The Raid: Redemption

The Raid: Redemption is a martial arts movie whittled down to its barest elements. It has a paper-thin plot, absolutely no character development, and remarkably simple costume and set designs. If this film were stripped any more, it would just be a bunch of guys in sweats doing stunts on a bare stage.

That said, what stunts! Yayan Ruhian, a Javanese martial artist (above, right), serves as the action choreographer and plays the role of the villain's enforcer. In the film's climactic fight, two heroes battle Ruhian in an intricately choreographed, precisely performed match that's as beautiful an exhibition as the genre has to offer.

Some cautions: if you aren't a martial arts fan, The Raid: Redemption has little to recommend it. If you've seen Dredd, you've already experienced an outstanding execution of a similar premise. If you love films about redemption, this film has none. If witty dialogue, careful observation, and subtle performance are your bag, look elsewhere.

But if dance movies with fake blood are your thing, The Raid: Redemption offers great routines and blood by the pixelful.  You won't want to miss it.

BKO: Bangkok Knockout

They have universal health care in Thailand, don't they?

I mean, they must. How else can one explain the utter disregard for personal safety exhibited by the cast of BKO: Bangkok Knockout? And I'm not just talking about the injuries they must have sustained while making the picture - they must have gotten on a first-name basis with their orthopedic surgeons just to get good enough at stuntwork to land their roles.

BKO: Bangkok Knockout, you see, is an extraordinary stunt picture. Though its plot is just another rehash of The Most Dangerous Game (with a whole team, as opposed to just one guy, in the crosshairs) and its acting is weak, its stunt work will remind you of the golden age of Hong Kong thrillers, when guys like Jackie Chan would stage an entire fight sequence on a moving bus crashing through a shantytown. This picture has cage fu, car fu, motorcycle fu, sword fu, chick fu, and even dude on fire swinging a burning axe fu. It's very nicely staged and photographed, with long takes and simple shots that show off the remarkable choreography of the various battles, as well as the athleticism and daring of the performers. Further, it rocks right along, with brisk pacing and just enough of a storyline to actually make you care who lives and who dies.

First credit goes to director Pana Rittikrai, who worked as the stunt coordinator on Ong Bak: Muy Thai Warrior, the action supervisor on Chocolate, and the director of Ong Bak 2 & 3.  The man has learned his craft, and he applies his lessons like a master in Bangkok Knockout.  He works with a fearless, first-rate team that literally risk life and limb to create one thrilling stunt sequence after another.  Together with the remainder of the crew, they create a film that delivers everything you could want in a Thai martial arts picture. I just hope it's cast didn't have to spend too much time recovering - I want a sequel!

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame

This is what I’m talkin’ about.

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame is audacious medieval Chinese fun.  When Detective Dee (a kind of ancient Chinese Sherlock Holmes, but with wire-fu) is brought out of prison to investigate the spontaneous combustion of several imperial court officials, the trail will wend through mysterious underground caverns, mystic temples, giant monuments, and even the coronation ceremony for the next (and only, historically) Empress of China.  Along the way, he’ll meet seductive shape-shifters, vampiric magistrates, talking elk, and more assassins than he can shake a mace at.

So what?  Not your bag?  Well, Tsui Hark directed it.  He’s made roughly a million wire-fu movies over the years, and he’s an absolute master of the form.  Sammo Hung choreographed the fights and served as the action director, and Hung (a Chinese Opera School classmate of Jackie Chan’s) is a legend of the genre.  The cast includes luminaries such as Andy Lau (Infernal Affairs, House of Flying Daggers, The Legend of Drunken Master), Carina Lau (2046, Days of Being Wild), and Tony Leung Ka Fai (Election, The Lover, Three … Extremes).  Not only are these folks fine actors, they’re accomplished gymnasts, martial artists, and stuntmen who will impress and delight you with their ability to wow you time and again.

So what I’m talking about here is big-budget, big-fun imperial adventure.  Lots of stuff gets blown up real good; lots of bad guys get kicked in the face; lots of money gets spent on lavish costumes, sets, and CG environments; and it’s all wrapped around a mystery that’s actually mysterious and interesting.

I enjoyed the heck out of this movie.  Even if you don’t think Chinese movies are your bag, give this one a shot: I just don’t see how anyone could not love it.

Tai Chi Master

Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh in a wuxia film directed by Yuen Woo-Ping.

If you’re me, those words were all it took to get Tai Chi Master (1993) in your queue.  If you aren’t me and those names don’t ring a bell, let me explain.  Jet Li is a former Chinese national wushu champion and a no-kidding master of two styles of northern Chinese kung fu.  He made his first film in 1982, at the age of 19, and has been working steadily ever since.  His best film, Fearless (2006), combines first-rate action with a retelling of the Buddha’s journey in a manner both ambitious and profoundly successful.  Michelle Yeoh’s background is in ballet and choreography, and she's applied her training to a string of successful martial arts and action films dating from 1984.  While best known in the West for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, she’s best known to me for jumping a motorcycle onto the roof of a moving train in Police Story III (alternately titled Supercop), thus making her the only stuntperson in history to upstage Jackie Chan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTv7HXqqqXA

Yuen Woo-ping, the film’s director, has directed and/or choreographed some of the most memorable martial arts films ever made, including Drunkenmaster, the Kill Bill movies, and Kung Fu Hustle.  Folks, this is the A Team.

And the A Team delivers.  With Tai Chi Master, they create not just an action film, but a testament to the remarkable athletic feats we humans are capable of achieving.  Yes, the film relies on wires and hidden trampolines and creative editing to make its characters appear superhuman, but those wires are attached to real people bouncing off real trampolines and making it all look, if not exactly natural, then credible.  I marveled at these performers’ flexibility, speed, endurance, and grace.  I loved how Yuen shot them, I enjoyed the complexity of their choreographed fights, and I lost track of time for the hour and a half it took for Tai Chi Master to tell its story of medieval China.

Jet Li.  Michelle Yeoh.  Yuen Woo-ping.  They’re as good as human beings can be at what they do, and Tai Chi Master showcases them beautifully.  Enjoy.

Legend of the Fist: Return of Chen Zhen

Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen is an outstanding kung fu picture and an outstanding bit of agitprop.

Donnie Yen (the Ip Man films, the Iron Monkey films, Blade II, Hero, Shanghai Knights) follows in the footsteps of Bruce Lee and Jet Li as the titular hero in this third Chen Zhen film (Lee originated the role in Fist of Fury and Li played him in Fist of Legend.).  Yen, gifted with extraordinary speed and agility, is a formidable martial artist and a charismatic performer.  Through a combination of world-class editing, practical stunts, wirework, and seamlessly executed CGI, Legend of the Fist turns him into a just-that-side-of-superhuman hero.  The film puts him into a variety of brilliantly choreographed fights, one of which even includes a “tribute to Bruce Lee” nunchuck bit that brought a huge smile to my face.  Oh, and bonus: Yen can act!  Shu Qi (The Transporter, So Close) plays the love interest and, well, I’d watch her fold laundry for 90 minutes.  Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, (Vengeance, the Infernal Affairs movies), plays a sympathetic nightclub owner, and he’s steadily rising in my estimation.  I’m going to start looking for movies on the strength of his name.  Director Andrew Lau (the really quite good Infernal Affairs movies) knows how to direct action, and he knows how to direct acting.  He’s created a very slick, very good, very professional kung movie.  I loved it on those merits alone.

But Legend of the Fist has a whole other thing going on.  Chen Zhen’s story takes place during the period of Chinese history called the Warlord Era, between World Wars One and Two.  The once-proud nation was divided and weak and easy prey for both Western powers, who sought commercial exploitation, and Japan, who wanted an empire.  Anyone who wants to understand contemporary Chinese political thought and international strategy needs to understand this time -- it has become a touchstone of Chinese identity.  This was the time when the proud kingdom was on its knees, when tiny Japan maligned it as the “weak man of Asia.” When Legend of the Fist begins, Chen Zhen and his comrades are in Europe, fighting WWI with the Allied Powers.  The film tells us they had no military training and were sent as laborers, digging trenches and hauling ammunition.  Of course, they get shot and blown up just easily as the white men carrying the rifles.  When the war concludes, China’s ignored in Versailles and its erstwhile allies look the other way as Japan begins its conquest.  Chen Zhen becomes a resistance leader, fighting the evil Japanese and standing up for Chinese national pride.  He and his allies humiliate the Japanese.  They humiliate the corrupt English police chief who, when humbled, mumbles an American-inflected “whatever.”  Chen Zhen, thus, becomes a symbol of modern Chinese nationalism, of a nation fighting complacent Western and Western-allied powers for respect.  Chen Zhen wins.

I imagine this goes over hugely well with Chinese audiences and, for that matter, with the Chinese government.  But you don’t have to be Chinese to groove on the fantastic action, the very good performances, and the intellectual exercise of analyzing nationalist film’s place in modern China.  I thought Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen was fantastic.  If you like this genre, I think you’ll love it, too.

Ip Man

Ip Man is the best martial arts films I’ve seen Ong Bak: Muy Thai Warrior.

Donnie Yen (who grew up in Hong Kong and Boston) plays Ip Man, the fellow who invented Wing Chun Kung Fu and who, years after the events of this film, taught Bruce Lee.  Here, he’s a prosperous gentleman in the Chinese town of Foshan.  Foshan is a center of martial arts education, and he’s respected as the greatest practitioner around.  Oh, and he’s also a great guy, always willing to help a friend and going out of his way to avoid embarrassing those who would challenge him.

And then the Japanese invade.

And that’s all I’m going to say about the plot, except to tell you that this isn’t the “brave resistance leader” movie I expected.  Ip Man knows that punches and kicks aren’t much good against machine guns, and he’ll be happy if he can just figure out how to keep his family alive through the occupation.  That isn’t to say that there are no punches and kicks, just that they’re carefully set up and they happen for a reason.  Ip Man’s fights may be fun and cool in the beginning of the film, when everything’s generally ok, but they take on considerable dramatic weight after the Japanese show up.  I found myself not just grooving on the choreography and execution, but emotionally engaged in each battle and worried for their outcomes.

Look, you know and I know that the world is full of great dramatic films.  You want to know if Ip Man works as a martial arts picture.  It does, and here’s why:  Sammo Hung, who choreographed and directed the fighting sequences, has been doing this for a long time: he was one of Jackie Chan’s classmates in Peking Opera School, a brutally difficult academy that takes athletic kids and turns them into adults capable of amazing feats of grace and violence.  Hung went on perform in a career’s worth of films and television programs (including a short-lived American cop show), and today he divides his time between performing and directing.  Donnie Yen, the film’s star, has performed against martial arts luminaries such as Jet Li in Hero and Jackie Chan in Shanghai Knights.  In other words, we’re talking about an action director and a star who both know what they’re doing (We expect the opponent stuntmen to know their craft.  Ability to execute stunts is their calling card, while Hero Character actors also need to look good, be able to emote reasonably well, etc.  Sometimes, for Hero Characters, stuntwork ability comes in second.).  This assurance translates into fight scenes that actually make sense, with long takes that allow us to see and appreciate the work and the artistry that the performers bring to the production. 

So what we’re talking about here is a movie with dramatic heft and first rate martial arts action.  Add excellent production values and historical resonance, and we have a recipe for success.  Ip Man is a winner.

Mortal Kombat

Recently, a friend asked whether all films I like make me suspend belief. I responded that I hesitate to say that all films I like do one thing or another, but that yes, that’s generally the case.

MORTAL KOMBAT is among the reasons why I hesitated. This film is so poorly acted, so lazily choreographed and shot, so lame in so many ways that it requires an act of conscious will to suspend one’s disbelief for its running time. I love it anyway.

Here’s why: there’s a bit during which Johnny Cage, who is essentially Jean Claude Van Damme, is fighting a villain who can make lizard heads on chains fly from his palms. The fight begins in a beautiful grove, then magically transports to a kickass set that appears to be made of old sailing ship parts, plaster skeletons, cobwebs, and red gel lights. Cage lays down the fu just fine, but then he finds a pullup bar conveniently placed near a platform. He goes on to do a full Tribute to Gymkata, flips onto a platform, then does a nifty jumpkick to the villain’s head. That’s just awesome. Later in the fight, the villain turns into a flaming skeleton, a la GHOST RIDER, which is also awesome. Then Cage finds a way to blow up the flaming skeleton and does a classic “leap away from the rear projection fireball.” Among the debris that comes fluttering down is, you guessed it, an autographed photo of Johnny Cage, inscribed to his “Biggest Fan.” I say that if your biggest fan is a recently exploded flaming skeleton, then your career is going GREAT!

So yeah, it’s lame. Christopher Lambert is a lousy Basil Exposition. Robin Shou spends too much time on his hair. Bridgette Wilson, Talisa Soto, and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa are terrible actors. The fu isn’t good enough to merit long takes. But Linden Ashby (as Cage) acquits himself well; the creature design, particularly for the multiarmed warrior Goro, is quite good; the sets and locations are fantastic and beautiful; and the soundtrack is thumpin’.

All things considered, MORTAL KOMBAT is way more fun than it has any right to be.

Ong Bak: Muy Thai Warrior

I can't decide which sentence to use for my opening salvo, so please just imagine that you're reading the following two lines simultaneously:

Oh my God.

ONG BAK: MUY THAI WARRIOR is better than ENTER THE DRAGON.

To paraphrase Roger Ebert, this film is 107 minutes long. Seven of those minutes are devoted to the plot, which exists to give our hero, Tony Jaa, a maguffin to pursue through the mean streets of Bangkok. The other 100 minutes contain extraordinary fights, the best footchase ever committed to film, and even a tuk-tuk race. Tony Jaa is a revelation, drawing comparisons to Jackie Chan for the pure creativity and exuberance of his stunt work, and this movie had me exclaiming "Oh my God!", "How is that possible?", and "Did you see that?" more often than a sailor on Phu Ket shore leave.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not questioning ENTER THE DRAGON's quality, importance to film history, or contributions to the screenwriter's hall of fame, Mr. Han-Man. I'm saying that ONG BAK has more action per reel, doesn't bother with the cheesy James Bond storyline, and features stunts so tightly choreographed and executed that Bruce Lee himself would approve.

Tony Jaa is the real deal - no wonder both Chan and Jet Li want to work with him. I can't wait to see what he does next.

Red Trousers

You may remember Robin Shou from MORTAL KOMBAT, a fun-filled cheesefest from the mid-'90s. He played Liu Kang, the hero, and his skill at stuntwork was eclipsed only by his consistently great hair.

Well, Shou still has great hair, and he's still deeply involved in the stuntman's craft. With RED TROUSERS, he has directed a documentary about the lives of Hong Kong stuntmen, their roots in Chinese Opera, and the challenges they face as they ply their craft. It's an interesting film with the requisite number of talking heads and archival clips, but what makes it really fun is its use of a terrible movie-within-the-movie to illustrate how the sweat and pain of stuntwork delivers delivers those sequences that make the audience go, "Ooof! That's gotta hurt!" Will the general viewer find RED TROUSERS particularly engaging? Probably not, but fans of Hong Kong action pictures might want to give it a spin.