Wong, Michael

Seven Swords

As the title indicates, Seven Swords is in the epic spirit of The Seven Samurai and its American cousin, The Magnificent Seven. A grittier enterprise, it may not surpass Tsui Hark's 1990s classics like Once Upon a Time in China, but offers its own unique pleasures--like non-stop action (for which it received a coveted Golden Horse Award). Based on the book Seven Swordsmen from Mountain Tian, the action begins in rural China in the 1600s. The Ching Dynasty has just banned martial arts, and in response seven dissidents band together to fight against Fire-Wind (Honglei Sun) and his minions. The septet includes Hong Kong superstars Charlie Young (Wu Yuan Yin), Leon Lai (Yang Yun Chong), and Hero's Donnie Yen (Chu Zhao Nan). One of the mountain villagers they save is pretty Korean refugee Green Pearl (So-yeon Kim), who falls for the moody Chu. Filmed on location in scenic Xinjiang, Seven Swords is a feast for the eyes. Though some critics have taken Hark to task for the army's anachronistic goth-punk garb, it sure looks menacing. Originally four and a half hours long, this version clocks in at 153 minutes. Hark's soft-spoken commentary, along with Hong Kong cinema expert Bey Logan, is on the first disc. Deleted scenes and other extras are on the second. Because of the cuts, the complex narrative isn't always easy to follow--and the film still feels long--but the gold-tinged visuals and fight choreography by Kar-Leung Lau (The Legend of Drunken Master) helps to compensate. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

China in the 17th Century. A new law decrees all martial arts illegal punishment of death. A group of soldiers travel the country seeking out those who would flout the law. A swordsman and his disciples decide to take the fight to the enemy following a plea from a group of villagers.DVD Features:Main Language: MandarinAvailable Audio Tracks: DTS Dolby Digital 5.1Sub Titles: EnglishShooting Diaries Interview With Tsui HarkMaking OfSystem Requirements:Run Time: 135 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: SPORTS/GAMES/MIXED MARTIAL ARTS UPC: 796019797580 Manufacturer No: 79758

Knock Off

Jean-Claude Van Damme stars in an explosive thriller set in Hong Kongs shady manufacturing scene during the 1997 handover to China!When a shipment of jeans to the U.S. proves counterfeit Marcus Ray the "King of The Knock-Offs" (Van Damme) finds himself at the center of a Russian Mafia plot to hold the United States security for ransom. Thousands of tiny micro-bombs disguised within other manufactured goods are scheduled for departure from Hong Kong to America.When Rays companys jeans are found to be the housing for the explosives he is the one man the CIA can count on to prevent certain disaster! In a territory where loyalty can change hands overnight Marcus Rays survival will depend on him knowing the fakes from the real thing. System Requirements:Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme Rob Schneider Michael Fitzgerald Wong Carmen Lee Lela Rochon and Paul Sorvino. Directed By: Tsui Hark. Running Time: 91 Min. Color. This film is presented in both "Widescreen" and "Standard" formats. Copyright 2000 Columbia TriStar Home Video.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: R UPC: 043396258891

Having based so much of his career on the films from the region, Jean Claude Van Damme heads to Hong Kong itself for Knock Off. Set in the 72 hours running up to the British handover to China (and released a mere year after the actual event), the film's action centers around the colony's thriving bootleg business, tied in with a rather convoluted plot concerning the CIA, Russian Mafia, and an attempt to hold the United States ransom through covert attacks. The opening section unwisely tries Van Damme's hand at knockabout humor with partner Rob Schneider but merely proves that the star is severely lacking the sort of humorous touch that Arnold Schwarzenegger has so successfully utilized. Once Knock Off descends into more familiar Van Damme territory, the film--and its leading man--are on surer ground. There are a good deal of spectacular fight sequences, some amazing stunts, and a feisty female sparring partner in the form of Lela Rochen. Even the always-reliable Paul Sorvino pops up. Director Tsui Hark hits upon some interesting and initially invigorating visual effects but soon overdoes them, actually highlighting the lack of decent story rather than enhancing it. There is an incredible film to be made about this period in history but this isn't it. Knock Off is merely another undemanding, high-kicking, high-octane vehicle for Van Damme. --Phil Udell

Thunderbolt (1995)

When his sister is kidnapped, sports car mechanic Chan Foh To must race a criminal drag racer in order to get her back.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: R
Release Date: 24-JAN-2006
Media Type: DVD

The always entertaining Jackie Chan, perhaps the biggest movie star in the world, stars as a humble tow-truck driver named Foh who identifies a blond Aryan gangster named Cougar--only to be targeted for revenge. Cougar kidnaps Foh's sisters and threatens to kill them unless Foh races against him in a Japanese rally. Thunderbolt's story is incoherent at times, but after a slow start the movie propels itself forward with dazzling fights (including a stunning brawl in a pachinko parlor), shootouts (a little bloodier than typical Jackie Chan fare), and amazing stunts, to say nothing of the nerve-wracking climactic race itself, speckled with jaw-dropping car crashes. Chan's American movies, for all their polish, never capture the hyperkinetic thrill of the true Jackie Chan. Thunderbolt is far from Chan's best--the Police Story series, Dragons Forever, Drunken Master II, and several others are easily superior in terms of story, stunts, and just sheer fun--yet it easily brushes aside Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon (as well as demolishing stateside racing movies like Days of Thunder and Gone in 60 Seconds). If you've only seen Jackie in Hollywood product, you owe it to yourself to see his Hong Kong movies, and Thunderbolt is a perfectly good place to start. --Bret Fetzer

House of Fury

City Hunter

Hong Kong superstar Jackie Chan gives his self-mocking humor full flourish in City Hunter, adapted from a Japanese comic book. But that doesn't mean there isn't a solid dose of action--after a brilliantly cartoonish opening, the movie settles into a half-comedy, half-thriller variation on Die Hard, in which Eurotrash terrorists have hijacked a plush ocean cruise liner and super-detective Ryu Saeba (Chan) has to stop them, aided by his lovely, love-lorn assistant (Joey Wong, A Chinese Ghost Story, Green Snake) and a beautiful undercover secret agent (Chingmy Yau, Naked Killer). Though City Hunter is short on breathtaking stunts, there's plenty of well-choreographed hand-to-hand combat. Jackie Chan's lecherous, self-absorbed character (accompanied by a parade of girls into skimpy or skin-tight outfits) come across like a gleeful parody of James Bond (slightly marred by a bit of homophobia). All in all, a high energy romp. --Bret Fetzer

Based on a popular Japanese comic strip, Hong Kong's high-flying martial arts action hero Jackie Chan stars as private Ryu Saeba in City Hunter. Hired to find the runaway daughter of a Japanese publishing tycoon, Ryu's first impulse is to turn the job down - until he sees a picture of the beautiful Shizuko (Kumiko Goto). Hot on her heels, Ryu tracks her down on board a cruise ship, and much to the annoyance of his jealous female sidekick Kaori (Joey Wong) the womanizing Ryu seems more interested in catching Shizuko's attention than returning her safely to her father. However, Ryu's romantic plans quickly go astray when a gang of ruthless criminals hijack the ship and hold the passengers to ransom. To save the day Jackie Chan's unique action style reigns supreme in a series of brilliantly conceived fight sequences as Ryu swings into action to dispatch the bad guys and rescue the goergeous Shizuko!

Lost and Found

Royal Warriors

Long before Michelle Yeoh hit the international mainstream as a motorbiking Bond girl in Tomorrow Never Dies, and even before U.S. audiences saw her as Jackie Chan's sidekick (literally) in Supercop, she was a Hong Kong action star in her own right. In Royal Warriors, released in 1986, Yeoh plays a Hong Kong police officer who happens to be flying home from Japan on the same flight as a criminal being extradited. In a precursor to the spate of shootout-on-a-plane movies of the 1990s (Air Force One, Executive Decision, Turbulence, Con Air), an accomplice kills the police escorts and frees the criminal midflight. An impromptu team of Yeoh, an air security officer named Michael Wong (played by--hey! Michael Wong of Once a Thief), and an about-to-retire Japanese Interpol officer (played by Henry Sanada) manages to wipe out the bad guys and save the plane. It turns out, though, that the two baddies were half of a quartet of war veterans who once vowed to stick together to the death, and the two remaining are determined to avenge their friends. Although there are three heroes, Yeoh is definitely the star here, combining strong martial-arts moves with a warm personality. Sanada can match Yeoh kick for kick but is angry and sullen through most of the film, while Wong mostly serves as a gadfly to Yeoh. Action fans are treated to the obligatory car chase, revenge motives, annoying bureaucrats, explosions, and bodies diving in slow motion. The film is available in subtitled and dubbed versions, both widescreen. --David Horiuchi

Legacy of Rage

In the Line of Duty 4

Beast Cops

Director Gordon Chan, who launched his career in the 1980s with sharply observed social comedies such as The Yuppie Fantasia, moved on to documentary-inflected police procedurals, a gritty Hong Kong subgenre pioneered by Johnny Mak (The Long Arm of the Law) and Kirk Wong (Rock 'n' Roll Cop). Like many younger HK directors, Chan may also have been influenced by the icy-cool Japanese gangster films of Takeshi Kitano (Sonatine). This 1998 entry, Chan's best since The Final Option (1994), is about the redemption of a slobbish veteran cop, played by grizzled Anthony Wong, whose pasty face looks slept in. Knee-deep in corruption and taking bribes with both hands, Wong finds, to his dismay, that the straight-arrow morality of his new young boss (Michael Wong) may be contagious. The film is as much a romantic melodrama as an action film, leisurely and observational, full of eccentric slacker detectives and feral dimwitted gangsters with nicknames like Man-Dick and Pushy Pin. The fight sequences are shot close in, hand held, with vertiginous swoops and swerves, for a claustrophobic sense of terror. --David Chute