Undercover Punch & Gun (2021)

Directors: Lui Koon Nam, Frankie Tam

Notable Cast: Philip Ng, Andy On, Van Ness Wu, Chi Shuai, Joyce Feng, Aaron Mustapha Aziz

 

One of the things that growing up with Hong Kong cinema has allowed me to be comfortable with is tonal whiplash. Nobody does imperfect tonal shifts to perfection like Chinese, Taiwanese, and Hong Kong. As time has gone on, the industry has certainly tried to make their material a bit more consumable for larger audiences and that means many films have pulled back a bit from the sheer insanity of the fast tone slides. I should have been prepared when Undercover Punch & Gun decided to take a potentially gritty undercover cop action flick and inject some wild quirks and humor into it. Does it work all the time? Absolutely not, but there is this kind of postmodern angle to its 80s approach that does have its charms. This allows Undercover Punch & Gun to be oddly charming as it delivers on its action through the dual efforts of its big-name cast. Even if the film feels a bit uneven and hollow as a whole. 

 

Kung Fu League (2018)

Director: Jeff Lau

Notable Cast: Vincent Zhao, Andy On, Danny Chan, Dennis To, Ashin, Madina Memet, Jay Chou

Kung Fu League is one of those concepts that immediately makes martial arts cinema fans excited. Not only is it a film where they were going to, somehow, get four of the most iconic kung fu folk heroes to team up, but they managed to grab some iconic actors to star (or reprise) these characters – even if it isn’t the most famous stars from the roles. Still, the time travel concept of getting them to team up is just stupid enough to work.  There are some incredible stupid Chinese films that pull of ridiculous concepts, so the prospect that Kung Fu League would work was not out necessarily out of the realm of possibility.

Of course, Kung Fu League is also a film directed by Jeff Lau. Yes, that Jeff Lau that continually gives us some of the stupidest and most gimmicky films the last couple of decades. Just a couple years ago he directed Soccer Killer which went viral for its spoof of various superheroes playing the titular sport. If you haven’t seen that, I highly suggest trying to find that clip. It’s baffling.

Lost Bladesman, The (2011)

Director: Felix Chong, Alan Mak

Notable Cast: Donnie Yen, Jiang Wen, Betty Sun, Andy On

NOTE: Since the posting of this review, The Lost Bladesman has not gotten a US release from Anchor Bay. I must say that it's about time. I haven't edited my review of the film - including my complaints about how this film had yet to be released - for the sake of an update outside of the cover artwork. Just keep in mind that the film is now available on DVD in the US and I highly suggest the purchase.

Sometimes the international politics of film distribution baffle me, particularly when it comes to getting Asian films in the United States. Some films get edited to hell for American audiences (see Dragon), some films get ridiculously late releases (see Butterfly Swords), and in the case of The Lost Bladesman some great films never get a release…at least at this time. This last case is most certainly a shame as this dramatic action flick, or as I like to refer to them ‘dramaction,’ is pretty impressive overall. It’s not quite as artistic as say a Yimou Zhang film, but it’s a very strong blend of philosophical tones, dramatic pops, and vicious action set pieces.