THE LEGEND OF THE FIST: THE RETURN OF CHEN ZHEN

GENRE:  Action/ Drama/ Martial-Arts/ Foreign
MADE:  2010
CAST:  Donnie Yen, Qi Shu
DIRECTOR:  Wai-Keung Lau
WRITER:  Gordon Chan

PLOT:  In Japanese occupied Shanghai Chen Zhen who was rumored to have been dead for some time reappears under an alias to help fight against the Japanese.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Iron Monkey, Ip Man, Tai Chi Master

SCORE:

HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS

GENRE:  Action/ Martial Arts/ Adventure/ Drama/ Foreign
MADE:  2004
CAST:  Ziyi Zhang, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau
DIRECTOR:  Yimou Zhang
WRITER:  Bin Wang, Yimou Zhang, Feng Li

PLOT:  Captain Jin frees the beautiful Xiao Mei who was being held captive only to find that things aren't what they seem.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Tai-Chi Master, Fearless

SCORE:

DRUNKEN MASTER

GENRE:  Comedy/ Action
MADE:  1978
CAST:  Jackie Chan, Siu Tien Yuen, Jang Lee Hwang
DIRECTOR:  Woo-ping Yuen
WRITER:  See-Yuen Ng, Woo-ping Yuen, Lung Hsiao

PLOT:  wong Fei-Hung trains in the martial arts style Drunken Fist style to stop an assassin.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  The Legend Of Drunken Master, Ip Man, Fearless

SCORE:

KUNG FU PANDA

GENRE:  Animation/ Action/ Adventure
MADE:  2008
CAST:  Jack Black, Ian McShane, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Lucy Liu, David Cross, Seth Rogen, Jackie Chan
DIRECTOR:  Mark Osborne, John Stevenson
WRITER:  Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger, Ethan Reiff, Cyrus Voris

PLOT:  Po, a panda who has been raised making noodle soup but an avid martial arts fan finds that he is chosen from the universe to protect the Valley of Peace from the evil Tai Lung though he has not one warrior skill.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Finding Nemo, Toy Story 3, A Bugs Life

SCORE:

CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON

GENRE:  Martial arts/ Action/ Drama/ Adventure/ Foreign
MADE:  2000
CAST:  Yun-Fat Chow, Michelle Yeoh, Ziyi Zhang, Chen Chang, Pei-Pei Cheng
DIRECTOR:  Ang Lee
WRITER:  Du Lu Wang, Hui-Ling Wang,  James Schamus, Juo Jung tsai

PLOT:  When a sacred sword is stolen by the daughter of a nobleman two great warriors go to retrieve it.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  House Of Flying Daggers, The Last Samurai, Iron Monkey

SCORE:

THE LEGEND OF DRUNKEN MASTER

GENRE:  Martial Arts/ Action/ Comedy/ Drama
MADE:  1994
CAST:  Jackie Chan, Ho-Sung Pak, Lung Ti, Anita Mui
DIRECTOR:  Chia-Liang Liu, Jackie Chan
WRITER:  Edward Tang, Man-Ming Tong, Cai Chi Yuen

PLOT:  After a medicine shopping trip with his father for his father's doctor office, Wong Fei-Hung becomes entangled in a scheme of lies for fear his father might find out that he has lost a very special medicinal root.  Wong Fei-Hung continues to get into trouble as he is forced to use his Drunken Master martial-arts technique to fight off villainous mobs.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Drunken Master, Tai Chi Master, Kung Fu Hustle

SCORE:

TAI CHI MASTER

GENRE:  Martial Arts/ Drama/ Action
MADE:  1993
CAST:  Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh, Siu-Hou Chin
DIRECTOR:  Woo-Ping Yuen
WRITER:  Kwong Kim Yip

PLOT:  Two men best of friends grow up together in a Shaolin temple until they both get thrown out for disobedience.  Once out in the real world the two must find their own way to their destiny and seek truth for themselves, when both go their separate ways they are brought back together but this time they must fight.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Iron Monkey, Ip Man, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

 

SCORE:

IRON MONKEY

GENRE:  Martial Arts/Foreign
MADE:  1993
CAST:  Rongguag Yu, Donnie Yen, Jean Wang
DIRECTOR:  Woo-Ping Yuen
WRITER:  Tai-Muk Lau, Cheung Tan, Pik-Yin Tang, Hark Tsui

PLOT:  Presented by Quentin Tarantino.  A provence in China is run by corrupt official, standing up for the common people is a masked martial artist who calls himself the Iron Monkey.  The Officials holds a  child hostage to strike a deal with a traveling physician, the father, to bring in the Iron Monkey.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon,  Ip Man, Tai Chi Master

SCORE:

IP MAN

GENRE:  Martial Arts/Drama/Biography
MADE:  2008
CAST:  Donnie Yen, Simon Yam, Siu-Wong Fan
DIRECTOR:  Wilson Yip
WRITER:  Edmond Wong

PLOT:  A semi-biography of the famed Chinese martial artist Master Ip, the first martial artist master to teach Wing-Chun and rose the moral of the Chinese people during the Japanese invasion through martial arts teachings.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Iron Monkey, Tai Chi Master, Fearless

SCORE:

FEARLESS

GENRE:  Martial Arts/Drama/Foreign
MADE:  2006
CAST:  Jet Li, Betty Sun, Shido Nakamura
DIRECTOR:  Ronny Yu
WRITER:  Chris Chow, Chi-Long To, Christine To

PLOT:  Set in 1869 (and onward) in China "Fearless" is a story about the martial arts master who was also the founder of the Jin Wu Sports Federation.  It's the founders story beginning from his child hood, a story about martial arts, what it means to undefeated, and finding one's way to spirituality.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Tai Chi Master,  Ip Man, Drunken Master

SCORE:

KUNG FU HUSTLE

GENRE:  Martial arts/Comedy
MADE:  2004
CAST:  Stephen Chow, Wah, Yuen, Qui Yuen
DIRECTOR:  Stephen Chow
WRITER:  Stephen Chow, Xin Huo, Chan Man Keung, Kan-Cheung Tsang

PLOT:  Set in 1940s Shanghai, a down and out young man along with his side-kick try to join the "Axe" gang resulting in the great super-powered martial artists to emerge from a low-income housing complex to defend themselves.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Iron Monkey, The Legend Of Drunken Master, The Forbidden Kingdom, Drunken Master

SCORE:

NOTE:  I have a love for martial arts film and will watch most martial arts films without discrimination, I've seen many bad ones and many good ones, but Kung Fu Hustle definitely stands alone in a different kind of greatness.  The martial arts moves and choreography is good and the story is great.  A martial arts film that isn't Hollywood (which is good in my book) coupled with super-powers, comedy and random sing & dance, it's definitely a film you should watch if you're a martial arts fan- there's no other martial arts film quite like it.

THE KARATE KID

GENRE:  Family/ Action/ Drama
MADE:  2010
CAST:  Jackie Chan, Jaden Smith
DIRECTOR:  Harald Zwart
WRITER:  Christopher Murphey & Robert Mark Kamen

PLOT:  Sherry Parker and her son Dre relocate to China from New York.  Adjustment is hard for Dre, the new kid on the block.  Unable to fight off Kung-Fu bullies Dre learns the art of Kung-Fu from a master disguised as a maintenance man.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Remember The Titans, Kung Fu Panda, E.T.

SCORE: