[Fight Scene Friday] Kung Fool at School

 After having no internet for three weeks, Fight Scene Friday™ is back! This week's scene is a close-quarter fight scene from Martial Club and Shaun Charney. Very cool to see Martial Club and Shaun Charney back before they became big, again. Really cool stuff in this one! Check it out!

 

[Fight Scene Friday] Do the Damn Thing: The Andy Long Experience (2010)

 For this week's Fight Scene Friday™, we see the time Andy Long met Jay in America. Let's just say, their plans don't end up working out... This was one of my favorite scenes back in the day; it was so funny to me. The action was great as well, with lots of creative choreography and great comedy. Check it out!

 

[Fight Scene Friday] Real Life Street Fighter

 It is Fight Scene Friday™, and coincidentally, the release day for Street Fighter 6! In celebration of this momentous day, here is a video I watched years ago based on the Street Fighter video game series. This blew me away back in the day, and the effects are still pretty good to this day. It is amazing that the people who made this short film are now the ones in charge of making the latest Street Fighter live action movie. What a turn of events!

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023) - Official Trailer

 Here is the official trailer for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, the latest Ninja Turtles movie coming out! Here is the synopsis:

After years of being sheltered from the surface world in the sewers of New York City, four Turtle brothers set out on a quest to be accepted as normal teenagers through acts of heroism. With the aid of their human friend April O'Neil, the brothers' biggest challenge puts them in the crosshairs of a mysterious crime syndicate and an army of mutants.

I... I don't know how I feel about this one. It is cool that the Turtles are voiced by actual teenagers, and it is very cool that Jackie Chan is the voice of Splinter... but I'm not liking the visual style (I am not a fan of CGI in general, though I did like TMNT that came out in 2007). I will have to see it for myself. This does look a lot better than those Michael Bay Ninja Turtles movies, though (I am assuming, I refuse to watch those ones). I am a huge Ninja Turtles fan since the cartoon show in the 80s, so I gotta see if they did my guys justice. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem comes out August 2, 2023.

 

HIDDEN STRIKE (2023) - OFFICIAL TRAILER

 The official trailer for Hidden Strike, starring Jackie Chan and John Cena has finally appeared online! The movie finished filming five years ago, and it's finally coming out this year. Here is the synopsis:

When a China-run oil refinery is attacked in Mosul, Iraq, a Chinese private security contractor (Chan) is called in to extract the oil workers. He learns, however, that the attackers’ real plan is to steal a fortune in oil, and teams up with an American former Marine (Cena) to stop them.

After all the trouble and controversy, it's good that Hidden Strike is coming out. No official release date yet, but some are saying it's coming out July 7, 2023...in Turkey. I think this movie looks entertaining; let's hope it is!

Red Sun Rising (1994) - A Review

 

One of Don 'The Dragon' Wilson's better movies.

Red Sun Rising is a martial arts action movie released in the United States in 1994 and stars Don 'The Dragon' Wilson, Terry Farrell, James Lew, Mako, Soon-Tek Oh, Michael Ironside, Edward Albert, Peter Vasquez, Stoney Jackson, Jacqueline Obradors, and Yuji Okumoto. Red Sun Rising was directed by Francis Megahy, with fight choreography by Don 'The Dragon' Wilson and Art Camacho.

Terry Farrell (left) as Karen and Don 'The Dragon' Wilson (right) as Hoshino make quite the combo.

In Red Sun Rising, Don 'The Dragon' Wilson plays Thomas Hoshino, a Japanese American cop whose partner (played by Yuji Okumoto) gets murdered by a mystical Yakuza assassin, Jaho (played by James Lew) in service of Yakuza boss Yamata (played by Soon-Tek Oh) in Japan. Jaho is a master martial artist, and he is an expert of the 'Touch of Death', which he uses to disable Hoshino momentarily and then kill his partner. As you can imagine, Hoshino is determined to get Yamata and Jaho, no matter the consequences.

Hoshino goes to Los Angeles, California in the United States on the trail of Yamata, a few months later. There he meets up and gets partnered with Karen Ryder (played by Terry Farrell), a tough, no nonsense police detective working on a brewing gang war in the city. Hoshino and Karen also meet up with his martial arts master, Iga (played by Mako), who helps train Hoshino in the same art that Jaho uses. Hoshino checks in with a federal agent (played by Edward Albert) on the Yamata case, while Karen checks in with her captain (played by Michael Ironside) to keep Hoshino out of trouble. Everything all ties together, so will Hoshino be able to catch Yamata and Jaho, and be able to stop the impending gang war?

James Lew is one menacing assassin!

Looking online for what Don 'The' Dragon Wilson's best movies are, Red Sun Rising kept making the lists; and since that movie is on free streaming services, I decided to check it out. I really didn't know what to expect with this movie, since I had never heard of it before. Of all the Don 'The Dragon' Wilson movies I've seen, I would consider Red Sun Rising one of his best. Saying that, the movie is flawed.

It is cool that Don 'The Dragon' Wilson got to play a character that shared the same ethnic background as him (Japanese and Caucasian), and it plays a major part in the plot of the movie. Don kind of plays a fish out of water in this, his character not having been in America for many years. There's even a scene very similar to Rush Hour (1998), that I feel has to be copied from this movie. Don has great chemistry with Karen (Terry Farrell), and they even have some comedic scenes together. Terry Farrell is great, as she plays a strong woman on the police force who can get things done. Mako also has a great performance as Hoshino's master, and he plays against type (he's almost like Master Roshi from Dragon Ball). James Lew as the assassin is also an intimidating force, not only being a master of the death touch, but also being able to 'hypnotize' women, seemingly. This movie has a multiracial cast, but unfortunately, there are a lot of stereotypes in this.

The racism and racial slurs are abundant in Red Sun Rising. The movie takes place in America, Los Angeles to be exact, and deals with the L.A. police force, so it is accurate, unfortunately. Even Karen, the co-protagonist, is pretty racist to Hoshino. The only Latino and African-American characters in this movie are in rival gangs (though there are two high ranking or important Latino and African-American characters that are not in gangs but get killed off). Usually, this would give me a very negative view of the movie, but it is integral to the plot and the story it's trying to tell. Everything makes sense by the end of the movie. It was surprising how thought out this aspect of the movie was.

The action in Red Sun Rising is very 90s American style, but it is decent enough.

As you can imagine, since this a low budget martial arts movie made in America during the mid-1990s, the action is not so good. The choreography (by Don 'The Dragon' Wilson and Art Camacho) is decent, but the way it was filmed and edited totally ruins it. The camera angle are too close up most of the time, and contact from the strikes are rarely ever shown. I don't know why fight scenes are edited like this, it makes them so unsatisfying. Despite that, Don 'The Dragon' Wilson and James Lew get to show off their martial arts skills to a decent degree. The fights are entertaining enough, just don't go in expecting Hong Kong style action.

I am conflicted on whether I recommend Red Sun Rising; it is not the best movie in the world, but it is entertaining and has a message. Apparently, Red Sun Rising is Don 'The Dragon' Wilson's favorite movie that he's done. For that alone, I will recommend watching it. The story is interesting, the characters are memorable, there is a lot of action, and there is even a lesson to be learned. Check it out, it's one of Don 'The Dragon' Wilson's best!

Reviewed by David Williams

[Fight Scene Friday] FIST OF FURY (2020)

 This week's Fight Scene Friday™ scene is a short film from the Martial Club crew. Fist Of Fury (2020) is an homage to Fist Of Fury (1972) and to the character of Chen Zhen, most notably played by Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan (New Fist Of Fury, 1976), Jet Li (Fist Of Legend, 1994), and Donnie Yen (Fist Of Fury TV show, 1995; and Legend Of The Fist: The Return Of Chen Zhen, 2010). Andy Le plays Chen Zhen in this one, and he embodies the rage and fight for justice that Zhen is all about. Brian Le plays the General (from Fist Of Legend) as an impenetrable wall Chen Zhen must get through. The fights are fast and hard-hitting, and there is a lesson to be learned at the end. There are homages to the Bruce Lee, Jet Li, and Donnie Yen versions of Chen Zhen throughout. Check it out!