5-Pattern
Dragon Claws (South Korea, 1983: )
AKA: Dragon Claws; Nwoi Fighting Technique; Thunderfist; Fist of
Lightning
Starring: Dragon Lee, Hang Jang Lee, Baek Hwang-Gi, Kim Ki-Beom, Lee Hwa-Jin, Park Wan-Soo, Kim Ki-Hong, Choe Hui-Jeong, Moon Jong-Geum
Director: Kim Shi-hyeon, Godfrey Ho
Action Director: Baek Hwang-Gi
One
of three old kung fu movies that Dragon Lee and Legendary Superkicker
Hwang Jang Lee made together, the other two being Secret
Ninja, Roaring Tiger (1982)
and Martial Monks of Shaolin
Temple. As aficionados know, they two
men teamed up again in 1994 for Emperor
of the Underworld, which I have not yet
seen. I'm not even sure just how available that film is. In any case,
this one is notable because the choreography manages to ape Hong
Kong/Taiwanese shapes to a 'T", despite having a South Korean
action director (Baek Hwang-gi, who doubles as Hwang Jang Lee's
second-in-command).
The film starts with a "tournament"
between the layman students from the Damoh School and the monks of
Shaolin. This is where the film loses me, because it is suggested in
the dialog that Shaolin is an extension of Damoh...or vice versa:
laymen can train at Damoh and graduate to the temple after their kung
fu reaches a certain point. The film is never completely clear. In
any case, the five layman students, including Dragon Lee's Wong Lung,
defeat their monk opponents and are admitted into Shaolin to learn Wu
Fat Kung Fu under the tutelage of Master Kwok (Kim Doo-han, of Enter
the Invincible Hero and Dreadnaught
Rivals).
One of the students,
Kong Lee (Moon Jong-geum, of Warriors
of Kung Fu), is little too ambitious
for his own good and tries to steal the Four Kung Fu Manuals of
Shaolin from the Abbot (Kim Ki-beom). He ends up stealing the books
and tries to run away with his girlfriend, Su Ching (Choe Hui-jeong,
of Shaolin and Tai Chi).
However, before he can make a break from Shaolin (or Damoh, or both),
he is confronted by Master Kwok. Both men disappear. News of the
abbot's death and Kwok's disappearance reaches the Golden Monkey
Palace school, run by Kam Fu (Hwang Jang Lee). Kam Fu sends his
thugs, led by his brother, Ling Fu (Baek Hwang-gi), to harrass the
remaining Damoh students and try to get them to join him.
We
learn that Master Kwok has retreated into seclusion where he is
crucifying Kong Lee in order to force him into repentence. Kwok
orders Wong Lung to divide up the kung fu manuals between him and the
other three layman students--played by Kim Ki-hong, Park Wan-soo, and
Lee Je-gyu. For reasons that never seem to make much sense, Wong Lung
goes against Kwok's orders and refuses to divy up the manuals between
his martial brothers. Kam Fu and Ling Fu ultimately kill the
layman head of the school, three of the layman students, and severely
injure Wong Lung. As only the latter has survived, it falls on Master
Kwok to help him train in order to get revenge against the Golden
Monkey Palace school.
Like I said, the main thing that kept on
taking me out of the film was the confusing relationship between the
Damoh School and the Shaolin Temple. Most of the dialog suggests that
both are the same entity. But if that's the case, why did the laymen
have to duel with the monks in order to train in Shaolin kung fu? As
I suggested, perhaps they have a beginner's school that, once passed,
will allow one entrance into the temple for more advanced training.
But that is never really clarified, so I spent much of the movie
listening to the dialog in hopes of making sense of that.
The
fighting is pure Hong Kong-style shapes, courtesy of Baek Hwang-gi,
who also choreographed that year's Martial
Monks of Shaolin Temple. I think this
film had the better choreography overall. Hwang Jang Lee is good form
with his usual mix of Taekwondo kicking
and Southern Eagle Claw handwork. He does some of his patented aerial
kicking here, mainly like the one where he jumps past two people and
does two side leg extensions to kick both men. Dragon Lee never goes
into Brucesploitation mode here, instead fighting with a mixture of
animal styles and his usual Hapkido kicking.
The handwork is very complex
by the standards of South Korean chop-sockies, which is impressive.
It very much feels like it was choreographed by the likes of Mang
Hoi, Corey Yuen, or Chin Yuet-Sang.
There is a little bit of
undercranking here and there, but never enough to detract from the
action onscreen. There is a little bit of South Korean nuttiness when
Hwang Jang Lee unleashes his secret style, which are multiple
roundhouse kicks that cut to stock footage of lightning, leaving the
opponent with a smoking burn mark on his clothing. That style is
actually alluded to by the monks early on in the film; at one point,
Hwang does get his hands on the manuals. When Wong Lung and Kwok have
to fight him at the end, they find a neat way to neutralize that
move: tie a cord around his leg and cut off the blood circulation so
it loses power. From a choreography point of view, the best fight is
probably the first showdown between Dragon Lee and Hwang Jang Lee.
The last fight has better moves, but sacrifices crisp choreography
for sloppy intensity. Nonetheless, 5-Pattern
Dragon Claws is still a worthy
film for genre fans.
Martial Monks of
Shaolin Temple (South Korea, 1983: )
Aka:
Shaolin Yong-Pal (or Yong-Pal in Shaolin Temple)
Starring: Dragon Lee, Hwang Jang Lee, Choe Min-Gyu, Seo Jeong-Ah, Baek Hwang-Gi, Lee Seok-Goo, Yeong Seop, Park Woo-Yong, Kim Doo-Han, Jeong Joo-Hyeon
Director: Kim Shi-hyeon, Godfrey Ho
Action Director: Baek Hwang-Gi
This actually came out before 5-Pattern Dragon Claws (see review above) and like that film, it was picked up by Filmark for release. As you would expect, Godfrey Ho was given director's credit while producer credit went to Tomas Tang. The action director was credited as Philip Yuen, but it was actually Baek Hwang-gi, who had also choreographed Dragon Claws. When all is said and done, I think 5-Pattern Dragon Claws is the better movie overall, although this one has a better end fight.
The movie starts with some guy going to the Abbot of Shaolin (Kim Doo-han) to complain about Wudan attacking people. The messenger and the abbot go to investigate and are attacked by a guy wearing a silly silver wig (Lee Je-gyu). That guy kills the messenger and then the head of Wudan, Kurt Wong (Hwang Jang Lee), shows up and kicks the abbot into oblivion. News of the abbot's death spreads and reaches the ears of both a kung fu student named Dragon Lang (Dragon Lee) and a monk named Chi Yen (Choi Min-gyu). Chi Yen comes across as a violent-but-righteous monk who goes around fighting injustice, like some dude with a handlebar mustache and a man-sized sword (Kang Yong-gyu).
Chi Yen meets Dragon Lang when he sees the latter running a street hustle involving a game of Whack-A-Mole involving a sword and his own head. Chi Yen also runs into a girl named Pinky Poon (Seo Jeong-ah...oh dear, what a name), who goes around dressed like a beggar. She tries to seduce Chi Yen for...reasons. The film never elaborates on why. They also run into Dragon Lang, who is now out of a job after Chi Yen ruined his hustle. Chi Yen gets Dragon a job at the inn where he's staying, but then takes him as a student after he sees how strong he is.
Long story short: it turns out Chi Yen is actually one of Wudan's enforcers and the real Shaolin Master is Dragon Lang (the hustler bit was just a ruse). Dragon Lang is defeated by Kurt Wong and imprisoned at Wudan, but is rescued by Pinky Poon and another fighter (Park Woo-yong). Pinky Poon nurses him back to health and he goes back to Shaolin to train for revenge.
The story is a little easier to follow than 5-Pattern Dragon Claws, but it does feel a bit too simple and the plot spins its wheels for too much of the first half. Most of the fights involving Dragon Lang and random bandits just don't feel related to the story. At one point, I thought the film was going to play a bait-and-switch and make Chi Yen the actual hero and Dragon Lang his comic foil. Then, suddenly the monk turns out to be one of the bad guys and I realize that I have been M. Night Shyamalan'd!!!
Once more, the fights are staged by Baek Hwang-gi and he does a reasonably good job of aping the Hong Kong shapes style of fight choreography. Hwang Jang Lee steals the show as usual, although Dragon Lee arguably looks even better in this movie than he did in 5-Pattern Dragon Claws. Lee performs a lot of Praying Mantis kung fu, which he had also performed in Dragon on Fire. He also has a John Liu-esque move where he holds his ankle and does multiple high roundhouse kicks with it. To be honest, although his fight scenes are limited, Park Woo-yong, who plays a traveling fighter who turns out to be an ally of Shaolin, gives a great kicking showcase and even outfights Dragon Lee in his own film. I wanted to see more of him.
The highlight is the big finale, which starts with Dragon Lee going into Brucesploitation mode against all of the lesser enforcers and flunkies of Wudan. After dispatching everybody, he has lengthy final showdown with Hwang Jang Lee that mixes Dragon's unique kicking style, spears, nunchaku, Praying Mantis, and the use of a barrel. And true to form, Hwang Jang Lee is so powerful that none of that is enough to defeat him. The tables only turn when one of the Shaolin monks (also Kim Doo-han) shows up to help, at which point the fight starts to resemble Secret Rivals II. Beyond that, watch for a contingent of Wudan fighters shooting ropes out of their feet by kicking (it's as weird as it sounds) and Choe Min-gyu using cords and ropes as part as his own unique fighting style.
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