Martial Arts
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A sequel in name only to Wilson Yip’s 2005 film, Soi Cheang’s SPL2: A Time For Consequences nevertheless recaptures the exhilarating energy of the original, expanding from Hong Kong to… Read More
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An operatic crime epic that’s as beautiful in its calm moments as it is brutal with its action. I discuss the film in more detail with Fernando on the podcast… Read More
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Following a string of historical martial arts epics, Donnie Yen makes his return to contemporary action films with this high-octane tale of an undercover cop torn between duty and loyalty… Read More
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Vidyut Jamwal stands to take the martial arts world by storm after a dynamic breakout performance here as the titular one man army in Dilip Ghosh’s ridiculously entertaining action movie… Read More
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For his directorial debut, Keanu Reeves chooses the somewhat bizarre choice of a martial arts tournament flick, similar to Enter The Dragon or Bloodsport, shot almost entirely on location in… Read More
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A re-watch of Wong Kar Wai’s beautiful meditation on martial arts and heroism, shot through with his perennial preoccupations of time, aging and fading memories. Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi… Read More
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Dante Lam follows up his action spectacular The Viral Factor with this far more character focused and melodramatic story of two MMA fighters in Macau. Nick Cheung goes even further… Read More
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I can probably count the number of Vietnamese films I’ve seen on one hand, but this 3D martial arts romance had proved a huge success at the domestic box office… Read More
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Jet Li back doing action? Sounds great, but Badges of Fury proves to be more a goofy comedy for his co-star Wen Zhang than a kung-fu packed homage to old… Read More
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As someone with tenuous associations to the Alamo Drafthouse, I am somewhat ashamed that it has taken me this long to watch the flagship release of their Drafthouse Films label.… Read More
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Opening this year’s HK International Film Festival is Herman Yau’s follow up to The Legend Is Born. Anthony Wong stars as an aging Ip Man, forced to abandon his wing… Read More
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Wu-Tang Clan frontman and self-confessed Shaw Brothers fanboy RZA makes his directorial debut in this loving but messy homage to the martial arts classics of yesteryear, which he also wrote… Read More
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Rapper-turned-filmmaker RZA writes, directs and stars as the titular hero of this passionate love letter to old school Chinese martial arts movies. It is widely known that the founder of… Read More
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I’ve seen Gareth Evans’ blistering Indonesian action movie a few times before, but on discovering that last night’s dinner guests were in the mood for a movie and unaware of… Read More
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I had little interest or faith in Stephen Chow’s latest retelling of the classic Chinese fantasy, but there is some enjoyment to be had. The story, which is essentially the… Read More
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A decade after it was announced, Wong Kar Wai finally delivers his martial arts epic, starring Tony Leung Chiu Wai as wing chun advocate Ip Man and Zhang Ziyi has… Read More
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Without a prominent blocbuster opening this week, distributors scrabble to release whatever they have left in their slate before the onslaught of summer behemoths arrives. As a result it is… Read More
The James Marsh film review archive 