Yuen Shun-Yi Movies
Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle director Stephen Chow returns to the helm for this sci-fi comedy about a struggling single father whose quest to find the perfect toy yields out-of-this-world results. Ti (Chow) is a poor construction worker who breaks his back to ensure that his young son Dicky (Xu Jiao) can stay enrolled in an exclusive private school. But while Ti does everything possible to give his son the opportunities that he never had, Dicky still feels like a classroom reject due to his tattered clothes and lack of the latest toys. Dicky's classmates all play with the coolest and most expensive gadgets that money can buy, so how is a kid who gets his toys from the local junkyard ever supposed to fit in? One day, while scrounging through the trash heap in search of a new toy, Ti discovers a mysterious orb and brings it straight back to Dicky. Though at first the "CJ7" appears to be little more than an unidentifiable oddity, it proves to be much, much more once the young boy starts to play with it. This isn't your average action figure, but a living "pet" with extraordinary powers. Realizing that his new toy may be just the thing to help him fit in with his demanding classmates, Dicky brings the CJ7 to school with him in order to show it off and have some fun. But the CJ7 has its own ideas about how to have fun, and it isn't long before the situation at school gets hopelessly out of hand. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephen Chow, Xu Jiao, (more)
Jet Li stars in this historical Hong Kong action film, as Chen Zhen, a Chinese student in Japan in the 1920s. When his master is killed during the Japanese occupation of China, he returns to avenge his teacher's death. Back in China, he finds himself caught in the escalating racial tensions between the Chinese and the Japanese. The martial arts sequences in this 1994 film are handled more seriously than flashy acrobatics of other kung fu epics of the time and are perhaps a better showcase for Li's awe-inspiring fighting abilities. This story is inspired heavily by Bruce Lee's classic Fists of Fury. ~ Jonathan E. Laxamana, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jet Li
- 1994
Wing Chun is a martial-arts film with an unusual feminist bent, inspired by a true historical figure. In 19th-century China, a pack of bandits attacks a remote village, attempting to kidnap a beautiful young widow named Charmy. However, they are foiled by Yim Wing Chun, a local tofu-shop owner who also happens to be a fearsome fighter; she defeats the thieves nearly single-handedly. This infuriates the evil bandit leader, who turns his full forces against the town in an effort to recapture Charmy. As if this weren't trouble enough, things become even tougher for Wing Chun when her childhood sweetheart, now also a martial-arts master, arrives in town after an absence of many years. On his return, he immediately falls in love with Charmy, mistaking her for Wing Chun -- and mistaking the real Wing Chun for a man. These farcical manueverings provide the backdrop for numerous fight sequences, which are filled with astoundingly acrobatic choreography skillfully performed by Hong Kong action star Michelle Yeoh. Especially notable is the final showdown between Wing Chun and the bandits, which proves once and for all it's not the size of the weapon, but the way that you use it. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michelle Yeoh, Donnie Yen, (more)
This kung fu classic weaving fact and myth earned a theatrical release in the U.S. from Miramax eight years after it was produced, following a successful retrospective screening at the 2001 Los Angeles Film Festival. Wong Kei Ying (Donnie Yen) is a master of the Hung Gar style of boxing in mid-19th century China. His son, Wong Fei Hung (Sze-Man Tsang), though still just a boy, will grow up to become a martial arts legend, a nearly mythical figure in Chinese history. When Wong Fei Hung is kidnapped, his father is forced to use his daunting skills in the service of the abductor, a dishonest politician plagued by the Robin Hood-style thief known as Iron Monkey, a mysterious masked avenger stealing from the rich, delivering the spoils to the poor. Wong Fei Hung's only allies are the kindly Dr. Yang (Yu Rong Guang) and Yang's assistant, Orchid (Jean Wang), who are protecting an important secret. Iron Monkey (1993) director Yuen Wo Ping is also the masterful martial arts choreographer behind The Matrix (1999) and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000); his father served as action choreographer on a series of popular, long-running films centered around the Wong Fei Hung character in the 1950s. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yu Rongguang, Donnie Yen, (more)
Director and master choreographer Yuen Woo-ping spins this brilliant kung-fu-thriller featuring future star Yuen Biao. The film opens with serial killer White Tiger (Yuen Shun-yee) fleeing from the authorities of rural China and hiding in a small town's opera troupe. There he covers his prominent birthmark under a layer of face paint. In that same town lives Mousey (Yuen), a shy lad who scares easily. His best friend Foon (Leung Kar-yan) decides that the only way for Mousey to conquer his timidity is to study kung-fu under Wong Fei-hung (Kwan Tak-hing). Mousey proves to be tepid fighter in spite of Wong's best efforts. Yet after several run-ins with the sociopathic White Tiger, Mousey develops the gumption to stand up to this bloodthirsty bully. This film features some of the most influential and oft copied fight sequences in Hong Kong cinema, including Mousey's rigorous training/laundry detail scene and the film's hallucinatory climax taking place on the stage of a Chinese opera. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yuen Biao, Kwan Tak-Hing, (more)
- 1979
Wa Yat Wang directs Billy Chong in the martial arts film Jade Claw. Chong plays Billy, a man who, as a boy, saw his father murdered at the hands of Phoenix Eye Fist expert Jen (Chi Tiet Wo). Billy works at a gym and makes friends with the building's cook, who himself has an old score to settle with Jen. Jen's henchmen, Blind Man and Deaf Man, show up and attack the two of them. This leads the chef to school Billy in Shadow Eagle Claw, a system of fighting designed by the chef to defeat Jen and his minions. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billy Chong, Yuen Siu Tin, (more)
Famed martial arts director and choreographer Yuen Woo-ping spins this old school period kung-fu flick featuring some particularly amazing fight scenes. The film opens with inept coiffeur Shang (Yuen Shun-Yi) getting canned from his job and returning to the hinterland to find his old man. Once there, he is unable to find his dad, who mysterious disappeared. Shang does run into his buddy Si-ming (Tsui Siu-ming), who is now a monk. Having both been raised by the same Shaolin master, the two are crack kung-fu artists in their own right. Si-ming finds himself being blackmailed, when, years ago, he violated his oath by drinking liquor, and subsequently getting framed for the rape and murder of a woman. Now a shadowy crime syndicate has the goods on the monk and forces him to do their dirty work, lest his alleged crimes be revealed. Meanwhile, Shang learns that his father stumbled onto a plot by a bunch of foreigners to steal China's cultural treasures. When Shang also discovers Si-tung's blackmailers role in the whole affair, Shang starts to question the loyalty of his friend. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
One of the earliest major films starring Jackie Chan, this 1978 Hong Kong offering highlights the relationship between a student and his martial arts master. This theme would dominate the American martial arts genre for years to come, as evidenced by The Karate Kid and many films to follow. Wong Fei-hong, played by Chan, is a 19th-century folk hero in Chinese culture and cinema, a kung fu master who fights injustice in the time of British colonialism. This character would later be portrayed by Jet Li in the more serious Once Upon a Time in China. Drunken Master finds Wong in his early years as a troublesome youth who is sent to receive discipline and martial arts instruction from his uncle (Siu Tien Yuen), the hard-drinking title character. Wong runs away, but runs afoul of some local villains. Beaten badly, he returns to his uncle, who trains him in "drunken-style" kung fu. The martial arts showcased by Chan in this film are important in the development of his career; the staggering, inebriated techniques allow for a looser, more flowing style, but more importantly, they contribute to the elaborate martial-arts slapstick that have become Chan's trademark and have made him an international star. ~ Jonathan E. Laxamana, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Chan, Simon Yuen, (more)
