One thing I love is Martial Arts flicks. It is a genre where I can easily forgive film trespasses that would doom other movies in a heartbeat. The most insanely improbable street gangs look commonplace in a Tony Jaa movie, as long as he jumps off walls and beats seven shades of whupass out of them, the flimsiest plot to motivate Donnie Yen to suplex someone is perfectly acceptable, the most unfathomable racist and over the top dubbing goes unnoticed if Jackie Chan is jumping through playground equipment at the time, and no amount of crappy filmmaking in general can prevent me from enjoying Jet Li doing anything. For my top ten this week, I decided to compile a quick list of the 10 best fights that come to mind when I think of the genre, whether they be classic duels or a case of the odds stacked against a Wushu master. You may notice a distinct lack of Bruce Lee fights, and that's because I've honestly not seen his stuff enough to judge it. Enter The Dragon is the only movie of his I've really seen, so Bruce fans, I apologize in advance for my ignorance of his work. I'm going to link vids because I know nothing about HTML and Something I did messed up embeding them so they come out as tiny little squares. Whatevs, here we go!
10) Jet Li Vs. Chen Zhi Hui - Huo Yuanjia AKA Fearless
This scene is the moment when Jet Li's character more or less ruins his life, and it comes out in his mannerisms in the fight. What starts out as a relatively honorable duel quickly degrades to a brutal fistfight with little finesse and a lot of emotion. As Huo Yuanjia and Master Chin fight, Chin with a weighted sword, Huo is clearly overpowered and outmatched, only turning the tide when he disarms his opponent. The fight culminates in an act of brutality against a defenseless man that changes Huo's fate and the fate of China in the process.
Fun Fact: Fans of Dynasty Warriors, if you had to guess which character Chen Zhi Hui played in a movie based on the Three Kingdoms, who would you guess? If you said Zhang Fei, You win, Grats!
9) Zhang Ziyi Vs. Michele Yeoh - Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Zhang Ziyi and Michelle Yeoh epically tangled in this wuxia classic. When Jen (Zhang Ziyi), the headstrong daughter of an aristocrat steals wudangquan master Li Mu Bai's (Chow Yun-fat) famed sword Green Destiny, she is intercepted by Li Mu Bai's friend Yu Shu Lien (Michele Yeoh) who was entrusted with the weapon. Shu Lien attempts to subdue Jen, but the might of Green Destiny overwhelms her and breaks weapon after weapon. Broadswords, Hookswords, a heavy Brass rod, all are shattered by the legendary sword. Jen taunts Shu Lien, saying she cannot overcome her no matter what weapon she chooses. Shu Lien selects a heavy steel sword. As the fight continues, Green Destiny once again breaks Shu Lien's Weapon, but the broken blade comes to rest against Jen's throat in what could have been a killing stroke.
8) Donnie Yen Vs. Jet Li - Once Upon a Time in China 2 and Hero
Donnie Yen and Jet Li only had a short fight in OUATIC2, and it only hinted at the epic confrontation these two masters would one day have in Hero. As the Nameless Warrior (Jet Li) retells his tale of slaying the three most dangerous assassins in the kingdom, he describes his encounter with Long Sky (Donnie Yen). Confronting the Assassin at a weiqi parlor, Nameless and Long Sky spend a long moment envisioning their fight, before they attack one another. While this fight is heavy on Wire Fu, it still displays a great deal of martial talent and lightning fast attacks, coming to an amazing finish.
7) Jackie Chan Vs. Benny the Jet - Dragons Forever.
This one is a rare gem. Benny "The Jet" Urquidez is one of the original mixed martial arts legends. His fast, brutal offense and unorthodox style made him an unpredictable competitor in Karate and Kickboxing from 1974 to 1993 with an official record of 63 Wins, 0 Losses, and 57 Knockouts (he claims an unofficial record of 200-0). The Jet is a real life Martial Arts Legend. He appeared in two films opposite Jackie Chan, and put him over both times. "Put Over" is a wrestling term, meaning to lose to someone in order to make the victor look better. And Benny Urquidez did this spectacularly well for Jackie Chan Twice! This fight is fast and technical, and even includes the classic "Guy gets knocked through a wall of boxes full of smaller boxes" trope.
6) Tony Jaa Vs. Lateef Crowder, John Foo, AND Nathan Jones! - The Protector (Tom Yum Goong)
When Tony Jaa's character arrives to find the Temple he had been hiding out in is under attack, he is confronted by a man with Dreadlocks and the word Pray carved into his chest. The mystery man (Crowder) knocks Tony around a while with capoeira, until Tony picks up on the weaknesses of the style and exploits them. Before he can catch his breath, he dodges a flying Dao and is forced to defend himself against it's wielder unarmed. One Indiana Jones reference later, Tony arms himself with the hammers used to sound the gong and dispatches the assailant. Then an arm the size of a Great Dane grabs Tony through a door, and Nathan Jones comes through with it. Tony collects himself, but now he is fighting a man nearly 3 times his size (Tony weighs in at around 130 pounds and Nathan tips the scales at 350). Jones tosses him around easily, bouncing him off a pillar, rugby tackling him, and kicking him into a bookshelf, destroying it, before the arrival of the police forces him to retreat.
Jaa Vs. Jones II is also awesome and deserves to be combined into this pick. Even with the help of three other Human Elephants and a whip swinging Lady-Man, Tony still busts Nathan up in their rematch.
5) Jackie Chan Vs Jet Li - Forbidden Kingdom
What can I really say about this one? Do I even Have to explain? This is a dream match that fans of the genre really never believed would happen, especially after Jet Li stated that Huo Yuanjia would be his final Martial Arts film a few years before this film came out. So to see two of my favorite film martial artists actually face off was surreal and thrilling. Say what you want about this film, the fact that Jet and Jackie are both in it makes it absolutely worth it.
4) Jackie Chan Vs Ken Lo and Ho-Sung Pak - Drunken Master II
In the final confrontation of this wuxia classic, Wong Fei-Hong confronts the leaders of the gang that was smuggling Chinese artifacts and selling them to foreigners in the steel foundry they had taken over as a front for their operation. Fei-Hong takes care of the lower ranks easily, but the lightning fast Tae Kwon Do master (Ken Lo) and his brutal thug (Ho-Sung Pak) prove a much greater challenge. Earlier in the film, he had shown that the right amount of alcohol augmented his Drunken Fist fighting style, but he had also made a drunken fool of himself by consuming too much. In desperation to even the odds against his two opponents, Fei-Hong grabs a container of industrial firestarter. Whether it was grain alcohol or pure Gasoline, consuming just the right amount of the volatile liquid does the trick, and Fei-Hong proceeds to dispatch his foes in spectacular fashion.
3) Tony Jaa: The Pretzel Factory - The Protector (Tom Yum Goong)
While some may argue that most of what goes on in this scene may not strictly qualify as martial arts, it is nonetheless impressive at the very least. The sheer number of ways Tony and the fight coordinators came up with to bust these schmucks up is just mind boggling. And the lesson to be learned is Don't mess with Tony's Elephants.
2) Jackie Chan Vs. Benny The Jett - Wheels on Meals
Remember how I said that Benny The Jet faced off with Jackie Chan Twice? Are you really surprised to see the other fight on this list? This is a very well paced fight, if you can call "almost too fast to follow" a pace. Jackie bodily dragging Benny off the steps to clear an escape route for Sammo Hung? Good Stuff. Benny taking a stiff punch in the face and licking his lips in response? Wow. Benny back kicking Jackie AND taking his coat off at the same time, then snapping his oh so snappy suspenders? Classic. The "feeling out" process mid fight? Benny attacking a shelled up Jackie and pushing a banquet table around the room in the process, the roundhouse kicking the Flames off Several candles, no special effects required? Holy Crap! And that's just the first Minute and a half of this Five and a half minute brawl. A true Classic, and a Must see fight.
1) Jet Li Vs An Entire Karate School - Fist of Legend
It's Jet Li. Versus an entire Karate School. Jet never even breaks a sweat.
Need I say More?
Bonus: Watch for the move I affectionately call the "Crotch Toss".
Honorable Mentions: The Bride Vs. Gogo Yubari and the Crazy 88s, Tony Jaa Vs everyone in the Ong Bak movies and the stairwell longcut in The Protector, Tak Sakaguchi Vs. Everything that Moves in Death Trance, Nathan Jones in Som Tam, and Any fight involving Donnie Yen, particularly Donnie and Rong-Guang Yu Vs Yen Shi-Kwan in Iron Monkey. Mifune Toshiro in Sanjuro or any of a number of other samurai movies. And there is something Hilariously Awesome about the Conveyor Belt Fight in The Myth, starring Jackie Chan. Oh, and I have to mention The Hammer scene from Old Boy, but I'm not posting a Vid, so you have to see the movie. Go do it now. Seriously, stop reading this and watch Old Boy. I'll wait.
No comments:
Post a Comment