed by Chang Cheh. In 1969, three of her films occupied the top six domestic releasess at the box office: Dragon Swamp; The Golden Sword; and Raw Courage. In 1970, her films Brothers Five and Lady of Steel were the third and ninth best films released domestically.

That same year, Cheng Pei-Pei married Taiwanese businessman Yuan Wen-Tung and eventually immigrated to the United States. It was customary at the time for actresses in Hong Kong and Taiwan to retire after getting married. Cheng did return to Hong Kong to make two films, Attack of the Kung Fu Girls and Whiplash, for Golden Harvest, her original benefactor's rival. This was likely done as a favor to director Lo Wei, who had directed a number of her films.

While raising her four children--including Eugenia, Marsha, and Harry--she also taught Chinese dance and studied business at U.C. Irvine. Around 1986, she founded a production company in the United States and started making documentaries about Chinese history for American consumption. She also had a Chinese-language show called "Pei-Pei Time," which was how she met a young Taiwanese director named Ang Lee. The bankruptcy of her production company contributed to the failure of her marriage and she divorced Yuan in 1987. Some time after her divorce, she decided to return to film and started making appearances in Hong Kong movies and shows.

As we all know, her biggest break was as the villain Jade Tiger in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Interestingly enough, her pupil was played by Zhang Ziyi. Like Cheng, Zhang was not trained in martial arts, but had a background in dance. Cheng Pei-Pei stayed busy in film and television until 2020. Her final film was as the matchmaker in Disney's live-action adaptation of Mulan. It was at that time that she was diagnosed with corticobasal degeneration, a neuro-degenerative disease. She retired from the screen to spend her final years with her family.

My Thoughts on Cheng Pei-Pei

Cheng Pei-Pei has always been something of a blind spot for me in my Hong Kong filmography. I saw her in a number of her later films like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Flying Dragon Leaping Tiger. My "introduction" to her was in Wing Chun when I saw that in the fall of 1997, but that was a) a cameo appearance and b) I had no idea of who she was or what her importance to the genre was at that time. I came to learn a little more about her, although her films were pretty elusive on video during the later 1990s. Shaw Brothers movies were harder to find on video--there were a few ballyhooed releases of Five Fingers of Death; The Five Deadly Venoms; and The 36th Chamber of Shaolin that reached Blockbuster Video shelves, but little more than that. Even when I found a grey-market retailer that sold Shaw films at a good price--shout out to the now-defunct Grandmaster Video--I was busier tracking down 1990s wire-fu films.

I didn't take advantage of the release of Celestial IVL discs of Shaw Brothers movies in the early 2000s for well...anything. And then I moved to Brazil. Some of those releases found their way to Brazil via China Video, but the only Cheng Pei-Pei movie to get released was Come Drink With Me. I never had money in those early years of marriage, so by the time I was making more scrillah, it was out of print and price-gouged to wazoo. Standard Brazilian procedure. I found a cheap bootleg and watched it around 2015 as by 450th Chinese Movie (note: there were a few films missing from the list and it ended up being my 452nd film). I found a legitimate DVD at a failing video store in 2020. A year later, it was re-released here by Versátil Home Video as part of their "Kung Fu Cinema Vol. 1" collection. I sold one and bought the other.

So, my experience with Cheng Pei-Pei is still incredibly limited. I recognize her importance in the history of the genre, but I still need to find her films and watch them. She may not have been a martial artist, but she performed well onscreen in the films I've seen. But let's be honest: a dance background has done wonders for a lot of martial arts performers, from her to Michelle Yeoh to Michael Dudikoff! I hope to watch more of her films in the next few years, though.

Filmography

The Last Woman of Shang (1964)[Actor/Dance Choreographer]           

Lover's Rock (1964)[Actor]       

Song of Orchid Island (1965)[Actor]

The Lotus Lamp (1965)[Actor]

The Monkey Goes West (1966)[Actor]  

Come Drink with Me (1966)[Actor]       

Princess Iron Fan (1966)[Actor]             

The Joy of Spring (1966)[Cameo]           

Hong Kong Nocturne (1967)[Actor]      

Operation Lipstick (1967)[Actor]

The Thundering Sword (1967)[Actor]    

The Dragon Creek (1967)[Actor]            

Blue Skies (1967)[Actor]

Golden Swallow (1968)[Actor]

That Fiery Girl (1968)[Actor]     

The Jade Raksha (1968)[Actor]

Dragon Swamp (1969)[Actor]  

The Flying Dagger (1969)[Actor]

Raw Courage (1969)[Actor]

The Golden Sword (1969)[Actor]

Lady of Steel (1970)[Actor]

Brothers Five (1970)[Actor]

The Shadow Whip (1970)[Actor]

The Lady Hermit (1971)[Actor]

The Yellow Muffler (1971)[Actor]           

None But the Brave (1973)[Actor]

Whiplash (1974)[Actor]

Chivalrous Shadow, Fragrant Footprints (TV, 1980)[Actor]

Lady Piranha (1982)[Actor]       

All the King's Men (1983)[Actor]

The Legend Continues (TV, 1984)[Actor]             

Painted Faces (1988)[Actor]

Ben Xiang USA (1990)[Actor/Producer]

Flirting Scholar (1993)[Actor]

Kidnap of Wong Chak Fai (1993)[Actor]

Kung Fu Mistress (1994)[Actor]                              

Wing Chun (1994)[Cameo]

The Gods Must Be Funny in China (1994)[Actor]           

Lover's Lover (1994)[Actor]

From Zero to Hero (1994)[Actor]

Wong Fei Hung Series: The Final Victory (TV, 1996)[Actor]          

How to Meet the Lucky Stars (1996)[Actor]

The Pride of Chaozhou (TV, 1997)[Actor]

The Spirit of the Dragon (1997)[Actor]

Master Ma (TV, 1998)[Actor]

Master Ma II (TV, 1998)[Actor]

Four Chefs and a Feast (1999)[Actor]

A Man Called Hero (1999)[Cameo]      

The Truth About Jane and Sam (1999)[Actor]

Young Master of Shaolin (TV, 1999)[Actor]        

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)[Actor]

Fist Power (2000)[Actor]

Lavender (2000)[Actor]

Young Justice Bao (TV, 2000)[Actor]

Heroes in Black (TV, 2001)[Actor]

Legendary Fighter: Yang's Heroine (TV, 2001)[Actor]

Flying Dragon, Leaping Tiger (2002)[Actor/Planner]

Shadow Mask (2001)[Actor]

Book and Sword: Gratitude and Revenge (TV, 2002)[Actor]

Naked Weapon (2002)[Actor]

Springs of Life (2002)[Actor]

Chinese Paladin (TV, 2004)[Actor]

The Miracle Box (2004)[Actor]

Sex and the Beauties (2004)[Actor]

Water Moon, Hollow Sky (TV, 2004)[Actor]

Insuperable Kid Huoyuanjia (2005)[Actor]

Li Wei Resigns from Office (TV, 2005)[Actor]

Women of Times (TV, 2006)[Actor]

The Yang Sisters (TV, 2006)[Actor]

The Counting House (2007)[Actor]

Shanghai Baby (2007)[Actor]

They Wait (2007)[Actor]

Home With Kids 5 (TV, 2008)[Actor]

Kung Fu Killer (2008)[Actor]

Love Under the Sign of the Dragon (2008)[Actor]

Basic Love (2009)[Actor]

Blood Ties (2009)[Actor]

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li (2009)[Actor]

Taishan Kung Fu (2009)[Actor]

Flirting Scholar 2 (2010)[Actor]

Fortune King Is Coming to Town! (2010)[Actor]

A Weaver on the Horizon (TV, 2010)[Actor]       

Coming Back (2011)[Actor]

Double Bed Treaty (2011)[Actor]

Imperial Bodyguard (2011)[Actor]

The Legendary Amazons (2011)[Actor]

Let Love Come Back (2011)[Actor]

My Wedding and Other Secrets (2011)[Actor]

Shanghai Hotel (2011)[Actor]

Speed Angels (2011)[Actor]

The Patriot Yue Fei (TV, 2012)[Actor]

Singular Puzzle (2012)[Actor]

Xuan-Yuan Sword: Scar of Sky (TV, 2012)[Actor]

Daughter's Return (TV, 2013)[Actor]

The Vintage (2013)[Actor]

The Eyes of Dawn (2014)[Actor]

The Scroll of Wing Chun White Crane (2014)[Actor]       

Streets of Macao (2014)[Actor]

The Bat Night (2015)[Actor]

Bright Wedding (2015)[Actor]

The Face (2015)[Actor]

Lost in Wrestling (2015)[Actor]

The Lost Tomb (TV, 2015)[Actor]

Cooking For Two (2016)[Actor/Producer]

Goldstone (2016)[Actor]

Good Take, Too (2016)[Actor]

Ice Fantasy (TV, 2016)[Actor]

Love of Hope (2017)[Actor]

Meditation Park (2017)[Actor]

Tao Li Xian Chang (2017)[Actor]

Bell Chamber (2019)[Actor]

Flirting Scholar from the Future (2019)[Actor]

In a New York Minute (2019)[Actor]

Mulan (2019)[Cameo]

The Lady Hermit (1971)

The Lady Hermit (1971)
Original Title: 鍾馗娘子
Translation: Lady Zhong Kui

Starring: Cheng Pei-Pei, Shih Szu, Lo Lieh, Fang Mian, Wang Hsieh, Chao Hsiung, Chuan Yuan, Tong Tin-Hei, Lee Siu-Chung, Law Hon
Director: Ho Meng-Hua
Action Director: Leung Siu-Chung

Cheng Pei-Pei is the first modern wuxia heroine. What does that mean? Well, it mainly means that she participated in the first "modern" wuxia film, which was King Hu's landmark Come Drink With Me. One may argue that Chang Cheh's lost film Tiger Boy was the first modern wuxia film, but since it's lost and little is known about it, we'll set it aside for now. The one that made the most impact was Come Drink with Me, which predated The Magnificent Trio by seven months and Trail of the Broken Blade by eleven. Cheng Pei-Pei went on to become one of the biggest box office draws of the late 1960s in Hong Kong, and was doing well in Hong Kong by the time she went into temporary retirement in 1971.

As it goes, the custom in Hong Kong was for women to retire from the spotlight once they got married. Although Cheng was a Shaw Brothers actress, she did make a brief return to the screen after her marriage to make two films for her former employer's rival: Golden Harvest. The films she made for them were Attack of the Kung Fu Girls and Whiplash, which she probably made as a favor to director Lo Wei, who had directed many of her Shaw films.

Cheng Pei-Pei was originally from Shanghai, born to a factory owner and supporter of the Kuomingtang, or Nationalist Government. Cheng came into this world a year after the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937 - 1945) and just as the Chinese Civil War was heating up. It wasn't long before Cheng's father was snatched from his family and sent off to a labor re-education camp in Mongolia. Cheng stayed behind in Shanghai, studying ballet and Chinese dance, even after her mother fled to Hong Kong. Cheng did not go to Hong Kong herself until 1962, where she enrolled in the Shaw Brothers performance arts school--the fact that she spoke Mandarin and that Shaw films were filmed in Mandarin was a boon.

The Lady Hermit was Cheng Pei-Pei's last leading role at the Shaw studio. That would be followed by a two-year break during which she became a mother, followed by the aforementioned stint at Golden Harvest. The film is highly entertaining and an appropriate send-off to the actress, who showed that Cheng was the Matriarch to all ass-kicking women today in film today.

The film opens in the town of Baijang, where a couple of ghostly figures are skulking around the town at night. They enter a random house, which is followed by a bloodcurdling scream and blood splattering on the window.

Jump to the nearby town of Dunyang, where Miss Leng Yunhuang (Cheng Pei-Pei, of Dragon Swamp and Fist Power) is at the market buying vegetables. Her reflexes and impeccable instinct pick up some street performers trying to steal a man's money. Before she can get involved, a swordwoman named Cui Ping (Shih Szu, of Shanghai Lil and the Sun Luck Kid and Night of the Assassins) steps up and fights off the thieves with her whip skills. Cui Ping has arrived in town looking for the Wang Escort Company, which Leng happens to work for as a housekeeper.

Cui is introduced to the owner of the company, Uncle Wang (Fang Mian, of Swift Knight and Exorcising Sword), and informs him that she's looking for the infamous Lady Hermit. When asked why, Cui says that she would like to learn kung fu from this famous fighter and rise in the ranks of the martial world. We the viewer know that the Lady Hermit is Miss Leng, although nobody else seems to know. Cui mentions that there have been rumors that the Lady Hermit is residing at a temple in Baijang. Uncle Wang tells her that she's free to accompany his number one employee, Chang Chun (Lo Lieh, of Heroes of the Wild and Five Fingers of Death), to Baijang on the morrow.

The next day, Chang and Cui are taking the Ming Dynasty equivalent to a stagecoach to the next town, where it becomes clear the latter is infatuated with the former. The problem, however, is that it has already been made clear that Chang has the hots for Miss Leng. In any case, once Cui is in Baijang, it doesn't take long before the first scene in the film starts to make sense. She visits the temple, seeing a large line of townspeople paying money for an amulet--the yellow paper with writing on it. A townsperson explains that there are ghosts loose in the town and that the amulet is for protection. So yes, the temple is actually a racket for extortion money, playing on the locals' superstition. And if anybody refuses to pay, another murder will set the remaining naysayers in line. Worst of all, the patron of the temple is said to be none other than the Lady Hermit herself!

Cui Ping thinks this is fishy, so she resolves to go back to the town that evening and investigate. She does mention this to Miss Leng, who gets nervous about Cui Ping getting involved with other people's affairs. The finds out that the "ghosts" are indeed killers and a huge fight breaks out. She is joined by the Lady Hermit, who helps her fight off an entire gang of killers. Chang Chun shows up and joins Cui Ping as she goes to the temple to find the Lady Hermit--she now knows that Miss Leng and the Lady Hermit are one and the same. Another huge fight breaks out and dozens of false monks, plus the fake Lady Hermit, are slaughtered by the three heroes.

The next day, Cui Ping arrives at the Wang Company to confront Miss Leng, who has quit and left the town. The young swordswoman has a lot of moxie, however. She finds Leng and convinces her to take her own as a student. The two set up shop in an abandoned house and Leng starts teaching Cui the "Flying Tiger" technique. Why that one? You see, the current head of the Martial World is a fellow named Black Demon (Wang Hsieh, of Heads for Sale and The Devil's Mirror). Leng had fought him a few years back, but he injured her with his claws and superior people-throwing skills. Both Leng and Cui want to depose him, although their reasons are different: Leng out of a sense of justice and Cui to further her own ambitions. And all that business at the temple? Just a ruse by Black Demon in order to ferret out the Lady Hermit...

Director Ho Meng-Hua is known just as much for his horror movies as he is for his martial arts films, perhaps even more so. The Flying Guillotine is a great example of a movie that balances sensibilities of both those genres. He does bring some of his horror instincts to this film, especially in the first act, which deals with the "ghosts" that haunt Baijang. The first scene really does feel like the opening to a horror film, even if the explanation is ultimately rational. He also brings a hard edge to the violence, which includes lots of bloody hacking and slashing, but also severed limbs, impalings, and a guy getting his eyes gouged out by chopsticks.

What really struck me about this movie is how much the story seemed to parallel Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Both films are kicked off by the actions of a petulant young girl trying to make her name in the Martial World about which she understands very little. Said girl's actions ultimately results of the death of innocent people. The Shu Lien and Li Mu-Bai roles are gender reversed, with the legendary swordsman being the woman and the Escort Company employee being the man. And yes, there is something of an unrequited love subplot between those two characters, although in this film, it becomes an outright love triangle. And instead of the Jade Fox, you have the Black Demon. But the fact that there is an outstanding grudge between the film's resident swordswoman and the criminal villain is also a similar.

Cheng Pei-Pei puts in a strong performance as the embattled Leng Yushuang, a powerful martial artist who wishes for a life away from the violence of the Martial World, but whose sense of justice prevents her from pursuing that while the Black Demon is still around. She is initially reluctant to take on Cui Ping as a student, but ultimately relents, which ultimately sends all three leads barrelling toward the film's bloody climax. Shih Szu shines in an early role as Cui Ping, a sort of prototype for Zhang Ziyi's Jen in Crouching Tiger. This film also feels like a sort of meeting of generations of martial arts movie heroines, with Cheng Pei-Pei passing the torch to Shih Szu, sort of her "successor" at the Shaw Studios at the time.

The action was staged by Leung Siu-Chung, better known as the father of Bruce Leung Siu-Lung. The fight scenes are exclusively weapons fights, although the characters occasionally throw a kick or two. Swords and sabers dominate the action scenes, although a few extras--look for Cliff Lok as one of Black Demon's top fighters during the attack on the Wang Company--can be seen wielding more exotic weapons like hook swords and golden coin spears.  The last half hour or so is pure martial arts goodness, as both Shih Szu and Cheng Pei-Pei are fighting their way through a virtual army of bandits, albeit in different places, until their paths converge at the villain's hideout. The fighting does feel like an evolution from the swordplay in films like Come Drink with Me and Dragon Inn. Not quite up to the level of Ching Siu-Tung, but a respectable mid-point between Ching and Han Ying-Chieh. On the whole, the choreography is solid and the fight scenes are all entertaining, thanks in part for the actresses' natural charisma.

The Lady Hermit is a highly enjoyable wuxia pian with a lot of action, some good performances, and of course, the Golden Swallow herself: Cheng Pei-Pei.

Kingdom III: Flame of Destiny (2023)

Kingdom III: Flame of Destiny (2023)
Aka: Kingdom 3
Original Title: キングダム3 運命の炎
Translation: Kingdom 3: Flame of Destiny

 

Starring: Kento Yamazaki, Ryô Yoshizawa, Kanna Hashimoto, Ken Aoki, Tomoya Arasawa, Yusuke Hirayama, Jun Kaname, Ainosuke Kataoka, Masaya Katô, Shinnosuke Mitsushima, Takahiro Miura, Eri Murakawa, Amane Okayama, Takao Osawa, Hinako Sakurai, Kôichi Satô, Nana Seino, Mitsuomi Takahashi, Masahiro Takashima, Hiroshi Tamaki, Masami Nagasawa
Director: Shinsuke Sato
Action Director: Yuji Shimomura

 

When we last left Li Xin (Kento Yamazaki), he had just been promoted to 100-Man Commander following the battle of Dakan Plains. The second Kingdom film ended with Li Xin resolving to seek out General Wang Qi (Takado Osawa) and request his tutelage as a military officer. The subplot of Chancellor Ryo Fui (Koichi Sato) having ordered the assassination of the King of Qin (Ryo Yoshizawa) had been introduced, but left in limbo. Meanwhile, He Liao Diao (Kanna Hashimoto)—still wearing that darn owl costume—had decided to become a military strategist.

Kingdom III starts six months later. Li Xin has spent those past six months taming the plains of Qin, getting all of the smaller (and warring) tribes under control. The Kingdom of Qin is now facing a new menace in the form of the Kingdom of Zhao, which borders Qin to the Northeast. They have sent in a massive army, led by Generals Feng Ji (Ainosuke Kataoka, Kamen Rider Gaim) and Wan Ji (Yuki Yamada, of Godzilla Minus One), with Zhao Zhuang (Koji Yamamoto, of Shin Ultraman and The Last Ronin) as the Supreme Commander, to invade Qin. Theirs is not only a mission of conquest, but of vengeance for the massacre of 400,000 captured Zhao soldiers years before. General Wan Ji is especially pissed about that, having survived the bloodbath himself. They capture a border town and massacre its inhabitants, moving afterward toward the city of Bayou.

If the Zhao army takes Bayou, then they will have unlimited access to the rest of the Kingdom and they’re as good as gone. So, it’s time to fight back. Chancellor Ryofui nominates his own General Mobu (Yusuke Hirayama, of Princess Sakura: Forbidden Pleasures) to the position of Supreme Commander, as Duke Hyou is away on another campaign. Counselor Chang Wen Jun (Masahiro Takashima), however, opposes Mobu’s appointment on the grounds that this is a defensive action and Mobu talents lie in the offensive. Chang thus nominates General Wang Qi to the post, which surprises everybody at the court, considering that he’s retired. Both Wang Qi and Chang Wen Jun were involved in the Battle of Chohei, which resulted in the aforementioned massacre.

The movie then veers off into a lengthy flashback digression where we learn the “origins” of King Ying Zheng. Back to the actual plot, General Wang Qi and his forces draw the Zhao army away from the City of Bayou to a nearby valley located between a set of small ridges. Zhao Zhuang places the larger portion of his army in the center, with General Wang Ji’s army on his left flank and General Feng Ji and a smaller army set up in a smaller valley to his right. General Wang Qi has General Mobu lead the central assault, while Commanders Heki (Shinnosuke Mitsushima) and Kan-ou (Mitsuomi Takahashi, Gougou Sentai Boukenger, or “Power Rangers Operation Overdrive”) lead the smaller left flank against General Fen Ji. This is where the story sets in, as Li Xin is now commanding a 100-man unit (including some survivors of the Battle of Dakan Plains from the previous film). General Wang Qi baptizes them the Hi Shin Unit and gives them a mission: cut across the mountains and assassinate General Feng Ji while he’s busy with Heki and Kan-ou…

Viewers will recall that King Ying Zheng and He Liao Diao (and her stupid owl outfit) were pushed into the background for the majority of the previous film. Ying Zheng doesn’t join the action, but we do get to see his beginnings as a crown prince, which takes up much of the first half of the film. We learn that he was a “hostage” of the Zhao Kingdom and was left there until his father ascended to the throne, after which he was rescued by a black-market merchant named Shika (Anne Watanabe, of the Japanese remake of Cube). Meanwhile, He Liao Diao is working toward her goal of becoming a strategist, teaming up with Meng Yi, another up-and-coming strategist, to observe the battle. She doesn’t contribute anything to the story, but this part of her growth as a character in the manga.

Much of the movie is about both Li Xin and General Wang Qi, the latter of whom has up to this point been more of a “casually-amused” observer to the events of the past two films. We do learn more about Wang Qi, including his participation the previous battles against the Zhao. It is this part of his backstory that introduces a new character who will be the “villain to beat” in the next movie: Hou Ken, the One-Man General of the Zhao. He believes himself to be a War God and is insanely powerful—his inclusion pushes the film toward Dynasty Warriors territory. Hou Ken also killed Wang Qi’s fellow general Kyou years before, so Wang Qi wants another showdown. The Battle of Bayou also introduces—at the end—the character Ri Boku (or Li Mu), a talented Zhao strategist who will be a thorn in the characters’ sides later on.

Li Xin, now a commander, must not rely totally on his own bravado, since he is now responsible for the lives of his men. Since his mission requires him to scale and descend two large hills protected by enemy garrisons, plus the assassination itself, he has a lot on his platter. He is joined by Qiang Lei (Nana Seino), who is his vice-commander and still a bad-ass swordswoman. His mission accounts for the bulk of the second half of the film, with the fourth film meant to portray the second half of the Battle of Bayou.

The action, once more staged by Yuji Shimomura is once again more focused on epic battling than for individual displays of martial arts prowess. There isn’t quite so much fighting and sword-swinging as the previous film, with the lion’s share of the action pushed to the second hour. We get to see General Mobu briefly in action: he wields what appears to be a long-handled melon hammer as his weapon. Meanwhile, Li Xin and his cohorts fight with sword and spear, with Qiang Lei stealing the show with her awesome skills and loyalty to Li Xin. Once more, if you enjoy the battle scenes from films like Lord of the Rings and Red Cliff, you should enjoy the action on display here.

Kingdom III is a strong follow-up to the previous movie, which is still the best of the three—now four—movies. There is a sense of growth in Li Xin as a character and soldier, despite his uncouth attitude and frequent disregard for manners. King Ying Zheng is given a new dimension to his character, a break from the usual depiction of the Shi Huangdi as paranoid butcher. The conflict between the King and his Chancellor is placed on the backburner for this film, although I assume it will become important again if they make a fifth film. There is enough character, good production values and strong battle sequences to make this worth a view.

Kingdom II: Far and Away (2022)

Kingdom II: Far and Away (2022)
Aka: Kingdom II: To Far Lands
Original Title: キングダム２ 遥かなる大地へ
Translation: Kingdom II: To Distant Lands

 

Starring: Kento Yamazaki, Ryô Yoshizawa, Kanna Hashimoto, Nana Seino, Shinnosuke Mitsushima, Amane Okayama, Takahiro Miura, Takayuki Hamatsu, Tôgi Makabe, Chihiro Yamamoto, Etsushi Toyokawa, Masahiro Takashima, Masaya Kato, Takao Osawa, Koichi Sato
Director: Shinsuke Sato
Action Director: Yuji Shimomura

 

At the end of the first Kingdom, former slave Li Xin had successfully helped restore Ying Zheng to the throne of the Qin kingdom, which occupied the far western end of what was China at the time. Li Xin still had the ambition to become a great general and was willing to join Ying Zhen in the latter’s ambition to unify China. There were several different plot points left open: talk of the Royal Chancellor Lü Buwei amassing an army near the border; what to do with the remaining military officers who had been on the side of Ying Zheng’s deposed brother, like Jie Shi; and finally, what the deal was with General Wang Qi, the hulking grandiosity of a man whom Li Xin looked up to.

This first sequel takes place several months after the events of the first film, kicking things off by an assassination attempt on the King of Qin (still Ryô Yoshizawa). The assassins belong to the same clan that had murdered Li Xin’s best friend, Piao, in the previous film (and whom all look like Voldemort form the Harry Potter films). At the last moment, Li Xin (still Kento Yamazaki) shows up and slays the killers. General Jie Shi (Masaya Kato, of Drive and Blood Heat) informs the King that Li Xin had spent the interim between the two movies hunting down the rest of the assassin clan and knocking them off. The question comes up of how the assassins gained access to the palace and all fingers point to Lü Buwei (Koichi Sato, of When the Last Sword is Drawn). But that will have to wait: the kingdom is now being invaded!

The culprits are the neighboring Wei Kingdom, who have brought in the last of their Fire Dragon Generals, Wu Qing (Yukiyoshi Ozawa, of the Rurouni Kenshin films) to lead an army into the Qin lands. They have set themselves up on a pair of large hills at the Dakan Plains. Li Xin joins the military, being assigned to a conscripted peasant infantry unit in the army under the command of Duke Biao Gong (Etsushi Toyokawa, of Midway and Sword of Desperation).

Li Xin’s 100-man unit is broken off into the “Go formation” of five soldiers who have to protect each other in battle. Li Xin’s formation consists of him; Bitou and Bihei, two men from Li Xin’s old village; a team leader; and a mysterious swordswoman named Qiang Lei (Nana Seino, of Attack on Titan). They report to Commander Fu Hushen (Ichi the Killer’s Kiyohiko Shibukawa), who in return reports to Commander Heki (Blade of the Immortal’s Shinnosuke Mitsushima). Heki is a friend of Lin Xin’s, having fought by his side while storming the palace in the previous film. Li Xin’s comrades are initially put off by his brash behavior, although they are a bit surprised when they see him talking to Heki without all the regular formalities reserved for a ranking commander.

At the battlefield, all of the infantrymen—the conscripted peasants—are sent into battle first, with the armed cavalry hanging behind for the time being. Thankfully for Li Xin’s unit, our hero is more strength and courage than humility, and his antics end up helping more than hurting. He outruns all the other soldiers and jumps over the shield-and-spear formation, causing all sorts of confusion behind enemy lines. By the time the other conscripts arrive, the enemy is too busy trying to wipe out Li Xin. Xin and his cohorts are initially successful…until the second Wei general, Gong Yuan (Tsutomu Takahashi, The Untold Tale of the Three Kingdoms), sends in the chariots. Only about 30 men or so from the 4^th regiment, Li Xin’s unit, survive that first day of battle and go into hiding from Wei scouts sent to kill survivors.

Li Xin and Qiang Lei get separated from the rest while they fight off Wei soldiers. That takes us to the middle portion of the film, where we learn that Qing Lei is a member of the shrouded-in-legend Shiyuu clan—they were mentioned in passing earlier in the film. The Shiyuu clan is a clan of Amazonian assassins best known for training tactics that echo what we saw in films like Azumi and Naked Weapon, where potential recruits are trained from a young age until they reach a point where they are forced to kill each other until only one is left. I find that approach to training very costly and inefficient. We learn that Qiang Lei had a best friend who watched over her in that clan. On the day of the bloodbath, the friend gave Qiang Lei sleeping incense and slaughtered everybody, only to be murdered by the head of the clan out of fear and jealousy.

Li Xin and Qiang Lei are eventually reunited with the others, at which point Li Xin has the idea to storm the hill where General Gong Yuan is stationed and take him out while the chariots and most of the fighting is still occurring on Dakan Plains. As they desperately fight through garrison after garrison as they make their way up the hill, they eventually find assistance from Commander Fu Hushen and his cavalry when Duke Biao Gong finally gives the order to ride. And as Li Xin will soon learn, there is a lot more to war and leadership than bravado and strength. There needs to be strategy, sacrifice, and forethought into one’s actions, especially if the goal is to make the enemy retreat with as few casualties as possible.

Viewers may be surprised to see both the King of Qin and He Liao Diao (Kanna Hashimoto, still wearing that stupid owl costume) pushed to the sidelines for most of the movie. They only get the short “Meanwhile, pack at the palace” scene, with He Liao Diao looking worried for Li Xin. Also, the awesome mountain chieftain, played by Masami Nagasawa, is nowhere to be seen. The emphasis placed solely on Li Xin and his growth as a soldier as he starts working toward his goal, first by getting real-world battle experience. New characters are introduced like the Bi brothers and Qiang Lei, all three of whom will be in the next film. Qiang Lei is an especially important character in both the manga and the movies—I don’t know how many of them Japan will make—and she is pretty cool, what with her swordplay abilities that are better than Li Xin’s. Her techniques border outright on the supernatural, to be honest.

The vast majority of the movie revolves around the Battle of Dakan Plains, which plays out in stages. The first stage is the initial clash between the infantryman and the Wei contingent at the foot of the hill. That’s followed by the chariot attack and the separation of our heroes from the rest of the army. The fight at the front lines continues the next day—how are there any peasant conscripts left at this point?—while the heroes ascend the first hill. Then the cavalry arrives, some of them fighting on the front the line and the rest accompanying our heroes up the hill. And then there is a final showdown between Duke Biao Gong and General Gong Yuan.

As it stands, the film is a very much about the action, which is expertly choroegraphed by genre veteran Yuji Shimomura, also returning from the first film. The action is mainly swordplay and spear jabbing. The choreography is done very much done in the sort of Lord of the Rings epic battle way instead of balletic kung fu way, although there is a little bit of that when Qiang Lei fights off some soldiers in one sequence. The assassination attempt at the beginning is also done in a more drawn-out kung fu manner. But the battle sequences are very well staged and as the film drags on, you can feel the exhaustion and desperation of the characters as they hounded on all sides by the enemy. There are two separate climaxes: Li Xin’s climax on top of the first hill, and then the showdown of generals. The latter feels quite truncated, although there is a lesson in the entire sequence for our main hero about fighting smarter, not harder, among other things.

The Kingdom manga has been running for about 17 years or so now. I’m not sure how long it will run: I guess it depends on how many different battles that the King of Qin had to wage in order to unify China. This film seems to cover events from chapters 47 to 71 of the manga. But as there are more than 800 chapters now, that’s really not a whole lot of material when you think about it. That also means that Li Xin’s growth as a character is limited. The first movie depicted him as a plucky slave who happened to be self-taught swordsman. He is now a foot soldier despite his first-movie heroics, which is plausible: there is no way for him to become a general overnight, no matter how good his swordplay is. He will have to make his way up the hierarchy and learn valuable lessons along the way. And that will take us to the third film…