Double Dragon

Starring:Robert Patrick
Studio: Front Row Video, Inc
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

An Absolute must for Jet Li Fans!
Lots of Action from Jet Li but bad acting from Bridget Fonda
Jet Li's great
"In the second it takes you to kill her, I will have all the time I need to kill you."
a sharp movie from jet li

Kiss of the Dragon
Starring: Bridget Fonda , John Forgeham , Tchéky Karyo , Burt Kwouk , and Jet Li
Director: Chris Nahon
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00003CY5A
Release Date: 2002-01-22

Amazon.com

Let's face it: No one is usually checking a Jet Li movie for the verbal sparring. In Kiss of the Dragon, Chinese undercover agent Li chops his way through Paris after he's framed in some sketchily defined drug sting operation. The fight sequences are tough and quite brutal, and the over-the-top finale is arguably worth the price of admission, wherein an implacable Li takes on the entire Paris Police Bureau, working his way up toward police chief Tchéky Karyo's office through cops, a pair of peroxide-blond twin henchmen, and a whole class of kung fu cadets. Co-screenwriter Luc Besson (La Femme Nikita) should know by now what makes for a nifty genre piece, but the woeful dialogue is a shame, and there aren't nearly enough action sequences to get your blood boiling. Poor Bridget Fonda gives it the old school try in a thankless role as an ex-junkie prostitute from the Midwest whose young daughter is being held captive by duplicitous police chief/drug lord/pimp Karyo (who fairly inhales the scenery). Director Chris Nolan might have pushed further the strangers-in-a-strange-land camaraderie between Li and Fonda, but the script still would've sunk him. --Steve Wiecking

Description

Martial arts genius Jet Li explodes onto the screen with an intensity not seen since Bruce Lee. "Kiss of the Dragon" is not merely a thriller but a shocker. (San Francisco Chronicle) China's top secret agent visits Paris on a pleasure trip only to encounter government espionage at the highest level. "Li's action sequences are like an oil fire, spilling from one room into the next and lighing up in the interiors with heat and wreakage"! (The New York Times)

Customer Reviews:

An Absolute must for Jet Li Fans!.......2007-06-10

After seeying the for me quite dissapointing "Romeo Must Die", I saw this film: Kiss of the Dragon. This film I found way better than "Romeo must Die" and it was very entertaining. It is a very serious and dark film with an energetic Li who shows what he's got!

The story follows a Chinese Agent (Jet Li) who is sent to Paris, France to help the local cops there with an ivestigation. When on the mission he finds out that he is in a web of traitors who will try to kill him at any costs. Now, with the prove of a crime on a cassettetape, he has to run for his life!

Kiss of the Draghon features 5 energetic and well choreographed action sequences that gets the adrenaline pumping. Li is absolutely fantastic and kicks and punches his way through the movie with great speed. There is one scene where Li has to fight with about 25 men, which is a may it be short but spectacular scene to see. Next to being good in the fighting, he also succeeds in giving his caracther some dramatic depth. He acts good and gives a satisfying performance.
Bridget Fonda stars next to Li as the hooker with the golden heart. She acts good as well. She manages to stay on her feet and knows how to play the dramatic scenes well.
As the bad guy there is Tchéky Karyo, who plays his character with such evil and anger that you just can't wait till Li gets the chance to kick his butt good!

So overall, Kiss of the Dragon is a good film with good acting performances and great action. Action fans will not be dissapointed and Jet Li fans will love this film. So, an absolute must for Jet Li fans and a good film to see for action fans.

Lots of Action from Jet Li but bad acting from Bridget Fonda .......2007-03-28

This move was packed with action, includiing must see fight scenes. I watched it over and over again but only with the Spanish language selection. OK I admit that I only watched it so many times because I am trying to learn Spanish. But it was still fun to watch in any language. My only beef is that Bridget Fonda did a bad job acting as a drug addicted prostitute.

Jet Li's great.......2007-01-12

I really enjoyed Jet Li's performance in this movie. It's always refreshing to see unadulterated martial art. There were a few slow moments, but I liked the story line and Jet Li is always easy to watch.

"In the second it takes you to kill her, I will have all the time I need to kill you.".......2007-01-08

Based on a story written by star Jet Li (Romeo Must Die, Fearless) and adapted for the silver screen by Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) and Robert Mark Kamen (The Transporter), Kiss of the Dragon (2001) was directed by Chris Nahon, in his film debut. Also appearing in the film, along with Jet Li, is Bridget Fonda (Point of No Return), Tcheky Karyo (Bad Boys, The Core), Vincent Wong (Die Another Day, Batman Begins), and Burt Kwouk, probably best known from his past, reoccurring character role as the manservant Cato Fong from the various Pink Panther features.

Jet Li plays a character named Liu Jian, a highly decorated police officer/acupuncturist from Hong Kong who has recently arrived in France to assist local officials in capturing a Chinese criminal overlord. Upon arriving Liu hooks up with a French police official named Inspector Richard (Karyo), who's in charge of the sting operation, which is currently in surveillance mode at some swanky hotel. Here's the thing...turns out Inspector Richard is seriously bent and has ties to the criminal he's supposedly after, so much so he arranges for things to go down badly. Liu gets caught up in the middle of things resulting in some martial arts action as Liu battles Inspector Richard's corrupt police squad goons, but manages to escape with a key piece of evidence. Inspector Richard, who's about as oily as they come, twists everything around to make it appear Liu was responsible for the debacle, and brands him a killer. In an effort to clear his name, Liu finds himself saddled with a greasy, junkie prostitute named Jessica (Fonda), who's connected with Inspector Richard in that he's holding her young daughter, the intent being to maintain leverage to keep Jessica on the streets...which seemed an awful lot of trouble given she was the least productive member of the group of street tramps apparently controlled by Inspector Richard (through various intermediaries, of course)...anyway, things get progressively messy as Inspector Richard and his goons tear the city apart trying to find Liu. Eventually things come to a head as Liu battles his way into the belly of the beast in a final confrontation between Inspector Richard and his men at the police station in an effort to rescue Jessica's daughter.

While I enjoyed the action sequences immensely, I thought the story not so hot, overall. The main problem I had was with Bridget Fonda's character in that I thought she was unnecessary, and her only reason for being in the film was to add a female element to the story. I found myself cringing somewhat anytime her character related various bits and pieces of her sob story as it all seems just so pathetic and manufactured. I suppose I was supposed to feel all sympathetic to her plight but I found it hard to do since so much of it was the result of her own actions (or inactions, as the case may be). Another thing...I've seen a number of real life, strung out street walkers and I can say not a one of them ever looked as good as Bridget Fonda (most of the time they looked like twenty miles of bad road). Now, the filmmakers did `dirty' Fonda up a bit, making her appear all greasy and such, but still, she relatively looked attractive, which made it hard for me to believe she was one of the least producing girls (in terms of turning tricks) of her group, especially given some of the lice infested street skags she was competing against. Another element of the story that sort of bothered me was Inspector Richard and his crew, all of whom were corrupt, and the fact they had a free hand to do just about whatever they wanted, including shooting up hotels, sightseeing buffet boats, and orphanages, regardless of the toll in terms of casualties or property damage (their motto seemed to be shoot first, shoot again, and then ask questions). Seems to me someone, at some point, would hold him and his flunkies responsible for their grossly negligent actions, but perhaps things are different, in this respect, in France than they are in other places...oh well...so what did I like about the film? Well, I thought the action was excellent as Jet Li displays why he's one of the best and most proficient martial artists performing in film today. Now I haven't seen many of his foreign made features, but of the western films I've seen him in, I think I liked this one the best in terms of displaying hand to hand and weapon based combat. The martial arts sequences are staggered throughout the film, but know the last fifteen minutes or so is all action, as this is when Li's character takes it to the Man by walking directly into the police station where Inspector Richard is located and begins meting out the punishment. There are a lot of great sequences here, but I think my favorite was where he accidentally walked into a room containing about 25 to 30 officers training in martial arts. The subsequent fight sequence is amazing, albeit kind of short. The extensive effort of the choreography, orchestrated by Corey Yuen, involved in this scene boggles the brain. As far as the performances I thought most were decent enough, although I thought Tcheky Karyo, who played the main villain Inspector Richard, was a little over the top, but memorable (seemed more often than not he kept trying to one up himself on showing us just how evil, rotten, and just generally despicable he was). Overall the story didn't do much for me except drag things down a little, but the intense martial artistry saved the day, making this a generally entertaining feature worth checking out if you're in need of an action fix. One last thing, I didn't necessarily appreciate the gratuitous rap music used during the fight sequences. It's not that I don't like rap (some of it is all right), but it just felt like it was stuck in there to be trendy, and not because it was appropriate.

The widescreen anamorphic (2.35:1) video on this DVD comes across strong and clean, and the audio, available in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround comes through very well. There's quite a few extras available including an audio commentary track with director Chris Nahon, and actors Jet Li and Bridget Fonda, along with four featurettes, some of which focus on Li's fighting philosophy and the martial arts sequences in the film. Also thrown in are storyboard to film comparisons, action gallery production stills, television spots, and the original theatrical trailer, as well as ones for the features Behind Enemy Lines (2001) and Planet of the Apes (2001).

Cookieman108

a sharp movie from jet li.......2006-09-12

One of the cool things about Kiss of The Dragon is that it is a story that Jet Li wrote, and I'd say he did a fine job. The funny thing is its an American movie, that takes place in France, with lots of Asians. The movie is entertaining in both terms of story and action. This is a very believable film where all the action and fights scenes is supplied by the story. Its not one of those films where there are fight scenes thrown together just to get an action scene in so we don't get bored. Even without action in Kiss of The Dragon, the movie is entertaining. The movie is paced well and never felt slow to me. The beginning has agreat start that gets you engaged in the story immediately, and brings on some quick action right away.

In the end, even from a Jet Li movie, we want to see a good fight over story. The big fight in this film is between 2 twins (one is twice as big as the other, amusingly) and Jet Li. It takes place inside an office building with cubicles surrounded by glass, which gets constanly shattered during the nearly 4 minute fight scene. Its a great great great scene that is fun to watch.

I won't get into the story of Kiss of The Dragon, but know this: I found it to be highly engaging and high quailty work for an American Jet Li film. The fights are great too!

Average customer rating:

Is the uncut version worth it?

Double Dragon - UNCUT (All-Region)

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000BMCZWS

Product Description

"UNCUT never before released." Popular live-action martial arts epic based on the hit arcade game! TAGLINE: Evil has just met its match. SYNOPSIS: In 2007, New Angeles is ravaged by earthquakes, tidal waves and vicious gang wars. The evil tycoon Koga Shukois obsessed with finding both halves of the Double Dragona talisman which will give him awesome mystical powers. Teenage brothers Jimmy and Billy wind up with the missing half thrusting them into the adventure of their lives. Marian and her vigilante Power Corps help them summon all of their courage, resourcefulness and martial-arts skills to stop the villain's evil plan. A Cult favorite! ++++ DVD Features: Officially licensed release from South Korea with 4:3 Full Screen display and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo in ENGLISH with optional (removable) subtitles in English and Korean. Special Features: Cast & Crew; Photo Gallery. Some of the text on the package is written in Korean.

Customer Reviews:

Is the uncut version worth it?.......2006-06-12

The Double Dragon dvd has been out of print for nearly three years now. Double Dragon has always been one of those movies in the sense that people either love it or hate it. People have often bashed this movie complaining about how it doesn't relate very well to the arcade and nintendo games. While that may be true, the film definately relates to the Neo-Geo version of Double Dragon. As for the movie itself, it is definately a B-flick though I personally found it to be entertaining. Double Dragon is without question an action/comedy. Though some argue that there is more comedy than action, I say that both the action and the comedy blend well. The humor is a bit dumbed down at times mainly due to Scott Wolf's cheesy yet catchy one-liners as well as the character of Abobo getting transformed into a mutated imbecile. For those of you who are familiar with Mark Dacascos, his martial arts performance is good in this movie along with Robert Patrick's character, Alyssa Milano's and Linda Lash's good looks, and the overall setting of futuristic Los Angeles. Now onto the uncut dvd... It is important to note that despite the feature listings on this website, there are no cast & crew filmographies or any production notes to speak of. The uncut version is in full frame versus widescreen. So is the uncut version worth it? Normally I would not care about a movie including four extra mintues of added scenes though in this case the four extra mintues of added scenes are worth viewing. If you wish to view Double Dragon, decide which version you would prefer; the original widescreen version or the full frame uncut status?

Average customer rating:

Blu-ray screws us here!

Kiss of the Dragon (Blu-Ray)
Starring: Jet Li
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: Blu-ray

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ASIN: B000ICLRHA
Release Date: 2006-11-14

Amazon.com

Description

Customer Reviews:

Blu-ray screws us here!.......2007-01-03

The Blu-ray Disc is supposed to have 5 times more memory than standard DVD. So why can't they release ALL the special features (and more if possible) that the standard DVD has? The Standard DVD of this movie has running commentary, a Jet Li featurette, a Featurette from Cory Yuen, the fight choreographer, martial arts demos, storyboard to film comparisons, a production featurette, and more. All that is included on this Blu-ray is the Theatrical trailer. Blu-ray so far has done this with "The Devil Wears Prada" "Saw" "The Transporter" "Transporter 2" "Black Hawk Down" "House of Flying Daggers" and probably much more. The HD DVD has never done this. And, the blu-ray is supposed to have MORE memory than HD DVD, so why isn't it happening. I don't know if it's a product, money, or copyright issue, but it's really stupid!

Average customer rating:

Hell Yeah!!!
Video Game Based Movies
worst martial art movie ever (it doesnt deserve a star if i have other ratings)
kick ass
Awesome!

Double Dragon
Starring: Robert Patrick , Mark Dacascos , Scott Wolf , Kristina Wagner , and Julia Nickson-Soul
Director: James Yukich
Manufacturer: Good Times Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00000I1KB
Release Date: 2001-05-01

Customer Reviews:

Hell Yeah!!!.......2006-05-22

This is the movie world's LL Cool J!!!!
If it weren't for Mac and Me, I'd say this movie was the greatest of all time!!!
People, wake up!!!
You're so used to seeing garbage like Gone With the Wind, Casablanca, Star Wars, House of the Dead, etc you don't know what a good movie actually is!!!
Buy this and watch it with your family on Thanksgiving, you won't be sorry!!!!

OH, almost forgot.... I strongly recommend renting this movie along with The Mangler, you won't be sorry!!!

Video Game Based Movies.......2006-02-01

Most video game based movies are bombs and this one stands out above some of the ones that cames before it. Mark Darascos is a great martial-artist and this film gives just a taste of what he can do.

worst martial art movie ever (it doesnt deserve a star if i have other ratings).......2006-01-09

im a big fan of the Double Dragon series, i had been waiting for months til the movie came out, after awhile this movie is such disapointment
come on, who cares about me medals? who cares about the super power? we want decent, authentic martial arts movie, we want the true double dragon spirit, man, what a joke, without the medals, the 2 double dragons are 2 weakest guy in da world, they had to run away from their enemies in every fight til they can get their medals, come on, man, we dont want Tom&Jerry
we want double dragon!!!
what a joke, why do u ppl made a movie that based on the cartoon that based on the video game, the DD original spirit somehow lost in this new cartoon, and now you were making a movie based on it?
why didnt u ppl just make a movie straight out of the video game, throw in some good martial arts, make the DD the 2 greatest fighter in the world, make them travelling around the world beating the hell out of everyboby, maybe everyone will buy it and you ppl will have to make DD da movie 2, 3, 4... who knows? after this disaster, the DD series went down like hell...
this series was so great, why? you ppl are to blame
all i want to do to you ppl is punch u in da faces, and stuff the stupid medals down ur throats...
magic medals piss me off!!!!!!!!!!

kick ass.......2005-08-11

Freakin sickest movie i have ever seen with friggin sweet lines like "i can see you" "no you cant". Then the guy gets a pole in his eye. Dude go see this movie, no need to rent it just buy it right away. Buy six copies and give them to all your friends you friggin hobo.

Awesome!.......2005-01-25

I absolutely LOVE this movie. It's wicked funny and has two pieces of eye candy (Scott Wolf and Marc Dacascos). I don't know how anyone couldn't love this movie. I hope that some more copies of it are in stock soon because I consider this movie a must have!

Average customer rating:

Bruce Lee: Double Dragon
Starring: Bruce Lee 2 Pak
Manufacturer: Vintage Home Ent.
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0007M234W
Release Date: 2005-02-22

Description

The Master of Suspense 2-pack contains:

ALFRED HITCHCOCK THRILLERS:
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Secret Agent
The Lady Vanishes

Product Description

Goku is Ginyu and Ginyu is Goku - Frieza battles Nail in an effort to discover the password for the Dragon Balls. But can his skills measure up? Elsewhere, a powerful Goku faces the remaining Ginyu Force. But careful Goku! Captain Ginyu has some fiendish trickery in store.

Calling The Eternal Dragon - Vegeta's plan to recapture the Dragon Balls is put on hold as Gohan and Krillin are first to find the buried treasure. But all three are in for a big shock as Captain Ginyu shows up in Goku's Body.

Gohan Defeat Your Dad!! - Gohan and Krillin battle Captain Ginyu, disgusted in Goku's body. But watch out! Vegeta's taking action with a strength no one expected! Is Vegeta really a Super Saiyan?

Captain Ginyu... The Frog - An injured Captain Ginyu awaits Vegeta's onslaught. But the weakened warrior has devious plans up his sleeve. Will he be able to switch bodies with Vegeta the way he managed to switch with Goku? And what will become of Goku, now struggling in Captain Ginyu's crippled body?

Format: DVD MOVIE

Customer Reviews:

Double Cross.......2006-02-22

This fills in a lot of the gap between the Namek and Frieza sagas.

Awesome conclusion for Ginyu saga!.......2004-05-02

I watched this DVD and loved it! It was violent and funny! It was great! I watched both the English dub and Japanese version.
To me the english voices suit them better. The music is better in the english dub also. I took off a star because they could have put trailers or a better menu and a scene selection. But besides that it was the best!

Excellent DVD, worth the buy.......2003-12-31

This is an excellent DVD in all respects save the cover. (The cover is incredibly stupid if you didn't notice. An irrelevent screen shot.) There are two versions on this DVD, like all Dragon Ball Z DVD's except for Saiyan/Namek Sagas. This is actually the second DVD of the first uncut saga in American Dragon Ball.

The two versions it contains in the English Dubbed version and the Japaneese Subbed version. I reccommend watching both, although some hardcore fans only watch the Subbed. Even though most of the dialog is changed in the Dubbed version (and the music is much worse) it is still a very fun watch and highly enjoyable.

The DVD and story itself is really good. It has an exciting battle between Goku and Ginyu and the demise of Ginyu is really great and pretty funny too. It's an excellent DVD and I highly reccommend it.

A great DBZ DVD.......2003-04-14

This is a great DVD cause first off you get 4 episodes instead of 3, so already its off to a good start. Second you get crafty Captain Ginyu. Then you add alot of Vegeta kicking butt and then you get even better. Last but not least you add a hilarious ending to the whole thing and you got yourself a winner. Please buy this DVD today its a real treat.

Great, but lacks the flashyness of most DVDs.......2002-04-21

The Japanese version of DBZ is infinatly better than the English, so I would reccomend buying this instead of a VHS. The whole thing is kind of plain (no previews, boring menu, and only 2 chapters per episode) so only get it if you really like the Ginyu Saga or if you're trying to make a complete DBZ collection.

Average customer rating:

Dragon Sword - Poon Lung Gim

Manufacturer: Customflix
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Martial Arts | Sports | Genres | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000QCUZES
Release Date: 2007-05-07

amazon.com

The "Gim," or Double-Edged sword, is renowned as the king of the short Chinese weapons. It is considered to be one of the most graceful and difficult weapons to master. The double-edged sword will help a student develop great wrist and forearm strength, along with superior concentration. When mastered, the movements of the Double-Edged Sword have been described as poetry in motion. The Dragon Sword's power comes from circular, flowing movements such as twisting the body, and the development of internal power.

Average customer rating:

The Magic Crane
Beware of that huge mechanical crane!

Magic Crane/Rivals of the Dragon
Starring: Brooklyn Zu Double Feature
Manufacturer: Ground Zero
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Invincible Armour
The Lost Kung Fu Secrets
Faster Blade Poisonous Darts
Shaolin Invincible Sticks

ASIN: B000066C6N
Release Date: 2002-05-28

Customer Reviews:

The Magic Crane.......2007-03-15

Magic Crane is one of my favourite Tsui Hark films, directed by Benny Chan (Gen X Cops, Who Am I?) it's a fast paced ride through a fantasy wuxia land inhabited by flying swordsmen, beautiful women and the odd giant animal thrown in for good measure - kind of like a Buddha's Palm for the nineties.

Normally at this point I would give a brief synopsis of the plot but that would be fairly difficult without going into it in too much depth, suffice to say Tony Leung's impoverished clan gets embroiled in various schemes to rule the martial world thanks to not one but two opposing bad guys in the shape of Lawrence Ng the leader of the evil Tien Lung Clan and Kelvin Wong a shady and calculating government agent. A straight forward clan based story then? Not quite, here's a rundown of what you can expect to see - a giant crane that carries Anita Mui around, a swarm of poisonous bats (with some bat cruelty thrown in for good measure), a tense gathering of all the clans in the martial world, a powerful master chained up in an underground cave, sex drugs, a magic kung fu manual, a giant thousand year old tortoise and musical instruments used as devastating weapons. I'm sure I've missed a few things out there but you get the idea, Tsui Hark throws in just about every wacky idea he's got but still manages to produce a coherent and entertaining film - as long as you don't blink and miss something!

Despite the fact that some of the effects (mainly the animals) aren't up to the standards you would expect to find in a modern CGI film this is still a great looking movie and the old fashioned animatronic and rubber suit style creatures are done quite well, the magic crane itself looks like it was made from bits that Tsui Hark found in his garage but they did a decent job of making it fly and even managed to imbue it with a bit of personality. The human cast did a good job as well, Norman Tsui pops up as Anita Mui's master, Rosamund Kwan turns up as his daughter (and deadly enemy) but my favourite was the gorgeous Jay La Kam Ling who played the deliciously slutty sister of Lawrence Ng who tries to sleep with every one she meets and even does a kung fu version of the Sharon Stone style crossed legs routine while she's fighting with Tony Leung! Another stand out performance for me was Kelvin Wong who after eating a magical manual (it's a long story) went absolutely nuts like Kam Kong in Jade Dagger Ninja and embarked on a murderous rampage, he even managed to kill Lawrence Ng while making sweet love to his sister and laughing maniacly, great stuff!

It'll probably come as no surprise that the action in Magic Crane is of the high flying wire assisted variety but as far as it goes it's pretty good if you like that sort of thing, which I do. To give you some idea of what to expect the choreographer is Lau Chi Ho who worked with Ching Sui Ting on Duel To The Death, Swordsman and A Chinese Ghost Story so as well as some decent swordplay there's also magical weapons like the Lute and Kelvin Wong's bell which is about the size of Big Ben!

If you're a fan of new wave wuxia I would strongly recommend Magic Crane - it's like watching Kung Fu Cult Master, Deadful Melody, Dragon Chronicles, Chinese Ghost Story, Zu Warriors and Flying Dagger all crammed into the same film - but in a good way! And remember, that giant crane sacrificed himself for the good of mankind, bless him, there's a lesson for us all there.

Beware of that huge mechanical crane!.......2007-01-20

MAGIC CRANE-Benny Chan directs this odd love story produced by Tsui Hark. Well I guess it would best be considered a love story there is really a lot more going on. With a Tsui Hark wuxia film you know that it will be interesting, have great music and cinematography, and decent sets. You also know it will contain that unreal stylized wire action. The interesting part in this one is this big crane that Anita Mui rides on.

Tony Leung is part of a small martial arts school and doesn't even care about the arts much himself though he does prove to be somewhat useful by the end. Him and his master(Damian Lau) go to a meeting to find out that a new clan leader is looking to take over all of the schools so that he can rule everything I guess. When they arrive at the inn for the meeting they learn of how there will be a negotiation with the new leader and if things fail, there will be riots in the martial arts world and many will die. One thing that seperates Tsui Hark wuxia movies is the sexual advances always going on. Like one woman who looks to rape Tony Leung. This of course is looked at as the opposite by troops staying at the inn and Anita Mui comes in to save him with her superior kung fu skills. After all the trouble dies down the girl lets it be know to the 50 people that are standing around exactly what room she is staying in and that anyone is free to come up. Oh man I was dying. Now along with the crane we have all types of weird animals. Bats come and attack on behalf of this evil clan and it gets bloody. The bats look fake flying but it was a bit disturbing how real they looked when being killed. It was probably because a lot of them were real, pretty sick. When some elders are poisoned by the bats, Tony goes with Anita to get the antidote. This is where it gets really weird and takes a new turn. They have to kill this huge fire breathing tortoise and take it's gallbladder. Rosamund Kwan shows up and steals it right after the Godzilla type of fight. She plays Butterfly Lam and reveals that Pak Wan Fai(Anita Mui) tore apart her family when Butterly was a child. Her father left her mother and her to save Pak Wan Fai who was a princess of a falling empire. Butterfly is a master of the musical martial arts. I don't really know what to call it but she is able to hypnotize people. After they get the gallbladder back Pak Wan Fai does a dance and it starts breathing smoke out the top of this huge thing. While this is going on there is conflict with the school leaders that are at the inn for the negotiation and it leads to a huge fight. There are a lot of fights but they are all very short. Damian Lau does show some nice swordwork. Butterfly Lam takes to the side of evil to take revenge on Pak Wan Fai. Norman Chu(Butterfly's father) shows up to save Pak Wan Fai(again). There are all sorts of characters and they spend over half of the movie indroducing them. The characters have a lot of odd things happening to them like a nice miracle moment. Maybe the weirdest thing of all is when the women need to have sex so that they don't die because they took a special drug. I for one was confused. So we get the huge showdown between everybody and it keeps up it's weirdness until the end. This is a pure fantasy film and don't expect anything else.

The special effects with the animals and animated graphics that pop up on screen are very crude but they still work for the most part. It is a very low budget movie thas is trying to act like it has a very large scale. The battle sequences don't contain a lot of actual fighting but are helped out greatly by wind and other spcial effects and even more by the music. Anita Mui's presence alone makes any scene good and the theme song from her and Jackie Cheung is wonderful. AND SUBTITLED! The story is not great by any means but moves along at a pretty good pace and is enhanced by having all types of crazy things going on. 2.5/5 If it was just this movie I was rating here it would get a 3 since I am stuck in the middle.

The picture quality is widecreened in a 16:9 format though you can tell it was transferred from video tape. There is a bit more than you average amount of speckling but still more than watchable. Below average quality but fine if you are looking forward to just seeing the movie. The subtitles are all readable. Sound quality is good with no hissing(none I could hear) but you will need to turn the volume up a little more than normal.

RIVALS OF THE DRAGON-Ouch. This thing ws as bad as it gets. Directed by the top disciple of horrible ninja film maker Godfrey Ho so you know it is going to be bad coming into it. His movies(if you call them that) are gauranteed to have a horrible plot line with horrible kung fu and a movie that will just leave a bad taste in your mouth. Lai lives up to all of the qualities that Ho and he carried on for way too many years. Lai's best master shot in the whole movie looks like a pond at a golf course where the villians have their table set up. I guess they sit and conduct business all day. If this film company and the Sho Kosugi stuff never happened, it would have made the genre would be a whole lot better. All of these films of course led people to believe they could make money doing Z-grade movies. It worked all too often obviously as there are hundreds of martial arts movies out there of this quality.

The movie starts out with a kid spying on an old kung fu master. Maybe it is the dubbing that causes the movie to make no sense but this thing made absolutely no sense AT ALL. This movie is really weird because it is set in modern times. I am guessing they did this to save a few hundred dollars on travelling to make the movie for under a grand. The people just mostly walk around and do nothing. They get in fights sometimes but the director isn't trying to give you a story at all. It is like he wants you to try and fgure it out except there is really nothing to figure out. Seriously, nothing really happens and nothing makes sense. The action overall is far below average but the movie has some corny fun in it. An unwatchable movie that bad movie fans may find a classic. I have never really understood those people cause movies seriously don't get any worse than this. 0.5/5

The picture is full screened and just about as bad as you can find. The dubbing is from probably the best old school guy ever but he just can't help this one out. I think it was the same 2 guys that did all of the voices on this. Just an awful movie all around and one of the worst hack jobs ever.

Average customer rating:

Not too shabby.
Best of Don "The Dragon's" flicks

Bloodfist 8 - Hard Way Out
Starring: Don 'The Dragon' Wilson , John Patrick White , Jillian McWhirter , Warren Burton , and Donnie Hair
Director: Rick Jacobson
Manufacturer: New Concorde
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: B00005B1ZV
Release Date: 2001-06-19

Customer Reviews:

Not too shabby........2004-12-19

For a low budget direct-to-video action flick, this doesn't come off to bad. It stars real like Kickboxing champion Don "The Dragon" Wilson as an ex-CIA agent who's past back to haunt him when he and his son are targeted for murder. Some decent plot twists and Don's sub par acting is still likeable. I was actually surprised to see this film retitled as part of the Bloodfist series as I originally saw it on video as just Hard Way Out. That's ok that it was retitled Bloodfist VIII: Hard Way Out as it makes my Bloodfist collection that much longer.

Best of Don "The Dragon's" flicks.......1999-02-20

This is the best (admitedly that's not saying much) of überawful Don "the Dragon" Wilson's chop socky flicks, redeemed by good writing and a story that holds your interest. Some good martial arts action, as well. If you want to turn off your brain for an evening, this is a good call.

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