kungfusamurai
05-23-2009, 02:43 PM
I finally sat down and watched this film last night. I thought it was already. It was rather bleak in the way so many people died. There were moments when I thought there would be an appearance of Wong Fei Hung to save the day, but instead the 'good' people ended up dying painfully.
The fight scenes throughout the movie were okay, but not great, even after films like Hapkido, released before this one, had featured great choreography. It was basically the flailing arm type of fighting typical of the basher genre of the early 70s. I even found Whang Ing Sik's punches and kicks unsatisfying, even though he probably fought with the same intensity as he did in Hapkido. The one guy who steals the movie in terms of fighting is Carter Wong. I normally dislike his fighting style, but in the final fight scene up to the point where he gives that last guy the boston crab, he pulled off some great combinations! Some of the moves he did, like the leg take down and the joint locking of a guys arm, were more like hapkido than basher style of fighting. I wonder if Sammo consulted Whang Ing Sik on those moves. The switching back and forth between the on location filming and an obvious sound stage mock-up was a little distracting in that finale, making it seem like Carter Wong was left in Thailand while Kwan Tak Hing was magically transported to an indoor location.
I'm not familiar with the Wong Fei Hung history before this movie. They call this movie 'The Skyhawk', and it seems like they call Wong Fei Hung 'Skyhawk' throughout the movie. I'm guessing that 'Fei Hung' is literally translated to 'Skyhawk', but why was it translated as such for the film? In films after this one, I don't recall any instance when Master Wong's first name is literally translated, at least not any time after this film. Was this an isolated case for the translation of this film? Is it because they named it 'Fei Hung' in Cantonese, and then for international release they literally translated the title and the name throughout the film so you'd know it was the same person? Or did they call Kwan Tak Hing's Wong Fei Hung 'skyhawk' throughout the older movies he did before this one?
The Thailand location was also a little strange. I know in the film they explain the travel to there as being a bit of a vacation and Master Wong is visiting relatives, but why did they choose to film the movie there? Was it to recapture the magic that made Bruce Lee a star when he filmed Big Boss in Thailand a few years earlier?
KFS
The fight scenes throughout the movie were okay, but not great, even after films like Hapkido, released before this one, had featured great choreography. It was basically the flailing arm type of fighting typical of the basher genre of the early 70s. I even found Whang Ing Sik's punches and kicks unsatisfying, even though he probably fought with the same intensity as he did in Hapkido. The one guy who steals the movie in terms of fighting is Carter Wong. I normally dislike his fighting style, but in the final fight scene up to the point where he gives that last guy the boston crab, he pulled off some great combinations! Some of the moves he did, like the leg take down and the joint locking of a guys arm, were more like hapkido than basher style of fighting. I wonder if Sammo consulted Whang Ing Sik on those moves. The switching back and forth between the on location filming and an obvious sound stage mock-up was a little distracting in that finale, making it seem like Carter Wong was left in Thailand while Kwan Tak Hing was magically transported to an indoor location.
I'm not familiar with the Wong Fei Hung history before this movie. They call this movie 'The Skyhawk', and it seems like they call Wong Fei Hung 'Skyhawk' throughout the movie. I'm guessing that 'Fei Hung' is literally translated to 'Skyhawk', but why was it translated as such for the film? In films after this one, I don't recall any instance when Master Wong's first name is literally translated, at least not any time after this film. Was this an isolated case for the translation of this film? Is it because they named it 'Fei Hung' in Cantonese, and then for international release they literally translated the title and the name throughout the film so you'd know it was the same person? Or did they call Kwan Tak Hing's Wong Fei Hung 'skyhawk' throughout the older movies he did before this one?
The Thailand location was also a little strange. I know in the film they explain the travel to there as being a bit of a vacation and Master Wong is visiting relatives, but why did they choose to film the movie there? Was it to recapture the magic that made Bruce Lee a star when he filmed Big Boss in Thailand a few years earlier?
KFS