New on home video, August 23-29

FIGHTING (Blu-ray/DVD – Universal)

Rising Hollywood action star Channing Tatum is a young counterfeiter introduced to the world of underground street fighting by a seasoned scam artist (Terrence Howard) who becomes his manager. This mainstream fighting drama is produced by Kevin Misher (THE RUNDOWN) and features the fight choreography of Mike Gunther (FAST & FURIOUS). Universal’s Blu-ray and DVD releases both contain the theatrical and uncut versions (uncut is only three minutes longer) and deleted scenes. The Blu-ray version adds optional DTS-HD audio and a digital copy of the unrated version.

GREEN STREET HOOLIGANS 2 (DVD – Vivendi)

PIT FIGHTER director Jesse Johnson’s sequel to Lexi Alexander’s (PUNISHER: WAR ZONE) well-received drama centered on the culture and violence surrounding football hooliganism in Britain takes the brawling off the streets and into prison. The film doesn’t live up to the first film’s standards by most accounts but may appeal to fans of DTV prison brawlers like Jean-Claude Van Damme’s IN HELL.

HOW BRUCE LEE CHANGED THE WORLD (DVD – A&E)

The latest documentary on Bruce Lee, which originally premiered on cable network A&E, takes a different look at the martial arts legend by exploring the global impact he had on popular culture. With the late star’s daughter Shannon Lee as executive producer, the documentary features a broad list of successful celebrities, filmmakers and athletes who have been influenced by Lee. Just a few of the names include Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen, Bey Logan, RZA, John Saxon, Lalo Schifrin, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Randy Couture.

ICHI (Blu-ray/DVD – Manga Entertainment)

Popular 1960s and ’70s-era chambara character, Zatoichi the blind swordsman, is re-imagined as a blind, fighting female minstrel in this dramatic actioner starring actress and pop idol Haruka Ayase. As Ichi, she becomes involved with a bumbling samurai, helping him protect Tokugawa-era villagers from bandits while searching for her former sword master. This U.K. release from Manga Entertainment comes on Blu-ray and DVD.

ONECHANBARA (DVD – Media Blasters)

Based on a popular horror-themed hack ‘n’ slash video game series, ONECHANBARA is pure C-movie zaniness involving a bikini-clad female warrior who chops up hordes of zombies in a near-future world overrun with the undead while searching for her father’s killer. Frankly, I watched the first 15 minutes of this movie and shut it off. It was like watching a poorly edited and choreographed, live-action video game cut scene and was no where near as scintillating or gruesome as I had anticipated it might be. It still may appeal to fans of other low-budget horror actioners from Japan such as MACHINE GIRL and VERSUS. Media Blasters’ DVD release contains and audio commentary with the director.

SHAW BROTHERS COLLECTION II (DVD – Well Go USA)

Well Go USA’s second collection of previously released wuxia classics from Shaw Brothers includes Lo Wei’s BROTHERS FIVE (1970) starring Cheng Pei-pei, Chang Cheh’s BRAVE ARCHER AND HIS MATE featuring the Venoms Mob in the fourth and final entry in the BRAVE ARCHER series, fantasy actioner HOLY FLAME OF THE MARTIAL WORLD, and romantic swordplay actioner JOURNEY OF THE DOOMED. All films have been fully re-mastered by Celestial Pictures and feature original Mandarin 2.0 audio with optional English subtitles. BRAVE ARCHER and HOLY FLAME also have original English dub tracks. If you haven’t picked up the previously released Hong Kong versions of these films from IVL, this is the package to get.

STREET WARRIOR (DVD – Sony Pictures UK)

Recently released Stateside on DVD by Genius Products, this relatively unknown gem of a fight film comes to the U.K. courtesy of Sony Pictures. War vet Jack Campbell (Max Martini) returns to his hometown to find it a capital of corruption owned and controlled by a greedy businessman. The main attraction is the Gauntlet, the most notorious underground fight club in the county, which has already counted Jack’s brother among its casualties. Jack wants bare-fisted revenge and the plan begins in the Gauntlet. With the rising popularity of MMA fighting, the home video market is littered with B-grade underground fight films to cash in on the craze. By most accounts, this seems to be one of the better ones. It’s helmed by veteran TV director David Jackson (CSI:NY) and features the fight choreography of A-list stuntman Freddy Bouciegues (THE LAST AIRBENDER).

THE ART OF WAR III: RETRIBUTION (DVD – Brightspark UK)

I covered this release two weeks ago when it premiered on DVD in the U.S. courtesy of Sony Pictures. For those who missed it, I’ll cut and paste my previous description… Wesley Snipes has so far managed to stay out of jail and keep acting while he appeals a three-year conviction for tax evasion but he didn’t make it into this second sequel to the action thriller THE ART OF WAR (2000). Anthony ‘Treach’ Criss (LOVE AND A BULLET) steps up to portray secret agent Neil Shaw, who must prevent a North Korean terrorist from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Criss gave a good performance in the indie crime actioner LOVE AND A BULLET but he slipped off the action radar since. Perhaps he’ll be able to build on the foundation Snipes created. Michael Jai White was able to do so by taking over Ving Rhames’ boxing role in UNDISPUTED for Isaac Florentine’s sequel.

THE COMPLETE BILLY JACK COLLECTION (DVD – Image Entertainment)

All four of Tom Laughlin’s “Billy Jack” films are presented in one collection. This includes THE BORN LOSERS (1967), BILLY JACK (1971), THE TRIAL OF BILLY JACK (1974), and BILLY JACK GOES TO WASHINGTON (1977). Although largely unknown and unappreciated by modern audiences, Laughlin and his Hapkido-fighting, anti-establishment, half-Indian screen counterpart were once a phenomenon spurred on by the social revolution going on throughout America in the late 1960s and early ’70s. Laughlin was only the second American film star to use specific Asian martial arts techniques as his primary weapon (after a Judo-fighting James Cagney in BLOOD ON THE SUN). His second film, BILLY JACK, was his most successful, an indie hit that also has the distinction of being Hollywood’s first real blockbuster that was widely distributed throughout the country on the same day. All of the films are dated in many ways but they’re still a vital piece of martial arts film history. Each film in this collection features two audio commentaries. This Image release essentially replaces two previously issued 4-disc collections that are now out of print.

THE FLAG OF IRON (DVD – Media Blasters)

It’s more Venoms Mob action in this colorful kung fu classic from director Chang Cheh and Shaw Brothers. When a loyal member of a crime syndicate volunteers to take the heat off his gang and go into temporary exile after a volatile conflict with a rival clan, the young warrior finds that his sacrifice isn’t honored in this historical kung fu epic. Upon returning from his stint as a scapegoat, Iron Panther finds that his gang has joined with the enemy gang his comrades were fighting when he left. With the help of two other fighters, Iron Panther must now mount a fearless effort to win back the honor that was lost, culminating in a fantastical display of skill in a battle fought with flag-draped spears. This is must-have for fans of THE FIVE VENOMS and other Venoms Mob films. It’s not confirmed but the disc release reportedly contains original Mandarin and English dub tracks, a photo gallery and trailers.

THE SHAOLIN WARRIORS (DVD – Tai Seng)

Tai Seng presents the entire 36-episode TV series, previously known as SHAOLIN TEMPLE: MONKS AND MARINES which originally aired in 2008. This epic martial arts series stars Hong Kong screen legend Sammo Hung and his son Sammy Hung who gave a terrific fighting performance in WING CHUN, another Chinese-language martial arts series. Other cast includes Cui Lin, Li Man, Liu Ying, Jeanette Aw, Qin Yan, Christopher Lee, and Cui Peng. The series’ plot centers on efforts by Shaolin monks to aid the country’s military forces in repelling Japanese pirates. The series was co-produced by the real Shaolin Temple and features among its many extras120 Shaolin monks and another 200 lay followers and novice monks. As with all of Tai Seng’s TV series releases, the disc contains the original language track and in-house English subtitles.