Theme: Kung Fu

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) – Simu Liu and Tony Leung

The first 15 minutes is a combination of some pretty good action and some extremely trashy junk chat by adults acting in such an idiotic manner with such consistency of borderline vulgarity that I wouldn’t even disrespect children by calling it childish, i’ll just say it’s far from ladylike and far from gentlemanly. Welcome to what has become of half the Marvel movies these days.

With two or three strong-ish action scenes in the first half hour though, and the odd glimmer of real humour popping out, this movie looks a bit better than it did earlier on and seems set for a Bang Average rating.

It gets more interesting in the second hour, and the action becomes more meaningful. As such, by 90 minutes in, it looks worthy of an Above Average rating, and by the end I’ve upgraded it yet again to Decent which is so much better than its impressions early doors — mainly because the annoying characters and attitudes hogged less screen time later on, and strong action took the lead.

To its credit, aside from some of the special effects, and some aspects of the core concept, the most of the music is also pretty good in this movie — from tolerable pop to oriental-style acoustics — it all works pretty good, with just the odd exception, which is quite surprising for considering how the dialog is so trashy.

Cradle 2 The Grave (2003) – Jet Li, DMX, Anthony Anderson and Mark Dacascos

From the outset, this movie is clearly pushing the usual pop trash on our youth, with mindless aggressive Eminem rapping throughout the opening scene.

By half an hour in, Jet Li makes a good partnership with DMX as they combat Chinese gangsters together, even though they started out fighting each other (since the enemy of my enemy is my friend).

Mark Dacascos stars as the main baddie in this movie, opposite Jet Li, and does a great job of it.

We also have at least one funny guy in Anthony Anderson, the fat black man, although there’s also a fat white guy called Tom Arnold who tries to be funny but isn’t.

The rest of the supporting cast members here are pretty strong too — from the lead female Gabrielle Union to the assistant goons. There’s also several decent action scenes here, and some element of interesting plot, as well as some decent banter from time to time; but the script is lacking and and the humour is frequently immature, so all in all, it’s a bit of a wasted operation and I’m going to rate it Bang Average.

This movie is also blessed with nice little cameo roles for UFC champs Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz and Randy Couture as they fight each other in a cage before teaming up against Jet Li.

Kiss Of The Dragon (2001) – Jet Li and Tchéky Karyo

The beginning of this movie is pretty well made. It’s well cultured, well choreographed, well planned and well edited to keep things moving at a good pace. The sound and picture could be improved but everything else is on point. The casting and acting is pretty good too. Jet Li with his well honed awareness, kung fu skill and quiet charismatic charm, makes a great 007-style Chinese agent, licensed to kill. And his counterpart, Tchéky Karyo, makes a first class baddie too.

Having said that, it is a bit gratuitous early on, and then it gets particularly nasty shortly after half an hour in as the main baddie — the head pimp who is also the local police inspector — forcibly injects drugs back into a prostitute who recently cleaned herself up — to keep her sick, weak, dependent and subservient. Then she gets beaten up by fellow prostitutes, and then by another pimp. This is uncomfortable viewing, but on the plus side, it sets up the following phase of the movie, where she meets Jet Li, the shy respectful gentleman — this part of the movie is convincingly made too.

By the half way mark, it looks set for an Above Average rating, give or take a bit since the plot has yet to really unfold yet — we’ve had little more than a strong opening thus far, with some nasty bits dragging it down.

As the movie progresses, the entertainment dwindles while the unpleasantries fail to subside. As a result, in the end I’m going to rate this a Bang Average movie. Indeed, the build up is considerably better than the middle. Not that the entertainment completely dies off, but the smooth fun vibe from early on is mostly absent in the middle, only to reappear briefly near the end — if not for the cool ending when Jet Li openly storms the police station, I would have rated it Below Average due to the low quality middle that significantly lowered the rating from the Above Average beginning.

Who Am I? (1998) – Jackie Chan and Michelle Ferre

The dubbing is pretty bad in this movie — a classic Golden Harvest production — and the special effects are a bit dated — typical of 90s era action movies — but at least it’s otherwise relatively well made, and able to sustain attention reasonably well, even in its slower dialogue scenes, although they do sometimes warrant a bit of fast-forwarding.

This movie is a bit silly in places, but is quite creative and slightly funny while being dressed in a serious tone.

I’m going to rate this movie Bang Average since it has less uncomfortable bits than many other movies rated the same — it’s more consistently pleasant — but also lacks the heavy adrenaline moments since it’s so lighthearted even during its fast action scenes.

One of the lead females — an undercover CIA agent working as a reporter — played by Michelle Ferre — makes a nice addition to this Jackie Chan classic.

The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) – Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Michael Angarano

The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)

This movie gets off to a powerful start, albeit slightly juvenile. Jackie Chan is acting constantly drunk and Jet Li is constantly grinning. Fortunately, Jet Li’s grinning character goes away and doesn’t come back till near the end, and we see a similar but more serious character played by Jet Li in the mean time.

The Forbidden Kingdom is a mildly powerful story, put together quite well.

By half an hour in, it looks set for an Above Average rating. By 1 hour in, that seems generous, but by the end, it seems accurate again.

There are some nice action scenes in this movie — not outstanding, but pretty good still. The fight scene between Jackie Chan and Jet Li is quite memorable, and the battle scene towards the end is pretty good.

There is a very funny scene just before the turn of the hour though — albeit very short — as Jackie Chan tries to make rain, and thinks he succeeds, until he sees what Jet Li is doing over his head.

The lead character — a nervous teenage boy, played by Michael Angarano when he was aged 19 and a half — looks a bit like Christopher Lambert crossed with Colin Farrell, with an extra pointy beak.

It’s quite rare that a movie peaks towards the end and has a very long, strong back end, leading to a great final moment, but this movie is a prime example of exactly that. Half way through I was thinking the initial Above Average prediction is too generous, but in the end I think it’s undershooting if anything.

The Accidental Spy (2001) – Jackie Chan

Some edits of this movie kick off with Islamic Terrorism propaganda — how convenient for a 2001 movie!

You’ll be pleased to know there is an English dubbed version of this movie out there, although the subtitled version is very common too.

The entertainment is mild but consistent here. The plot is mildly intriguing, the action is mildly exciting, and the humour is mildly funny too.

Having said that, it’s all a bit of a lighthearted slapstick. It doesn’t encourage much emotional investment. I rate it Below Average.

The Medallion (2003) – Jackie Chan, Lee Evans and Claire Forlani

The Medallion 2003 is another lighthearted slapstick action movie from Jackie Chan. This one has a mildly curious plot twist in the middle, when Jackie Chan comes back from the dead. It benefits from comedian Lee Evans, and Claire Forlani (from Meet Joe Black), as Jackie Chan’s partners in policework. There’s a bit of sci-fi fantasy here with this one. I rate it Bang Average so far as action hero movies go, because the characters aren’t deep and the action is so lighthearted. On the plus side, it’s mildly entertaining throughout. A young Scott Adkins plays one of the baddies’ goons in a few fight scenes here.

Rush Hour (1998) – Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan

The first 1 hour was pretty much smooth highly entertaining action-comedy starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker in an unusual partnership that neither wanted initially but turned out to be good for everyone except the bad guys.

The last half hour is a bit more tense, but is still alright. On the strength of the majority of the movie which is highly entertaining, I’m going to give this a Decent rating which is close to the limit of what a slapstick comedy can score.

It’s slightly dated, but not by much. The sound effects can get irritating, but it’s tolerable.

If you loved this movie, you’re in luck since there are a couple sequels although they’re not quite as good as the original.

Sequels

Rush Hour 2 (2001) picks up from where the first movie left off, with Jackie and Chris on holiday together, singing Beach Boys songs in a car in China when they get called to an urgent case. The sound effects early on are even more irritating than they were in the back end of the last movie. The sense of mystery is also gone, so the plot and even the action seem a bit hollow in places compared to last time round. As a result, I rate this one a step down from the original. We can call it Above Average. Roselyn Sanchez makes a nice addition to this movie, as one of the lead females – an undercover secret service agent. Whoever got her involved has great taste. Zhang Ziyi plays the other lead female – one of the main baddies. She does quite well too. John Lone plays the main bad guy, not very convincingly, but it suffices.

Rush Hour 3 (2007) is no less muddled but still contains some strengths including some originality — albeit less — and some remnants of what we loved from the previous Rush Hour movies. I rate this movie Bang Average. It basically replicates the same formula as the last one, but with a bit less of the goodness and a bit more of the annoying stuff — it’s just a slightly weaker version of the same thing really, which is roughly what the last one was from the original before it although the original had far more conceptual originality of course.

Karate Kid: Legends (2025) – Jackie Chan, Ralph Macchio and Ben Wang

First impressions show potential, but there’s some terrible acting and terrible music — it’s like one big pop/trash music parade. Hopefully it’ll get better when the plot thickens.

By the half way mark, it’s clear this movie is put together to instil a particular kind of insecure discombobulated dysfunctional reckless-yet-sheepish emo attitude upon a mostly juvenile audience. The characters are unconvincing as martial artists, and they’re below average as actors in general. The music is of terribly taste. The script is half intriguing though. It oozes a cheap TV drama feel. Aside from a short appearance in the first 10 minutes, we don’t see Jackie Chan again until the second half of the movie, from around 50 minutes in, at which point the movie takes a turn for the better. Jackie Chan is an extremely old man here — only semi recognisable. Before the first hour is out, Ralph Macchio also appears. Talk about a wasted first half of the movie, and an unexpected significant uplift for the last half hour.

I’m going to rate this movie Below Average, although by half an hour in it was almost certain to be set for an even lower rating than that. Everyone needs sacking except Jackie and Macchio — the other actors and the whole crew behind the scenes need replacing. This movie represents a cool concept, poorly executed.

The star of the movie is Ben Wang, playing Li ‘Stuffed Crust’ Fong. As you can tell, it’s a less serious movie than Ralph Macchio’s original Karate Kid trilogy, or the one Jackie Chan made with Jaden Smith. It’s almost a parody like the recent series Ralph Macchio was involved in. Ben Wang’s character doesn’t come across as an action hero we can get behind — he comes across as an apologetic bed wetter. He’s not a leader, he’s a follower — he’s the complete wrong end of the spectrum for this kind of role. His demeanour is all wrong, but that’s probably the intention of the producers. He’s clearly not a serious martial artist in real life — a stuntman is probably doing all his acrobatic moves. Having said that, he’s got far better structure than Ralph Macchio who literally couldn’t be any worse thus has clearly never really done any karate in his life even though he made his name off it many decades ago.

Semi-reasonable semi-weak tournament scenes at the end. Semi-funny parody-style banter at the very end as we meet another old character from Cobra Kai in William Zabka.

Abduction (2019) – Scott Adkins and Andy On

Abduction (2019)

This movie is a strange mix between fast action and vibes of dispair. It takes about half an hour to really warm up, with a strong backstory already built, but it stays a bit confusing right the way through the movie.

By the start of the second hour, the three main protagonists are now somewhat introduced and are working together in a team to track down their loved ones – to rescue them from the aliens who have abducted them. This is probably the highlight of the movie, in terms of mood. But it doesn’t take long till they’re all captured and things become quite depressing right through till the end of the movie – that’s quite a missed opportunity to have a lot more fun, and it brings this movie down from what looked set for a very high rating, down to just Decent which is still no mean feat.

Andy On was impressive, as one of two roughly equal co-stars, called Connor, with vibes similar to Jet Li, just a bit less intense. He was able to match Scott Adkins (who played Quinn – the other co-star) in terms of charisma and screen combat capability, while coming from such a different culture – they made a quite good team.

The lead female – Adkins’ psychiatrist – was played quite well by Vietnamese actress Trương Ngọc Ánh. The second main female – Connor’s kidnapped wife – was played adequately by Lily Ji.

The best bit about this movie is arguably the very ending – it’s got a cool bit of mysterious music at the end, blended in very well with the final scene. It’s not an adrenaline-rush tune, but it’s quite spiritually stirring nevertheless.

This movie is also abundant with metaphors that coincide significantly with theories that became popular around world events that followed this movie’s release in 2019. It’s as if someone were trying to get a message out, but had no permission or trick to do so any more explicitly than were done here. Of course this is pure conjecture, but it kind of makes me respect Scott Adkins a bit more than I previously did. Maybe it’s misplaced credit, who knows. And by the same token, maybe we should respect the weird Wachowskis too, since even though they seem to be much deeper ‘in the club’, and even though they seemed to have the full backing of the system to do so, they basically promoted the same kind of metaphors via The Matrix, and somewhat in Jupiter Ascending too.

The Last Airbender (2010) – Noah Ringer

The Last Airbender (2010)

Even while all the comments online are along the lines of “this is terrible compared to the original cartoon series” I personally thought this movie was Very Good (compared to what else is out there). I haven’t seen the original cartoons and have no interest in seeing them either. When I were a young child, maybe I’d have watched the cartoons if they were on TV, but as an adult now, I generally avoid animations – I need movies with real people in them, and this one fits that requirement. Having said that, this movie has a theme very similar to one of my favourite cartoons as a child – Captain Planet. Both have the idea of people who can use individual elemental powers, and a main hero capable of using all the elements together.

Sure, there’s plenty of missed opportunities here, for example, there could have been plenty of kung fu moves that better match the elements. And I’m not a fan of calling air manipulators “air benders” – that’s a bit queer. But flaws aside, this movie still has a lot going for it – especially its highs – especially near the end.

There’s a strong awakening theme with this movie, as the Avatar realises his true potential and his duty to bring harmony between the clans and restore peace in the world.

Noah Ringer stars as Aang, the Avatar – the one person in the world capable of manipulating all four elements.

If you enjoyed this movie, you may also like to watch the Netflix series by the same name – again, it’s not an animation, but it’s still quite juvenile, yet still quite entertaining.

Dragonball: Evolution (2009) – Justin Chatwin, Chow Yun-Fat and Jamie Chung

Although a bit juvenile, this is still a bit of a fun movie. It’s very lighthearted and cheesy – lacking any weight that would make it a better movie, but it’s still not bad, it’s just a bit Below Average in my opinion.

Justin Chatwin stars as Goku whose mission it is to find all 7 Dragon Balls before the upcoming eclipse, in order to save the world. Along the way he makes a few friends, who form the core team – namely Master Roshi played by Chow Yun-Fat, plus Bulma played by Emmy Rossum, Yamcha played by Joon Park, and Chi Chi played by Jamie Chung.

Considering the calibre of core cast members, the star power of this movie is not at all bad, but due to the nature of the movie being so childish, lighthearted, cheesy and unserious – borderline satirical even – I have to rate it slightly Below Average over all. Worth watching once in a blue moon when you’re particularly bored and want something lighthearted but action-packed and a little bit childish.

This movie also has a strong martial arts theme – especially a strong Kung Fu theme – but it strays far too comfortably into the realm of no-touch powers, especially when it comes to the kamehameha かめはめ波 just like in the Dragon Ball manga series that this film adaptation is based on.

Interesting plot twist towards the end, when we realise the demon Osiris is actually hiding inside Goku himself.

The Man With The Iron Fists (2012) – RZA, Russell Crowe, Dave Bautista and Lucy Liu

I have to say, this is a very weird movie. On the one hand it’s an eccentric satire of a kung fu come samurai flick, full of bastardised Laozi quotes, stinks of B movie vibes, and has the atmospherics of a kids’ cartoon; while on the other hand, it’s got stars like Russell Crowe, Dave Bautista and Lucy Liu, not to mention Cung Le, Rick Yune, Jamie Chung, Byron Mann, and RZA who also directed this movie and co-written it with the help of Eli Roth – a horror movie director who no doubt was somewhat responsible for the eccentric blood splattering that contributed to the weirdness of this movie.

For all these reasons, I can’t rate it any higher than Bang Average – I doubt anything in this weird genre can – but it’s also not any worse than average. Indeed, it’s probably as good as a movie can get in this weird slightly-eccentric slightly-satirical slightly B-movie type of oriental martial arts flick genre. It does a fair job of sustaining attention throughout, considering its shortcomings. I just want to know how the producers managed to convince the high level cast members – especially Russell Crowe – to get involved in such a B-movie level of production. In fairness, once they knew Crowe agreed, the rest were probably easy to convince, but how did they convince Crowe to stoop to these levels? He could have probably hired a better production team with his own money and not noticed anything missing from his fortune, so why waste his time on this tripe? I have no idea.

Sequel

It should come as no surprise that Crowe did not return for the sequel in 2015, which went direct to video. But they did manage to get Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa involved, and Rick Yune came back, plus of course RZA, although he didn’t direct the sequel – that job went to Roel Reiné this time – but RZA did co-write it again, with the help of John Jarrell this time round.

The quality of The Man With The Iron Fists 2 (2015) is a couple of levels down from that of the original. It has practically no special effects – just a bit of slow motion at times, and it has very little cast power too. It has a few mildly watchable parts but they’re too few & far between, and mostly too late in the movie – I had to skip through the vast majority of this movie while looking for anything watchable so I have to say the movie overall is generally unwatchable by my standards. For more than the first half of the movie, it’s pretty much solid boring drama. The last half hour or so is barely watchable, but on a better level than the prior hour.

The Big Brawl (1980) – Jackie Chan

Like an old slow-play action thriller that you only watched because there were limited options on the TV; this movie is mostly a boring drama by today’s standards, until about half way through, at which point the plot takes an interesting turn, or should I say, starts to move, because it was never going anywhere beforehand.

The Big Brawl was Jackie Chan‘s American debut – at this time he had minimal control over the script and even the fight choreography, but it’s still full of the classic gymnastic comedy combat that Jackie is now famous for, with a touch of Bruceploitation style fight choreography at times.

Jackie gives a charismatic performance to this otherwise dull-come-soso movie, making it watchable, and even quite entertaining at times.

Makoto ‘Mako’ Iwamatsu (from Sidekicks, 1992) also gives a strong performance in his supporting role as Jackie’s uncle and Kung Fu teacher.

Fearless (2006) – Jet Li

Not a bad movie, but I can’t find an English dubbed version. Some parts are in English but most is in Mandarin. English subtitles are easier to follow here than in most movies, since the speaking is rarely fast and there’s plenty of speechless action; but if you are easily able to pause, rewind and read the subtitles at your own pace, that will inevitably help you follow the story and enjoy the movie more. If I could find a good English dubbed version I’d rate it 7.5 but as it depends on subtitles I’ll give it a 7/10 for the inconvenience.

This movie is very loosely based on the true story of Huo YuanJia – so loosely that one of Huo YuanJia’s grandsons, Huo ShouJin, sued this movie’s producers & distributors in 2006 for misrepresenting & dishonouring his grandfather’s legacy. Maybe that’s got something to do with the lack of an English Dubbed version today.

The story follows a boy who wants to learn Kung Fu but his father was leading him away from it (true story). He grows up and becomes a famous fighter (true) but soon his family are killed (fiction). With nothing left to lose, Jet Li’s character loses himself in a remote farming village, and with the help of a friendly & loving community, his attitude improves. He then faces further tests which will go down in history (loosely based on true events).

It’s not a bad performance by Jet Li and some of the other actors such as Sun Li who plays the lead female role. Quite enjoyable if you don’t mind the subtitles. Some distressing parts though – borderline horror genre at times. Add to that some genuine life lessons on war vs peace, and pride vs humility. Combine this with a vast amount of epic kung fu from Jet Li and you arrive at a very respectable movie to enjoy one evening – it’s nearly two and a half hours long.

The Karate Kid (2010) – Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith

Jackie Chan makes a decent attempt at remaking the classic movie from 1984, with a twist. This time it’s set in China and it’s all about Chinese Kung Fu, not Japanese Karate.

Jackie Chan plays the teacher (Mr Han, the maintenance man) quite well, and Jaden Smith does a decent job as the student (Dre Parker, the new kid in town, being bullied). Supporting cast range from average to pretty good. Zhenwei Wang does a good job as Cheng, the leader of the bullies in this movie, and Yu Rongguang does a good job as Master Li, the aggressive teacher of the bullies.

The movie starts out like a boring drama, slowly setting the scene as Jaden’s character and his mum move to China. It starts to become interesting after 10 minutes, as Jaden’s character meets the maintenance man (played by Jackie Chan). But it doesn’t become really good until 40 minutes in, when Jackie sees Jaden getting beaten up and then reveals himself as Kung Fu expert. From here it’s mostly good action and entertainment, with the exception of an excessively long sobbing drama scene around 90 minutes in. The last 20 minutes are pretty good, as the tournament begins, closely following the format of the original classic but with a few stylistic twists. The very ending is very good, in-keeping with the original.

Overall, not a bad movie to watch if you’re bored and haven’t seen this before or at least in the last few years. I give it a 7/10 because it’s a bit hard to relate to the pre-pubescent lead actor. This movie is nothing to shout about, but it’s not bad entertainment value either. It’s hard to go wrong with Jackie Chan. If not for the boring start and the lengthy sobbing scene it might deserve a 7.5 to match the original classic.

The Master (1992) – Jet Li

The Master (1992)

The Master is a fun film for the keen martial arts enthusiast. It’s not a very high budget blockbuster; but with a strong lead performance by Jet Li, a decent lead female for light-hearted near-romantic chemistry with him, and a complete focus on martial arts from start to finish with three separate schools of kung fu in the film, this is definitely one to watch if you’ve never seen it before and quite worth re-watching if you’ve not seen it in a few years as there are very few moments of boredom – it’s pretty much entertaining from start to finish if you haven’t watched it in years. The Master is not naturally an English language movie but there is a well dubbed English version which is almost as good for those who don’t like reading subtitles. With the humble budget, good lead cast, decent techniques and simple but effective storyline for the martial arts enthusiast we give this movie a rating of 7.5/10 which is a very respectable score.

Fist Of Legend (1994) – Jet Li

Fist Of Legend (1994)

Not as powerful a plot as Jet Li’s movie made a decade later called Fearless (2006), but at least Fist Of Legend (1994) has a decent English dubbed version unlike Fearless.

Fist Of Legend is an entertaining movie albeit thin on plot. The fight scenes are plentiful and well made – well staged, well shot, energetic and creative – not too monotonous for a Kung Fu movie.

Jet Li performs well as usual, this time in the role of Chen Zen, a student of Huo YuanJia (who the Fearless movie was based on). Chen Zen’s female companion in this movie, called Mitsuko Yamada, is played well by Shinobu Nakayama – she and Jet Li make a credible couple.

The other actors in this movie range from adequate to pretty good, including Yasuaki Kurata who does a good job as Fuimo Funakoshi, a wise & friendly Japanese warrior who defeats Chen Zen without injuring him. He is also Mitsuko’s uncle in this movie. And Billy Chow does a good job as General Fujita – a strong military leader and the final nemesis Chen Zen needs to defeat.

Fist Of Legend (1994) is kind of a Tribute to Bruce Lee, as Jet Li replicates some of the concepts Bruce made famous two decades prior, including Dojo Storms (a la Fist Of Fury), Butterfly Boxing (a la Way Of The Dragon) and Backflip Kicks (a la Enter The Dragon). The plot runs VERY similar to Bruce Lee’s movie Fist Of Fury (1972), with a fictional lead character called Chen Zen whose teacher is poisoned by a Japanese plot with the help of Chinese traitors. Both movies feature an epic dojo storm. It’s also great to see Jet Li attempt to impersonate the beautiful Butterfly Boxing footwork that Bruce Lee made famous in Way Of The Dragon (1972) – credit to Jet Li for attempting this although it’s clearly not something he’s well trained in, as it looks quite awkward to the trained eye but probably looks fine to the casual audience – it even looked a bit forced when Bruce did it (compared to professional boxers dancing around a bouncy ring canvas, which is bound to be more fluid than dancing on concrete) so we’ll let Jet Li off with this and appreciate his tribute – it was still good to watch.

Romeo Must Die (2000) – Jet Li

Jet Li in Romeo Must Die (2000)

This is one of Jet Li’s best movies in terms of having good supporting actors, great backing music and a seemingly decent production budget.

Although the plot is a bit thin, it’s ok – the action is frequent and the vibe is cool – intermittently exciting with good humour. A few slower scenes and the final fight scene drags on a bit, but otherwise it’s pretty fluid entertainment value.

Jet Li plays a Chinese kung fu expert called Han, who breaks out of jail upon hearing his brother is dead, to attend the funeral and find his killer.

It should be no surprise that the music is good, seeing how this movie has stars like DMX who plays a club owner called Silk, and Aaliyah who plays the lead female role called Trish. Both do a pretty good job in their respective roles here, and both of their music is played throughout, at very relevant times. Whoever selected the tunes and mixed them into the movie the way they did deserves some kind of award for it, especially the “Got Him” transition into the motorbike scene (can’t find the name of that tune anywhere) where Hilary Yip plays the Chinese woman who Jet Li’s character Han doesn’t want to hit.

Other decent performances include Russell Wong who plays the Chinese boss’s right hand man; Delroy Lindo who plays Isaak, Trish’s father, the head of the black people’s gang; Isaiah Washington who plays Mac, Isaak’s right hand man; and Anthony Anderson who nearly steals the show with his charismatic comedic touch as a low-level shot-caller working for Mac to help protect Trish.

Aaliyah and Jet Li in Romeo Must Die (2000)

The One (2001) – Jet Li and Jason Statham

Jet Li in The One (2001)

The One is a pretty cool Jet Li classic. It’s a simple but pleasant sci-fi packed with kung fu by Jet Li. There’s some energetic solo demonstrations of Xing Yi and Ba Gua to enjoy, plus the usual fast-paced choreography.

The main hero and the main villain are both played by Jet Li (they came from different universes). The villain is trying to kill the good guy in order to gain his power. He’s already killed 123 other versions, making the remaining 2 versions of Jet Li very powerful as they’ve automatically absorbed the speed & strength of those who died (power is split between survivors). The bad guy is trying to kill the good guy now, to become the last remaining one, at which point the universe could explode or the remaining one could “become a god” they say.

Jason Statham has a significant supporting role, as does Delroy Lindo (who was also in Jet Li’s movie from the previous year – Romeo Must Die). They play a pair of inter-universal cops here, tasked with keep both versions of Jet Li alive, to prevent The One from being, at all costs.

Bulletproof Monk (2003) – Chow Yun-Fat and Seann William Scott

Bulletproof Monk (2003) starring Chow Yun-Fat and Seann William Scott

With strong performances by the two lead characters and an interesting storyline, this martial arts movie is infused with touches of humour as you’d expect from any Seann William Scott performance. It’s entertaining for the most part from start to end. Just a bit short of depth in plot or breadth of strong cast – you may get a bit bored for a minute or two but that won’t last long as there’s enough action & entertainment here to keep you on your feet most of the way through.