The Prosecutor (2024) - Official Movie Trailer

 I'm sure you've seen it by now, but here is the latest trailer for The Prosecutor, Donnie Yen's latest movie! Here is the synopsis:

A poor young man is wrongly charged with drug trafficking after being deceived. An ex-prosecutor investigates the case, uncovers a corrupt lawyer team's scheme, and restores justice despite obstruction from evil forces.

Donnie Yen, Kent Cheng, Julian Cheung. Ray Lui, and Francis Ng star in the movie. After a year and a half of work it's finally coming out. To say I am excited for this movie would be an understatement!

The Prosecutor opens on December 27, 2024. Hopefully a U.S. release comes soon after that!

 

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

Wing Chun (1994) - A Review

 

Another classic Michelle Yeoh movie.

Wing Chun (also known as The Beautiful Secret Agent and Bandit Queen) is a martial arts comedy movie released in Hong Kong in 1994 and stars Michelle Yeoh, Donnie Yen, Kingdom Yuen King-Tan, Waise Lee Chi-Hung, Catherine Hung Yan, Norman Tsui Siu-Keung, Chui A-Fai, and Cheng Pei-Pei. Wing Chun was directed by Yuen Woo-Ping, with action choreographed by Yuen Woo-Ping, Donnie Yen, and Yuen Shun-Yi.

Michelle Yeoh as Yim Wing Chun. Do not mess with her!

In Wing Chun, Michelle Yeoh plays Yim Wing Chun, a master martial artist and owner of a tofu shop in a mountain village. Since Yim is a woman martial artist, she has given up hope of meeting a man and getting married. She even dresses like a man, with many people mistaking her for a man. One day a beautiful young woman, Charmy (played by Catherine Hung Yan) comes to town with her sick and dying husband, looking for a way to help him. After he dies, Charmy needs money for the funeral. Her only option is to sell herself to the highest bidder in town. Yim "buys" her, and hires her to work at the tofu shop.

A group of bandits want Charmy (and revenge on Yim Wing Chun for stopping them) for their own "personal pleasure". After Wing Chun defeats the brother (played by Chui A-Fai) of the leader, Flying Chimpanzee (played by Norman Tsui Siu-Keung), challenges her to a duel; if Wing Chun loses, she must become Flying Chimpanzee's woman.

During all this, Wing Chun's childhood friend, Leung Pok To (played by Donnie Yen), comes into town looking for her. He wants to marry her, but he mistakes Charmy for Wing Chun, and Wing Chun for a man! As you can imagine, a lot of mistaken identity shenanigans ensue. Can Yim Wing Chun defeat Flying Chimpanzee and avoid forcibly becoming his wife, and will she ever find love (particularly with  Leung Pok To)?

Donnie Yen is looking for the love of his life... and kicking butt.

I first watched Wing Chun in the late 90s on cable TV channel TNT late at night. I loved it back then, as it was the first time I watched a Michelle Yeoh movie where she was the top star, and it was the first movie I ever saw Donnie Yen in (I had heard of him before that, though). I recorded it on VHS off the TV so I could watch it whenever I wanted, but as you can imagine, when DVDs became the popular format, I wanted to buy the DVD version. Of course, I could never find it on sale anywhere (in-store or online) for years. The last time I watched Wing Chun was probably in the early 2000s. (There is a rumor that Miramax bought the rights for Wing Chun, just so nobody else could release it in America. Not sure how true that is, but it seems to be true in my experience.)

So how does Wing Chun hold up? I think it holds up great! Reading other reviews of this movie, it seems like everybody gives it negative points for not being about the creation of the Wing Chun style, or about the creator of the style, Ng Mui (who does appear in this movie, played by Cheng Pei-Pei), or a more truthful profile of Yim Wing Chun, who was Ng Mui's first student and who the style is named after. This movie is a silly comedy, basically. I hate to call it a romantic comedy, but there is a lot of comedy based on romantic situations. I actually enjoyed the comedy, for the most part (unlike a majority of the reviews I read), but as I always say: comedy is subjective. You may not find the movie funny, but maybe you will.

Michelle Yeoh plays Yim Wing Chun as a stoic, martial arts master who kind of regrets not finding love, but does not regret becoming a martial artist. She has great chemistry with Kingdom Yuen King-Tan, who plays her aunt Abascus Fong, a very smelly and desperately amorous woman. Donnie Yen plays Leung Pok To as a heroic young man with honorable intentions. He is also kind of a goof in this movie (which impacted how I though of him as an actor for a little while... until I saw Legend Of The Wolf, 1997. I gained a whole new appreciation for him after that movie!) It was great to see Norman Tsui Siu-Keung as the main villain, Flying Chimpanzee. I can't believe I didn't recognize it was him until now. He plays Flying Chimpanzee as a cocky, chauvinist jerk. All the performances in this movie are great, as are the characters.

A lot of creative fights in Wing Chun, as expected in a Yuen Woo-Ping movie!

 The fight scenes in Wing Chun are really, really good. I will say, though Yim Wing Chun is a Wing Chun master, the way she fights in this movie is not totally Wing Chun-based. Still, there are some Wing Chun strikes in there, and the fights are entertaining. Donnie Yen gets in on the action, and he does some of his great kicks in this. Norman Tsui Siu-Keung is a formidable final boss, who is an expert with a spear and a master of the cotton belly. The most famous fight in this movie is when Yim Wing Chun challenges a bandit to hit a tray of tofu. Wing Chun blocks all of his strikes, uses the tofu as a weapon, and even does some fancy tofu dodging as well. Probably the most creative fight in the movie. Since this movie was made in the 90s, the fights have that really sped up look to it. Not as bad as other movies during that time period, but it's still noticeable. I don't like fight scenes that are sped up like that, but in Wing Chun it's tolerable.

So, should you watch Wing Chun? I say yes! It's a fun, funny, action-packed movie. Michelle Yeoh is great in this, playing the unselfish hero to perfection, and Donnie Yen is a goofy butt kicker. Though this movie may not be historically accurate, it's a fun way to find out about the originators of the Wing Chun kung fu style. Michelle Yeoh is just the best!

Reviewed by David Williams

SAKRA 《天龙八部之乔峰传》- (2023) Movie Trailer

 Here is the trailer for Śakra, Donnie Yen's latest movie! Donnie will be directing, producing, and starring in this, so you know this is a very important movie to him. According to The Hollywood Reporter , Śakra is "an adaptation of Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, a classic wuxia novel from 1963 that is considered one of the most influential works of martial arts fiction ever [...]  with Yen starring as martial arts master Qiao Feng, one of the central figures of the Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils story universe".

As you can see from the trailer, this movie looks like it is going to be incredible! I really want to watch this one! Śakra comes out January 16, 2023!

 

Raging Fire (2021) - A Review

Raging Fire was director Benny Chan's final film. He left us a good one!

Raging Fire is a martial arts/action movie released in China and Hong Kong in 2021, starring Donnie Yen, Nicholas Tse, Ray Lui Leung-Wai, Ben Lam Kwok-Bun, Ken Lo Wai-Kwong, and Yu Kang. It was directed by Benny Chan (in his final film), with action directed by Donnie Yen.

Donnie Yen as Bong Cheung. He always does the right thing.

In Raging Fire, Donnie Yen plays Bong Cheung, an unwavering righteous cop who refuses to deal with the shady parts of being in the Hong Kong police force. After refusing to work with some powerful (and shady) businessmen, Bong and his team are left out of a drug bust, where all of the police officers involved get killed by a crew of masked men. The men who killed these police officers are experts in their field of robbery and assassination. These masked men have a past with Bong Cheung.

Yau Kong-ngo (played by Nicholas Tse) is the leader of these masked thieves, and he has little patience for mistakes. We find out through flashbacks how Yau and Bong know each other, and why Yau and his crew are killing certain people in brutal fashion. Bong and his team have to find out who is killing these people, and stop them before they kill their next victim. As you can imagine, the conflict becomes personal between Bong Cheung and Yau Kong-ngo, and it becomes inevitable that they will have to face each other one last time...

Nicholas Tse as Ngo. He is one cool, calculated, and vicious villain.

Raging Fire is really good! It has great action, complex characters, and an interesting (if a bit basic) story. Donnie Yen plays the stoic, righteous cop who loves his wife. His character is put in tough situations, morally and physically. You really root for his character to overcome the odds that are stacked against him. Nicholas  Tse plays the morally corrupt villain who will do anything to get what he wants. He is cool, calm (for the most part), collected... and also vicious. Through flashbacks we find out how he became this way, which is pretty tragic. He is a ruthless criminal, though, so my empathy for him was limited. You can tell Bong and Yau respect each other, but their difference in morality will keep them at odds. Great performances from Donnie and Nicholas.

One thing I really liked about this movie was the scene where it shows Bong's battered and bruised body after a fight, and his wife's reaction to it, and his response to her reaction. It's something that's not regularly shown in action movies, and it really brings home the consequences of being in a fight. I also liked the flashbacks; they give the backstory of all the characters, and where their motivations come from. I can't believe some reviews complaining about the amount of flashbacks. I had no problem with them (everyone is different, though). Also, there are some parts of this movie that remind me of Jackie Chan's New Police Story (2004), which was also directed by Benny Chan.

The action in Raging Fire is top notch!

Plain and simple: The action in Raging Fire rocks! There are two main fight scenes and one shoot out, and as you can imagine, they are hard-hitting and intense. The first fight scene involves Bong being surrounded and majorly outnumbered! Bong has to fight his way out to safety, and he does not hold back against his numerous opponents. In the shoot out, it's Bong's squad against Yau's crew, and there's bullets and explosions galore. The shoot out is intense, and there aren't many that are left unscathed. The final fight between Bong and Yau is awesome. There are hard-hitting strikes, grappling, and weapons involved. There is even a little callback to SPL (2005) when Bong reveals his weapon of choice. This fight is brutal, actually and worth the price of admission. Really great stuff in this fight. There is more action in Raging Fire, I just highlighted the major scenes.

As you can guess, I highly recommend Raging Fire! It is the epitome of modern Hong Kong action. Interesting plot, complex characters, and incredible action. What more could you want? Benny Chan's last movie is one he can be proud of. Raging Fire also shows how always doing the right thing is actually very difficult. You have to deal with the consequences, and deal with those who prefer to take the easy way out. Nonetheless, Raging Fire is just great entertainment!

Reviewed by David Williams

甄子丹 搜救 大陸版預告 Come Back Home (2022) Trailer

 Here is the trailer for Come Back Home, Donnie Yen's latest movie! From what I could find, the story is about how Donnie Yen's son goes missing in the snowy mountains after having an argument (or some sort of conflict). Donnie goes out into the bitter cold to find him. This doesn't look like a martial arts movie, it's more of a dramatic action movie. Still looks really good to me! It's release date is unannounced as of this post.

 

Kung Fu Jungle A.K.A. Kung Fu Killer (2014) - A Review

 

Kung Fu Jungle is really good!

Kung Fu Jungle (also known as Kung Fu Killer) is a Hong Kong action/martial arts movie released in 2014. The movie stars Donnie Yen, Wang Baoqiang, Charlie Yeung, Michelle Bai Bing, Fan Siu-Wong, and Xing Yu. There are also numerous cameos of martial arts movie actors, directors, and writers in this! The movie was directed by Teddy Chan, with Donnie Yen as action director.

In Kung Fu Jungle, Donnie Yen plays Hahou Mo, a master martial artist and police self defense instructor who is in jail for accidentally killing a man in a martial arts duel. A serial killer (played by Wang Baoquiang) is on the loose, targeting retired martial artists. Hahou contacts the police, saying he knows who the next victims will be. The lead inspector, Luk Yuen-Sum (played by the incredible Charlie Yeung), is hesitant to trust Hahou. Things change when one of the people named by Hahou as the possible next victim dies. Inspector Luk says if Hahou is successful in helping the police find the killer and the possible next victims, he will be released early from his prison sentence. From there, the case gets personal as we find out Hahou's significant other is a target! There are a lot of awesome fights and twists and turns that lead to the final showdown!

I've had this movie on Blu-Ray for years, and it's only now that I realize how great it is! I was in college when I first bought it, so when I watched it back then, I was usually doing homework at the same time. I missed a lot of stuff in my previous viewings. The story is a bit simple, but when the action is as great as it is in Kung Fu Jungle, that's not a problem. There is a bit of mystery and intrigue over the motivations of Hahou and the killer. Charlie Yeung as the lead inspector is great as well. She's tough, but fair.

The fight scenes are great in this! All of them are different from each other, so you won't be lacking in options for favorite fight scene! Donnie Yen really has only three fight scenes in this one, and they are all unique. Hahou has a huge fight in prison, and in another scene he disarms the police as he tries to escape. The final fight scene takes place on a highway, with cars and semi-trailer trucks passing by. Hahou and the killer have to avoid each other's attacks and the vehicles in this fight! Yes, some of the vehicles are CGI, but Donnie Yen and Wang Baoqiang go hard in this fight!

The rest of the fight scenes involve Wang Baoqiang as the killer. He is an incredible martial artist, and his skill really shines in Kung Fu Jungle. For spoiler reasons, I can't say why he's so good, but trust me: Wang Baoqiang is a bad a**! The killer shows off his skills against his many opponents, including Xing Yu in a fight in an art studio and Fan Siu-Wong in a fight on a movie set. 

This movie is a tribute to Hong Kong's martial arts movies, and the legends who made them, both in front of and behind the scenes. You see a poster of The Big Boss (starring Bruce Lee) in one scene. In another scene, Drunken Master (starring Jackie Chan and Yuen Siu-tien) is playing on a TV! There are so many cameos in Kung Fu Jungle: Xing Yu (Flashpoint, Ip Man, and Wrath Of Vajra), Fan Siu-Wong (Above The Law/Righting Wrongs, Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky, Ip Man I and II), David Chiang (Shaw Brothers legend), Kirk Wong (director of Crime Story), Billy Chan (The Big Boss, Fists of Fury, and Prodigal Son),  Tony Leung Siu-hung (director of Superfights and Bloodmoon), Mang Hoi (Zu: Warriors From The Magic Mountain, Yes, Madam! and is a legend for dating Cynthia Rothrock), and Raymond Chow (founder of Goldent Harvest) among many, many others! Raymond Chow is my favorite cameo, by the way!

If you like martial arts movies, especially Hong Kong martial arts movies, then I highly recommend Kung Fu Jungle! It is a modern martial arts movie with great action and a nice bit of nostalgia. It's always fun to see Donnie Yen in action as well! Check it out!

The Blu-Ray I watched for the review.

Back of the Blu-Ray case.

The Blu-Ray disc. Cool artwork!

Reviewed by David Williams

Big Brother (2018) - A Review

 

Big Brother is a surprisingly sweet movie!

Big Brother is a martial arts/action/drama film released in Hong Kong in 2018. The film stars Donnie Yen, Lok Ming-kit, Bruce Tong, Chris Tong, Gordon Lau, Gladys Li, Joe Chen, and Yu Kang. The movie was directed by Kam Ka-wai, with action choreography by Koji Kawamoto and the Donnie Yen Stunt Team.

In Big Brother, Donnie Yen plays Henry Chan, a man with a mysterious past who becomes a teacher. Since he is inexperienced in teaching (this is his first teaching job), the principal gives him the 'problem' class. This class is filled with misfits and trouble makers. At first they treat him pretty disrespectfully, but he eventually wins them over. He gets to know the students and helps them with their personal problems. He even begins to have a little something going on with a fellow reserved teacher (played by Chen).

After Henry helps a student out at an MMA event's locker room, he becomes very popular on campus. His students find out his backstory from another school official, and are amazed. Unfortunately, two students' problems affect him in very different ways. One's problem causes him to lose his job, and the other causes him and his class to deal with a mob boss! Henry's past actions come back to haunt him...

This movie is quite nice! It has a surprisingly sweet story. It deals with teaching the students through getting to know them, as opposed to only teaching them to pass exams. We see how the focus on getting good grades and passing exams affects the students in a negative way. Really interesting aspect to this movie! Henry Chan fights the system without fighting the system.

Donnie Yen plays one cool teacher.

It is very cool to see Donnie Yen in a role like this. He really knows how to play a cool, humble, chill, teacher. It is nice to see his character get so involved in his students' lives. I think it would be amazing to attend the classes he teaches! Also great that he doesn't act tough at all when he's with his students or at the school. No one suspects what he's capable of, so it's a shock when the school finds out! I hope we see more of this character; I think there are more stories you could tell about him.

The class is full of lovable misfits.

The students are likable in this, and you feel for them as they deal with their problems. Henry is able to help them all out, but he has trouble with one (which he is unaware of). You see them act so rude to him at first, and as they find out more about him (and themselves), they treat him with reverence. I will say, you may get emotional in certain scenes! The kid actors are very good and believable as well. It was cool to see Billy Lau play one of the students' father. I love that guy! Joe Chen as Leung Wing-sum, an honors teacher at the school who is interested in Henry, is amazing. She is just the cutest.

Donnie Yen doesn't play around in the fight scenes!

Even though Big Brother is a sweet movie, it has some hard-hitting fight scenes! The fight scene in the MMA locker room is wild. Donnie Yen is just throwing dudes into lockers and through wooden benches. You even see some of his patented MMA grappling in this scene. It's a fun fight scene! The final fight scenes are good as well! He takes on triad thugs at the school, and their boss in a classroom! Donnie and the boss just wreck that classroom! They take some brutal falls on the desks as well. It's a really good fight! I will say, there are only two fight scenes in this movie, but they are very good.

All in all, I recommend Big Brother! It's a sweet, feel good movie with hard-hitting fight scenes. Donnie Yen should be proud of this movie. If you like To Sir With Love and you like martial arts fights, then I think you would like this!

Reviewed by David Williams