Karate Kid: Legends and Physical: Asia

Shows about physical competition!

Karate Kid: Legends

Li (played by Ben Wong) loves kung fu but is forced to give it up to move to New York with his mom. There's a moment where it looks like it will break the familiar formula of every Karate Kid movie before it which is exciting, but no. There's a girl, a rival, and a karate tournament which he needs to train for. 

Lucky his sifu (played by Jackie Chan) knows someone that can help with that training montage: the original Karate Kid Daniel La Russo (Ralph Macchio) last seen in Cobra Kai. Overall just an OK entry to the Karate Kid universe but I can't help but feel there was a potentially better movie hiding here if the script writers / producers just had enough balls to go for it. 

Physical: Asia 

This next installment of this series features eight teams of six from various countries in Asia (more like Asia-Pacific given Australia is one of the teams). Like previous seasons the very first episode is a lot of introduction but its easier to remember people this time around as there are only 48 in total? 

Some good personalities in this one!

Teams then perform "quests" to knock each other out / survive the competition which involve a good amount of team work, skill, and grit. The editing is again spot on for each episodes cliff-hanger, but if you haven't gotten used to the reaction-rewind-reaction#2 style of Korean TV this will put you through that ringer. :P We found it very entertaining and are even more in awe that many of the contestants from different countries have since become friends! The strong positive vibes make it super cool. It's like Masterchef Australia, but with athletes instead of cooks. Thumbs up!

Project A

There's just no safe way to fall from a clock tower. Ow.

An elusive pirate needs to be brought to justice and who better than Dragon (Jackie Chan) and his ragtag band of police hating coast guards to bring him in using the titular "Project A"? Well, probably anyone else actually but none would be as entertaining to watch!

The kickass trio.

There's a particular appeal to these old flicks, especially since special FX use was still quite low and relied more on physical stunts and wondrous fight choreography that is often lacking these days. It's a contrast to the "light" plot that's heavy on humor.

While there are no surprises in the story, this is still a very entertaining watch especially for martial arts fans. I give it 3 bicycles out of 5 and would definitely see it again.

Kung Fu Yoga

The title is worse than the movie.

In this action comedy, Chinese archaeologist Jack Chan (played by Jackie Chan) is called upon by an Indian professor to help find a lost treasure. Of course, there is a bad guy after the same treasure who has a lot of goons that Jack and company get to beat up.

This poster is as serious as the movie gets.

Since I went into this with really low expectations, I was pleasantly surprised at the budget this movie has. The team visits many places, and along with some wirework there is a lot of neat CGI (though obviously CGI - not life like enough to fool people). The story itself is a bit flat and predictable but Jackie Chan's antics certainly help lift it up.

Also, there's not much yoga but there is a lot of melee fighting, which for me is great. Not the best movie Jackie Chan has made, but if you are a Jackie Chan fan then you would probably still enjoy this. I give it 2.5 Indiana Jones references out of 5, and yes - I would watch it again!

Rush Hour 3

"He's Mi and I'm Yu."

The unlikely law enforcement team Carter (Chris Tucker) and Lee (Jackie Chan) are on the case to hunt down an assassin and find crucial intel on the triad. It's a straight forward and decent story from the usual police genre boilerplate which means there aren't too many surprises. Jackie Chan's action sequences are fantastic as usual and the comedy parts are hilarious when done right.

With Hiroyuki Sanada, sword fights are mandatory!

It does go a bit too far perhaps when Carter forces a French cabbie to sing the American National Anthem at gunpoint and a few other similar sections which strain the suspension of disbelief but otherwise it is an enjoyable watch. Definitely one for fans of either lead and/or of the Rush Hour franchise. If you are anyone else though, it's one of those "watch if nothing else is on" movies. I give it 2.5 cuts out of 5.

The Foreigner

Tell me the names!

When Quan (Jackie Chan) loses his last family member to a random bombing, he decides to hunt down the perpetrators himself. Not the most unique of premises, but the method he takes to do so is interesting.

The acting is ok across the board and I didn't mind all the accents but the highlights are definitely the action pieces. Unfortunately there aren't that many of those. The plot also has holes with numerous filler scenes, especially near the start.

This poster almost has more action than the movie.

The Foreigner is an alright flick, but not one I can recommend to anyone other than Jackie Chan fans as the Taken series does a similar story, better. I give the Foreigner 2 IEDs out of 5, and am in no rush to watch it again.

Dragon Blade and The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate

Dragon Blade

The only true way to achieve peace is through song... and killing your enemies.

Jackie Chan is the leader of the Silk Road Protection Squad whose task is to keep the peace between the many different factions that use the road. There are a lot of dialects spoken in the film and it works in Jackie's favor to cover his "not so good" English. As expected, there are many funny moments for him to shine but these are overshadowed by the fantastic fight choreography (again, designed by Jackie Chan I think) throughout the movie. Also, while I was a bit disappointed to see all the non-lethal fights I should have known better since this movie isn't afraid of killing anyone. It just does all the killing towards the end. I quite like flicks with high body counts. :P

Why bother with armies when everyone duels anyway?

The sets are quite nice, and most of the background music is pretty cool too. That said there are a few sung numbers and the ones Jackie sings are middling to fair (if I'm being nice). They are very short in the scheme of things though (it's not a musical) so don't let that frighten you off. More problematic for me are some of the child actors who are in short, annoying. Also the film suffers from some strange editing decisions but the biggest flaw is having a modern day segment which is total fluff and really is just padding for time. If you cut that entire bit out, the whole movie would be better for it.

All up I give Dragon Blade three out of five shield bracers and recommend it to other action buffs, especially those who like Jackie Chan. Would I like to watch it again? Definitely! I'm just not sure where they got the title from.

~~~

The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate

It's not just swords that are flying... there are arrows... and people... and buildings...

China is coming apart at the seams because the eunuchs of the East and West bureau are apparently really bad people and having their nuts cut off has given them special powers. They are so powerful that they even ride boats that go backwards and that can self repair instantly. Not that it matters though because Jet Li pretty much finishes dismantling one branch at the start of the film and his quest to take out the other (which happens to be chasing a pregnant lady) leads to a convoluted treasure hunt in the deep desert.

Gravity means nothing to these people.

Now I quite like Jet Li, and I do quite like the CGI on the large, panoramic shots and can forgive the obviously set piece desert scenes but come on. This story is ridiculously bad. That whole part of the eunuchs which they spend a fair bit of time with in the beginning is not even necessary to the plot, nor are half the characters. I might have been more forgiving if the body count was higher (definitely should have been) at the end but what really kills it are the gazillion unanswered questions and the surprisingly bad fight scenes.

Yes, I know! What the hell happened? There are fights where clearly motion is sped up like in those bad Highlander episodes, a ridiculous use of unbelievable wire work, and ludicrous fight decisions which can be sampled right at the beginning when people are kicking TREE TRUNKS around, sometimes into orbit. Then supposedly you can block said huge flying tree trunk with one hand. WHAT? There's a limit to my suspension of disbelief and this movie didn't just cross the line, it destroyed it with a tree log meteor. I give it one and a half sandstorms out of five and recommend that you give this one a pass. I think I'd prefer walking into a sand storm than watching it again.