Review: The Grandmaster of Kung Fu

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2023
Images from the Internet, unless indicated

The Grandmaster of Kung Fu (aka The Grandmaster of Kungfu)
Directed by Cheng Si-Yu
Zhonglele Pictures; Well Go USA Entertainment; Hi-YAH!
75 minutes, 2019 / 2023
https://wellgousa.com/films/grandmaster-kung-fu
www.hiyahtv.com
@WellGoUSA; #TheGrandmasterOfKungFu

Many of the Chinese kung fu/martial arts films of late that date back to a dynasty period, even a later one, tend to be stylized to the point of art, such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). This is a natural progression of the old Shaw Bros films of the 1970s-‘80s, but you may wonder whatever happened to the down and dirty fighting of those good old days?

In Mandarin and Japanese (with English subtitles) comes this little ditty that is relatively new to the canon, but has that old time feel, without being VHS blurry images that we all had to get used to when we rented them from the local video store. The period in which this takes place is the end of the Qing Dynasty, which was essentially during World War II, when Japan invaded China and decimated many of the people and cultural icons. It is also the focus of the story, as Japan tries to take over Tianjin, a city dedicated to the martial arts. If the city is wiped out, there are less warriors fighting for their home turf.

When Japan invaded China in 1931, it lasted until the fall of the Japanese Empire in 1945. Japan’s brutal reign over China was short-lived, but was replaced by so-called Communist China in 1949, and was modernized under a different brutal regime. This is also the time period of Ip Man (2008, also released by Well Go USA Entertainment). But enough with the contextual history lesson.

The protagonist of this story is Huo Yuanjia (former World Wushu Champion Du Yuhang (aka Dennis To). He is a lowly porter (with a large house, for some reason) with a wife (Mei Xue) and young child. Of course, he is a master at a specific kung fu, which is not recognized by the official wushu (an umbrella title for a form of kung fu; the other being kuoshu) association of Tianjin, and its new president, Zhao. His becoming the head of the group is the opening sequence of trial by fist and feet. Still, Huo manages to get a single disciple, Chen Zhen.

In comes the Japanese, led by trigger happy Commander Yoshida Masaichi and his Aikido sword wielding superior Colonel Takeda Kamesaburo, who takes over the association’s building to open a forbidden Japanese martial arts school. Of course, just minutes in, it is easy to tell that at some point it will be a fight between Yuanjia and either Masaichi or Kamesaburo in a match of Chinese kung fu vs. Japanese budō. Following the narration of nearly all these kinds of films This is a Chinese martial arts standard, and rightfully so.

Du Yuhang is very likeable, and his style is reminiscent of Donnie Yen (Ip Man). It should come as no surprise that he played the Ip Man character a year later in the prequel, The Legend is Born: Ip Man (2010). As far as the other actors, interestingly, the Japanese are played by Chinese actors, and the Japanese language is dubbed in. The film also stars Gao Xuemei, Yang Yongfeng, Li Ruoxi and Zhuang Han, but I do not know who played which role.

The film relies on a few cliches, such as the championship tournament, Japan’s overreach and malevolence, the final battle, and the one-against-many opponents (including Ninjas!). Because of this there are some formulaic narratives, but hell, we watch this stuff for the, well, Hi-YAH! quality. In this case, the action is both well-choreographed and shot/edited. There is a bunch of wirework, as is par for the course, but no ridiculous flying through the air or jumping from one roof to another. While obvious, it is done only within fights and not over-emphasized (e.g., no jumping from the ground to the top of a building).

My one complaint is that sometimes the subtitles roll by too fast for my aged eyes. But what the hell, it is the action sequences that are the backbone of any martial arts film, and this definitely delivers.

This is director Cheng Si-Yu’s first film and has since made the likes of Land Shark (2020). I am hoping he goes on to do a crime drama, or another martial arts release set in the Feudal period. Meanwhile, there is this gem.

A Hi-YAH! original, the film is available on the Hi-YAH! martial arts streaming service (link above), as well on Blu-ray and DVD.

IMBD listing HERE

Review: No Escape

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2022
Images from the Internet

No Escape (aka Escape from Absolom)
Directed by Martin Campbell
Columbia Tristar; Pacific Western; Platinum Pictures;
Allied Filmmakers; Unearthed Classics; MVD Visual
118 minutes, 1994 / 2022
www.unearthedfilms.com
www.MVDvisual.com

Doncha just love it when a (relatively) older film is a science fiction that predicts the actual year you are in? Released back in 1994, this film takes place in the far future of 2022 (by coincidence, also the year that the leading actor, Ray Liotta, died). Oh, yeah, 2022 is also the year in which Soylent Green (1973) takes place. Gee, I wonder what that year will be like, and how accurate the storyline will be. Will there be an idiot 45th President? Will there be threats of a civil war by some numbnuts in red hats and blue shirts? Hmmmm. I will start watching, and we can see. Odds are, I will be discussing not only the film, but its depiction of the year in which it takes place.

First of all, this film is a sausage-fest. Yeah, there are no women in the film at all, just macho dudes living a Lord of the Flies meets Mad Max: The Road Warrior (1981) life. Y’see, it takes place in a penile – er – I mean penal colony. In the opening placard, it states that all prisons are now privatized, something Obama fought against, and his ruling was overturned by the following Republican administration. This film is getting closer to reality in the first two seconds, though the computers we see are still somewhat cathode-looking as opposed to flat-screens.

Right at the opening credits, in Benghazi (yeah, I know), Libya, Special Forces Capt. J.T. Robbins (Liotta) kills his commanding officer and is sent to the remote, desert enclosed Leviticus Maximum Security Penitentiary, run by Warden (Michael Lerner). He gets there by super-cool monorail, similar in means to the AirTrain JFK that cuts through Queens, NY, to get to the airport. The prison is in the middle of a desert that is reminiscent of Dune (1984; 2000; 2021) landscape.

Ray Liotta

Thanks to a major infraction, Robbins is sent to the remote island of Absolom, where he is a stranger in a strange land. It is lush and beautiful (filmed in New South Wales, Australia), but he will learn he is a tough guy in an unfamiliar world run by convicts, much like Snake Plisskin in Escape from New York (1981), but without Adrianne Barbeau. Robbins is captured by “the Outsiders,” a grungy group led by sociopath Walter Marek (Stuart Wilson), who at first underestimates our anti-hero. This society is close to a Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) situation, where only the strong survive, and somehow Marek has the only gun (spears and arrows are the weapon of the day). They have stalled in tribalism and cannibalism when necessary.

After a fun Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) moment, thanks to Marek miscalculating Robbins’ prowess, Robbins escapes into the woods with the entire pack in pursuit. The chase scene through the jungle reminds me a bit of Apocalypto, even though it came out years later in 2006.

After a fall into a river that puts Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) to shame, he ends up in “the Insiders” camp. The viewer can tell this is a good place because of the swell of violins in the soundtrack music. It is run by benevolent The Father (Lance Henriksen) and his Head of Security, Hawkins (Ernie Hudson, who is fighting the Outsiders rather than busting ghosts although, apparently, is still wearing gray clothing). Here, life is communal, with farming and metallurgy to show progress.

If I may digress here for a second, and I am almost done with the exposition (and believe me, there’s a lot of action going on I am not mentioning), you may have noticed that I have been referencing many other films. Well, that is because there is some much built on those other releases, and it is fun to ping-pong back and forth between this and the others. There is even a Spartacus (1960) moment. Sure, there is some originality in this, and Liotta is a great Mad Max/Plisskin substitute, but there was a basic formula to these films (as is true with many releases, especially nowadays) at that time, and it mostly proved effective, though this one cost $20 million, and made $15 million back.

Injured, the angry, non-joiner, anti-authority Robbins is bound to adjust to the Insiders’ life, and even though I am only 30 minutes in, starting Act 2, I am willing to bet a dollar that at some point, the 600 Outsiders and the 100 Insiders will do battle, with Special Forces Robbins leading the defense.

You really can tell this is a big budget extravaganza (though they ran out of cash near the end), relative to the many films I am used to reviewing these days. Along with the stunning sets (especially the Insider’s camp), the action in Act 2 is larger than the entire budget of many other films. This is not telling anyone anything that is not obvious. In fact, one of the raids reminds me of the renegades attacking the fort, mid-The Road Warrior.

Liotta, Stuart Wilson

You will find a lot of Mel Gibson references in this review, a man I personally despise, but beyond that, The Road Warrior is a film I can watch over and over. And there is certainly a Mad Max moment when Robins tells The Father that himself knows how to help, in the same way Max boasts (rightfully), “You wanna get out of here, you talk to me.”

I believe part of the reason why this film has so many fans and has achieved cult level love, is that is really is action packed, with many scenes of action. Liotta does well as an action hero (he wanted to find out what it was like to be one, and he succeeded), as does his underling/comic relief Casey (Kevin Dillon). A nod should also go to Wilson, who plays the evil yet gallant and highly talkative Sherriff of Nottingham or Hans Gruber type character. As for Henriksen, well, the man makes you forget he’s acting, and while Liotta is superb as always, Henriksen still managed to hold his own, if not more so; why is he not on the poster instead of Dillon, who is okay, but he’s no Lance. The SFX, all practical, are a lot of fun, with explosions, and some surprisingly gory deaths. The make-up and wardrobe are done by the same person who did The Road Warrior, and it shows (meant as a compliment).

There are many anachronistic moments here and there, such as how did the Insiders get all the crossbows? Bow and arrows I can understand, but that is a technology that cannot bd found on an isolated island. And what do they eat? Okay, the Outsiders delve into cannibalism, but you see some turkeys and pigs being harvested in the Insiders’ camp. Where did they come from? It is clear both camps eat rats. And where did the Outsiders get their body armor? They do not have the technology nor the source material where they are stranded. But I’m willing to give up some suspension of disbelief, because It is a fun film. But I’m still aware

Lance Henriksen (left), Ernie Hudson (right)

As for extras, at nearly 2 hours, as much fun as the film was, I was glad there was no full-length commentary. What we do have is still a plethora of material. To begin with, there is “Welcome to the Future: The Sci-Fi Worlds of Gale Anne Hurd” (17 min), a new for this Blu-ray interview with producer Hurd, who worked for Roger Corman on films like Humanoids from the Deep (1980), Battle Beyond the Stars (1980), for which she hired James Cameron, and then on to such now-classics of the likes of The Terminator (1984) and Aliens (1986). Obviously, she also produced No Escape. A storied career, and an interesting monologue, and lots of clips.

“Survival of the Fittest: Directing No Escape”(13 min), a new interview with filmmaker Martin Campbell, who would go on to direct the likes of James Bond’s Goldeneye (1995) and Casino Royale (2006), as well as Green Lantern (2011). He has a decent sense of humor, and his stories are fun to which to listen. “Penal Colony: Writing No Escape”(7 min), is a new interview/monologue with co-writer Joel Gross. Which is okay for a one-time listen.

For older material, there is vintage featurettes, starting with “Making of Escape from Absolom” (21 min), the shooting title of the film. It includes on-set interviews with most of the major cast and crew, and is informative about the production. Actually, I enjoyed this one more than the previous three interviews. There is a second Making Of featurette (6 min) that seems to be untitled. It is very similar to the previous one, also shot on set, but is much shorter.

Lastly, there is the “Alternate Intro” (2 min), which is extremely similar to the one used in the film, just less “stylized.” Honestly, either one would have worked. Last are the original theatrical trailer, TV spots, and a photo gallery.

With one last reference, the big surprise for me is that, in some ways, this is a Christmas movie in the same way as Die Hard (1988).

IMDB listing HERE

Review: Walking Tall

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2019
Images from the Internet

Walking Tall

Directed by Kevin Bray
20 Century Fox / MGM / MVD Marquee Collection
86 minutes, 2004 / 2018
www.mvdvisual.com

I like Dwayne Johnson as an actor. He’s versatile with good chops in many genres, including action, drama, and even his comic timing is top notch. But this remake of the 1973 film of the same title (though the characters’ names change here) does not star Dwayne Johnson; rather, it is wrestling superstar The Rock. Yes, there is a difference, and it all comes down to money, i.e., who is doing the financing.




The real Buford Pusser

This film is based also on the life of Buford Pusser (d. 1974) though more glitzy than the original in which stoic-yet-slow-burn Joe Don Baker played him as a man finally fed up and seeking revenge, as his town is turned into a Pottersville, if you will, and his wife is killed by the mob. Here, The Rock plays him as Chris Vaughn, a U.S. Army Special Forces Sergeant with combat training, who is highly skilled in the art of killing. And he certainly does plenty of it here.

Many of the key scenes are redone from the ’73 release, which is somewhat more accurate to Buford’s real life, but here liberties are definitely taken (e.g., Vaughn is unmarried). Actually I don’t have a problem with the re-vision of the original story, as that’s common practice in cinema history. It’s the level of the amping of testosterone in a video game world that I find, well, kinda meh. Back in Tennessee when the real story happened, one could possibly get away with the things that Buford did, never mind the mob. I can’t really imagine Vaughn in then-modern 2004 sneaking out of getting jail time. All the mob had to do is donate minimal money to a right-wing cause, and as we’ve seen in real life, people will follow blindly.



The Rock, Johnny Knoxville

See, this here version was produced by Vince McMahon, head of the wrestling association that The Rock is affiliated with, so it’s going to amp up the machismo and violence because they want to market their product (i.e., The Rock). What they ended up with was a film that basically has no character, no sense of proportion, and in which women are there to be mainly strippers and hookers, with zero personalities. His new girlfriend (Ashley Scott) is a pole dancer/call girl who works for the casino, and spends much of her screen time in red bra and panties.

As in the wrestling ring, it’s essentially mano-a-mano as The Rock goes against ex-friend and now drug dealer/casino owner Jay (seemingly perpetual villain Neal McDonough). Rounding out the group is the “comic relief” of The Rock’s sidekick, played by the ever annoying Johnny Knoxville.



Neal McDonough

Everyone gets the crap beaten out of them at some point or another, but you know who will prevail in an apparently never ending string of fights between The Rock and any number of Jay’s henchmen. And who will be the final victor? Follow the funding.

The bonus material, which I honestly did not watch, includes subtitles, an audio commentary by The Rock, and another one with the Director, Film Editor and Director of Photography, a “Fight the Good Fight” stunts featurette, deleted scenes, blooper reel, an alternate ending, a photo gallery, and the original theatrical trailer.

I don’t mind films with fighting. The Kung Fu craze of the ‘70s and ‘80s was fun and I still get a kick (pun not intended) out of those. Imaginative ones like Die Hard and Fight Club prove that it can be quite interesting, but this is just a bunch of nothing set pieces that are there to serve the purpose of promoting a product (again, The Rock), rather than telling a story. The film did well, financially, and helped The Rock become Dwayne Johnson, out of the banner of the wrestling venue. So in the long run that’s a good thing, right?