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Netflixed. Another installment in my mission to revisit classic martial arts films and see if they still hold up. This one totally does. Tsui Hark and Yuen Woo Ping teamed up and brought an epic Kung Fu superhero fantasy flick with some of the most outrageously fun wire-work fu of the time. The building suspension-of-belief and absurd Kung Fu physics escalate throughout the film until the wacky finale fight becomes strangely acceptable. Donnie Yen and Yu Gongguang are excellent, totally in their physical prime. I've always felt Yu was underrated. He had a great screen presence and mad Kung Fu skillz, but fell into Jackie Chan villain roles. Jean Wang is solid as the redeemed prostitute and Sze-Man Tsang is truly brilliant cross-dressing to play Wong Fei Hong. She has been on my 'whatever happened to?" list for some time, but a little web research told me she's been working as an HK cop since her brief foray into film (only two films according to IMDB). Yen Shi-Kwan is a great Shaolin traitor. Awesome stuff although I didn't remember the fight scenes as being so sped up. And good sword fights. A definite must-see Kung Fu flick.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
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It is one of my faves. Didn't we see this one in a theatre when we were young(er)? Was it a DOOM video?
In the Tudor Period, Fencing Masters were classified in the Vagrancy Laws along with Actors, Gypsys, Vagabonds, Sturdy Rogues, and the owners of performing bears.
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I have a memory of discussing how well Sze-Man Tsang worked as a young boy and how clever that was with ED. I cannot remember if you were there PPFY, but I'm sure you said that you would be there.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
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Iron Monkey 2
I’ve been tasked by Den to put together something on Donnie for John Wick. I didn’t remember if I saw this ‘sequel’ or not so I gave it a peep. What a terrible movie.
It does reteam Donnie with Yuen Woo Ping, but the choreo is lackluster, almost a caricature of bad YWP work. Dumb defiance of physics that wouldn’t even work in looney tunes. Clearly YWP phoned this one in.
The story is muddled and not connected to the original. Donnie plays the Iron Monkey instead of Yu, but it doesn’t even feel like this Iron Monkey is connected to the original character at all. It’s more like a random name.
Iron Monkey is like a wuxia superhero, even with a secret identity. There are two orphans - conman & conwoman - who are super annyong (supposed to be comedic). Donnie doesn’t get enough screen time.
Not D00M recommended.
Seen on Amazon Prime
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
