Young Hero of Shaolin (1984)

Young Hero of Shaolin (1984)
Aka: New Young Hero of Shaolin; The Young Hero of Shaolin, Part I
Chinese Title: 新方世玉
Translation: New Fong Sai Yuk

Starring: Xun Feng (as Shut Bo-Wa), Chen Yong-Xia, Du Xiong-Wen, Guo Liang, Zhao Zhi-Gang, Chi Ke-Chuan, Chow Kung-Kin, Wang Shao-Min, Zhang Hua, Li Wang-Hua, Xiao Hong-Fu
Director: Ngai Hoi-Fung, Yang Fan
Action Director: Zhao Chang-jun

Young Hero of Shaolin is the first of a two-part series of Mainland films directed by cinematographer-turned-director Ngai Hoi-Fung, whose career in Hong Kong went all the way back to the 1940s. He is best known for directing a handful of old school kung fu films, including Jackie Chan’s first leading role in Cub Tiger from Kwangtung, not to mention Story of the Drunken Master. Both this film and its sequel covers the life of Chinese folk hero Fong Sai-Yuk, played by Mainland wushu stylist Xun Feng, billed here as Shut Bo-Wa.

The film starts at a Fong’s birth, much to the joy of his parents, Fong Tak (Du Xiong-Wen, of A Loyal Overseas Chinese Family) and female martial artist Miu Chui-Fa (Chen Yong-Xia, of The Magic Beggar and Golden Dart Hero). The celebration of his birth is interrupted by a wicked priest (Sun Zhen-Ming) and his student, Lui Hung (Guo Liang, of Pride’s Deadly Fury and Tai Chi Chun—his character is referred to in the dub as “Raepon” or “Raehon”, which often sounds like “Raekwon”). The priest demands all sorts of money to leave the family alone, but Miu Chui-Fa gets in a fight with him. He is ultimately repelled by Miu’s teacher, the Shaolin nun Wu Mei (Chi Ke-Chuan, of Revenge of Swordsmanship). The defeated monk swears revenge on the baby Fong.

Miu Chui-Fa raises Fong, teaching him the basics of kung fu and bathing his body in special herbs in order to increase his endurance and durability. In his early adulthood, he is attacked by the old monk and injured. Fong’s parents decide to send him to Shaolin to study kung fu in a more structured setting. Although a bit too impish for Shaolin rules at first, he still curries the favor of the Abbot (Chow Kung-Kin, of Ninjas and Dragons) and starts to grow in his kung fu skills.

Some of the senior students (and the abbot’s second-in-command) don’t really like Fong and try to get him in trouble when he helps out a destitute young woman, Xiaohua (Zhang Hua, To Cross the Dadu River), and her ailing grandfather (Xiao Hong-Fu). They accuse him of having a girlfriend, which is strictly against temple rules, but he is exonerated just as he’s about to quit and leave the temple. The senior monk manages to perform a special kung fu demonstration that piques Fong’s interest and convinces him to stay and finish his training. After three years, him and fellow layman disciple Wu Wai-Kin (Zhao Zhi-Gong, of Kung Fu Hero Wang Wu and A Terra-Cotta Warrior—playing the same character Chi Kuan-Chun played in Chang Cheh’s films), are invited to face the Lo Ha Formation in order to graduate from their studies.

Now, one of the cruxes of the Wu Wai-Kin story is that he was never as good as his colleague and was unable to officially pass the Shaolin Exit Exam (this comes up in Shaolin Temple and The Kung Fu Master series). As a result, it is implied he had to sneak out of Shaolin in order to get his revenge on the dye company who killed his father. Fong Sai-Yuk, on the other hand, is more than a match for the formation and is given an honorable release from the temple.

From there, Fong Sai-Yuk’s personal journey will bring him back to Lui Hung, aka Tiger Lu, who is now the Captain of the Guard in another town and is running crooked martial arts tournament.

Young Hero of Shaolin (Part I) is a rather episodic kung fu film, hitting various parts of the Fong Sai-Yuk legend, although often failing to bring it all into a single cohesive narrative. Certain events of Fong’s life, like his duel with Li Bashan (Chui Ngai, of Out of Danger and Murky Shadows Over the Gorges) atop a series of wooden poles, are included, but feel divorced from everything else happening around it. Even after it is revealed that Li Bashan is Tiger Lu’s father-in-law, it doesn’t link that detail to the previous duel on the poles.

The first hour of the film focuses on his early life and experiences at Shaolin. Sadly, the training sequences aren’t very detailed, with a few scenes consisting of montages of different monks (and later Fong Sai-Yuk) performing all sorts of open-handed and weapons forms, but with little of the gradual build up from “undisciplined scamp” into “kung fu dynamo.” This is especially disappointing after he gets a sample of the advanced Shaolin techniques from his monk friends and decides to stay at the temple. I wanted to see him training in those moves, but alas, the film didn’t showcase any of that—it just skips to the Lo Han Formation test.

The fighting doesn’t really kick in until the hour mark or so, beginning with Lo Han Formation sequence. Fong Sai-Yuk and Wu Wai-King take on a contingent of Shaolin monks—about 80 or so—who take on the formation the Swastika (the Buddhist variation, not the German one). The formation creates “corridors” of monks that the heroes have to navigate, getting attacked on all sides. This sequence is frequently filmed from high overhead shots, which allows us to see all the monks, presumably played by entire schools of wushu students, running around in perfect synch. Logistically, it is an impressive scene.

The next fight is the duel atop the poles with Li Bashan. The fight is well-shot, although a lot of angles from the closer shots make me wonder if they had two sets of poles--a taller set and a lower one—on which to film. The choreography is pretty decent, considering the balance necessary for the actors to maintain (even on a lower set of poles), but it admittedly a bit slow at times and noticeably undercranked at times.

The last 20 minutes or so of the film revolve around a kung fu tournament thrown by Tiger Lu (or Raepon, depending on the dub). The early part of the tournament features different fighters using a variety of styles, including one guy who sticks out using Monkey Fist kung fu. The big disappointment of the set piece is when Fong Sai-Yuk throws down with the old priest who had injured him years before: Fong knocks him off the platform in two moves.

The emphasis of the finale is on Fong Sai-Yuk’s two duels with Tiger Lu. In their first showdown, leading man Xun Feng uses the Yingquan (Eagle Fist) and Southern Eagle Claw, especially the former. Meanwhile, antagonist Guo Liang uses both Bagua and Praying Mantis. There is a interruption in the fight, which allows Fong to regroup and learn a new technique from Wu Mei, thus preparing him for the second and final duel with Tiger Lu, which is a bit more drag-out brutal in its presentation. The choreography is attributed to Mainland Wushu Champion Zhao Chang-Jun, best known for his appearances in The Undaunted Wudang and Blade of Fury. The fights are generally solid by Mainland action direction standards, although not as good as those movies that had Hong Kong choreographers.

Overall, Young Hero of Shaolin is a decent, but uneven effort. The narrative of its sequel, Young Hero of Shaolin (Part II), is a bit more focused and enjoys better overall fight action. This one does have the beautiful Mainland Chinese scenery expected of these wushu movies and a solid second half. Worth a view to genre fans, but I prefer Part II.

Capsule Reviews - 2 Mainland films

Real Kung Fu of Shaolin, Pt 1 (1980/1984)
Aka: Shaolin Dragon Snake 
Chinese Title: 忍無可忍
Translation: Enough is Enough

Starring: Siu Yuk-Lung, Yin Long, Jiang Lili, Weng Yu-Lin, Leung Siu-Wah, San Sin, Lee Fat-Yuen
Director: Kao Yang
Action Director: Zaung Sea-Yang

This was one of the earliest Mainland kung fu movies, predating Jet Li's Shaolin Temple by two years. It got a release on VHS by Ocean Shores and later by Tai Seng and let me just say that I really dislike some of these 1980s Ocean Shores dubs. The problem isn't so much the voices, but the mixing. The volume of the dubbed voices is much higher than the original background music and sound effects, so it feels completely unnatural and distracting.

The film revolves and Siu Ching (Siu Yuk-Lung, who mainly had bit roles in Shaw Brothers films before this), a young man who was brought to Shaolin as a child by his mother. His father was murdered by the evil Mr. Wu, who is evil because...I don't know. I think it has something to do with Warlord period of the Republic Era of China, but other than talking about buying copper and asbestos for military use, we never see him do warlord stuff. Siu Ching grows up in Shaolin and learns numerous styles: the Iron Head technique, Finger Boxing, Qigong, Kitchen Fu, and Broom Fu. He eventually finds out that his mom is living in a village not too far away and Siu Ching fights the Four Guardians of Shaolin in order to get released from the temple.

Once he is reunited with his mom, he discovers that Mr. Wu and his flunkies, led by the wicked Mr. Jyiu, are trying to steal the commoners' land by beating them to death if they don't just up and vacate. Siu Ching and his mother go to stay with his uncle, who now runs a restaurant. Siu Ching gets a job as a waiter and falls in love with his cousin (Jiang Lili), who is also the subject of the lecherous designs of Mr. Wu's son (Leung Siu-Wah, of The Black Belt and Land of the Brave). Siu Ching beats him, beats the corrupt Red Monk, and brawny Korean fighter named Pak. Mr. Jyiu forces Siu Ching's uncle to sign over his restaurant while Mr. Wu kills Siu Ching's mother and Wu's son tries to rape his cousin. Time for our hero to dispense some kung fu justice.

Real Kung Fu of Shaolin, Pt. 1 is interesting because it doesn't feel like a Mainland film. It is filmed in China, but it lacks those sweeping Chinese vistas that fans of Mainland films enjoy so much. The story and its execution feels a lot closer to a Hong Kong film, bereft of the pro-CCP propaganda that shows up in a lot of 80s wushu films. Overall, it just lacks the scale of a lot of the Mainland films made in the 1980s, feeling closer to a low-budget Taiwanese movie in terms of overall feeling. That said, the story lacks a real sense of urgency or even much development on the part of the villains: we never learn what they are really about and what their endgame is.

There is a fair amount of action, choreographed by Zaung Sea-Yang, whomever that is. It is obvious that most of the actors are wushu stylists. On the other hand, the lead actor is a Hong Kong veteran and it's clear he is using more Southern styles in his fighting than the usual Northern Wushu we see in these movies. He gets to fight with a sword and his fists and is certainly less flowery in his presentation than most Mainlanders in these movies. There is a villain who gets to use a rope dart, if only briefly. The hero's mother uses the double daggers, wushu style. The female love interest does some nice cartwheels and acrobatics, even if her actual fighting lacks real power. The fighting on the whole is pretty good, although the climax could have benefitted from more choreography and less running. Old school fans should check it out, if for nothing else than for its historical value.

Ninjas & Dragons (1984)
Chinese Title: 忍者潛龍
Translation: Ninja Hidden Dragon

Starring: Junya Takagi, Dong Li, Xia Qing, Sun Genfa, Xu Li, Song Wenhua, Chu Ah-Lin, Lu Yun-Ling, Rong Ro-Pei
Director: Ding Cheuk-Lun
Action Director: Kazuyuki Saito

At first this looks like what may be a Mainland Chinese rip-off of Ninja in the Dragon's Den. But it's not that. I'm not quite sure what it is (or when it's supposed to be set...perhaps the Yuan Dynasty?). The tone is often a lot lighter than most other Mainland kung fu films of the era, save Kids from Shaolin. But it ultimately suffers from a distinct lack of action.

So, there is a Japanese ninja named Hayate (Junya Takagi, who had previous sung on the soundtrack of Kabamaru the Ninja) who has come to China looking for the Oni-masked ninja, Kensuke, who murdered his father and most of his clan. Hayate has also been hired by a general--a Mongol general? a Khitan general?--to serve as a bodyguard against possible inside jobs against his life. And lo! and behold, one of the other generals, Hurasi (I think is Sun Genfa, of South Shaolin Master), does assassinate his brother and then has Kensuke murder him so that Hurasi can get his official jade seal. Why? Well, I guess he wants to send his armies into China, something that the previous general was hesitant about. And Hurasi is supported by his scheming, ambitious "mother" (Xu Li, another South Shaolin Master alumni); her ugly daughter Ying Yong; and her creepy baby midget helper.

Hayate is captured during the coup and he'll be out of commission until later. There is also the righteous Liang family, which includes the patriarch, the filial son, and the daughter Ching (Xia Qing, of Eastern First Assassin and Bi Xue Bao Dao). Ching has a suitor in the form of the righteous martial artist, Lin Feng (Dong Li, of Revenge of Swordsmanship). Anyway, Liang opposes Hurasi's military aims and has enough sway in the region that he can get the martial talent together to block the transport of supplies to the front lines of the area. Hurasi and his "mother" have Ching kidnapped and try to force her to marry him. And when Ching and some of the villagers save her (and Hayate, too), they just go and kill the Patriarch Liang. It all culminates in a fight near the Great Wall.

The movie jumps back and forth between light comedy and serious historical action drama. Much of the comedy stems from the villain's cousin, Hutuhan, who provides some of the film's basic slapstick. He's one of those characters that is always bragging about his kung fu, but mainly just gets involved in hijinks instead. He ends up taking a liking to Ching and helps her escape a forced marriage by pretending to have r*ped her, thus making her used goods and of no interest to Hurasi. Uh....okay. And it is supposed to be played for laughs. And then Hurasi allows one of his cronies to have his way with Ching, which leads to both men killing each other and all I can think is..."Man, that escalated quickly."

The action was stated by Kazuyuki Saito, whose filmography suggests he was a member of Sonny Chiba's Japan Action Club--his credits include Karate Warriors; Dragon Princess; The Executioner; and some of the Sister Street Fighter films. And to be perfectly honest, he does a very decent job with the action. Despite Japan having a slightly different style than Hong Kong or the PRC, Saito acquits himself to "shapes" surprisingly well, like in a playful scuffle between Lin Feng and Ching early on. The main problem is that there is not enough of it. The first fight that really sticks out is a flashback sequence in which see the evil ninja Kensuke killing a bunch of ninjas from Hayate's clan. There is some good choreography all around there.

And then there's the finale, which is your typical Mainland free-for-all of different wushu stylists fighting each other. Ching and a male character with an eyepatch take on Hurasi, who is wielding a pudao, or assault blade (i.e. a less ornate variation of the kwan do). Ching wields a pair of iron-ribbed fans during this fight. At the same time, Lin Feng and Hayate team up against "Mother", Yin Yong, and the creepy midget, who have a nifty three-fighting-as-one technique: the Mother stands in one place with Yin Yong behind her and the midget between her legs and when you attack her, you have extra pairs of hands coming out of nowhere to attack you. And the way in which the midget is dispatched is pretty darn goofy. Hayate fights with a blade and a claw, which you see in the poster. Like I said, pretty decent choreography overall, but I wonder why there wasn't more of it.

Coweb (2009)

Coweb (2009) Aka: Ninja Masters Chinese Title: 戰無雙 Translation: Unmatched

Starring: Jiang Luxia, Sam Lee Chan-Sam, Eddie Cheung Siu-Fai, Kane Kosugi, Wanja Gotz, Chan Kwok-Pong, Mike Möller, Andy Taylor, Peggy Tseng Pei-Yu, Eskindir Tesfay

Director: Xiong Xin Xin

Action Director: Xiong Xin Xin

I’m pretty sure by early 2008, we fans of the genre were worried that the Girls n’ Guns sub-genre, and female martial arts cinema in general, was all but dead. It had been six years since So Close and things weren’t looking up all that much. The Twins—Charlene Choi and Gillian Chung—often paired themselves with talented people, but their movies were generally unwatchable outside of the fight sequences. Michelle Yeoh was in an exploratory phase of her career, still coasting on the international success of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but reeling from the failure of her self-produced films, like Silver Hawk. Yeoh’s contemporaries were either marrying and settling down or retiring after years of zero-budget Taiwanese and Filipino fare. Hollywood action was in a rut, mainly because Jennifer Lawrence was barely graduating from high school. 

The first breath of fresh air came in 2008 with the release of the Thai film Chocolate. Tony Jaa was still captivating the minds of action fans worldwide and the promise of a female martial artist doing the same sorts of fighting and stuntwork Tony did was enough to make fans’ mouths salivate. And wuddiyaknow? Chocolate was every bit the genre classic that people hoped it would be. Sadly, lead actress Jeeja Yanin wasn’t able to parlay her initial success into a career worthy of her predecessors. Raging Phoenix has its share of supporters, but few people care for The Kick or This Girl is Badass. And beyond that, Yanin has mainly relegated herself to thankless cameos in other films.

A year after Chocolate, the Chinese Mainland—full of experienced wushu practitioners—finally gave us an action heroine to look forward to: Jiang Luxia. Jiang was born in 1986 in Inner Mongolia—the part of Mongolia that belongs to the People’s Republic of China, but which the Mongolians would probably want back. When she was twelve, she went to study kung fu at the Shaolin Temple, with Taiwanese child star Sik Siu-Lung (now acting under the name Ashton Chen) as one of her classmates. In 2003, she went to the Beijing Sport University, where she studied and majored in wushu. During her time there, she became a Shaolin boxing champion, a decorated wushu referee, and achieved “Martial Hero” status there (meaning she consistently maintained top 3 positions at the national championships).

Following her graduation, Jiang made videos for online platforms. Her videos quickly amassed more than a hundred million views, beating out the cruder and vulgar videos that were popular at the time. Jiang took in awards for Vlogging and Podcasting, and was a columnist for the CCTV Sports Channel. It was during this period that her career begin. I’ll assume that stuntman-turned-choreographer-turned-actor-turned-director Xiong Xin Xin brought her into the movie business, considering how he was brought up in the world of wushu as well.

Coweb has a premise that feels like a dry-run for the later Man of Tai Chi…or Michael Douglas’s The Game, but with kung fu. Jiang plays Nie Yi-Yi, a talented martial artist working as a security guard and as an instructor at her father’s school. The movie doesn’t make this clear, but other online reviews suggest that the school has been on the decline for years and the dad is desperate to reclaim his old glory. Sadly, he gets killed in a construction accident in the first five minutes, leaving Yi-Yi without much direction in her life.

Enter Chung Tin (Sam Lee, of Fist Power and Gen-X Cops), a former schoolmate of Nie’s—it is a running joke that she refers to him as “Fatty,” even though he’s grown thin over the years. Chung Tin is the assistant for a billionaire named Ho Kwun (Eddie Cheung, of Running on Karma and The Bare-Footed Kid). Ho’s trophy wife, Susan (Taiwanese actress Peggy Tseng), needs a bodyguard and Chung Tin knows Nie Yi-Yi has the talent for the job. It takes some coaxing, but she eventually accepts and flies out to Hong Kong to participate in a group “dynamic” to see which candidate is the best: she passes with flying colors.

It goes without saying that a disciplined martial artist like Yi-Yi is more than cut out the for the disciplined work of being a bodyguard. After all, I assume most of people in that profession spend most of their careers without ever seeing any action. But that’s really the way it’s supposed to be. In any case, Yi-Yi not only wins her principal’s trust, but Mr. Ho is also impressed with her steadfastness. But things go south soon enough. While Mr. Ho is having a meeting with another businessman (Chan Kwok-Pong, who played Ah So in the Once Upon a Time in China TV series), a bunch of men show up and try to kidnap Susan. Yi-Yi is ready to defend her, but there are too many thugs, including a burly Caucasian guy (German stuntman Wanja Götz), for her to fight. She dispatches them, but not before both Susan and Mr. Ho disappear. The only clue is a cell phone left on the premises with the message: “The game has begun…”

The big gimmick is that from that point on, Nie Yi-Yi is constantly being filmed as she goes from one place to another, getting in fights with random entities. Those fights are posted onto the internet for rich people to bet on. Like I said, this film does feel like the predecessor for Man of Tai Chi, where a young Chinese martial artist finds himself getting in fights for the amusement of the rich. Another film that did something similar was The Tournament, which had contract killers running around an entire city while their antics were filmed and played to the rich. This one feels a bit low-tech compared that film, where the organizers would hack into the city’s security systems so they could follow the participants’ movements. Here, we have a camera crew following her in public and cameras set up at the places she’s scheduled to fight. And like The Game, certain characters barge into the proceedings, but are ultimately part of the drama of what’s going on.

The fights come at regular intervals and are nicely staged by Xiong Xin Xin. Xiong’s history as an action director goes all the way back to Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon (1990), which he choreographed alongside Ridley Tsui. That was followed by a memorable stint as Ghost Foot Seven (or Clubfoot) in the Once Upon a Time in China films, which saw him also assisting Yuen Bun on the action duties. He later assisted in the choreography for Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Double Team and then choreographed its pseudo-sequel, Simon Sez. The [Conan O’Brien] YEAR TWO THOUSAND [/Conan O’Brien] saw him working with Tsui Hark on both Time and Tide and Seven Swords, plus the Hollywood film The Musketeer (at a time when Hong Kong wire-fu was all the rage). My personal thoughts on Xiong Xin Xin as an action director is that he’s good enough to get the job done, but rarely gives us any “all-time classics.”

Thankfully, he’s on his A-game in Coweb. I remember when this film came out on DVD and Mark Pollard of Kung Fu Cinema criticized the action for featuring too many needless spin kicks. I can see where he’s coming from: there a number of fights where the characters are often just trading kicks: throwing one, dodging another, throwing a second one, dodging  the next…rinse and repeat. I am willing to forgive this more “flowery” choreography mainly because the performers are so good at what they do. Plus, it is shown in nice wide shots without ruining it through too many quick cuts. So yeah, some of the fights feel like Sun Chien doing his thing circa 1979, but I can dig it.

There are a number of interesting mash-ups to be seen. The kitchen fight with Wanja Götz is a good one in that the guy is clearly her physical superior, but she doesn’t take him head on the whole time. She uses the restaurant kitchen, with its long metal counters and found objects like frying pans to her advantage. In the real world, she might not be able to beat a guy that big on pure technique alone, so she balances it out with clever use of environment and agility—not that I would have complained too much if she had beat him in a regular face down. The second fight is against female fighter inside a swimming pool at a nightclub—shades of Lionheart here. Later fights pit her against multiple opponents on a scaffolding and a pair of B-Boys (including German martial artist Mike Möller). 

The best is saved for last: Jiang Luxia versus Kane Kosugi. Kane Kosugi entered my radar back in 2004 when I first saw him in Blood Heat. The man displayed some MAD skills in that movie and I wondered if he would become the successor to Donnie Yen in the bootwork department. Everything pointed to the fact that he would, but for some reason, he never reached the height of fame of his contemporaries, like Scott Adkins and Tony Jaa. I just don’t understand: he speaks Japanese and English (fluently), he knows a multitude of styles (karate, aikido, wushu, Tae Kwon Do, etc.), he’s reasonably good looking, and he’s a badass. His fight with Jiang Luxia goes on for a while and is a great demonstration of bootwork from both performers. It doesn’t quite match the brutality of the finale of Ninja: Shadow of a Tear, but it is probably Kane’s second best moment. Great stuff.

For reasons that I cannot fathom, the film was given the generic (and inappropriate) title Ninja Masters when it came time for US distribution. I simply cannot fathom why they went with that title. What the hell, people? There are no Ninja Masters…or Ninja…unless you count Kane Kosugi, even though he was still “Son of the Ninja” in 2009. I thought the late 70s / early 80s level of cultural ignorance—like renaming Shaolin Prince as Death Mask of the Ninja—had gone away, especially after the Hong Kong revolution. I guess it goes to show that distributors are staffed by geographically-challenged morons distributing movies for people they assume are also geographically-challenged morons. How do you people sleep at night?

Anyway, watch Coweb, no matter how stupid the local retitling is. I bet Jiang Luxia could easily kick the collective asses of all the Hollywood starlets who’ve made hitwoman / spy movies in the past ten years.

This review is part of Fighting Female February 2025

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.

Legend of Xin Qinji

Legend of Xin Qinji (1993)
Aka: Blood Legend of Xin Qi Ji
Chinese Title: 辛棄疾鐵血傳奇
Translation: Xin Qiji Iron-Blooded Legend

 

Starring: Liu Yanjun, Jiang Qinqin, Yang Xinzhou, Yu Rongkang
Director: Li Lingming
Action Director: Yu Daijun, Han Fuchun

 

Xin Qiji is a historical figure that I honestly do not know a lot about. He lived during the Song Dynasty (A.D. 960 – 1279), more specifically in the Jurchen-led Jin Dynasty. History lesson: When the Song Dynasty started, there were three major kingdoms that defined the geographical area that we know as modern-day China (and Mongolia). There was the Song Dynasty, led by the Han Chinese people, which occupied Northern and Southern China; the Liang Dynasty, led by the “proto-Mongol” Khitan people, which occupied Mongolia and Inner Mongolia; and finally, the Western Xia Dynasty, led by the Tibetan-adjacent Tangut people, which occupied Western China and part of the Tibetan plateau.

The three kingdoms were constantly involved in border conflicts with each other. Eventually, a fourth group, the Jurchens, hailing from Manchuria, appeared and conquered the Liang Dynasty and the Northern half of the Song Dynasty. At this point, the Song Dynasty has been labeled as the Southern Song Dynasty (A.D. 1127 – 1279). In the end, Genghis Khan and his Mongol hordes showed up, conquered the Jin and Song empires, utterly annihilated the Western Xia kingdom, and established the Yuan Dynasty in China.

Xin Qiji lived at a period that Jin and Southern Song Dynasties existed as uneasy neighbors. The Song emperor wanted to avoid prolonged conflict; the Jins wanted to unify China under their rule. Although he was a Han Chinese living in Jin Empire, he was taught patriotism by his grandfather and ultimately decided to side with the Song Dynasty. He led several insurrections against the Jurchens and ultimately defected over to the Southern Song empire.

Once in the Song Court, Xin Qiji’s opinions and counsels were ignored by the Emperor and his advisors. He became a minor official and started a series of sweeping reforms in the province he governed. Success often begets envy, and lots of other officials started persecuting him. He was essentially exiled, after which he became one of the most celebrated poets in Chinese history (plus one of the true Chinese patriots of that time period).

The film opens with Xin Qiji (played as an adult by Liu Yanjun) as a child, witnessing the murder of his father during an insurrection against the Jins. The culprit is 5^th Prince Wu Shuai, one of the top people of the Jin court. Xin Qiji has his life spared by his adoptive grandfather, Ye Duan, who renounces his Song citizenship and becomes a Jin dynasty citizen. Ye Duan raises and educates both Xin Qiji and another boy, Dang Huaiying, in literature, philosophy, poetry, art, and the martial arts. When both men come of age, Ye Duan retires to a Buddhist temple to spend the rest of his days.

The two martial “brothers” take different paths in life. Dang Huaiying takes the public examination to become a Jin official. Meanwhile, Xin Qiji uses his martial skills and education, especially art, to observe and draw military maps of Jin outposts and military positions. This draws the ire of a Jin General, who tries to capture him. Fifth Prince Wu Shuai wants to recruit Xin Qiji to the Jin court, although the General thinks that’s a bad idea.

The General chases Xin Qiji to a tent where a Han scholar, Kong, is working as a historian and storyteller, whose stories are enjoyed by one of the other five princes. Kong challenges Xin Qiji to a duel under the guise of being a Jin loyalist. However, Kong is impressed by Xin’s dedication to the Song cause and reveals that he was a Deputy General under the command of the famous General Yue Fei, who fought against the Jin people (before being betrayed and killed by his own). Kong gives Xin Qiji a bunch of maps and documents he has amassed over the years to take back to Song territory. Kong is killed in a subsequent battle with the General and Xin Qiji is back on the run.

Xin Qiji ends up in the estate of a Mr. Fan Bangyan, a county magistrate. He also happens to be the future father-in-law of his brother, Dang Huaiying. A marriage between Dang and Fan’s daughter, Xiaguan (Jiang Qinqin, of Bloody Brothers and The Sino-Dutch War 1661), was arranged when they were young. Although Fan appears to be a faithful Jin servant, he is actually a Song patriot and sympathetic to Xin’s cause. Young Miss Fan also finds herself despising her future husband upon discovering that he’s a Jin official, and falls for Xin Qiji instead. Xin Qiji is captured (again) by the Fifth Prince, but Magistrate Fan and his daughter help him escape. Fan Xiaguan also puts on a cape and mask and helps him escape the Jins (yet again), where he ends up in the same temple where his adoptive grandfather has retired.

Legend of Xin Qin Ji is more interesting for its history than for its storytelling in itself. There is a lot of melodrama, which can grate at times. A lot of the dialog comes in the form of poetry, which makes sense, given Xin Qiji’s reputation. Although Dang Huaiying becomes an official for the enemy, the script doesn’t exploit that for an epic battle of brothers, like Junbao and Tianbao in Yuen Woo-Ping’s The Tai Chi Master. Dang just hangs around the Fifth Prince and the General, but doesn’t really contribute anything to help or hurt the character. He almost feels superfluous. The film is interesting in that it depicts Fifth Prince Wu Shuai as a very wise and pragmatic person, as opposed to the General, who just wants to slay Xin Qiji where he stands. In the end, the General is probably the righter of the two, although history would dictate that it probably didn’t make a huge difference, because the Song Dynasty didn’t treasure Xin’s counsels anyway.

There are a number of fight scenes, most of which involve swordplay. The choreography is done in typical 1980s Mainland wushu style, so if you liked the swordplay in films like Kids from Shaolin, you should enjoy the action here. It is well done, especially the opening battle between the Song rebels and the Jin army. The General fights with a melon hammer, which is a nice bit of variety. The action stumbles in that the climax isn’t as good as it should have been. It is a final showdown between Xin Qiji and the Prince’s men at the temple. There is no definitive fight between him and Prince, or him and the General. He fights—to the soundtrack of a traditional Chinese song—and then escapes. Some intertitles inform us that he defected over to the Song Dynasty…etc.

I’m glad I finally watched this. It’s really unessential kung fu viewing, but it works as a historical-spiritual successor to Jimmy Wang Yu’s The Invincible Sword.

Four Dragons (2008)

Four Dragons (2008)
Original Title: Kinta 1881
Translation: Kinta 1881 – Kinta referring to the valley where tin was discovered

 

Starring: Robin Ho, Kuan Jun-Fei, David Bao, Michael Chin, Albert Yuen, Patrick Teoh, Anita Kwan, Shawn Lee
Director: C.L. Hor
Action Director: Chin Kar-Lok

 

Starting in 2003, Southeast Asia joined the martial arts frenzy that was going worldwide (again) following the worldwide success of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and the coming of big-name Hong Kong stars like Jackie Chan and Jet Li to Hollywood. As we all know, the SE Asia martial arts “renaissance” began with Ong Bak and Tony Jaa, who led the charge for the first few years. He was eventually joined by Vietnam, represented by Johnny Tri Nguyen and Veronica Ngo, who made quality martial arts films like The Rebel and Clash. Quickly getting in on the action was Indonesia. Silat masters like Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian, under the careful eye of Welsh director Gareth Evans, set the action genre alight with Merantau and The Raid films.

However, lost in the shuffle of the torrent of quality action to come out of that region was Four Dragons, Malaysia’s first martial arts movie. Oh sure, there were Hong Kong movies filmed in Malaysia, like Supercop and Angel II. But this was the first one produced, written and directed by Malaysians, even though they brought in a Hongkie to do the action choreography. There is a good reason that this movie has a measly 3.5 rating at the IMDB while its contemporaries from Malaysia’s neighbors are revered to this day: this movie somehow manages to fail on every single level. It comes close to being the Birdemic of martial arts movies.

The movie is set in 1881, shortly after the discovery of tin in Malaysia. Much like the California Gold Rush, the promise of economic opportunity has attracted a lot of Chinese immigrants from Southern China—thus we get a movie in which most of the cast speaks Cantonese. Unfortunately, the tin mines are run with an iron fist under conditions that aren’t much better than slavery. The Chinese laborers are overseen and cared for by Tin Sok (Albert Yuen). “Uncle” Tin, for his part, answers to Master Hoong (Patrick Teoh, who was in the “Marco Polo” series for Netflix), who is part mining entrepreneur, part Triad.

Tin Sok has four “adopted” sons who not only assist him as a foreman, but were taught martial arts by him as well. The oldest is Dragon (Robin Ho, a four-time gold medalist in four different Wushu Championships), who is distinguished from his brothers by the fact he has mustache. Seriously, the only one of member of the titular “Four Dragons” who doesn’t get a backstory happens to be the guy named “Dragon.” Then there’s Ace (Kuan Jun-Fei, another wushu taolu champion), who is distinguished from his brothers by being the guy with short hair, no facial hair, and thin eyebrows. We learn that he has a gambling problem, although it’s something he does to help the daughter of some random murdered immigrant. He’s followed by Blaze (Chinese tai chi chuan practitioner David Bao), who sports one of those late 1990s manes a lá Ekin Cheng. Finally, there’s Tiger (Michael Chin, yet another wushu champion), who has short hair, no facial hair, and thick eyebrows. His deal is that he is secretly in love with Dan Dan (Anita Kwan, who reminds me of a young Karen Mok), Master Hoong’s daughter.

Well, one day Master Hoong has the Chinese laborers attacked and murdered at the behest of Master Sam (Tsai Lex), a wealthy opium dealer. We never quite find out why Master Sam decided that they all had to die. Nor do we ever learn what sort of business venture that an opium dealer and a tin baron would want to join forces for. People just have to die because…well, that’s what villains do! The four brothers barely escape the bloodbath with their lives and are found by a Malay village chief and nursed back to health. Tin Sok also survives, albeit barely, and is eventually carried back to the village to recover. Meanwhile, Master Sam knows something that the brothers don’t: Tin Sok was responsible for Blaze’s father’s death years and years ago when they and Master Hoong were humble miners. That’s enough to turn Blaze turncoat against his brothers.

The first reason that Four Dragon utterly fails is the story. What should be a simple revenge tale—the downtrodden immigrants rising up against their fellow Chinese oppressor (much like The Roaring Lion)—gets convoluted as flashback is piled upon flashback, subplot upon subplot, and yet nothing ever gets adequately explained. We never learn what happened between Tin Sok and Blaze’s dad; there’s a throwaway line to suggest that the guy was a bad apple. There’s a love triangle between Tiger, Dan Dan, and Forest, one of Master Hoong’s enforcers. That never gets mentioned after the scene that establishes it, though. It’s suggested that Forest would vent out his lust on Dan Dan’s British friend, Rose (Laura Jayne New), but once again, it’s forgotten as soon as it’s brought up. There’s also a bit about random Chinese immigrants being murdered and hung from bamboo stalks, but that’s never explored, either.

The structure of the film is also confusing. The entire second act is made up of numerous flashbacks, most of which serve to give us our heroes’ backstories. There are even some flashbacks within flashbacks, and some of the fights during the massacre of the Chinese miners are replayed verbatim. The problem is that the editing is terrible and less-attentive viewers will undoubtedly get lost, not being able to tell a flashback apart from a scene in the present. The editing also fails in setting up scenes, such that fights often start out of nowhere with no regard to space. Where are these people? Who are these people? Why are they suddenly fighting?

Chin Kar-Lok was hired to stage the fights and initially, I was glad to see him working on a traditional kung fu film. For the past 20 years, Chin Sifu has mainly worked in modern-day action films, setting up car chases, gun fights, explosions, and all the stuntwork that revolves around those sorts of set pieces. He has gotten LOTS of nominations for Best Action Choreography at the Hong Kong Film Award, but still hasn’t won one yet. After watching Four Dragons, Chin Sifu should really stick with modern action.

Chin Kar-Lok just doesn’t seem to have the talent for making Taolu (i.e. forms) champions look like seasoned fighters. I mean, Jet Li has always looked believable. Vincent Zhao Wen-Zhuo has always been credible. Wu Jing has been solid for most of his career. But these guys just look soft boned in their fights, like some of those old wushu movies that Mainland China made in the 1980s. You know they have martial experience, but you need a certain sort of talent to translate that to credible screen fighting. The Four Dragons don’t. They are frequently outshone by the villains. Shawn Lee, who plays Forest, was a wushu sparring champion, so in addition to being big and muscular, he actually knew how to fight. And it shows in his fight sequences. The same goes for Chu Cho-Kuen, who plays Hoong’s other enforcer, Sand. That guy kicks major ass and shames our heroes. Those two should’ve been the lead performers.

The story is muddled, the editing is incoherent and the action is disappointing. Sadly, the film’s woes don’t stop there. Most of the fights are punctuated by the worst CGI blood on record, which looks like an optical effect that you would’ve paid your local video editing service to do on your shot-on-video movie circa 1985. Seriously, the blood in Mortal Kombat for the Sega Genesis was more realistic. There are serious acting and directing flubs, like Shawn Lee standing in front of a burning building for about twenty seconds and screaming for no reason. And to make it worse, that scene is replayed in one of the film’s many flashbacks. The animated opening titles and behind-the-scenes footage that plays over the closing credits are interesting, but not enough to prevent Four Dragons from becoming Four Brookesia Chameleons.

 

This review is part of "Month of the Dragon"

Ma Su-Chen Takes Revenge (1988)

Ma Su-Chen Takes Revenge (1988)
Chinese Title: 馬素貞複仇記
Translation: Ma Suzhen: Avenge Record

 

Starring: Li Yun-Juan, Kwok Wai-Ping, Wang Jian-Guo, Lin Ji-Fan, Li Xiang-Chun
Director: Shen Yao-Ting
Action Director:

 

In eary 1972, the Shaw Brothers released what would become one of their bloodier classic martial arts films, The Boxer from Shantung with Chen Kuan Tai. Telling the story of real-life boxer Ma Wing-Jing (mandarin: Ma Yongzheng), the film is most notable for its long and brutal finale where Ma takes out an entire gang…while sporting a hatchet rammed into his gut! That same year saw a low-budget Taiwanese take on the same material, Furious Slaughter, starring “martial arts” legend Jimmy Wang Yu. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?

Well, the story of Ma Yongzheng goes beyond his untimely demise. Apparently, Mr. Ma had a sister, Ma Suzhen, who was just as a good a fighter as he was, if not better. She apparently headed out to Shanghai after receiving news of her brother’s murder and kicked some kung fu ass in his name. Interestingly enough, no fewer than four films were made about her between 1972 and 1973. Two of those, Queen Boxer and Heroine Susan, Sister of San-Tung Boxer, were essentially unofficial sequels to The Boxer from Shantung, complete with recreations of that’s films famous climax. Ma Su Chen was a sequel to Furious Slaughter, made that same year. Finally, there was Brave Girl Boxer from Shanghai, which starred a young Doris Lung and had a typical (for the era) anti-Japanese bent to it.

Ma Su-Chen Takes Revenge, a late 80s film from the People’s Republic of China, is interesting in that it doesn’t follow any existing film on Ma Yongzheng. Instead, it focuses on the lead character’s search for revenge while telling the story of her brother through a few prolonged flashbacks.

The film opens with our heroine (Li Yun-Juan, of In Sword We Trust) learning of her brother’s assassination and vowing revenge. She takes a train over to Shanghai, where she falls in with Master Chai (Li Xiangchun), a leader of the Shandong Association and close associate of her brother’s. She learns from him that his brother had gotten involved in a conflict between some peasants and a local criminal named Bai La Li (Du Jifan—amusingly, the character for “Li’ in the villain’s name means “diarrhea”). Bai La Li was hired by the Europeans from the Shanghai international zone to force the locals to sell their homes for pennies on the dollar so they could build a race track. Ma Yongzheng stepped in and fought off the thugs, thereby signing his death warrant with the foreigners.

What really gets Yongzheng on Bai La Li’s sh*t-list is when he and his colleagues storm Bai’s wedding—to his fourth concubine, a singer who has fallen for Ma—and beat everybody up and steal away the bride. She ends up getting killed, while Bai hires the Axe Gang, led by Cheng Zimin (Lin Rongcai, of Secret Imperial Edict), to deal with Ma Yongzheng. They ambush him at the Shandong Association, throw lime in his eyes, and then chop him down with axes.

Ma Suzhen’s first order of business is to dress up as a Western gentleman and show up at Bai La Li’s place, pretending to sell opium. Bai figures out who she is and invites “him” to a guy’s athletic club where he tells “him” to get undressed. She refuses to, which leads to a fight between her and Bai’s men. She gets injured, but is ultimately rescued by Master Chai’s son.

After she recovers, she once again assumes a disguise—this time as a Qing guard—and visits the local jail where Yongzheng’s best friend, Bao Qing, is being held (he’d been framed for Ma’s murder). After learning more details about her brother’s dealings, Bao is killed by an unknown assailant before he can tell her who the traitor within the Shandong society is. But what she does know is that the Axe Gang is involved.

So, she dresses up as a man once more and goes to the local brothel and orders a room with Chen Zimin’s favorite prostitute. When he shows up for his nightly dinner-and-a-f*ck, Ma appears out of the shadows with revenge on her mind. He makes a deal with her to hand Bai La Li and he reveals to her the name of the traitor that has gotten in the way of her assassination attempts. After confronting the traitor, it’s time for some revenge!

This may be the weakest of the Ma Suzhen films overall. The film is slow paced, which shouldn’t be a problem, considering the general simplicity of the Ma Suzhen story: she shows up in Shanghai, cracks a few heads, finds out who’s responsible for her brother’s murder, and cracks some more heads. This film does give us a bit more meat by going over her brother’s story—which was my complaint about Heroine Susan, that it could have been the third act of a larger film about the Ma family--while introducing the subplot of a traitor amongst Ma Yongzheng’s friends. I just felt that the action itself did not compensate the overall pacing of the movie: Ma Suzhen doesn’t get her first fight until about 30 minutes in and the climax was a bit of a let down in the martial arts department.

What the film does to set itself apart from the other four movies about the personage is that it tries to follow history, namely setting the story in the Qing Dynasty and throwing in the detail about Ma Yongzhen involved in horse racing. The other films were set in the Republic Era, probably in the 1920s. I also liked how cunning Ma Suzhen is portrayed as being, using trickery and disguises in addition to her martial skills.

The action isn’t good enough in quality or quantity to make up for the movie’s pacing issues. Actress Li Yun-Juan is a solid martial artist and has some pretty good kicks. However, her fight scenes are hampered by some unremarkable hand techniques and unnecessary wire-aided moves. The actor who plays Ma Yongzheng is pretty good. He also has a helper who busts out some Drunken Boxing during the wedding fight. The weapons—sabre, pole, and knife—are just okay. Nothing particularly flashing or interesting about those, which is disappointing, considering this is a Mainland film.

There’s a big group melee near the end where Ma Suzhen and some others try to assassinate Bai La Li at a Opera concert. The fight almost resembles a Jackie Chan, mixing comedy (mainly some shameless mugging whenever someone gets hit in the head) with violence. One guy pulls out a pair of nunchaku and does an impressive demonstration before Suzhen just takes him out with her trusty bullwhip. She does that again in the finale, which is sort of disappointing. Once Upon a Time in China IV had some interesting over-the-top action involving a whip, but here, it’s just her standing, cracking the whip, and cut to some guy falling down. It’s not very interesting. The finale has some fun Tarzan-esque swinging-on-banners fighting, but the final showdown with Bai La Li is a letdown. You had some good fighters here, but they are let down by the film’s action director, who should have done more and better things with their abilities.