Sammo Hung Movies

A young social outcast joins forces with the daughter of a tai-chi master to defeat the villainous intruder who seeks to construct a railway through a remote village, in the process proving that he has what it takes to become a true master himself. Yang Luchan was born with a fleshy protrusion on his forehead. As a result, he was branded the village idiot and ostracized by his cruel neighbors. Encouraged by his mother to train in martial arts, Yang makes the arduous journey to Chen village, a peaceful hamlet populated exclusively by tai-chi practitioners. But the locals are wary of sharing their secrets with outsiders, and when Yang arrives, they challenge him to a series of duels. The worst beating comes at the hands of the gorgeous Yuniang, who pummels Yang mercilessly until an eccentric old man comes to his aid. Little does Yang realize that the old man is in fact the great Master Chen, a tai-chi legend who also happens to be Yuniang's father. Recognizing the warrior buried deep within the defeated pariah, Master Chen keeps his true identity concealed while stealthily giving Yang the tools to realize his true potential. Later, when the nefarious Fang Zijing arrives in town on a steam-powered leviathan and announces his intentions to build an unwelcomed railway through Chen village, Yang teams up with Yuniang to demolish the machine, thwart Fang's plans, and unlock the tai-chi warrior within. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A pair of orphaned Peking Opera stars fight for the honor of their master while becoming caught up in a dangerous conflict with the protégé of his most fearsome rival in this lavish martial arts action drama featuring fight choreography by the legendary Sammo Hung. The Qing Dynasty toppling as the 19th Century draws to a close, desperate Prince Regent calls for the Meng clan to be totally exterminated. As a Beijing crowd gathers to watch the beheading of the Meng leader, his five year old disciple Erkui bravely defies the executioner by singing an aria that moves respected opera legend Master Yu Shengying to rescue the boy from certain death. In the years that follow, Erkui and Master Yu's slightly older orphaned pupil, Guan Yilong, form a powerful bond of brotherhood. Though their fate seems to come full circle when Master Yu subsequently defeats the malevolent Prince Regent in a battle for the coveted "Wu Sheng Tai Dou" ("The Mightiest Warrior") plaque, Yu's skillful nemesis Master Yue Jiangtian soon later defeats Master Yu and stakes his claim on the prize. As a result, master Yu is forbidden to perform on stage from that day forward, and devotes his life to transforming his two young disciples into masters of both the martial arts and Peking Opera. Years later, Yilong and Erkui venture to Shanghai, and reclaim the plaque in a thrilling duel against and ageing Master Yue. Quickly becoming the darlings of the Shanghai opera scene after taking over Master Yue's troupe, the skillful duo finds their revenge may have come at a tragic price upon clashing with Xi Mulan, a striking actress whose loyalty to her mentor and lover Master Yue knows no bounds. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Hong Kong film star Donnie Yen reprises his role as Ip Man in this semi-autobiographical sequel following the adventures of the grand master of Wing Chun. The Sino-Japanese War has ended, and after defending his people with wushu, Ip escapes the wrath of the Japanese by fleeing to Foshan. Failing to find peace even in his own homeland, Ip relocates his family to Hong Kong in 1949. Once there, Ip begins teaching Wing Chun to a group of pupils that includes Wong Leung (Huang Xiao Ming), who soon clashes with Cheng Wei Ki (Dennis To). Embarrassed at having been beaten so badly by Wong in a fight, Cheng kidnaps his rival and takes him to a fish market owned by Master Hung (Sammo Hung). Blaming Ip for the damage done by Wong, Master Hung demands that the other teacher defeat practitioners of all wushu varieties in the time it takes to burn a single joss stick. Incredibly, Ip meets the challenge, impressing Master Hung, who then gives him permission to open his own wushu school. When Master Hung gives Ip a ticket to the King of Boxing Competition, a friendship is forged between the two former rivals. After a competitor nicknamed Twister is named the winner, he beats Cheng and friends for celebrating with wushu, and claims he can defeat Master Hung with three simple blows. Though Master Hung maintains the upper hand throughout most of the fight, Twister eventually lands a punch that knocks his superior down. In the wake of the fight, tensions between the locals and Westerners begin heating up, and the local superintendent responds by announcing a kung fu competition. When Ip defeats all challengers, including Twister, Wing Chun gains popularity throughout Hong Kong, and the highly respected master begins teaching a young disciple named Bruce Lee, who will bring the art of Chinese wushu to Westerners before dying tragically at the tender age of 32. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

This sweeping martial arts epic - a co-production of Hong Kong and Korea - stars Asian screen idol Andy Lau as Zhao, a layman caught up in a rising tide of chaotic violence as his country is ripped in half by the blight of civil war. In desperation, Zhao draws from his inner resources and "rises up" against the evil warlord who has caught the nation under his thumb. The young warrior vows to liberate and unify the land, and leads a sizeable army to accomplish this goal. Unfortunately, while his heroism succeeds in itself, it fails to reunify the nation, but a new and peace-seeking king occupies the throne and appoints Zhao to set out once and for all and bring the warlord toppling down. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Sammo Hung, Michael Biehn, Maggie Q, and Shawn Yue star in this action-packed thriller concerning a disappeared crime lord and the elite team of Interpol agents who set out to recapture him at all costs. A notorious Triad crime boss has disappeared just as his case was about to go before the judge, and now he could be anywhere. Now, on the bustling streets of Hong Kong, a highly skilled team of Interpol agents wage all out war against the underworld in an apocalyptic bid to capture the heavily armed foe and ensure that justice is properly served. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

An ailing veteran cop whose relentless determination to do away with an untouchable gangster has led him to employ a series of unethical tactics finds his investigation complicated by the arrival of principled new inspector and the death of a fellow cop in this explosive underworld tale from Skyline Cruisers director Wilson Yip. Facing an inevitable retirement, the beleaguered and cancer-stricken Detective Chan (Simon Yam) has grown desperate to put away Teflon-coated crime boss Po (Sammo Hung) -- so desperate that he even begins planting false evidence and tampering with video in hopes of making a charge against Po stick. As Detective Chan begins to grow accustomed to thoughts of retiring and make way for honest incoming Inspector Ma (Donnie Yen), the ongoing investigation hits a snag when an undercover cop who has infiltrated Po's gang is mysteriously killed. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The work of international superstar Stephen Chow, Kung Fu Hustle is a humorous, special-effects-filled, action-packed martial arts epic set in early '40s China. A bumbling thief named Sing (Stephen Chow) desires to be the toughest member of the dreaded gangster hit squad known as The Axe Gang, but to completely join the gang he has to commit murder. When Sing attempts to rob a crowded run-down apartment complex known as Pig Sty Alley, the locals begin to defend themselves with some high-flying kung fu skills, and a tiny war erupts between the local masters and the axe-wielding gang. After the gang busts the ancient kung fu king known as The Beast (Leung Siu Lung) out of jail, tensions reach a boiling point as Pig Sty Alley's landlady (Yuen Qiu) leads an all-out attack against the gang and Sing discovers his true heroic fate. Kung Fu Hustle, which set box-office records across Asia during its December 2004 release, also stars Yuen Wah and Xing Yu, and features fight choreography by legendary masters of martial arts cinema Yuen Woo Ping and Sammo Hung. ~ Jason Gibner, Rovi

Ho Cheung Ping, who wrote the novel that was the basis for Fulltime Killer and made his directorial debut with the crime comedy You Shoot, I Shoot, returns to the parody genre with his second film, Men Suddenly in Black. Eric Tsang does a takeoff of his role in Infernal Affairs, playing Tin, the leader of a group of four men who enact an intricate plot to cheat on their significant others while the women are away for the day in Thailand. The others are Cheung (Jordan Chan), a relatively straight-laced doctor; Chao (Chapman To), the fun-loving goofball of the group; and Paul (Spirit Blue), Tin's virginal nephew. All their machinations threaten to unravel when they discover that their wives, played by Teresa Mo, Marsha Yuan, Tiffany Lee, and Candy Lo (The Eye), never left for Thailand and are following them. The men begin to suspect that there is a traitor in their midst. They face many obstacles, but they soldier on to honor "Ninth Uncle" (Tony Leung of Dragon Inn), who once took the fall for them when their wives showed up at their favorite strip club and who is now imprisoned in his home by his vengeful wife (Sandra Ng). The film presents all this material in the style of a typical Hong Kong action film, with many references to other films and cameos by Sammo Hung, Alan Tam, Maria Cordero, and others. Ping won Best New Director and Leung Best Supporting Actor at the 2004 Hong Kong Film Awards. The film was shown at the 2004 New York Asian American International Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

The Art of Action is a compilation film, hosted by Samuel L. Jackson, that offers clips from various action films that featured martial arts action sequences. Among the films excepted for this collection are Rush Hour 2 with Jackie Chan, Charlie's Angels, and the multiple-Oscar-winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The DVD release of the film features interviews with actors and directors. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Hong Kong action-movie superstar Sammo Hung keeps the kicks flying in this TV action farce about a Chinese lawman (Hung) brought to Los Angeles to join forces with detective Louis McGray (Louis Mandylor) and detective Dana Doyle (Tammy Lauren). It's not long before this trio has the bad guys on the run. Filmed in Van Nuys, this series premiered September 16, 1998 on CBS. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Martial arts master/doctor Wong Fei-hung (a familiar character in Hong Kong cinema) and his gang find adventure amidst the cowboys and Indians of the American West. The sixth in the enormously popular "Once Upon a Time in China" series of Hong Kong action films that was created by director Tsui Hark in 1991, this episode takes an entirely new direction for the series; it features plenty of broad comedy in the first half (though whether or not it was intentional is debatable), eye-popping stunts and excitement. In another unusual turn, it was also shot with scenes in English as well as the standard Cantonese. Wong's adventure's begins when he and his gang sail to San Francisco to oversee the latest branch of their Bo Chi Lam. They find a country where the Chinese are exploited and despised. Soon after arriving, the courageous Wong (Jet Li) loses his memory after the daring rescue of Aunt Yee (Rosamund Kwan), Wong's long-time love, who was just about to fall from a cliff. Separated from his group, the amnesiac Master Wong ends up with a tribe of Native Americans (all of whom are obviously white), who adopt him. Though they too know martial arts (as do the cowboys Wong encounters), but are no match for Wong, who proves his skill by single-handedly braving the spears, kicks and chops of an enemy tribe. Eventually, Wong reconnects with Aunt Yee and his gang; together they go on to have more adventures and battle a number of evil villains. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This Hong Kong melodrama shares only the title Robert Wise's 1956 film biography of American middleweight champion Rocky Graziano. The story begins as a luminescent beauty watches two men fighting in the ring. Suddenly the story jumps back 10 months when Gloria, the girl first fell in love with Ken, one of the fighters. For the two it was nearly love at first sight, but for the intervention of Gloria's older brother who beats the stuffing out of Ken. Rocky, the pugnacious brother, is a local champion and he is currently training to take the pan-Asian title away from the current champ the Japanese fighter Yamada. Deciding that he too wants to fight, Ken begs a noted kickboxing instructor to teach him. The story then jumps to the opening fight, a bout that goes terribly awry when Ken accidentally kills Rocky. Devastated and guilt-filled, Ken leaves legitimate boxing and becomes an illegal bare-knuckle fighter. Eventually he resurfaces to take on the fearsome Yamada in the film's exciting conclusion. Serious aficionados of Hong Kong movies should keep an eagle eye out for numerous celebrity cameos that include filmmakers Clifton Ko and Ann Hui. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

With the rising international popularity of Asian filmmaker Sammo Hung, it may be surprising that this fast-paced action-comedy -- which he not only produced, directed, and choreographed, but also contains one of his most amusing starring roles -- has not seen wider distribution outside Hong Kong. Surprising, that is, until one gets to the final third of the film, which proves that the sociocultural gap between nations can often be huge. The story begins as veteran police officer Pierre Lau (Hung) is partnered with an uptight young cop named Tang (Takeshi Kaneshiro) who, in standard buddy-movie fashion, disagrees with him on almost everything. Pierre also has difficulties with overly eager customs official Wong Yuk-man (Yuen Biao), but the trio must forget their problems and work together when a group of Japanese drug dealers bomb the local police station. The action scenes are impressively staged, particularly a drug raid on the station by the criminals disguised as agents of the SDU (Hong Kong's equivalent of a SWAT team), but Western viewers may still be highly offended by the film's humor. The problematic sequence involves Tang and Wong wearing blackface in order to convince some black criminals that they are also black. The scene plays on every conceivable racist stereotype so blatantly that it makes enjoyment of the entire film problematic, but viewers able to overlook it should find the rest of the film entertaining, particularly the plethora of cameos by familiar faces like Blackie Ko, Wu Ma, Billy Lau, Melvin Wong, and Lau Kar-wing, among others. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi