Hey Ho, lets Go Ippo

After China and Korea, it's time for an expedition into the third powerhouse of entertainment export in the region - Japan. Home of some of the wildest and weirdest entertainment, japan is also very important for the history of martial arts in the 19th and 20th century (something i will get to in a later post).
While Japan has many homegrown martial arts styles, the show that is in the spotlight today is focused on boxing - so not that much of a cultural barricade (besides the one between Boxers and normal humans).

Hajime no Ippo (aka The Fighting or Lets go Ippo)

("It's the eye of the tiger, it's ..." )

The show centers around a boxing gym and Ippo, the protagonist that you just have to love. Instead of a silly "i want to get stronger" stereotype or something like that, Ippo mostly starts boxing because he's curious. 

Just like our hero, the rest of the cast is well fleshed out and one of the big strengths of the show is the constant joking, bickering and pushing of the guys in the gym. Anyone who has ever trained in a good gym will immediatly recognize the atmosphere and it makes the show at least partially a comedy.

(Charme personified)

The other great strength are the fights themselves. Most fights get a buildup, but never too long. The fights themselves are designed almost like thrillers or chess matches, with strategies, sudden reservals of fortune and a great eye for what makes a fight interesting (This is probably where Naruto copied some of its more well-written fights).

(What also makes the show great)

This anime is also absolutly great when you don't watch sports anime because it works like an excellent action (or shounen) anime. The animation is ok at first and gets better and they also invested the largest amount of the budget into the action scenes.

The Return of the Bat-Zhen

Legend of the Fist: The return of Chen Zhen 

This is the latest movie with our undying hero. This time, Donnie Yen (who already played him in a TV Show in 1994) is playing the punch-dispenser, but this one is not just a loose remake. Instead, it is a kind of alternate take/ reboot / sequel to the original that is actually more inspired by Batman or Iron Monkey.

(The chinese Bruce Wayne)

Our Hero has fought in Europe before returning home and picking up a double persona as a playboy (the Bruce Wayne part) and Kato (Batman as a Chauffeur).

(This isn't the early 90s? What am i doing here then?)

While the story is overambitious, the cinematography, sets and costumes are excellent. Overall, one gets the impression that someone mashed two scripts together, one a sequel to fists of fury and the other a Hong Kong version of a comic book movie. 

The really interesting thing is the fighting, of course. Donnie Yen is using his individual style instead of trying to do a Bruce Lee impression (aside from a few Nunchuk scenes), which means things like chain punches (á la Ip Man) which is kinda fitting considering that Wing Chun got famous as the basis of Bruce Lees fighting style.

(Chain Fisting ... that came out wrong)

There are even the occasional high speed grapplings, a specialty of Yen that very few other action movies have managed to integrate convincingly into their fights. 

(Grappling in movies done right)

One weird thing that has to be mentioned are the scenes in which our hero moves super fast and runs in curves while leaning extremly to the side with the help of wires, almost like a motorbike. This is probably supposed to add to the superhero flair, but instead it makes the hero feel even more invincible, which takes the stakes out of the fights. 

Not a terrible movie, but attaching the Chen Zhen name to it actually holds the movie back a bit and forces it to pay homage to the old movie that doesn't match the rest.

More legendary fists

Fist of Legend

Fist of fury is considered a classic, so it's no wonder that it got remade. Jet Li picks up the mantle of Chen Zhen in a remake that is actually much better in many respects. Aside from an unbelievably boring poster (The movie is called fist of legend? Lets put the fist front and center of the poster! What about the legend part? Just add some glowy text effect in the background. Thats it!)

(pure genius)

The tweaks to the story are surprisingly well thought out. Chen Zhen is actually studying in Japan and in love with a japanese girl. This might be one of the few cases where 90s political correctness actually improved a movie. You can see that they made an effort to be more nuanced and not have a scene by scene copy of the original. Not all japanese are bad guys and the villain, while still being over the top, is actually menacing.

(notice the lack of swirlable moustache)

The real upgrade is the fighting. While Let Li is known for wire-fu (think Once upon a time in China), most of the fight cheoreography in fist of legends is much more down to earth. The speed is pretty high and the stunt men actually know what they do. There is still a lot of tough guy posing, but Jet Li doesn't go as overboard as in the original. There is still a lot of one-vs-many fights with people flying through rooms after a simple hit, but the real highlights are the long and brutal one on one fights. The cinematography isn't as good as some Jackie Chan films, but the editing and the very controlled use of slow motion is top notch. 

Fists of Legend .. so many fists ..and legends

To start off with my little project, I wanted to pick something that encapsules everything i plan to do with this blog. Therefore, i had to find out what i want to do (kinda d'ouh ). So here it is:

1. Introduce movies / shows / books / games that are special/interesting/terrible but awesome but not that widely known. 
2. Review / Riff / both them at the same time 
3. Talk about completely unrelated stuff

Today i wanted to talk a bit about the movies that could be counted as part of the "Chen Zhen Chronicles", the character played by Bruce Lee in Fists of Fury (aka The Chinese Connection).

The first post is immediatly breaking the rules i set up for myself (great way to go buddy) by including one of the most prolific films in martial arts movie history. 

Fist of Fury (aka Chinese Connection) 1972

Bruce Lee is always treated with an insane amount of reverence both as a martial artist as well as a movie star. While movie fighting and real fighting are different worlds, they are also closely linked (something i will try to write about in a future post).

The story (japanese overlords secretly poison master, make fun of school, Bruce/Chen bullies back) is simple and sounds like any other standard kung fu movie plot. Whats strange about it is the amount of ham & cheese, the characters look like cartoon characters and act accordingly. 

(Some of the less silly looking bad guys)

While the bad guys are moustachio-twirling evil guys (in fact a lot of them have one), the "hero" comes off as a bit of an asshole. While the bad guys act like cartoon characters and seem just as capable in terms of violence, Bruce Lee comes off as really threatening and much more serious than his enemies. 

(Guess who the villain is)

The fight choreography is not that great, although the camera work is inspired in some sequences. While the fights have an cinematic intensity that stems from the almost western-like standoffs that are typical for Bruce Lee, the butt-kicking itself is marred by the obvious big ego of the star who wants to look good and cool in every scene and the absolutly terrible fighting abilities of the stunt men or actors that are the victims.

Even worse are the sequences with a russian wrestler in which bruce escapes a badly applied armbar by biting the leg. 

(Grappling in style)

Anyone who has any real grappling experience will tell you that when some idiot tries to bite you in that situation, you would surely stay on the hold, break his arm and maybe break his jaw from the same position. 

The movie is now legendary, but when rewatching it you realize just how bad most 70s movie fighting really was.