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cookwitch last night - quick meal at MISO, and then back to the sofa ... to watch (and mock) a bit of Vain Hellthing because it was on the box - the Brides do over-act horrendously, don't they?
And then the main attraction ... Once Upon A Time In China. I've seen it before, butcookwitch hadn't - and as I've got 1-3 in a boxed set, that's a viewing schedule sorted out. It's classic wuxia, with Tsui Hark directing Jet Li as the Chinese hero Wong Fei Hung, a man whose heroic status can be compared to a combination of Robin Hood and King Arthur, with the added fact that his existence is confirmed and recent (even if his stature may have been magnified in the retelling).
This film also stars Yuen Biao (who's been in loads of HK martial arts action), with the fight sequences directed by Yuen Woo-Ping (Matrix, Kill Bill, Crouching Tiger..., Unleashed, among others). While the big scenes tend to feature some wire-work (although not to the supernatural level of Crouching Tiger...), a lot of the more informal fight scenes appear to be shot 'straight', and are the more impressive for that.
In this episode, the first of the saga, our hero finds himself attempting to stand up for traditional ways while up against a gang of street thugs, a governer/police chief who bends over backwards to assist the foreigners carving up Canton, another martial arts master out to prove the superiority of his technique and, finally, a very dodgy entrepreneur, with a hulking bodyguard. He is assisted in his endeavours by his direct students and the former members of the local militia, whose martial arts instructor he was. There's even a brief appearance of the actual no shadow kick as opposed to the wuxia version.
One note - on the version I've got, it's essential to watch it in Cantonese with the English subtitles. This is for two reasons a) the subtitles make more sense and seem more comprehensive than the dubbing and b) the dubbing is abysmal. No, make that really abysmal. Mostly it appears to have been dubbed by The Macho Voice Collective™.
Two note - it's quite good to watch this after Iron Monkey, which features the character of Wong Fei Hung as a young boy, travelling with his father (another healer and skilled martial artist) - especially as they use the same signature stances, so you can see the man the boy grows into (even if the boy is played by a girl in the Iron Monkey, for enhanced ass-kickery reasons).
cookwitch last night - quick meal at MISO, and then back to the sofa ... to watch (and mock) a bit of Vain Hellthing because it was on the box - the Brides do over-act horrendously, don't they?And then the main attraction ... Once Upon A Time In China. I've seen it before, but
cookwitch hadn't - and as I've got 1-3 in a boxed set, that's a viewing schedule sorted out. It's classic wuxia, with Tsui Hark directing Jet Li as the Chinese hero Wong Fei Hung, a man whose heroic status can be compared to a combination of Robin Hood and King Arthur, with the added fact that his existence is confirmed and recent (even if his stature may have been magnified in the retelling).This film also stars Yuen Biao (who's been in loads of HK martial arts action), with the fight sequences directed by Yuen Woo-Ping (Matrix, Kill Bill, Crouching Tiger..., Unleashed, among others). While the big scenes tend to feature some wire-work (although not to the supernatural level of Crouching Tiger...), a lot of the more informal fight scenes appear to be shot 'straight', and are the more impressive for that.
In this episode, the first of the saga, our hero finds himself attempting to stand up for traditional ways while up against a gang of street thugs, a governer/police chief who bends over backwards to assist the foreigners carving up Canton, another martial arts master out to prove the superiority of his technique and, finally, a very dodgy entrepreneur, with a hulking bodyguard. He is assisted in his endeavours by his direct students and the former members of the local militia, whose martial arts instructor he was. There's even a brief appearance of the actual no shadow kick as opposed to the wuxia version.
One note - on the version I've got, it's essential to watch it in Cantonese with the English subtitles. This is for two reasons a) the subtitles make more sense and seem more comprehensive than the dubbing and b) the dubbing is abysmal. No, make that really abysmal. Mostly it appears to have been dubbed by The Macho Voice Collective™.
Two note - it's quite good to watch this after Iron Monkey, which features the character of Wong Fei Hung as a young boy, travelling with his father (another healer and skilled martial artist) - especially as they use the same signature stances, so you can see the man the boy grows into (even if the boy is played by a girl in the Iron Monkey, for enhanced ass-kickery reasons).