An awesome flick and classic of the genre - effectively, a martial arts rom-com - in which Chia-Hui Liu marries a psychotic Japanese female ninja who keeps trying to kill him to prove the superiority of Japanese techniques. Then he inadvertently manages to insult her family, all of whom are masters of different Japanese weapons, and he has to battle each one (proving the superiority of Chinese weapons). This includes one family member who abruptly stops mid-fight and announces “I give up. You’re too good for me.” I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in any other martial arts film.
Liu’s ending plea of humility and hope for better relations is heartfelt, sending the film off on a positive note and with audience respect for his coolness and mastery of kung fu.
His directorial debut [Sanshiro Sugata 1943, released eventually as Judo Saga], takes the plot of a judo school and a jujutusu school vying to be chosen as police instructors. Not sure if it was inspired by the 1886 thing, or just a plot starter. Not AK’s greatest work, and not really a fighting movie as we’d think it but a nice bit of cinema history.
The somewhat exploitationist film Fear City (Abel Ferrara) features a fairly brutal street fight between an ex-professional boxer (played by Tom Berenger) and a martial artist.
Your mileage may vary, but it is kind of steeped in that thin greasy-grimy layer of thoughtful Ferrara sleaze, with its strip club setting and plot (in part) of murdered strippers. It’s not total garbage by any means - Ferrara is talented and has something to say. But I find a lot of his films seem to me to kinda have that old-style Times Square exploitationist veneer. Ms. 45, Bad Lieutenant, King of New York - they all have something to say beyond just an excuse for naked skin, violence and generalized depravity. He’s telling a story.
But they are stories steeped in skin, violence and generalized depravity . I like them, but they’re not for everybody and the I think for the most part the old Times Square matinee crowd would be happy to revel in their excesses.
Going into fantasy territory here but I found the premise behind The Last Airbender series to be fascinating. If there were separate arts of manipulating air, earth, fire, and water and they were to battle each other who would have the upper hand and what would these fights look like.
In fact, each of the show’s bending styles was based on a specific Chinese martial art. Airbending was based on Baguazhang; Firebending was based on Northern Shaolin Kung Fu; Earthbending was based on Hung Ga Kuen; and Waterbending was based on Tai Chi.
. I like them, but they’re not for everybody and the I think for the most part the old Times Square matinee crowd would be happy to revel in their excesses.