This fantastic martial arts epic was director Lau Kar Leung's last film for Shaw Brothers and probably his best. After a string of dreadful studio imposed kung fu comedies, he strikes back with this dark and brooding violent tale of betrayal and revenge. When Gordon Liu's father and brothers are betrayed and butchered by the Mongols, he becomes a Buddhist monk and waits to exact his revenge. He excels at spear fighting, and adopts additional pole fighting techniques at the temple. When his younger sister (cute and spunky Wei Ying Hung) gets captured by the Mongols, Liu finally heads out to deliver justice. The martial arts sequences are superb and Gordon Liu's patented warrior monk persona never looked better. Surprisingly, Philip Ko delivers an amazing physical performance as a Buddhist reverend, and his pole fighting exchanges with Liu are spectacular. Master Lau Kar Leung has a cameo in the beginning of the film and he fights like a son of a bitch. Great stuff. Kung fu diva Wei Ying Hung sees a fair amount of action herself, and delivers quite possibly her finest martial arts performance. Sadly, rising star Alexander Fu Sheng died in a car accident during the making of the film, causing much of it to be rewritten. Classic kung fu doesn't get much better than this.
Drunken Master 2 (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Jackie is back as Wong Fei Hung and his fighting has never been more amazing. This time around, a young Wong Fei Hung (played by a man in his forties!) goes up against a group of villians who are stealing and exporting China's treasures abroad. Quite possibly the most amazing martial arts film I have ever seen. A superb big budget film with excellent performances by everyone. Won 1994 Hong Kong film award for best action choreography.
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It is definitely a must see (and own) in your collection. ...pass on the dismal US dubbed version. The duel between Liu Chia-Liang is worth the price alone!
Toho was so disappointed by Tri-Star's treatment of their star player in Roland Emmerich's and Dean Devlin's "Godzilla" (1998) that they resecured the rights to the franchise and brought the big guy back for his 23rd big screen appearance. Apparently the film did so well in Japan that Sony decided to import it for American audiences as "Godzilla 2000". While it's certainly more satisfying than Tri-Star's "Godzilla", it's still a rather embarrassing entry in the Godzilla canon. While Godzilla died in "Godzilla Vs. Destroyah" (1995), the American re-edit of the film doesn't make any mention of this, and I'd have to see the original Japanese version to figure out who this new Godzilla is (presumably Godzilla Jr.). The film revolves around a UFO that crashes into the ocean, and Godzilla isn't happy about its arrival. After dealing with the pesky and ineffectual Japanese military, the UFO morphs into a hideous beast and the two monsters beat each other up in the middle of Shinjuku, utterly destroying it in the process. There's also the side story of a bunch of peace-loving Godzilla watchers versus the nasty corporate scientists who want to destroy Godzilla, and a young news reporter who wants to get the scoop of the century by photographing Godzilla. But where is G-Force in all of this? Did they run out of funding only to be replaced by a bunch of weekend Godzilla hobbyists? The film raises a bunch of perplexing continuity questions, but the biggest question on my mind is why the filmmakers didn't take any tips from the creative geniuses behind "Gamera 2" (1996) and "Gamera 3" (1999). Those movies kick ass, while the effects in this big budget monster romp often look cheap and embarrassing. Too much reliance is placed on digital effects, and most of the composites are shaky and just plain dreadful. This was my first experience seeing the real Godzilla on the big screen, but I think I would have preferred to see it on video.
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I think it was a noble attempt to rescue the franchise, especially after the dreadful US godzilla. As in all G movies, there is hardly any continuity from the previous films, so it's not surprising here as well. Definitely not up to Gamera 2 and 3 !
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