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.
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.
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 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.
You can currently watch The Master dubbed in English for free here:
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.
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.
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.
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.
