Review 8. Hong Kong Fury

Hong Kong Fury. So whats it all about.... well its a trailer disc. I managed to snag from a pound shop with a three part ninja series called Ninja Tiger, which Stars Alex Lou Rei (possibly Ninja final duel 12 hour pieces, as the titles are aka's).

Well i can tell you that this was quite a pleasant little package. Suprisingly all of the trailers are presented in widescreen fully scoped and look to be taken from original (and very beat up) cinema reels. Better than the 4th gen vhs sources i was expecting. Between each trailer there is a voice over telling info on actors ect. The voice over is done by none other than the Rozar!!!!!!!! No Jokes! He must be part of a wu tang clan tribute act or something. Anyway the disc has a nice range of shapes and new wave trailers, 22 in total.

-Shaolin Temple against Lama-probably my favourite of the disc.

-The super Ninja

-Tigercage

-18 secrets of kung fu

-Superpower

-10 magnificent killers

-8 masters

-Two on the road- presented in this trailer as Thundering Mantis part 2!

-Cheeky Chap

-Mysterious Footworks of kung fu

-Tiger over the wall

-Drunken arts and Crippled fists

-Dragon Fist

-Shaolin Wooden Men

-Kids from Shaolin a.k.a Shaolin Temple 2

-Magic Crystal

-Thundercop a.k.a Operation pink 2- This one is crazy, with a flying head that melts and explodes has to be seen to be beleived.

-Dragon From Russia-Another top trailer.

-Na Cha the Great

-Fury of the Shaolin Master a.k.a Master and the Kid

-True Game of Death

and finally Goodbye Bruce Lee, his last Game of Death.

Overall:

3.5 out of 5

Picture:

All the trailers are presented letterboxed, most at about 2.35:1. All suffer from grain and stratches with some being very beat up and other not so. Nothing that you wouldn't expect from the source material. Overall very impressive.

3 out of 5

Sound:

No real problem with the sound, all trailers are presented in English dubbed, some minor background hiss nothing noticable.

3 out of 5

Extras:

Menu and a scene selection, thats all.

0 out of 5

This is a release that really suprised me and is definately worth the price i paid, if you can find it for cheap then i can't urge you to get it enough.

Review 6. Hero (1997)

A good new wave movie if i ever saw one! This is a shaw brothers outing from 1997, way after the studio had been shut down and it really does make you ask the question why did the studio die out all them years ago.

A solid cast steer the way fro what is a pretty solid action flick. Takeshi Kaneshiro plays Ma Wing Jing, a poor youngster who has just moved to Shanghai from Shangtung with his brother, hoping to become rich and happy within the city. When Wing meets up with top British backed mobster Tam See, played exceedingly well by actor Yuen Biao, Wing quickly climbs the ladder of the triad world, mainly thanks to his increadible kung fu skills.

Things start to heat up when rival police backed triad Yang Shuang (Yuen Tak), tries to take back the turf which was stole from him. Throw in Valerie Chow as the deadly femme fatal Yam Yueng and things really begin to boil.

When Both Tam and Wing are set up and nearly killed they have to take back Shanghai once and for all from the grip of Yang.

This movie definately prospers from a strong script. And some solid action by director Corey Yuen. The early 1930's settings go down a treat, seeing that triads dressed in traditional American gangster gear of the era and locations full of arty deccor. The film itself is somewhat of a remake of Chang Cheh's 1972 classic Boxer from Shangtung. The films main highlights come form Yuen Biao who as ever is on top fighting form and really pulls out the punchs, his alley way brawl against a gang of killer axe men is tighly put together and fun scene and the movies finale with its mix of gun action and acrobatic fighting is a scenes that offers some cool thrills for new wave and genral movie junkies alike. The violence is pretty intense at time with lots and lots of blood sprays and nasty weapon wounds.

Definately a top movie and this is coming from someone who isn't the biggest new wave fan. The elements of Heroic bloodshed wash up nicely with this solid title.

Overall:

4 out of 5

The disc i am reviewing is the now out of print uk region 2 PAL version, released by Metrodome distribution Ltd. A company that i have never brought from before, but a pretty good package in my opinion. This version is completely uncut.

Picture:

The movie is presented in it original 1.85:1 widescreen apsect ration. Non- Anamorphic.

There is speckle and minor print damage throughout nothing to really note though. The colours are fantastic and so are the contrast levels. The dvd is obviously taken from a cinema print, which looks like it was barely used. speckle aside i would say that the quality is near digitally remastered.

4.5 out of 5

Sound:

Original Cantonese soundtrack, very clear, no noticable background hiss or pops. The English subtitles are burnt onto the print along with Chinese subs abouve. The subtitles are fairly well translated considering the quality of most print subs. Some times the subs timing is to fast but this aside not problems.

3 out of 5

Extras:

Two original trailers are provide, the chinese and English Language export. Both are pretty cool trailers. A nice stills gallery is also provided, this consists of over 40 film stills. Additionally cast and crew information is also privded.

2 out of 5

Overall:

Suprisingly good disc and a fun movie, if your a Yuen Biao or Corey Yuen fan this is a must see. Also its a shaws flick so you know it isn't going to be a waste of your time.

Review 5. The Big Family

This movie starts off quite nicely with it being the birthday of one of hong kongs most respected familys father. Played by enter the dragon villian Shek Kin. We soon learn of the familys trouble with one son addicted to drugs and the other a trouble causing rebel. Things really kick off when the rebel son beats a top fighter in a tv hosted pre tournament event, meaning that the orangiser has to call the whole thing off, to bad he is also a mob boss.

Soon trouble begins and before long things esculate until the whole family is dragged in, having to be pitted against the mob leaders men in fist fights to the death.

No to bad of a movie with stars like Tino Wong and Bolo adding small roles for this offering from Goldig films. The movies major flaw is that the pacing isn't to quick and this leads to a pretty dry experience through most of the movie. The films does redeam itself in the last 20 odd mintues with what becomes a pretty solid ending. The basher action is swift and heavy, with a final bout against a japanese style fighter in which all the male members of the family fight to bring him down. Quite enjoyable ending aside this film isn't great, but i wouldn't call it a waste of money.

2 out of 5

The dvd i've reviewed is the vengeance video region 0 PAL version.

Picture:

Worn colours and print. Presented in fullscreen aspect ratio cropping is apparent and at times annoying. The darker scenes in the movie are hard to make out with contrast levels being lower than average. Still a watchable movie though.

2 out of 5

Sound:

English dubbed sound option, with all the hiss and pop you would expect, nothing distracting. The first five minutes of the English track are missing, but thankfully vengeance has provide us with well translated subtitles for the begining section of the film. Also included is the full Mandarin track

2 out of 5

Extras:

All thats included are promotional trailers for The Dragons snake fist and Furious Ultimatum, which looks completely kick ass.

1 out of 5

Overall:

Not the best flick you will ever see but basher fans will still get something out of the last 20 mintues.

Review 4. A Hero's Tears

This review was orignally posted on the flashlegsrare forums review section. All information on the dvd itself is new.

Ummm...the smell of just opening a new DVD. A nice sent if i ever smelt one. I ordered this movie based on a single still i saw some time ago and didn't really have any idea of the films content. As soon as i read the back of the box and saw yet more images i was a little hyped at what looked like it could be a small, decently bugetted slice of kung fu and swordplay.The film opens with two men waiting for someone in nice looking studio set. Ling Yun suddenly appears playing the feared assassin 'Three Days life'. After a nice piece of action unfolds in which both villians are killed. upon death we get to see a cold blood splatter effect. The title credits role.So after the first five minute my expectations of this movie went up a knotch or two yet again. The story revolves around Three days life's attempt to find a cure for his sisters blindness, having to work as an extreamly proffesional assassin to do so. Along the way Pai Sha Fungs character wants to help our hero; deluded by the reality and real motives behind his life. Upon finding the truth though he forms a strong bond with Three day's sister. And so he decides to help him in his quest for her cure. After the amazing titles though the movie does take a rather unnecessary turn for the worse. With the first thirty mintues containing some uneeded comedic elements that really don't fit what turns into quite a serious movie. This aside the film soon blossoms into a full delight to watch. The costumes and sets are real eye candy. Up there with the shaw swordplay movies in terms of the asthetic of the studio settings, which really reminded me of the beautiful ones that were used in Death Duel.

The character become very relevant to the story rather than just action as there are true motives to there acts and real morals to there lives. From thirty mintues onwards into the film the story really starts to map out with good pacing and a plot the unvolves with the nice action to match. There is small emthesis on wire works during the main course of the film, with little use during the action, but when inplaced used professionally and efficiently. As the movies come to a close, the plot comes together nicely and the ending has a real adrenaline running through it. The ending fight is very well done and is where the wire works really come into play, again used extreamly well. The inclusion of some interesting techniques and camera effects add more substantce to an already fantastic sequence, the ending also has a down beat tone to sourer the postitive happening that went previous to it. Some out of place comedy and minor unnecessary stuff aside, this movie really turned into a suprise hit and is worth a viewing most definately. Other notes to make are that the dubbing really did not fit the mood of the film, so after watching the dub and knowing the story i decided to watch this with with the original mandarin language option, which unfortunately is missing the subs.To conclude A heroes tear is a sleeper hit which i can say is worth your time as a fan and is definately as is so well written by flashlegs 'swordplay action with class.'

3.5 out of 5

The DVD reviewed is of the vengeance video region 0 PAL version. And is avalible at a buget price at most online retailers.

Video:
Good picture quality over, presented in fullscreen aspect. Cropping is at times noticable but never a problem. It is obvious that the film has been taken from two master, one with pretty low contrast and the other with print damage. Lots of speckle and marks throught out but again never a problem and nothing that will suprise kung fu fans.
2.5 out of 5

Sound:
Two sound options are provided, the English dubbed soundtrack, which is clear and suffers from only minor hiss. Also provided is the original Mandarin track, with a lack of subtitles on this disc most fans will probably discard this, but still it is a nice extra and i think it is fantastic that vengeance video provide these things rather than have them be lost somewhere over time.
3.5 out of 5

Extras:
Included on the disc is a picture of the movies original poster, also we are provided with a trailer gallery which contains original trailers for invincible armour, 18 shaolin riders and Iron neck Li.
More than you should expect from a bugdet title.
2 out of 5

Overall:
A good movie that i really enjoyed gets a pretty decent release, worth the money and a flick that many fans will find interesting.

Review 3. Duel of the 7 Tigers.

I can't beleive that it has taken me this long to give this film a look, it really is one of the genres unmentioned classics. The movie is brought to you by the people behind genre classic snake in the monkeys shadow, why this movie isn't better known is a complete mystery.
The flick is made up from an all star cast, including Cliff Lok as the hero, Philip Ko Fei as the karate expert villian. And what i consider the biggest treat of all is Charlie Chan as the monkey style expert.
The Opening credits give us a run down of the actors and their real life achievments in training teaching and competions, the movie was funded by the Hong Kong kung fu federation so many of the cast are experts and this movie could be seen as a way of promoting their styles.
The story begins in shaolin, the chief Abbott has just died and with no will left, the two best monks must fight each other to determine who will lead shaolin.
The losing monk travels to an island off the coast of Japan and begins his own school and style which becomes Karate.
Philip Ko his top student comes to China to prove Karate as the top martial art. He defeats all fighters. Cliff Lok with help from friends travels in search of masters in the hope of defeating the karate expert. They recruit masters in a number of styles, when faced against the karate champ they are all crippled. They decide to teach all their styles to Cliff Lok so that he can combine them to defeat his enemy.

The movie just doesn't let up through out. Non stop action is the order of the day and it really deleivers the goods. The first fight between the shaolin monks is superbly chorographed and sets the standard for those to come. I love animal styles and with the good monk adopting the monkey style the fight is nothing less than brilliant. As the movie progresses with see masters of lama, choy lee fat, hung, wing chun and dragon display their skills. It really is quite impressive seeing all these different styles packed into a single film. The training scenes are fantastic as well, watching Cliff Lok learn monkey style from Charlie Chan is a marvel. And Yeung Pan Pan is on top form as the female fighter. Not to mention that Casonova Wong Pulls in a great martial display and role as usual.
The ending showdown between Philip Ko and Cliff Lok is top ranking, lost somewhere between showcasing of shapes action and real life martial techniques.
This movie deserves recognition, definately an unsung classic.

5 out of 5.

The version which i have reviewed is the Eastern Heroes vhs tape. There is a offical uk dvd release from vengeance video, From what i have seen of this the sound and picture quality are both good it is presented in full screen. It sounds like a copy worth getting as the eastern heroes vhs has been out of print for a long time.

Picture:
Presented slightly letterboxed with small bars at the top and bottom of the screen. Good quality picture, colours are strong and contast levels are good. Eastern heroes were well known as a company that meant quality and love fro the genre. Overall this is a good version, specially when you take into consideration vhs kung fu quality.

Sound:
English dubbed, Clear and easy to hear. Slight crackle and hiss. And a low level background buzz through out, this never proves distracting of annoying.

Extras:
Vhs so none what so ever.

Overall:

A good release from a good company, a genre classic all collectors should own. Worth getting the vengeance dvd copy as even if it is full screen the vhs is only very slightly letterboxed so aspect difference is only marginal.

Review 2. The Dynamite Trio

Crap, bloody crap! IFD and Joseph Lai present....After seeing countless cheap ninja movies made up from several pictures spliced together released under this company, it's never a nice experience to see that screen appear. But a crappy ninja cheapie this movie is not.

I love sleeper hits, there is just something very pleasant about watching a movie that isn't widely acknowledged only to find that it is a good slice of kung fu action.


I'll be blunt in saying that this movie doesn't add anything new to the genre, it follows the same generic code as hundreds of kung fu comedy movies but don't let this put you off what is a quite fun little picture.
The story of our hero played by Mark Long revolves around his urge to learn kung fu and when a secret mannual finds it way into his hands he learns the lot and manages to master the secret mantis technique. Problems start when killer Lung Fei arrives and starts taking heads! Our heroes father is killed and he has to team up with the mantis master and his student for revenge.

The movie pans out at a good pace and the slapstick action is performed like most: bennyhill slapstick style, slipping on bannan skins ect. The action is really tight which is what makes this movie worth watching. On a personal level i love to see the use of animal styles and hand to hand trickery, mantis style being one of my favourite forms. This movie provides all of these at a good level.
The end fight see's a master against villian and then later a two on one against the baddy. Throughout it's solid shapes on show all the time. Mark Long puts in a fun performance as the lead and shows his skills in every fight. If light comedy and good fights are what you look for in your kung fu movies then this one most definately delivers on these factors. A solid three star movie.
3 out of 5



The DVD:
the review you just read was of the vengeance video UK release. The movie is uncut running at 88 minutes approx. There is a faults on the dvd, this being that the movie plays for about 100 mintues, with about 12 mintues of black screen after the film is over, as you can imagine though this is not a problem. Acceptable at a budget price tag.

Picture:
The Quality of the picture is nice a clear throughout, with some speckle and scratches. Presented in full screen aspect ratio cropping does become noticalbe at times, but never proves annoying. There is a widescreen copy is cirulation amoungst collectors and i would say that it is worth seeking out.

Sound:
Stereo sound is fine, some background hiss but nothing distracting, sound effects come through strong and clear.

Extras:
This is a budget release so only a fullscreen trailer for the movie is present, still this is a nice addition to the disc.

Over all it is sufficient to say this is an average release for a good movie, vengeance deliver another good disc to the fans for a good price. If it sounds right up your street that is because it is.

Review 1. Hitman in the Hand of Buddha.

Hwang Jang Lee as a good guy!! Now if that isn't an interesting draw to a kung fu flick then i don't know what is.

As far as the story goes nothing new or groundbreaking, Rubber legs comes to town looking for work. But trouble is brewing between the towns two rival rice businesses, things get messy and Hwangs Brother in law is murdered and his sister raped, after which she kills herself. Which means only one thing to our hero, vengeance.

Eddie Ko plays the villian, Uncle 33. As always he is well suited to the role and his use of animal styles is magnificent. Tino Wong of invincible Armour fame plays the secoundary villian role and pretty much spends the movie getting some harsh beatings. This aside he is given one of the films best scenes, where he and Hwang face off agianst each other in a resturant. Classic use of kung fu hand trickery, mixing snake, tiger, eagles claw and chopsticks together to made a truely eye popping display of crafty hand based shapes.

Fab Mei San also has a role as a good willed beggar who helps Hwang along the way despite the regular conflictions that they have.

The final showdown between Eddie Ko and Hwang Jang Lee definately ticks all the right boxes. The use of staffs at the beginning of the scene is a nice touch, and Hwang shows he hasn't lost any of his touch since Hell'z Windstaff.

After some nice staff action we switch to Eagles Claw, with both actors proving there worth in the style. Of course by the end Hwang has switched to his legs and starts kicking up in the way only the true silver fox can. With a three kicks to the chest while still in the air finishing blow this consolidates the movie is a solid slice of puritian shapes. Recomended.

There is also a korean edit of the movie in circulation that features some different scenes to that show in the dubbed version, if you like the movie then the alternate cut is worth seeking out.

movie rating: 4 out of 5.


About the Disc:
This is the Eastern Heroes now out of print disc that contains both the original and rare korean version editted by Hwang Jang Lee himself.

Picture:
Both Versions are presented in 1.85:1 non-anamorphic aspect. The Picture quality in the English version is top notch as far as old skool KF flicks go. Lots of noticable grian and lines but it looks as like it has been taken from cinema reels. Contrast and colours a fine.
The Korean version isn't so good, taken from a vhs master with occasion tracking lines, worn out and somewhat low colours and contrast, still this is a rare print and the only elements known in existence so not to much to complain about.
English version: 4 out of 5 Korean version: 2 out of 5


Sound:
The English dub is nice and clear some hiss but nothing distracting or that noticable, The Korean version has a bit more hiss than the dub but still nothing distracting. remastered non removable subs are not the best translation or timing i've seen and as a whole pretty shoddy.
English Version: 2.5 out of 5 Korean Version: 2 out of 5

Extra's on this disc consist of a nice original trailer and a 4 minute segment on Hwang Jang Lee taking from a documentary. Also Included are some brief bio's on the cast and crew. The extras are finished off with trailers for top fighter, snake in the eagles shadow, the victim and drunken master.
2 out of 5


Over all the disc is pretty solid, specially when you consider the quality of most KF releases, having the korean version is a very nice addition to the package, despite the fact it is now out of print it is relitively easy to pick this up off of Amazon or ebay for a good price.

Intro.

welcome fans. In this upcoming week i intent to post up a few reviews of some genre classics, Still in the early stages of working this blog so be sure to check back and see whats new.