Fighter in the Wind--- A South Korean Classic??

This week's review is on a 2004 Korean Martial Arts flick called Fighter in the Wind. Now I am usually biased to Chinese Martial Arts Cinema, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with this film. For a movie to hold my attention, it has to have a solid storyline, great fight scenes, and a killer score, and Fighter in the Wind does not disappoint in any of those categories.

The story is a based on Choi Bae-dal, better known as his Japanese name Masutatsu Oyama, creator of the famous Kyokushin-Karate. Most of the movie deals with the struggles he faced as a Korean living in post-World War II Japan. Bae-dal goes from wanting to be a pilot in the military to trying to make a living on the streets of Japan, but he is always met with Japanese strong arms who take ever chance to beat and embarrass him.

While dealing with a bunch of sword yielding Yakuzas, Bae-dal is saved by Bum Su, a talented martial artist also from Korea. He forms a bond with him, and Bum Su eventually gives Bae-dal a copy of Musashi Miyamoto's "Book of 5 Rings," which details techniques on how to fight and survive.

Soon the Yakuzas come back for revenge and wind up killing Bum Su. Bae-dal eventually goes to the mountains for one of the coolest training sequences I have ever saw. Peep it here. The music is incredible in this scene:

When Bae-dal come back to civilization he has one goal in mind, to fuck up every single martial arts school in Japan! Dude was seriously on a mission! Peep as he enters a dojo and literally KICKS the shit out of everyone!!

Bae-dal is eventually reunited with Kato, a pompous military official who embarrassed him in the beginning of the film. Hearing how Bae-dal has been going to dojo after dojo and taking out master after master, Kato challenges him in what is a great final fight scene. Peep it here:

I was thoroughly impressed by Fighter in the Wind, so I give this movie a rating of 4 FISTS. As I said earlier, I am partial to martial arts films from China, having been disappointed by plenty of releases from Thailand (Ong Bak 2 and 3). But this movie had it all. The storyline was not a classic, but it was strong enough to keep me interested. The fight scenes were a lot better than I expected, making me want to research more films starring Yang Dong-guen, who played the role of Bae-dal. He was a solid actor, not over-dramatic, and I didn't see any wires helping out the choreography so that is always a plus in my book! Also, I personally always find the score can make or break a movie, and the melodic metal-type sounds found in Fighter in the Wind definitely do the scenes justice.

Kung Faux Clips

I'm not gonna front I slept on this show......Kung Faux was a comedy tv series which had classic kung fu flicks with voiceovers from hip hop aritsts....it was pretty funny....here are some clips for your viewing pleasure....

Ip Man----A Modern Day Classic

Peace & Blessings! It's been a hot minute since I have done a blog entry, so I want to take the time to thank anyone who has visited the site thus far and to also welcome any new readers. Hopefully everyone is having a great holiday season. I have some well deserved time off from work and my area got hit hard with over two feet of snow; so now is the perfect time to watch some movies and hit you with some reviews. Props to my wife and step daughter for blessing me with some new DVDs for the holiday!



My wife, probably from having cabin fever, decided to watch this week's movie with me. For that fact alone I had to pick a movie I saw before and one that I knew she could appreciate. I decided to go with one of the best movies to come out in this decade, Ip Man (pronounced Yip Man), starring Donnie Yen.

Ip Man is part one in a three movie series that is loosely based on the life of Bruce Lee's teacher.



The movie takes place in the 1930's in Foshan, a southern part of China that was known for it's martial art's schools. While many sifus opened up schools and competed for students, it was known in Foshan that Master Ip Man was the best martial artist in that area. Ip Man is a low key dude who is independently wealthy, so he spends his days training on his own or spending time with friends and family. Many sifus come to his house and ask to spar with him, and he would accept their request only in a closed door session, as not to bring embarrassment to their school.



Ip Man gets even more props in Foshan after he takes down a country bumpkin with crazy skills who comes popping shit from the North (played incredibly well by Fan Siu-Wong). Peep the scene here:







Master Ip truly opens up a calm, cool but calculated can of whoop ass!

After this scene, the movie takes a different turn when Japan invades China in 1937 (the start of the second Sino-Japanse War). Life is changed for everyone in Foshan, even Master Ip and his family. The Japanese military take over his house as headquarters for their men, and he is forced to relocate to a very modest accomodations. Master Ip takes a job working at a coal mine just to support his family.

The Japanese leader in Foshan, General Miura (played by Hiroyuki Ikeuchi), is a skilled karate master who sets up an arena where Chinese martial artists can test their skills against his military trainees. The Chinese get a small bag of rice for each Japanese opponent they defeat. When one of his good friends goes missing after accepting an invite to the arena, Master Ip goes there to investigate. He is enraged when he sees a Japanese solider shoot and kill a fellow Foshan master after he wins a bout against three Japanese.

Ip Man demands a match against 10 men, which makes for one of the best scenes of the whole film. Peep it:







Master Ip's abilities spark the interest of General Miura, who wants to learn more about his skill and to see him fight again.

General Miura eventually finds Master Ip and says he will spare his life if he teaches Chinese martial arts to the Japanese soldiers. Master Ip refuses, and instead challenges the general to a fight. The general accepts the challenge, and the fight is held in public in Foshan's Square.












As the crowd cheers the defeat of the Japanese general, Master Ip is comforted by the sight of his wife and son in the crowd. While the crowd continues to celebrate the Japanese deputy decides to take matters into his own hands and shoots Master Ip. All hell breaks loose in the crowd, and Master Ip and his family are rescued amidst the chaotic aftermath. He survives the gun shot wound and is relocated to Hong Kong with his family. There he will soon open up a Wing Chun school (the focus of the sequel), and his long list of students will include Bruce Lee.





I give Ip Man the classic rating of 5 Fists. Even though it was semi-biographical, it was still great to do the knowledge about the man that taught Bruce Lee. The story line was tight, the fight scenese were top notch (choreographed by the legendary Sammo Hung), even the score was dope! And Donnie Yen has the midas touch, because any movie he touches turns to cinematic gold!
I also conside this a classic because my wife is not a fan of the martial arts genre at all (more of a rom-com type of woman). She usually does not have the patience to watch a movie in Chinese with English subtitles. She was able to successfully watch, follow and thoroughly enjoy Ip Man. As a show of thanks I am making a promise to watch the Sandra Bullock movie of her choice.
Peace & Blessing for now,

Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zen

This week's blog is about the new Donnie Yen joint entitled Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zen. If you didn't know this movie is a follow-up to the 1995 television series Fist of Fury (which also starred Yen). Both this movie and the TV series were based on the 1972 Bruce Lee classic, Fist of Fury.

I am not going to get into a whole plot summary, but rather tell you how I felt about the film. Donnie Yen to me is like the Denzel Washington/Russell Crowe/Robert Deniro of the martial arts genre. While dudes like Tony Jaa make movies with idiotic story lines that sometimes make no sense, Yen keeps making flicks with action and substance. To tell you the truth, I expected more action in this movie. But the intricate story line kept my attention. And there are more than a few beautiful Asian honeys in it, so that is always a plus!!

During the few fight scenes, Yen does not disappoint though. He also served as fight choreographer for the film and he told the media that he included elements of Jeet Kun Do as a tribute to Bruce Lee, the original Chen Zen.

Here is a small taste of what Yen has to offer:



Yen also stated that he used Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and elements of Wing Chun to choreograph the scenes for this flick.

I am going to give Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Yen Four Fists. Donnie Yen rarely disappoints me (pause) because he knows how to make a kick ass fight scene and always seems to pick the movies with the dopest story lines. This movie could have gotten the Five Fist classic status if it had a few more fight scenes in it, but it is most definitely still a must see. Also through a little research I found out that Zhang Ziyi was originally supposed to play the female lead.
That would have definitely given this movie classic status as well. She is fine!

That's it for this week, sorry for the two week absence. I have crazy busy. I got some ideas for the next couple of weeks so keep checking back in.

Which Video Was Better??? Let Me Know.....

I had a busy weekend and had no time to sit down and watch a movie, so I switched up the blog's stee-lo a little bit today.....

2 Hip Hop Videos with a Martial Arts theme. Which one was better?



or



Hit me with some comments.....let me know which video you thought was better....I like both...hard to decide....

Born To Fight

Today I decided to go back to Thailand and watch Born To Fight, a movie released in 2004 that I copped around the time Ong Bak came out, but never got around to watching until now. Born to Fight stars Dan Chupong, who played the Crow Ghost in Ong Bak 2 & 3 and was directed by Panna Rittikrai (Ong Bak 2 & 3).

Born To Fight follows the traditional formula of most Thai Action/Martial Arts films in my opinion; shitty storyline with a few good action/fight scenes.

Chupong is Deaw, a cop who looks like he's 18 and involved in the arrest of a major Thai drug kingpin (referred to as "The General") at the beginning of the film. During the arrest his partner is killed, and then Deaw decides to take a trip with his sister, who is a Taekwondo champion.

The trip stops at a small village where Deaw, his sister, and the various other athletes are giving out things to the poor people of the village. Everything is shiny and happy until a heavily armed militia come in and start wrecking shop.

After a few minutes of shooting, yelling and ranting in Thai we soon learn that the militia are taking the village hostage and are demanding The General be released from prison. They take over all the computer and news transmissions in Thailand and demand he be released or they will kill the village on national television.


Deaw, who plans to escape and come back with help, also finds out that these dudes have other plans. He sees that they have a nuclear missile and plan on blowing up Bangkok. WTF?!?!

Deaw, inspires the villagers and his athletic friends to rise up, fight their enemies and save Thailand.

I am trying to give as brief as a plot rundown as possible, because their really wasn't any. The first 45 minutes of this movie was really horrible.

The last half of the movie is semi-entertaining, because you get to see a few of the athletes (who are really Thai National athletes) strut their stuff. Here are a few clips:



(look at the little girl at the 7:50 mark....one of my favorite parts.....)




(Wait for the 5:19 mark, the one legged dude is kind of nice!!!)

Deaw then fights off one of the Militia (played by the dude was injecting himself in Ong Bak) who is about to launch the nuclear missile (Oh No!). The fight is pretty entertaining, and the missile is redirected to land into the water instead of in the city (Yay!).




(I don't think anyone is going to be eating seafood in Thailand after that explosion....)

I was ready to dish out a horrible review for Born To Fight because so many things were wrong with the film. The story line was cheesy, acting was horrible, the score sounded like the start menu to Street Fighter put on repeat for 90 minutes. When the action did start, it was pretty entertaining. The way they intertwined gymnastics, soccer, rugby, etc. into the fight scenes was kind of cool. Chupong does not have great fighting skills when he is on the ground, but the dude does some pretty nasty flips. I give him credit for that.

I give Born to Fight 2 1/2 Fists. It's unique fight choreography saved what very well could have been a terrible film.

Eight Diagram Pole Fighter--Buddha's Name Be Praised!!!

Peace & Blessings everyone.....another late review......busy weekend....my sincerest apologies....
I went to my DVD Connect and was going to cop something new to review, but didn't see anything worth getting. So I decided to go back to the classics.

Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (also known as Invincible Pole Fighter) is a classic Shaw Brothers film (directed by Liu Chia-Lang) starring Gordon Liu (of Enter the 36 Chambers fame). In this film Liu plays the 5th of 8 brothers in Yang family, a group of well trained soldiers who are known for their service to the government. They are soon betrayed by Pan Mei, a government official who is conspiring with the Mongolian Army. Peep the first scene right here, with the action starting up around the 2:20 mark.



In this epic battle scene 4 of the 7 brothers are brutally murdered as well as their father. The 4th brother is taken prisoner (and strangely never mentioned again), the 6th brother (played by Alexander Fu Sheng, who tragically died during filming) returns home and goes insane, while the 5th brother takes refuge in the Ching Ling Temple.

The monks at the Temple refuse to take in the 5th brother at first, due to his anger and blood soaked past as a solider. After seeing his martial arts skills (particularly with the quarterstaff), the monks decide to let him stay. Here is a scene where 5th Brother begins his training with the monks. The training starts around the 2:57 mark.



The elder monk does a superb job of showing 5th brother how to to take out the wolves, a skill that comes in very handy later in the film.

As the traitor Pan Mei and the Mongols search for 2 Yang Brothers that they failed to murder, they wind up killing a senior monk from the temple and taking a Yang sister hostage. This leads to 5th brother wanting to leave the temple to get revenge. In this scene, 5th Brother proves to the Abbot that he must leave the temple to save his sister.




5th Brother finds Pan Mei and the Mongols, which leads to a gruesome final fight scene. 5th brother and his sister are severely outnumbered, but the monks from the temple (along with the Abbot) come to their aid. When 5th brother questions Abbot coming to fight and breaking the temple's rules, he replies with the classic line "We're driving away wolves." The monks proceed to take out the Mongols like the wooden wolves they trained on.




After the traitor Pan Mei is dealt with accordingly, 5th Brother bounces from his family and the Ching Ling Temple, stating "I have no home now."

Great fucking movie!!! I give Eight Diagram Pole Fighter 5 Fists. It is a grim and angry film that avoids any humorous elements that were common in many of director Lui Chia-Lang's offerings. The fight scenes are well choreographed and quite bloody, especially the brutal finale. Gordon Liu plays one of his most memorable roles, and Alexander Fu Sheng is missed in the final scene. If not for his tragic death, he would have been side by side w Liu in the classic final fight! Eight Diagram Pole Fighter is a must see for all true Martial Arts film lovers.