By | Published May 27, 2008

This week on home video comes two must-have Shaw Brothers classics, Ching Siu-tung’s latest swordplay epic, B-movie action from Thailand, more Yuen Biao goodness, and lots of goodies from Universal Studios and Malay distrib Dragon Jester Entertainment.

Come Drink with Me

Topping the list of U.S. releases are Dragon Dynasty’s versions of King Hu’s wuxia masterpiece COME DRINK WITH ME and Lau Kar-leung’s comedic kung fu masterpiece HEROES OF THE EAST. Both come loaded with The Weinstein Company label’s usual assortment of extras, highlighted by an audio commentary by swordplay queen Cheng Pei-pei and an interview with legendary kung fu star Gordon Liu. (Look for reviews of both soon.)

BCI/Eclipse releases THE TIGER BLADE (2005), a B-grade actioner from Thailand. The collective verdict so far from those who have seen the film is that it falls far short of the greatness of leading Thai actioners like ONG BAK. It seems to be more in line with the type of local action films that were common before Prachya Pinkaew elevated his country’s genre output to world-class standards.

A police officer (Atsadawut Leungsuntorn) with supernatural powers teams up with a young woman to take on a gang and its magic-wielding leader. To prevail, he struggles to track down and use the ancient “Tiger Blade,” a magical sword with powers to combat the gang leader.

Also from BCI is a reissue of BORN TO FIGHT, Panna Rittikrai’s original 1986 action film that inspired his own superior 2004 remake. It comes packaged with another film called THAI POLICE STORY, an obvious marketing gimmick to tie it in with Jackie Chan’s POLICE STORY. The truth is, while Rittikrai’s action choreography and recent films have been pretty good, all his pre-ONG BAK output as far as I can tell is extremely poor and will be of interest to virtually no one outside of his local fan base.

Vanguard Cinema, a distrib I was previously unfamiliar with is releasing MILLENNIUM DRAGON (2000), a modern-day spy actioner starring Yuen Biao, Chin Siu-ho and Johnnie Wang Lung-wei. It’s unfortunate that the film happens to be one of Yuen Biao’s worst, although this isn’t surprising since B-moviemaker and former classic kung fu heavy Philip Ko directs and co-stars. I like some of Ko’s typically schlocky work. It’s just that Yuen is in another league and deserves far better.

As their web site suggests, Vanguard has an eclectic selection of titles and few that are Asian action related. Looking ahead, it appears they will be releasing Young Man Kang’s artsy sci-fi actioner THE LAST EVE on August 26th. It’s taken him several years to get U.S. distribution and given the challenging structure of the film – think B-grade Wong Kar-wai – I’m a little surprised it got picked up at all. It’s not a commercial film at all and that alone is part of its acquired charm.

While China remains obsessed with casts of thousands in ornate period armor to impress audiences, Korea has been belting out leaner and more diverse action films that are equal to their Hollywood counterparts and generally much more in tune with world cinema tastes. TYPHOON (2005) is yet another one that looks terrific and comes to U.S. shores courtesy of Genius Products.

Universal Studios has re-released a large number of films on DVD. Several films of related interest include THE SCORPION KING, SERENITY, SMOKIN’ ACES, and the Van Damme Action Pack Quadruple Feature box set which contains TIMECOP, HARD TARGET, STREET FIGHTER, and his underappreciated tournament film THE QUEST.

Domestic releases are rounded out by a Blu-ray version of DRAGON TIGER GATE from Tai Seng. Sandwiched between KILL ZONE (SPL) and FLASH POINT, this comic book-inspired fantasy actioner is an unfortunate departure from the realistic and hard-boiled action that director Wilson Yip and action director and star Donnie Yen are known internationally for. This is likely why the film was passed up by The Weinstein Company.

In Hong Kong, Mei Ah releases AN EMPRESS AND THE WARRIORS that sees Donnie Yen put under the direction of Ching Siu-tung for the first time since he crossed swords with Jet Li in HERO (2002). This is also the first movie that Ching has directed entirely himself since Steven Seagal’s BELLY OF THE BEAST. The film has garnered mix reactions since its initial release despite the presence of undoubtedly impressive fight sequences. All I can comment on at the moment is the ridiculous title. How the oddly worded “An Empress” was picked over “The Empress” is beyond me. I’m sure if it ever gets a U.S. release a distrib will give it a suitable title change to something like “Legend of the Infernal Costumed Epic” with an equally suitable photoshopped cover depicting a barely recognizable Donnie Yen holding a gun to his chin or something. Really, I’m not bitter.

As of March, AN EMPRESS AND THE WARRIORS had no U.S. distributor. Showbox has picked it up for U.K. release. It’s also heading to Germany courtesy of Splendid.

Deltamac is releasing the Blu-ray version of KUNG FU DUNK, starring Jay Chou as a Shaolin-trained martial artist who uses his training on the basketball court. I have nothing good to say about my initial impressions of this movie so I won’t say anything at all.

I don’t usually talk about Malaysian releases as they typically mirror Hong Kong with sometimes lower grade DVD releases but local distrib Dragon Jester Entertainment is putting out a rare New Wave-era kung fu title worth mentioning. It’s MARTIAL ARTS MASTER WONG FEI HUNG, a 1992 rip-off of ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA from prolific actor-turned-director Li Hao. This is the guy who directed the Billy Chong classic KUNG FU FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE and NINJA SUPREMO. The man has earned his place in martial arts film history.

MARTIAL ARTS MASTER WONG FEI HUNG features the action direction of Lau Kar-leung protégé Hsiao Ho (MAD MONKEY KUNG FU) and Ng Min-kin (EASTERN CONDORS). It stars Chin Kar-lok and the late, great Lam Ching-ying. A look at HKFlix’s inventory reveals that they are still selling Tai Seng’s old DVD and VCD versions. Otherwise, Malay retailer Sensasian is carrying the Dragon Jester version.

Other new releases from Dragon Jester include FANTASY MISSION FORCE, MASTER WITH CRACKED FINGERS and THE THREE SWORDSMEN. I cannot comment on the quality of Dragon Jester’s product. Given the low status of the titles they’re releasing this week I would keep expectations low.

COME DRINK WITH ME

HEROES OF THE EAST

THE TIGER BLADE

TYPHOON

AN EMPRESS AND THE WARRIORS

MARTIAL ARTS MASTER WONG FEI HUNG

Next Week

• AEON FLUX (Blu-ray – Paramount)
• MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2 (Blu-ray – Paramount)
• THE ONION MOVIE (DVD – 20th Century Fox)
• THE WARRIORS (Blu-ray – Paramount)

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