Upcoming films

IdleRich

IdleRich
Certainly not all martial arts films have an invincible hero - a very common start is that the hero gets humiliated by a seemingly invincible enemy in fact and then somehow has to pick himself up, train and so on until he is ready to face him.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
You know... montage, standing one legged on a pole, punching melons... mystical Chinese noises in the background etc
 

sadmanbarty

Well-known member
i love tom cruise.

all these actors you think are famous in spite of being a bit wrong and a bit batshit, but it does reach a point where you go there are so many of them like that, that it's actaully the thing audiences are responding to.

cruise, nicolas cage, travolta. they're all a bit rubbish and a bit off, but it makes them captivating to watch. you're sitting there as a viewer watching the madness in their eyes.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I mean, we are both describing that basic story arc (I would actually dispute it being the ONLY plot but it is the main one), but I was saying it to point out that John Wicke doesn't have that weak hero - if I remember rightly they give him a minor kicking at the start but only cos they get the drop on him, there is no sense that he is not at all times the hardest man that has ever existed. The baddie is scared of him, they say that he who you would send if you wanted to kill Baba Yagar and then Theon is just running away the whole time as Wicke massacres army after army.
Sometimes I do like the ones where one kung fu expert is worth an army, when they jump in the air and chop ten thousand arrows out of the sky... but the other side has an even better kung-fu master who is gonna crush him until he takes Mr Miyagi's advice and does the one-legged crane kick or whatever.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I can't remember that bit to be honest but I'll take your word for it... it's got Lovejoy (actor who super-reinvented himself) and the guy from The Wire too. I don't think it's terrible but for a 21st Century martial art film I'd say you're a lot better off with Ong Bak or, yeah, Kung Fu Panda.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Is A Touch of Zen a martial art film? What's that one where they are all in an inn... it's called something like At the Sign of the Dragon I think. Different story arc. In fact some of those films just make no sense whatsoever, there are some that I think provide the strongest evidence for a fundamental difference between the cultures of East and West.
 

craner

Beast of Burden
Me and Craner watched this one together ask him about it I think it was called poison clans or something it was amazing. Wu tang made them popular so the BFI did this big season of them

It was this one:

 

luka

Well-known member
That was it there was a twist in the tale every fucking five seconds it was brilliant
 

luka

Well-known member
Oh and she's give him poison!

But actually he tricked someone else into drinking it!

But it was fake poison!
 
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