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Bostonian916 (449 KP) rated Man of Tai Chi (2013) in Movies
Jun 29, 2020
Keanu Reeves is always a crowd please. The inclusion of Iko Uwais in this film made it a must see for me.
It is quite startling to see national treasure Keanu in an unfavorable role. Once the sheer shock of that wore off I was able to settle in and enjoy the movie for everything that it is.
Truth be told, I'm a sucker for old school styling when it comes to martial arts. This movie has that in spades. The action is very reminiscent of the ilk of years gone by. I truly enjoyed that about it.
The acting was alright. The story was ok, if not a bit telegraphed. If you're a fan of martial arts movies in general (or of Keanu, as he also directed) the I would endorse seeing this movie. If you're looking for a big budget action flick or a billion dollar blockbuster, this isn't it. But you will have a good old fashioned enjoyable flick on your hands.
It is quite startling to see national treasure Keanu in an unfavorable role. Once the sheer shock of that wore off I was able to settle in and enjoy the movie for everything that it is.
Truth be told, I'm a sucker for old school styling when it comes to martial arts. This movie has that in spades. The action is very reminiscent of the ilk of years gone by. I truly enjoyed that about it.
The acting was alright. The story was ok, if not a bit telegraphed. If you're a fan of martial arts movies in general (or of Keanu, as he also directed) the I would endorse seeing this movie. If you're looking for a big budget action flick or a billion dollar blockbuster, this isn't it. But you will have a good old fashioned enjoyable flick on your hands.
Dean (6921 KP) rated Ninja Assassin (2009) in Movies
Mar 10, 2018
An all out exercise for the eye-balls! This is a very violent, extremely bloody/gory martial arts film. I think they must use the same techniques used by Asian cinema with almost fountains of blood with every slice and dice of a Ninja sword. Revenge is the plot, of course....way over the top, humanely impossible action scenes, some cool effects and some great fights. It makes Kill Bill look tame in comparison.
AT (1676 KP) rated Tokyo Ghoul: Volume 3 in Books
Sep 19, 2018
Book 3 in the Tokyo Ghoul series has a lot of action, drama, and information packed into it. Kaneki continues to work at the cafe with Touka, and she also begins to train him in martial arts. Hinata's life sees some major changes, and she's forced to deal with much unpleasantness at a young age, since the ghoul investigators are after her when they recognize her that her family is made up of ghouls.
Dork_knight74 (881 KP) rated The Raid 2 (2014) in Movies
Nov 17, 2018 (Updated Nov 17, 2018)
Intense
This Indonesian action movie on Netflix is a non-stop martial arts bloodfest. The acting was decent enough and the cinematography was done really well. The premise is simple - a raid on a drug lord's tenement building goes south fast, leaving most of the team dead and the rest simply trying to survive. If you're into gritty action flicks with plenty of gory fight scenes, this one is definitely worth a watch. (Unless you don't like subtitles).
Kevin Phillipson (9961 KP) rated Triple Threat (2019) in Movies
Jan 17, 2020
Tony jaa (3 more)
Iko uwais
Fight scenes
Scott Adkins
It's ok movie saved by the fight scenes plus u got iko uwais from the raid movies and Tony jaa in it so u know it's gonna be fast and energetic and it's also got Scott Adkins in it too as I'm currently watching him in avengement also from the same director so if u like martial arts movie that's fast and energetic and very acrobatic this is your kinda movie
Awix (3310 KP) rated The Raid 2 (2014) in Movies
Feb 19, 2019 (Updated Jul 29, 2019)
Astoundingly violent sequel to The Raid (hope that doesn't constitute a spoiler). Hapless but extremely handy cop Rama is obliged to go undercover in the Malaysian underworld and infiltrate one of the major crime families. The plot is complex and coherent, surprisingly so for a martial arts action movie, but it's all really just a pretext for jaw-droppingly lavish, inventive and brutal fight sequences. Film doesn't shy away from the consequences of violence - at one point the first time I watched this, someone pulled a claw hammer out of their bag and I found myself instinctively cringing down in my seat in anticipation of the crunching gore to come.
Nevertheless, the film is lifted not just by the director's grasp of pacing and camerawork, but by some surprisingly strong performances. I imagine many people will not be able to take the intensity and violence of this film, but that doesn't lessen its achievement. Not the greatest gangster movie ever, nor the greatest martial arts film, but almost certainly the most accomplished fusion of the two genres.
Nevertheless, the film is lifted not just by the director's grasp of pacing and camerawork, but by some surprisingly strong performances. I imagine many people will not be able to take the intensity and violence of this film, but that doesn't lessen its achievement. Not the greatest gangster movie ever, nor the greatest martial arts film, but almost certainly the most accomplished fusion of the two genres.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Chocolate (2008) in Movies
Mar 2, 2018 (Updated Mar 2, 2018)
Mmm, Chocolate
Yet another film about an autistic girl with prodigious martial arts skills forced to beat the living daylights out of dozens of gangland thugs in order to pay for her mother's cancer medicine. But a really good one, by the standards of the kung fu movie genre at least. From the director of Ong-Bak, Prachya Pinkaew, who almost single-handedly seems to have put Thai martial arts movies on the map.
The plot is, as you can probably tell, somewhat eccentric and quite possibly in dubious taste (the final boss battle sees the autistic kickboxing girl facing off against a teenage capoeira expert with Tourette's syndrome), but this just adds to the distinctive flavour of this particular chocolate. Terrific performance, both acting and athletic, from Jeeja Yanin. The fight scenes are stupendously well-choreographed, especially the climax (a vertical fight up and down the side of a building). I don't know which is more surprising: that this movie exists at all, or that it's real and also really lives up to its potential.
The plot is, as you can probably tell, somewhat eccentric and quite possibly in dubious taste (the final boss battle sees the autistic kickboxing girl facing off against a teenage capoeira expert with Tourette's syndrome), but this just adds to the distinctive flavour of this particular chocolate. Terrific performance, both acting and athletic, from Jeeja Yanin. The fight scenes are stupendously well-choreographed, especially the climax (a vertical fight up and down the side of a building). I don't know which is more surprising: that this movie exists at all, or that it's real and also really lives up to its potential.
Dean (6921 KP) rated Shenmue in Video Games
Apr 25, 2018
Amazing graphics (2 more)
Huge areas to explore
Very original
Ground Breaking Classic
The game that probably helped sell the Dreamcast. This was unlike anything else at the time. Almost an open world game where you were free to explore, train your martial arts moves or just pop to the arcade for some retro Sega classics or darts! Along with some 3D scrolling beat em up sections. Something few games have tried since sadly. You will spend days worth of hours playing this!
Dean (6921 KP) rated Ashes of Time Redux (2008) in Movies
Dec 9, 2018
No doubt a well made film and with great cinematography. However it was a little confusing at times to follow the story and who were friends and who were enemies. The big disappointment for me was I had expected something along the lines of Hero or House of flying daggers. Unfortunately this is a different type of film altogether and barely has any fight scenes, and when there are they are a blur. Definitely more of a drama than a martial arts film.
Dean (6921 KP) rated Game of Death (1978) in Movies
Jul 8, 2023
Some cool fights
Overall not a great film, pretty weak story, bit simple. Only has a short amount of Bruce Lee footage that was filmed before his death in '73. Most of this is in the final 20 minutes as he takes on various martial arts experts one on one to get to the syndicate boss. This part is clearly what inspired @Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003) with Uma Thurman wearing a similar outfit to pay homage to Lee.