Legend Of The Wolf (1997) - A Review

 

Legend Of The Wolf gives us a glimpse of Donnie Yen's brilliance before he became a megastar.

Legend Of The Wolf (also known as The New Big Boss and The Big New Boss) is a Hong Kong martial arts movie released in 1997 and stars Donnie Yen, Dayo Wong Chi-Wah, Carman Lee Yeuk-Tung, Edmond Leung Hon-Man, and Ben Lam Kwok-Bun. It was directed, produced, and co-written by Donnie Yen; with action choreographed by Donnie Yen, Tony Tam Chun-To, Mak Wai-Cheung, and Bill Lui Tak-Wai.

Wai (Dayo Wong, left) and Wolf/Fung Man Hin (Donnie Yen).

In Legend Of The Wolf, a young determined man, Ben (played by Edmond Leung Hon-Man) is looking for Wolf (played by Donnie Yen), a legendary assassin. He meets up with Wai (played by Dayo Wong Chi-Wah), who takes Ben to meet Wolf in his office. When Ben sees Wolf, who is old and sleeping at his desk, he is not very impressed. Wai (and eventually Wolf) then tells Ben about Wolf's life...

Through flashbacks, we find out that Wolf came to Wai's poor village in search of a temple. Wai volunteers to take him to the temple, and they become friends. Wolf has amnesia, and all he can remember was that he was a soldier and that he was supposed to meet someone at the temple. Throughout this time, bandits keep attacking Wai and Wolf, and we see that Wolf is an expert fighter. After getting injured in a fight, Wolf reunites with the person he was looking for, but his amnesia makes their reunion bittersweet. As you can imagine, people are looking for Wolf, and they find him in the village. Wolf has to fight these bandits to protect the people he loves...

Carman Lee (left) as Wai-Yee. She and Wolf have a past...

Legend Of The Wolf is the first full Donnie Yen movie I ever bought and watched back in the late 1990s. I bought the VHS tape (it was called The New Big Boss) and excitedly watched it. Not going to lie, I was disappointed. Back then, I was always looking for VHS movies in their correct aspect ratios (so on 4:3 TVs, they would have black bars on the top and bottom of the screen; despite those bars, the whole screen of the movie is shown this way). The New Big Boss was pan and scan, and the picture quality was only okay, not great. Now, why was this movie disappointing? Because of the full screen/pan and scan picture, a lot of the action was hard to see. All you would see was a lot of fists and weapons swinging up close, but you wouldn't see the effect of the moves (you couldn't see who was hitting who). The fight scenes were confusing and a let down. I recently found this movie on American streaming service Tubi, in its correct aspect ratio, so I decided to give it another shot. Does the movie hold up?

Legend Of The Wolf is way, way better than I remember it being! I was actually blown away by how good it was! The story is intriguing (there are a few twists in there), the main characters are interesting, and the action is really good. The movie is never boring and goes by pretty quickly. The actors play their parts well (Ben Lam as the final boss is instantly hateable as soon as he appears; it's amazing actually). This is a serious, dramatic movie for the most part, but there is a little bit of comedy (mainly provided by Dayo Wong Chi-Wah as Wai). The movie has a message, which I feel was conveyed well, but I will leave it up to you to make your own judgement on that.

Donnie Yen is unstoppable in this movie!

The action in Legend Of The Wolf is fast, furious, and hard-hitting. This movie is pretty bloody and violent as well. Seeing as this was a Donnie Yen movie in the 90s, you can expect that the fight scenes are sped up big time. At least in this movie, only certain parts of the fight scenes are sped up. All of the weapons choreography and the rapid-fire punches are sped up to the max, while more of Donnie Yen's varied offense goes at a more normal speed (he's still swift, though). There are also a lot of quick cuts, which may cause you to lose track of where the characters are in relation to each other, and confusion over what's actually happening in the fight. The fights are shot and edited very similar to The Blade (1995) or Ashes Of Time (1994), but I think the fights in Legend Of The Wolf are more coherent than in those movies. The choreography in this movie is not at the level of a Yuen Woo-ping or Sammo Hung, but it is still exciting. Donnie shows off all his awesome kicks in this, and man does he know how to make them look awesome on film. All of the fights in this movie are good...except for maybe the first one (it's a weapons fight), and they are all different from each other. Donnie's fight against the monkey style kung fu fighter is probably the best in this movie, while the final fight is the most emotional (for obvious reasons). Depending on your fight scene preferences, you may enjoy the fight scenes in this movie or you will absolutely despise them.

I recommend watching Legend Of The Wolf. It's got an interesting story, likeable protagonists, and lots of violent and bloody action. A lot of the reviews I read said this movie offers nothing new; it's full of cliches and terrible fight scenes. I don't know, the movie was deep enough for me, and the action was pretty awesome (though I admit to not liking the fight scenes when I first watched it decades ago). I think Donnie Yen did a pretty good job in his movie directorial debut. Directing this movie was the first step in him becoming the martial arts movie megastar he was always meant to be. Check it out, you may like it!

Reviewed by David Williams

[Fight Scene Friday] TO LIVE & DIE LIKE A MAN

 This week's Fight Scene Friday™ scene is a short film from Leroy Nguyen and his Rising Tiger crew! The fight scenes in this one are filmed and edited in the Korean style, which Rising Tiger Films specializes in. I think this a pretty good short film, not only because of the action, but because of the acting and story. Really good stuff! Check it out!

 

MR-9: Do or Die - Teaser Trailer (2023)

 Check out the trailer for MR-9: Do or Die, an action movie from Bangladesh starring ABM Sumon, Michael Jai White, Niko Foster, Frank Grillo, Sakshi Pradhan, Oleg Prudius (formerly known as WWE wrestler Vladimir Kozlov), and Dalip Singh (formerly known as The Great Khali in WWE). Here is the synopsis (taken from the YouTube description):

Based on the highly popular Bangladeshi spy novel series Masud Rana. With a code name of MR-9 (ABM SUMON) is a very highly skilled and veteran spy for the BCI, with a muddled past, he is chosen to join forces with an elite group of International Espionage Agents, set up by the CIA operatives Duke (Michael Jai White) and Taylor (Niko Foster) for a joint operation, including an Indian spy Devi (Sakshi Pradhan) in the mix. Together they race against the clock with the mission to stop an international terrorist attack targeted for Las Vegas, organized by RNR, a high tech corporation run by Roman Ross (Frank Grillo) and his insidious plan to change the current world order.

I don't know, I think this movie looks pretty good! Gives me James Bond vibes (I am a Daniel Craig James Bond fan). I really want to see this one! I hope it's as good as the teaser trailer makes it out to be! MR-9: Do or Die comes out during Eid al-Adha (which is June 28-30, 2023).

Here is the link if it doesn't play on this post: MR-9: Do or Die Teaser Trailer

 

The Flash - Official Trailer 2

 Here is the second official trailer for The Flash! What else can be said? This looks so good! I need to see this NOW! It comes out on my birthday, so... it'll be a birthday I'm actually looking forward to!

The Flash comes out June 16, 2023!

 

A Company Man (2012) - A Review

 

A Company Man is an excellent action movie!

A Company Man is an action movie released in South Korea in 2012 and stars So Ji-sub, Lee Mi-yeon, Kwak Do-won, Jeon Guk-hwan, Kim Dong-jun, Han Bo-bae, and Lee Geung-young. The movie was written and directed by Lim Sang-Yoon, with Jae-Min Shin as action coordinator.

Ji Hyeong-do, played by So Ji-sub. He is an expert assassin not to be messed with!

In A Company Man, So Ji-sub plays Ji Hyeong-do, an expert assassin rising up the ranks at his company. His superior, Kwon Jong-tae (played by Kwak Do-won) treats Hyeong-do rather rudely, so Hyeong-do usually answers him with, "I'm sorry, sir". Their top boss, Chairman Jeon, (played by Jeon Guk-hwan) has very high hopes and expectations for Hyeong-do. It seems Hyeong-do is enjoying his life; his boss likes him and most everyone at the company respect him. It turns out, he is thinking of quitting. He asks a former colleague, Ban Ji-hoon (played by Lee Geung-young) what he should do. Ji-hoon say whether Hyeong-do quits or stays at his job, he will always be a company man...

One day, Hyeong-do is on an assignment with a young temp, Ra Hoon (played by Kim Dong-jun), who tells him about his plans for the money he is making working these types of jobs. After Ra Hoon successfully eliminates his targets, Hyeong-do takes him out. Before Hyeong-do eliminates him,though, Ra Hoon asks a favor of him. Hyeong-do obliges and goes to Ra Hoon's house to give his mother all the money he was saving up. Hyeong-do becomes smitten with Yu Mi-yeon (played by Lee Mi-yeon), and can't stop thinking about her...

Hyeong-do's crush on Mi-yeon causes him to become careless on an assignment. Hyeong-do and Mi-yeon begin to have a romantic relationship, and Hyeong-do finally seems to be happy. Later on, Hyeong-do does not do what is asked of him by the company, and the police are suspicious of him since he was seen with Ra Hoon before he committed the murders; and this causes Hyeong-do to become the next target of the company he works for. Things go terribly wrong, and Hyeong-do becomes determined to take the whole company down.

Ji Hyeong-do and Yu Mi-yeon get along really well.

A Company Man is a dark thriller that examines South Korean work culture through the life of a hitman. You see Hyeong-do struggle with being so good and dependable as an employee that his boss loves him, his co-workers respect him, and he is rising up the ranks. The problem is that he wants to leave the job, and after finding love with Mi-yeon, wants to start a new life with her. This is all very interesting, and you hope he is able to live his life the way he wants to as you are watching it. There is a lot more to the plot and story that I'm leaving out, as I do not want to spoil the whole movie, but let's just say, things get complicated. So Ji-sub plays Ji Hyeong-do in an understated manner, so when he finally smiles... or snaps, it means something. Really great performance from him. Lee Mi-yeon plays Yu Mi-yeon as a humble, yet almost angelic woman who's had a somewhat tough life. You can see why Hyeong-do falls for her. Also a great performance from Lee Mi-yeon. Kwak Do-won as Hyeong-do's direct superior is excellent as an absolute jerk who you hope gets his butt kicked at the end of the movie. I hated that guy!

The action in A Company Man is hard-hitting and explosive.

The action in A Company Man is really good. There is a lot of gunplay in this one, and it is really wild. Let's just say, a certain area gets wrecked with all the bullets flying around. There are two or three fight scenes, and they are good as well. So Ji-sub handles himself well in the fight scenes, and is totally believable as being a highly skilled hitman. The fight scenes are not Hong Kong style, I would say they are more Korean style (duh). The camera work and editing are a bit similar to the shaky cam fights of stuff like the Bourne Identity movies, but not as terrible as those. You can see things more clearly in A Company Man, but things do get confusing sometimes. Still, the action is great in this, and worth waiting for.

As you can expect, I highly recommend watching A Company Man. This is a very good action movie! It may not re-invent the action movie genre, but it does the action very well. The actors put in great performances, especially So Ji-sub and  Lee Mi-yeon. I thought the ending was very well done, and it may make you emotional. Watch A Company Man and wallow in the darkness (and I mean that in a good way).

Reviewed by David Williams

[Fight Scene Friday] Abide

 It's Fight Scene Friday™, and this week's scene is a short film by the Sloyer Stunts crew! Some nice weapons and close quarter combat action in this one. Very cool stuff! Check it out!

 

[Fight Scene Friday] Triple Dragon - Real Life Double Dragon

This week's Fight Scene Friday™ scene is an homage to the side scrolling fighting games of the 80s and 90s, done by the Stunt People! Eric Jacobus plays Eye Patch, Dennis Ruel plays Tornado (the one with the baseball hat), and Lucas Okuma plays Iron Shirt (the one in the martial arts gi). Really good choreography in this one! Remixed video game music as well. It even make fun of the misspellings and incorrect grammar of early video games. Check it out!
 

Mortal Kombat (2021) - A Review

 

Mortal Kombat (2021) ushers in a new era in the MK movie franchise.

Mortal Kombat is a fantasy martial arts movie released in the United States in 2021 and stars Lewis Tan, Joe Taslim, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Ludi Lin, Mehcad Brooks, Max Huang, Chin Han, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Tadanobu Asano. This reboot of the Mortal Kombat movie franchise was directed by Simon McQuoid, with fight choreography by Chan Griffin.

Ludi Lin (as Liu Kang) and Lewis Tan (as Cole Young). Cole is the main character in this one.

In Mortal Kombat, Lewis Tan plays Cole Young, a former champion mixed martial arts fighter who has seemingly lost his fighting spirit. After losing an MMA fight, Cole is visited by Jackson Briggs ("Jax", played by Mehcad Brooks). Jax is interested in Cole's birthmark (the Mortal Kombat logo) and reveals he has the marking as well. While Cole is out with his wife and daughter, Sub-Zero appears and tries to kill Cole and his family (seemingly). Jax saves them, and tells Cole to find Sonya Blade (played by Jessica McNamee). Cole puts his family into hiding while he searches for Sonya.

Cole does find Sonya, who has Kano (played by Josh Lawson) held captive in her home. There, Cole finds out that the birthmark means he is one of the chosen warriors to defend Earth against Outworld's fighters in the Mortal Kombat fighting tournament. One thing leads to another, and Cole, Sonya, and Kano are on their way to Raiden's temple.

At Raiden's temple, Cole and the others meet the Earth Realm's champions and Raiden (played by Tadanobu Asano) himself. Cole and the other new recruits must train to unlock their 'arcana', their personal super technique, in order to stand a chance against the Outworld's fighters and their leader, Shang Tsung (played by Chin Han). Can Cole and his fellow Earth Realm warriors unlock their arcana, defeat the Outworld warriors, and survive Sub-Zero's onslaught?

Some of the Outworld fighters. Yes, that's Nathan Jones on the left.

I must admit, I am not a fan of the Mortal Kombat video games. I am, however, a fan of the first Mortal Kombat movie, the animated series (Mortal Kombat: Defenders Of The Realm, 1996), and the TV show (Mortal Kombat: Conquest, 1998-1999). The whole story and the backstories of the characters are interesting to me, but the actual video game is just not fun to me. So, when I heard a new Mortal Kombat movie was coming out, I was intrigued, but also worried it wouldn't be as good as the first one. I finally watched it on Tubi (a free, ad-based streaming site), and I was pleasantly surprised.

The movie starts out with a battle between Bi-Han (played by Joe Taslim) and Hanzo Hasashi (played by Hiroyuki Sanada), and the choreography was good, and it got pretty violent (much more violent than the 1995 movie). This fight is important and integral to the plot. The movie is all about these two characters, though they actually aren't in it that much. This is not a bad thing, but if you were hoping Liu Kang would get his moment in the spotlight again, you'll have to settle for him being a side character in the spotlight. Then we meet Cole Young, and unfortunately, he is not a very interesting character. The writing totally failed Lewis Tan, as he has very little lines (compared to, well, everyone else), and what he says is very cliched and basic. The character with the most character in this movie is Kano. He is an a-hole, and he never shuts up. Ludi Lin is great as Liu Kang (and I wish the movie focused on him a lot more). Sonya (she gets her own moment to overcome and shine) and Jax are cool, Kung Lao is awesome, and Shang Tsung is a schemer. Overall, the cast is pretty good. The plot is interesting, and I feel like this was a reintroduction to the Mortal Kombat universe, and this was just part one of a huge story. The places the sequels could go are intriguing! Hope everything turns out well on that front.

The fight scenes in Mortal Kombat are violent and bloody.

The action is good in Mortal Kombat. For those that complained that there wasn't blood or fatalities in the 1995 movie, there is plenty of that in this one! There are quite a few actors skilled in martial arts in this movie, and they all performed well. It was great to see Hiroyuki Sanada in a martial arts fight scene again, and he's still got it. Ludi Lin as Liu Kang is awesome, and he does some of Liu's patented moves. Same with Max Huang as Kung Lao; he is probably the most bad a** fighter in Mortal Kombat. Joe Taslim as Sub-Zero is incredibly skilled and cruel as a fighter. He is pretty scary, too! As for the actors who do not seem to have martial arts skills, you can tell by how the fight goes (it is more of a brawl than a martial arts battle). Even so, there are a lot of fight scenes, and they're all entertaining. Not meaning to compare the two Mortal Kombat movies, but there isn't a fight in this one that even compares to the Liu Kang vs. Reptile or the Johnny Cage vs. Scorpion fights in the 1995 movie.

So, should you watch Mortal Kombat? I would say yes; especially if you are a fan of the games. There are a lot of Easter eggs in the movie referencing things from the games, so watch out for those. This movie is grounded, yet highly fantastical. There is a lot of CGI in this, some things looking better than others (a certain character is full CGI; the design is good, but it doesn't move realistically. It moves too smoothly, and it looks like a cartoon... I say this as someone who does not like CGI, for the most part). You root for the main characters and hope the villains get their butts kicked. It does have humor, but it's not quip city. Plus, there's lots of blood and fatalities. This movie is a good introduction to this version of Mortal Kombat, but I think the sequel could be even better. Check it out, it's a pretty good time!

Reviewed by David Williams

[Fight Scene Friday] Jackie Chan's Project A (1983): The Restaurant Brawl

 It's April 7th, and that means it's Jackie Chan's birthday! To celebrate this momentous occasion, this week's Fight Scene Friday™ will feature a classic fight scene from the classic Jackie Chan movie, Project A (1983)! This fight scene is great not only because of the choreography and stunts, but because of the story behind it. The movie builds up to this moment, and it's like a moment of catharsis throughout the whole fight scene. You have to watch the whole movie to really feel the impact of this fight scene. It's also great because Yuen Biao fights alongside him for a portion of it.

This is the complete, unedited fight scene; with the original music, sound effects, voices, and dialogue. This is not from the horrid Dimension/Miramax version of the movie. Check out this fight scene, and then check out Project A, unedited if you can! Happy birthday, Jackie! Thanks for the inspiration!

 

Little Big Soldier (2010) - A Review

 

Little Big Soldier is such a good movie!

Little Big Soldier (also known as Big Soldier, Little General, Junior Soldiers, and The Big Soldier) is a historical action comedy movie released in China and Hong Kong in 2010 and stars Jackie Chan, Wang Lee-Hom, Steve Yoo Seung-Jun, Du Yu-Ming, Ken Lo, Yu Rongguang, and Lin Peng. It was written and directed by Ding Sheng, with action directed by Jackie Chan.

The General (on the left) and the Soldier. I didn't even notice that they don't have proper names in the movie!

In Little Big Soldier, Jackie Chan plays a Soldier who is very good at playing dead. There is a war going on between the states of Liang and Wei; the Soldier is from Liang. The Soldier and a Wei general (played by Wang Lee-Hom) are the only survivors of a huge battle, and the Soldier captures the injured General. The Soldier plans on bringing the General back to Liang so he can be honorably discharged from the army and receive money and land as a reward. As you can imagine, the Soldier and the General do not get along. The Soldier does everything he can to keep the General with him, and alive. Things get complicated when the prince of Wei, Wen (played by Steve Yoo Seung-Jun), finds out that the General is alive and sends all of his men in search of him. A particularly ruthless tribe of warriors is also after them. The General, and by association, the Soldier are wanted men. Will the Soldier make it back to Liang and get back to the life he longs for?

Prince Wen (on the right) and his Guard.

I remember seeing the Blu-Ray and DVD of Little Big Soldier at Walmart all the time back in the day, but I never bought it. The cover of the American Blu-Ray was very off-putting to me, and it made me doubt that it was a good movie. Finally watching it in 2023, I can definitively say that I was wrong. Little Big Soldier is really good! I loved this movie! It just proves that you should never judge a movie by its poster or Blu-Ray cover!

This movie is not your typical Jackie Chan movie. There is very little, if any hand to hand combat. In fact, Jackie's character, the Soldier, is not a very good fighter. What the Soldier lacks in fighting skills, he has incredible skill in throwing rocks (and making medicines with the plants he finds in the wild). He is determined to bring the General back to Liang, by any means necessary. Jackie plays this role so naturally, but it is not like he's playing himself (as he does in most of the movies he's made since the late 90s). The Soldier is the underdog in this movie, and you root for him throughout. The General is younger than the Soldier, and is certainly more prideful. He is a skilled fighter, especially with the sword. The General is always trying to escape from the Soldier, and he does succeed at points. The General and The Soldier usually end up back together in some way, though. Jackie Chan and Wang Lee-Hom, as the General, have great chemistry together.

The fight scenes are swordplay based, mainly. Excellently choreographed, as expected.

The action in Little Big Soldier is mainly swordplay-based. In fact, Jackie Chan does not play the expert fighter in this movie. He mainly throws rocks at his opponents (plus he uses his dodging skills a lot). His weapon skills are at a basic level as The Soldier. The bad guys even laugh at how terrible he is at fighting. Still, there is one classic Jackie Chan style fight scene in this, and it's really good (though really short). The General and Prince Wen are the expert sword fighters, along with Du Yu-Ming, who plays Prince Wen's main guard. There are cool fight scenes/battles involving the warrior tribe that are after the General and the Soldier.Those guys and woman are ruthless fighters! The action is good in this movie, with a lot of brutal falls and some cool moves done, but it is not the type of fighting you would expect in a Jackie Chan movie.

I highly recommend watching Little Big Soldier! This movie is so good! Interesting story, interesting characters, good action, plot twists, comedy, and genuine emotion. Jackie Chan gives a great performance, and the other actors give believable performances as well. Jackie and Wang Lee-Hom have great chemistry together. The comedy is really good, as is the action (though not the Jackie Chan type of action you may be expecting). Little Big Soldier is actually considered one of Jackie Chan's last great movies. Watch and decide for yourself. I'll definitely be buying this on Blu-Ray in the future!

Reviewed by David Williams

[Multimedia Monday] April 3, 2023

 

I went out Saturday, in search of Blu-Rays... or anything interesting that I would like. Being broke, as I often am, the price would have to be very low for me to actually buy anything. Luckily, I went to Dollar Tree, and luckily again, they had some Blu-Rays there for a dollar each. It turned out that the Blu-Rays I bought were actually fifty cents each, so I really lucked out! I've heard of both of these movies, so I took a chance on them! Read on for a synopsis of each film...

Athena: Goddess Of War (2010) is a spinoff of the Iris Korean drama that came out in 2009. Here is the synopsis: 

Award-winning actress Soo Ae (The Sword with No Name) captivates and conspires in Athena: Goddess of War, an exhilarating new spy thriller loaded with international intrigue and dangerous desire. Beautiful double-agent Yoon Hye-in is caught in the middle of a game of nuclear espionage – and torn between two very different men. One heroically fights beside her on the anti-terror taskforce known as NTS. The other ruthlessly controls Athena, the extremist organization NTS is trying to stop. As Yoon Hye-in struggles to choose between them, growing suspicions from all sides put her life on the line. Can she keep her double-life hidden? How long can she play both sides of the law – and two powerful men – before her cover is violently compromised? The countdown to an explosive stand-off begins now!

I'll be reviewing this movie as soon as I get a new Blu-Ray player!

Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons (2013) is a movie based on the classic 16th century Chinese novel Journey To The West (written by Wu Cheng'en), and was co-written and co-directed by Stephen Chow. Here is the synopsis:

In a world plagued by demons who cause great human suffering, young demon hunter Xuan Zang risks his all to conquer a water demon, a pig demon and the demon of all demons, Sun Wukong. Adhering to his firm belief in giving of one’s self for the greater cause, he embraces the demons as his disciples. However, in order to atone for their own sins and save the common people, the four of them must embark on a journey to the West that’s full of challenges.

I'll be reviewing this one as soon as I get a new Blu-Ray player, so watch out for that!

Blue Beetle (2023) – Official Trailer

 The trailer for Blue Beetle has finally dropped! The Blue Beetle is a DC superhero who has been around since 1939! This movie focuses on Jaime Reyes, the third version of the Blue Beetle character. Here is the synopsis:

 Recent college grad Jaime Reyes returns home full of aspirations for his future, only to find that home is not quite as he left it. As he searches to find his purpose in the world, fate intervenes when Jaime unexpectedly finds himself in possession of an ancient relic of alien biotechnology: the Scarab. When the Scarab suddenly chooses Jaime to be its symbiotic host, he is bestowed with an incredible suit of armor capable of extraordinary and unpredictable powers, forever changing his destiny as he becomes the Super Hero BLUE BEETLE.

Fair warning, the trailer seems to spoil the Blue Beetle's whole origin, so watch out for that. Nonetheless, it looks like this movie is going to rock! I will admit, the character of Jaime Reyes is from my hometown, and some scenes were even shot here (in the downtown area), so I am very excited about that. I also love George Lopez's mullet in this! Anyways, Blue Beetle comes out August 18, 2023. Let's hope it's really good!