skjam

Killer Clans (1976) dir. Chor Yuen, (Chinese title "Liu xing hu die jian")

(Not picked for me, I had a "free space" and decided to close out a box set.)

Meng Hsin-Wan (Tsung Wa) is a top assassin of the Chinese underworld, working out of a brothel the madam of which is his boss. There's another assassin on the premises, but he's become an alcoholic since a certain incident three years ago and is considered unreliable. And reliability is needed for Meng's next assignment, taking down Master Sun (Ku Feng), "Uncle" of the powerful Jung Society. His job is made both easier and more complicated by the Jung Society being in a power struggle with the upstart Roc Society. This being the underworld, both societies have spies in the other camp...and elsewhere. Meng will have to tread carefully if he is to accomplish his mission and stay alive!

This relatively complex Shaw Brothers movie is loosely based on a novel by Gu Long, and then was even more loosely remade as Butterfly and Sword in the 1990s.

Meng's emotional journey becomes more complex when he falls in love with the beautiful hermit of Butterfly Forest, who turns out to be Master Sun's estranged daughter.

Good: Lush production values, spectacular fight scenes that don't go on too long, plenty of plot twists. We're reminded several times that there are spies everywhere, and that Master Sun is prepared for almost any contingency. The real villain of the story comes almost as a surprise.

Less good: Master Sun's daughter Hsiao Tieh is treated by the story as a prize to be won.

Odd: This is one of those gangster films that avoids having the gangsters having the criminals depicted as committing crime to make money. Outside some of the Roc Society men committing rape early in the movie, all their on-screen activity is killing other underworld gangsters. You might even think Master Sun was a good guy except for people committing murder and suicide out of loyalty to him.

Content note: Lots of martial arts violence, most lethal, usually not overboard with the gore. Suicide. Death of children. Rape. A closeup of a needle being removed from a wound. Female toplessness. Onscreen sex (covered.) Alcohol abuse. Between all that and a complex plot that might confuse younger viewers, I'd say late teens at minimum.

Overall: A movie for kung fu fans that rewards people who pay attention during the non-fight scenes. Some of the content might make it rough going for some viewers, but very enjoyable for those who can handle it.

Militant Eagle (1978) dir. Chia Chih Li

At the end of a three-year war, a general bids a fond farewell to one of his best officers, who wants to return to civilian life. We jump to ten years later, after another war has just ended. By imperial (I think it's the Tang Dynasty) decree, there's a tax holiday to allow businesses to get back on their feet. But in the small city that's the main setting, the corrupt Magistrate Cho and his police are extorting fees and fines from the small merchants and entrepreneurs. A street entertainer is chased off because he cannot afford the outrageous performance fee. A cook is bullied by the cowardly Sergeant and his constables, but his kung fu is good and he's able to hold his own. A slightly more wealthy man who knows the cook advises him to more patience, since his daughter, also a notable martial artist, will soon be returning to the city to help out.

The cook's family are brutally murdered (and it's implied his wife was raped before death), and when the female martial artist returns home, she discovers that her parents have been assassinated by poison dart. It's then revealed that the street performer and his motley orphans are in fact government agents--he's the officer we saw in the first scene. The Imperial envoy will soon arrive to make an inspection, and if they can convince him of the magistrate's evildoing, all should be well.

To the agent's surprise, the envoy is the general from the first scene, now risen in the government. He's received grievance letters not just from our protagonists, but from multiple other people we didn't see. Magistrate Cho and his men are rounded up and found guilty, about to be sentenced to prison. But wait, we're only twenty minutes in, it can't be that easy. Sure enough, Magistrate Cho claims he's not the ringleader, and is assassinated before he can say more.

The real villain turns out to be former rebel Fang Hsu Kung (Ying Bai), who'd faked his death to hide out and regroup. He decides now is the time to strike with his hidden army. Can our heroes figure out what's going on, find the hidden base and defeat Fang's deadly henchmen?

There's some good martial arts battle scenes, especially in the last half hour, which is one long series of individual and team fights. A little emotional depth is seen when the poison dart assassin comes to realize that his loyalty to Fang is misplaced.

Other characters are less fleshed out, such as Fang's bratty teenage daughter who is just wandering around for most of the film. The orphans the government agent/street performer is training are annoying comic relief children, and the need to make them relevant in the final battle turns one of the fights into slapstick, which really doesn't work with the tone. (Except for the very end of that fight, which is straight out of a horror movie instead.)

And then at the very end, there's a scene with a Buddhist nun who informs us that revenge is bad, actually.

Content note: Martial arts combat, some blood. Child death. Implied rape, suicide. Spousal abuse, which results in a lingering death. A man's eyes are put out. Torture, including whipping and branding.

The movie's a bit of a mess, honestly, and could have done with either fewer henchmen characters or more establishing dialogue. But there's fun stuff mixed in, and it would be worthwhile for a viewing on a rainy afternoon.

The Return of the Five Deadly Venoms (1978) dir. Cheh Chang, aka Crippled Avengers

Tao (Kuan Tai-Chen) once used his Tiger-style kung fu for good, clearing out bandits and such, and became prosperous as a result. Unfortunately a gang (coincidentlally also called "Tigers") decided to strike back at Tao, and when they found he wasn't home, murdered Tao's wife (they'd only meant to cut off her legs) and remove his son Tao Sheng's hands and forearms. Tao arranged for his son to get metal prosthetic hands that had positionable fingers and other nifty features (but not fine motor control). He tracked down the members of the Tigers gang and slaughtered them, capturing their sons. When Tao Sheng (Feng Lu) came of age, Tao set the gang's sons against his son to be likewise crippled. Which is gruesome, to be sure, but allowed under the rules of vengeance in play at the time.

Unfortunately, during the intervening years the father and son had grown bitter, arrogant and cruel. They now ruled their town, sneering at others, and over-reacting to the tiniest slights. When Wei the blacksmith (Meng Lo) called them out on this behavior, he was tossed out of the inn, but a street peddler, Hu Ah-Kuei (Chien Sun) agreed with Wei and was blinded for this effrontery. Wei is then tracked down, deafened and muted. Chen Shun (Phillip Chung-Fung Kwok), a random person, bumps into Tao Shen in the street, and has his feet amputated for this offense. Not content with handicapping these three, who huddle together as a result, the Tao clan orders that no one patronize Wei's smithery on pains of having worse happen to them.

Wandering swordsman Wang Yi (Sheng Chiang) learns of the Tao clan's cruelty and confronts them. While he's good at kung-fu, he's no match for the father and son, plus their ball and chain-wielding bodyguard. For fun, they crush Wang Yi's skull, causing permanent brain damage.

The three previous men with disabilities discover a letter letting them know where Wang Yi's master is. They take him there, and once the master hears the story, he agrees to train Wei, Hu and Chen in the martial arts so that they can get revenge. While Wang Yi has become childish and erratic in behavior, he is still proficient in kung fu so only needs to keep up his training.

During three years, Hu learns how to use heightened hearing to substitute for sight in combat, Wei uses reflective surfaces to extend his peripheral vision, and Chen is outfitted with iron feet and relearns how to not just walk, but leap and kick with them. At last, the four crippled avengers are ready to take on those that harmed them.

Meanwhile, Tao is about to have his 45th birthday party, and has invited several other martial artists to assist him in controlling the territory as its warlord. Getting vengeance won't be easy against this many skilled opponents!

This Shaw Brothers film reunited several of the actors who'd appeared in The Five Deadly Venoms (see earlier review), who worked together on other films as well and became known as "the Venom Mob." Thus the misleading American market title, since it's not a sequel or even related beyond some of the same actors. The "Crippled Avengers" title is more descriptive.

Good: Some excellent combat scenes in the back half, good use of sound design to represent Wei's deafness and Hu's heightened hearing. Tao Sheng's artificial hands are cool, and there's a variety of martial arts styles on display. There's smart use of having Chen stay back until his deadly kicks can be be put to best use as a secret weapon. Likewise, once the villains catch on to the heightened senses, they compensate well.

Less good: The ableism is kind of baked in to the premise. Prejudice against people with disabilities is a running thing in the story, and is implied to be one of the reasons the Tao father and son are so quick to take offense. There's also some of the "super sense to make up for ordinary sense" trope going on. Wang Yi's antics are meant to be funny most of the time, which sends mixed messages.

Content note: In addition to the ableism, the mutilation scenes are fairly disturbing and may not be suitable for younger or more sensitive viewers. The one female character in the movie is immediately killed to motivate Tao's revenge.

Overall, this is an old-fashioned martial arts revenge movie that will hit best if you are familiar with the storytelling conventions of the genre and time period. Pop some corn, invite a couple of buddies, and enjoy. (If you can find a copy with the Crippled Avengers title, so much the better.)

Legend of the Red Dragon (1994) dir. Jing Wong

Hung Hei Kwun (Jet Li) and his fellow villagers oppose the oppressive Manchu government. One night, Hung returns from a journey to find that the village has been massacred. As it happens, the only survivor is his toddler son Ting (Miu Tse). Hung allows his son to "choose" between a sword which represents revenge and a toy that represents Ting going to join his mother in the after life. Ting chooses the path of vengeance. The next evening, as Hung is creating a funeral pyre, another village survivor appears. Ma Ling-Yee (Chunhua Ji) turns out to have sold out to the Qing Dynasty forces for the considerable bounty they've placed on Hung's head. They battle, and Ma appears to die to a combination of spear wounds and burns.

Several years later, father and son are still on the run and desperately short on funds. When Hung's own brother turns out to have sold him out as well, Hung is forced to accept a bodyguard job from the wealthy Ma Kai-sin (Sung-Young Chen), no relation to Ma Ling-Yee, to eat. Kai-sin is a greedy jerk, but in genuine need of a bodyguard. For starters, he is the target of a scam by pretty con artist Red Bean (Chingmy Yau) and her mother (Deannie Ip) to trick him into marrying Red Bean so they can rob him blind. More worryingly, Kai-sin's son trains in martial arts at the local Shaolin Temple, where he and four other boys have been tattooed with parts of a map leading to the Shaolin treasure.

Ma Ling-Yee turns out to be still alive; the life-saving medical treatments have made him "invincible" but hideously scarred and he rides around in a metal car of sorts. Ling-Yee and other villainous Manchu agents slaughter the Shaolin monks and learn the probable location of the map boys. They attack during the wedding celebration of Kai-Sin and Red Bean, so bodyguard and thieves must band together to protect themselves and the children.

This movie was also titled "The New Legend of Shaolin", and is very loosely based on an actual martial artist of the time period. The English cub title derives from a derelict building called "Red Dragon Pavilion" where some of the action takes place.

Good: interesting fight scenes, with lots of wire fu. Hung wields an extendible spear that is effectively magic. Ting's action scenes are also well-choreographed, and his young actor is very good for his age. I could feel chemistry between Hung and the flirtatious Red Bean, and Red Bean's mother gets some nice zingers. Jet Li is impressive as usual.

Less good: There's some tone issues as the script can't make its mind up whether this is a serious kung fu revenge story with all the tragic resonance that implies (and bits ripped from Lone Wolf and Cub) or a funny kids' kung fu movie with gags and cute children. (Why is there an active wax museum in a ghost town?) Each aspect tends to undercut the other, rather than blending into a cohesive whole.

Content note: Death of children, children in peril. Lots of violence, some gory. Red Bean tries to frame Hung for rape. Red Bean's mother semi-accidentally feels up a man. There's use of the "evil eunuch" stereotype which will come across differently to most Western viewers.

Overall: While the individual scenes are good, the movie just doesn't come together, making this one of Jet Li's lesser films. See if you can find the uncut version with the Chinese soundtrack.

The Last Tycoon (2012) dir. Jing Wong

Back in the 1910s, when Chen Daqi (Chow-Yun Fat) was just a grocer's assistant, he fell in love with aspiring actress Ye Zhiqiu (Quan Yuan). After Daqi was framed for murder, he had to flee to Shanghai, while Zhiqiu went to Beijing to join the Opera. Daqi was able to get a position with Hong Shou Ting (Sammo Hung), crime lord of Shanghai, and quickly rose in the ranks. Although he did finally come to Beijing to be with Zhiqiu, she proved unable to handle his new violent lifestyle and they wound up marrying other people.

Now it is 1937, and Chen Daqi is on top of the world. He's got wealth, power, connections and a wife who is both hot and loyal. Except that this is 1937 in Shanghai, and the Japanese Army is about to attack. Oh, and Ye Zhiqiu is in town with her husband, who is an intellectual and secretly working for a certain revolutionary group. Daqi's old "friend" General Mao Zai wants a list of the members of the group Zhiqiu's husband supposedly has and pressures Daqi into making a connection. Plus General Nishino pf the Japanese Army would like Daqi's help in subduing anti-Japanese resistance. Now would be a bad time for Daqi's old enemies to resurface.

So naturally they do. Treachery and violence ensues.

This Hong Kong movie is very loosely based on events in the life of real world Shanghai gangster Du Yuesheng. As is common in gangster movies, Chen Daqi is turned into the stereotype of the "honorable" gangster whose illegal activities are confined to fighting and killing other, worse, gangsters. He specifically eschews certain less honorable criminal enterprises his inspiration is known to have heavily indulged in. And once Daqi does move against the Japanese, it's a much more heroic endeavor than the real gangster ever pulled off.

Okay, whitewashing aside, how's the movie? There's some fine acting by Chow-Yun Fat and Sammo Hung, plenty of well-shot violence, and the music's good (one song won Best Original song at the Hong Kong Film Awards.)

I especially liked Hu Gao as Lin Huai, a rival of Chen Daqui that becomes his bodyguard, and explains that his name is written with the characters for "villain." He's a fun person.

Content notes: Implied rape, off-camera torture.

Recommended to Chow-Yun Fat fans who aren't too picky about historical realism.

Unlike last year, there were no big surprises on Thursday morning, so I was able to get off to the convention in good order, despite again mistaking which bus goes all the way to the end of the line.

Registration and Harmonic Convergence (the music room) switched locations this year, and since I had my pre-registration card handy, that went smoothly. I never did spend much time in the music room, so I can't say if it sounded better than the previous location.

The first panel I was on was "Diversity in Comics", starring Dwayne McDuffie (perhaps best known to the general public for his work with Static.) Also appearing was M. Nicholas Almand, creator of "Razor Kid." I seized the moderator position (with the permission of the other panelists) and mostly spent my time getting out of Mr. McDuffie's way, as he was clearly the most experienced with trying to get diversity into comics.

I'd also prepared a handout on comics that did diversity well--I hope a few of them got kept. Most of the discussion was nothing new to anyone who's seriously looked at diversity issues in comics, but there were a few people there who hadn't done that yet, and I hope they learned something useful.

Then it was off to the Crowne Plaza so I could register, drop off my clothes, and rush back downstairs for the next shuttle back to the Sheraton. Still frustrated by the fact that you can look directly across the freeway from one to the other, but it's a couple of country miles to actually get there.

The shuttle was somewhat delayed, which was something of a pattern for the next four days. But I still managed to get back in time for the Mark Time Radio Show (a little off this year) and opening ceremonies. The pass-around game was "the Cone of Shame", which those of you who've seen "Up" will recognize.

After that, I attended a panel on "The Horrible Humor of Joss Whedon." Got to see lots of Whedon-related hall costumes.

I made a short round of party rooms and then retired for the evening.

Unlike last year, my hotel room faced the parking lot, and the opaque curtains, unlike the ones at the Sheraton, turned out to be mere decorations, so the light level in the room was a bit much. Turns out I can't sleep wearing a mask, or at least not without being much much more tired, so it was a while before I dropped off.

First panel next morning I attended was "Free Online Games." I got a long list, and plugged "Billy vs. Snakeman."

A bit later, I was on the panel for "Gaming Etiquette." That was a mix of handy tips and horror stories. (When the *player* is using his hand crossbow to make his points, it's a bad thing.)

Then it was time for "Humor in Superhero Comics", which had the presence of Christopher Jones, the creator of ConVergence's mascot Connie, and artist on "Batman Strikes" and "Dr. Blink, Superhero Shrink." Lots of fun discussion of favorite funny bits.

I spent some time at the "Shiny New Anime" panel, but left early as I'd seen most of the clips at the last convention, and I wanted to get autographs from the Cinematic Titanic cast (formerly the MST3K cast.) In line I met a fellow who'd come all the way from northwest Canada specifically for the CT folks, this being his first SF convention ever. We whiled away our wait time by discussing conventions and I told him about some of the fun stuff to do. (Most of which does not require drinking alcohol, but some of which is presumably enhanced by it.)

Next up, it was time for the "Old Time Radio" panel, and the moderator graciously allowed me to open the panel with my prepared "radio announcement" bit. I got applauded for it, which is a nice feeling! One of the panelists had started working as a radio station engineer back in the 1950s, so he had some very interesting stories to tell. Other than that, it was mostly plugging favorite shows, and suggesting places to acquire OTR at least semi-legally.

And my fourth scheduled panel of the day was "Manga & Graphic Novels", where we talked about the differences and similarities of US and Japanese comics. I ranted a bit about the cancellation of Shojo Beat--while admittedly I wasn't always impressed with it, it did fill an important niche in the market.

Last panel attended for the evening was "Fan Fiction", which had as always a number of fanfic authors on it, some of whom have done this panel numerous times. The topic drifted off into slash perhaps a bit too often, but otherwise it was an interesting and informative discussion.

I had almost no time for parties before retiring, and was only halfway through the House of Toast line before I had to bolt for the entrance.

Saturday morning I attended the "Death of Saturday Morning Cartoons" panel. They're not completely dead, but they're in pretty sad shape at the moment, when most stations would rather show infomercials.

Next up, I was on the "Justice League" panel, again starring Mr. McDuffie, and also including Daniel Wallace, who helped write the DC and Marvel Encyclopedias. Naturally, the majority of questions fell to Mr. McDuffie again, and we drifted off into the sad state of the comic book industry overall for quite a while. I was moderator for this one too.

Afterwards, Mr. McDuffie was in the AV room, doing live commentary on a couple of the cartoon episodes he wrote. I'd seen the JLA appearance in Static Shock before, but not the JLU episode "Epilogue." Some tidbits about the former--it was originally pitched as a Teen Titans appearance, but their show wouldn't be airing yet by the time it was scheduled, and as you can imagine, there would have been some serious character design issues. And it wasn't an attempt to boost Static's street cred, but the other way around, since the Static Shock show was the second-highest rated cartoon at the time.

Then off to "Farewell David Tennant", as the panelists reminisced about their favorite Tenth Doctor moments and looked forward to the last few Tennant appearances.

That was followed by "Writing Horror in the Age of Saw." The panelist were mostly horror writers, natch. One thing pointed out was that the literary horror market and movie horror audience are actually not as overlapping as the SF literary and movie audiences. Which causes some difficulty for the horror writers when they attend horror movie conventions. The important thing, panelists agreed, was that you don't need to put in gore if the story doesn't call for it, but you shouldn't skimp on the gore if the story *does* call for it.

And "Silent Movies Worth Your Time", with several suggestions of merit, though it can be awfully hard to find one projected at the proper speed. While in theory the final lost reels of Metropolis have been found, the film stock is in such awful shape that it may not be restorable.

I skipped the Masquerade to check out the Cinema Apocalypse room, which showed "Ip Man", a heavily-fictionalized biography of the man who would eventually teach kung fu to Bruce Lee. It's pretty good, but the version shown did not subtitle the intertitles that gave historical background, so I couldn't spot more than what year the next scene was taking place. (Mind you, "the Japanese invade" was pretty obvious from the action.)

I had just enough time to finally get some toast (and for some reason sushi) from the House of Toast before I needed to be ready for the shuttle bus. Which was then ten minutes late as it had swung by the megamall first. The other passengers were interested by the costumed people hanging out and smoking.

Sunday morning, I packed up and checked out of the Crowne Plaza, and after breakfast in the Consuite went to the anime room to watch the Detective Conan movie. It wasn't too much of a mystery, although one minor recurring character was a red herring. (Behavior very odd for that person.)

I picked up my winnings from the Art Show and Silent Auction (since several items are scheduled as birthday/Christmas presents, I won't talk about them here.) Speaking of the art show, I've said in the past that I don't really buy a plain photograph of a nude woman as SF/fantasy "art." I've come to the conclusion that just slapping a color filter on it (with a "fantasyish" caption) isn't really that much more of a qualification. Having her hold a sword is more of a step in the right direction.

The first panel I managed to drag myself to was "Tieflings are Not a Player Race", an examination of 4th Edition D&D. As you might guess from the title, this was not a completely optimistic panel, though it was admitted that the latest edition is a fine miniatures tactics game. (And as one of the folks in Alarums & Excursions mentioned, it simulates the Voltron Blazing Sword Effect well.)

After that, "Epic Storyline Fatigue", with the encyclopedia writer mentioned above. Please let "Final Crisis" be it for line-wide universe reboot events for a while, okay DC?

I dropped in on "TV Shows on DVD and Blu-Ray", which had a bunch of release dates. Sadly, you should probably stock up now while you still can, as it looks like discs are on their way out to be replaced with digital media.

And finally, my last panel, "What's Wrong With Japan?" As moderator (yes, again, let's face it, I like being moderator), I declared that the title of the panel was incorrect, and it would be "Different and interesting things about Japanese culture" instead. No one got up to leave the room, which I was pleased by. We had several people who'd spent extended periods in Japan, thanks to teaching jobs. (Our token Japanese-American panelist admitted he'd only gone for brief vacations.) After the first general question, "One thing you find interesting about Japan not directly connected to manga or anime", the anecdotes easily filled the time with minimal need for more prompting.

Between all of this, naturally, I spent a lot of time greeting and conversing with old acquaintances, making new ones ("Wait! I know you, you're on the internet!") and people watching. My nephew had managed to get the weekend off at the last moment, and got to see his first SF convention ever--perhaps he'll post about it in his own LJ. (hint, hint :-)

Sadly, the Sheraton itself was not running shuttles to the airport or Mall this year, so I skipped closing ceremonies to be able to catch the bus downtown. Still, I had a grand old time. (Next year, I do need to have a room in the hotel proper or Sofitel.)

And this morning, I went in to have my filling installed. Still can't bite anything until the crown is put in later this month.