Torgo Tours Hong Kong While Dodging Bullets

I might have to pick that up myself. Looks like it's on Audible as well.
My next movie is probably not in it, though...

The Super Inframan -



Thanks to Captain Terror for putting this movie on my radar in the "A thread for campy or intentionally bad films." To my surprise, it's a Shaw Brothers movie!

It's about time I watched another throwback and another Shaw Brothers movie even though I just finished one. I went with this part Kaiju, part superhero movie in which the titular hero - a creation of resourceful professor and loving family man Liu Ying-Te - defends his science headquarters from an evil queen and her rubber-suited demon minions who are wreaking havoc to the entire planet (and who likely inspired the villains in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers). Speaking of inspiration, you won't see anything you haven't seen before if you're an aficionado of Godzilla, Ultraman or the many other properties from which it cribs. Even so, from its adorably chintzy special effects to its combat scenes to its humor both intentional and unintentional, you are bound to have a fun, silly time.

With the possible exception of a scene on a boat (see below), I appreciate that the movie is played completely straight. I like self-referential comedy as much as the next guy or gal, but after being inundated with it this century, it's a breath of fresh air to have my own reaction to the movie's sillier moments rather than have it do this for me. One aspect of movies and TV series like this one that doesn't make me their biggest fan is that when the hero transforms, the battle becomes one-sided. That's not the case here because Super Inframan is very much a novice to his abilities and thus not totally invulnerable. Again, the special effects are dated and obviously done on the cheap, but that doesn't mean they are not clever. The scene with a giant rubber tentacle monster wreaking havoc to the command center and the one where the professor infuses our hero, Rayma, with the Super Inframan technology define doing more with less. As for the good stuff, i.e. combat scenes, they maintain the Shaw Brothers reputation without forgetting that the bad guys are monsters and not humans. My favorites fights are one against a bouncy robot who is impossible to knock down and one with a lizard that Super Inframan doesn't learn until after many attempts that it can regrow its head!



Like I said, I'm no kaiju expert - most of what I've seen are the MST3K parodies of the Gamera movies and a handful of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers episodes - so if a lot of this seemed familiar to me, it's probably even more old hat to someone who has all of Godzilla's villains memorized. I also never got a firm grasp on the extent of Super Inframan’s abilities. It's as if the movie was making them up as it went along. The movie still delivers the excitement and silliness I expect from its genre, and with the quality standards I've already come to expect from the Shaw Brothers, a little bit more.

My guy (or gal): Super Inframan? Nope, I'm giving it to this skeleton minion, who speaking of MST3K resembles one of the Skeleton Crew from the Netflix series. In a blink and you'll miss it moment, he lends a hand to the captured professor so that he gets off a boat safely as if the actor moonlights for Carnival Cruise Line.

The rampant xenophobia in this thread is disgusting. Harmfully portraying Hong Kong as a land overrun with violence, deadly weapons, flying baby demons, skeleton minions, and all sorts of other criminals and monsters. Between COVID and Torgo, I'm not sure Hong Kong's tourism industry will ever recover.

Of the films you've reviewed so far, I've only seen The Big Boss, Riki-Oh and Eight Diagram Pole Fighter. Riki-Oh, with its cartoonish ultraviolence, is easily my favorite. I think Enter the Dragon is the only good Bruce Lee film. He has all the charisma and physical ability, but his films contain too much dead air. I shouldn't be bored for such long stretches during a martial-arts movie. I owe Eight Diagram another viewing. I liked it, but I don't share the majority's opinion that it's one of the best from the Shaw Brothers. My tepid reaction was likely caused by Shaw Brothers burnout, however, as I watched it near the tail-end of a weeks-long obsession with the studio after first seeing and falling in love with The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. Robert Rodriguez's El Rey Network used to marathon Shaw Brothers films all weekend, and I'd fill up my DVR with them.

The others you've reviewed sound very fun. As a Power Rangers fan growing up, I'm particularly interested in Super Inframan. Eastern Condors and A Chinese Ghost Story were already on my radar. I'm enjoying the write-ups.

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Here's a comprehensive Letterboxd list of their martial-arts films that you can sort based on popularity or average rating to help cherry pick titles. A few personal recs that Rock didn't mention in his post:

The Avenging Eagle
The One-Armed Swordsman
The New One-Armed Swordsman
Treasure Hunters
Come Drink with Me
The Five Venoms
Five Element Ninjas.

LOL, well, tourists would consider those endorsements if they knew what was good for them! Except for COVID, of course.

Glad you're enjoying it! I've heard good things about 36th Chamber, which I hope to get to eventually.

There will be more entries next week, including some from a guy who has been conspicuously absent from the thread so far.



No, not him.

There's a moment I love when the crab-man (or is he a spider?) grows to giant size. It appears to be happening in-camera, and my theory is that it's a combination of time-lapse and forced perspective. (happens at 30 seconds, and Infra-Man grows at 1:15) Maybe MKS can enlighten us. But yeah, it's an example of an effect that's simple and cheap, but looks cool anyway.



And my MVP is She-Demon.

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Captain's Log
My Collection

I really loved Come Drink With Me and The Five Venoms.

Five Element Ninjas is everything.

The Prisoner a.k.a. Island of Fire -



This is lesser Jackie - less Jackie, in fact since he only has a few scenes - but he does enough of what he's famous for that you'll get your fix. It's primarily a Bad Boys-like prison drama - it even cribs a moment from it - and three other members of the Hong Kong action movie Hall of Fame are inmates. Jackie's in the clink for a crime severe enough to convince Andy Lau's gangster to pretend to be a prisoner so he can seek revenge against him. There's also Sammo Hung's serial failed escapee - think Steve McQueen in The Great Escape, whom the movie mentions - but our hero is Tony Leung's undercover cop, who's unraveling an, umm...pretty cockamamie scheme I'll discuss later.

Besides Sammo's escape attempts, all the other trademarks, clichés, what have you of prison movies are here like being sent to "the hole," crafting shivs, outdoor work assignments, unsanctioned boxing matches, etc. They're all done well enough, and Jackie and Andy's confrontation is thrilling. Even so, what kept me watching, of all things, are the many hilarious and quotable lines. I was surprised that sites like IMDB have no quotes listed for this movie considering it has gems like "you’re the kind of guy that can fart, but doesn’t have the shit to back it up," and another one involving not needing to use a jack to change a tire, if you know what I mean (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) when a prisoner on a work assignment assists a comely woman with car trouble.



As for what the drama builds up to, despite Leung's cop's investigation being its driving force and the movie hinting at something big, it will make you check your drink. In short, The resulting finale may have action worthy of Predator, but it's as if it belongs in another movie and the way the stars could have aligned to make it happen is the kind of stuff lengthy YouTube analysis videos are made of. There is a two-hour cut of this movie that only came out in Taiwan that could fill in the gaps. Regardless, if you're in the mood for a prison or Jackie Chan flick, put this in the middle of your respective watchlists. On the other hand, if you want to star in your own "WTF?" GIF and want a natural such reaction, move it to the top.

My guy (or gal): I was tempted to give it to Jackie Chan's glorious lampshade mullet hairstyle, but it's Charlie (Tsung-Hua Tou, right), the nicest guy in the movie - so much so that he must have been wrongfully convicted - who Tony Leung befriends. Even though he's not much of a fighter, he's the best, most loyal cellmate you could hope for.

I understand that Jackie's appearance was to repay Jimmy Wang Yu for helping him get out of a shitty contract with Lo Wei (who was backed by the triad) earlier in his career. But...Jackie already paid him back with (the much more entertaining) Fantasy Mission Force, and Jimmy was apparently chummy with the mob himself and somehow all these other stars were persuaded to appear in this movie as well... so I'll let you draw your own conclusions.


Anyway, I liked the action scenes and the bits with Jackie, but found the movie pretty dull on the whole.

It is the kind of role - for a star like Jackie anyway - that comes across like he owes a debt to somebody. It's also the kind of movie that makes you understand why it's free to watch on every streaming site on the internet.
What you like are the best parts. I like the prison drama a little more than you do, although it may be due their comfort-food like familiarity since I've seen similar ones in so many other prison movies.

Fun facts: The Tony Leung in this is Tony Leung Ka-fai, not Tony Leung Chiu-wai. To add to the confusion, his character's name is Andy Lau!

Police Story 3: Super Cop -



This is another fun entry in the Police Story series. In this one, Jackie Chan teams up with Michelle Yeoh's Red Chinese policewoman, Jessica Yang, on an undercover mission to convict a drug lord. Like its predecessors, this entry also demonstrates the singular appeal of action scenes set in real locations and that feature performers doing their own stunts. Some of my favorite action movies feature sets, stuntpeople and/or CGI, but watching Jackie Chan hang on for dear life to a ladder attached to a helicopter that's swooping through Kuala Lumpur gave me a sensation akin to riding a bicycle without training wheels for the first time that such movies rarely provide.



While Chan brings the excitement and laughs like he always does, this is also very much Yeoh's movie. Her screen presence and martial arts prowess is on par with Jackie's, thus making their partnership a pleasantly balanced one. Maggie Cheung is back as Chan's girlfriend, and while she's not in this movie as much as she is in Police Story, she makes her role more significant than its description suggests. With all that said, it's not a game-changer like the first movie. Even though it spends enough time establishing the premise, the characters, their relationships, etc. and it doesn't just use the still-contentious relationship between Hong Kong and mainland China as a gimmick, the whole thing still seems a bit fluffy. Even so, the movie adds strength to the argument that this series features Chan's best work.

My guy (or gal): Jessica Yang, who like I said makes the movie come close to being a Michelle Yeoh movie. In fact, there is a direct sequel to this movie that stars her character, which isn't available for VOD or streaming, unfortunately.

The Avenging Eagle -



My love for The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter made me want to check out another movie starring the late Fu Sheng. Who is he in this one? I can't tell you for fear of spoiling it, so I'll just describe him like he describes himself: a bum. He befriends another welcome sight, A Better Tomorrow’s Lung Ti's Chik Ming Sing, who's on a revenge mission against gang leader Yo Xi-Hung (Feng Ku, below), who has employed him since he was a child. A man who has mastered a possibly even cooler weapon than the pole, the three-section staff, Chik Ming Sing experienced what it's like to be human for the first time only to have our villain take it all away from him.



This movie has all the appeals of Shaw Brothers productions that have made me an instant fan. The aesthetics are gorgeous, especially because of the vibrant colors and costumes, but the camerawork is the MVP in this regard. The way it presents Yo Xi-Hung's headquarters made me wish the camera had lingered a bit more and there's an establishing shot of a small town that like the famous mirror shot in Contact made me wonder how they pulled it off (and if there's a GIF of it). Also, for a genre movie, I have stronger emotional bonds with the leads than I've had with several so-called prestige movies. This may be an indirect compliment to the simplicity and elegance of the story as well as its flashback structure, but I cared about Chik Ming Sing's quest for justice, discovering just who Lung Ti's character is and why he wants to help first and when they'll get to the fireworks factory second, if you will. While the latter is important, too much entertainment like this prioritizes it over the former. The combat scenes are very good, but despite the cool weapons, there aren't any that stand out so much that I'd want to watch them again by themselves like Pole Fighter's grand finale. With that said, I've likely seen dozens of action movies centered around revenge and redemption, so there must be something special about this one since it provides even more to think about for these themes.

My guy (or gal): Fu Sheng's character, but I shouldn't say why because you're better off finding out for yourself.

Jackie Chan's First Strike -



In the fourth entry of one of cinema's most reliably entertaining action franchises, the Police Story series, Inspector Chan Ka Kui's (Jackie Chan) assignment is to track down nuclear weapon smugglers. A heartbeat away from being a James Bond movie, Jackie's mission takes him to Ukraine, Russia and Australia and has action set pieces ranging from a snowboard chase to a fight in an aquarium tank. Despite the larger scale, it has everything you know and love about this franchise and Jackie Chan like death-defying stunts, fights with household objects like brooms and ladders and hilarious slapstick including one scene where you see more of Jackie than ever before.

I watched the 84-minute New Line edit which pares down the exposition, character development; in short, everything linking the action scenes. If this edit were a baked good, it would be a cake with a lot of frosting, but there's just enough cake to not make it inedible. Proving that bigger is not necessarily better, the movie does not reach the heights of the series' classic first entry. Even so, it maintains the series’ reputation, and most importantly, I had a blast.

My guy (or gal): Chan Ka Kui. Jackie's name precedes the title for a reason.

I just spent several days watching NOTHING but Hong Kong films. Feels good man.

Those must have been good days! I could easily watch nothing but movies from Hong Kong from here on out.

My next one is a fried bit of tastiness that I hope gets thumbs up all around.
(Hint, hint).

*throws plate of fried rice on the floor*

I know right?! Hong Kong films kinda make watching "entertaining" films from other countries pointless. Don't get me wrong, I love me some Giallo & Poliziotteschi, American goodies like Assault on Precinct 13 and Japanese Yakuza & Pinky Violence & Sonny Chiba flicks. But after watching a film from HK, I'm so satisfied, I don't really want to watch anything else!

Help! I'm addicted to Hong Kong! I even got used to the terrible kind of humor to the point where nothing else makes me laugh as hard! The unbelievable number of super beautiful ladies definitely helps, too. Like, some films have two or three of them at once! It's so hard to put an American film afterward. Like, Sharon Stone? Bitch please, I just watched three films in a row with Chingmy Yau, Li Gong, Maggie Cheung, and Joey Wong. Oh wait, I forgot about Sandra Ng!

The other day I watched 6 Hong Kong films in a day, and Sandra Ng starred in three of them! But that's a different topic! She always plays these goofy, "ugly" women characters that allegedly are so ugly that no man would want them. The thing is... she's fairly attractive! Of course, when juxtaposed to Maggie Cheung, Brigitte Lin, or Chingmy Yau, she can just as well be seen as ugly, but then again, which woman wouldn't?!
Don't say another word!
Did you just reference this?



You're awesome!

A Better Tomorrow 2 -



Why did I watch part two instead of part one? Umm, well...it's bloodier, that's why! Perhaps the bloodiest movie in this thread so far, it has the brothers on the opposite sides of the law from part one, police officer Kit (Leslie Cheung) and gangster Ho (Ti Lung), investigating and later assisting Lung (Dean Shek), a most unlucky counterfeiter and shipping magnate. Not only does his partner betray him and encourage much worse bad guys to take over his operations, but Lung also loses almost everyone close to him. However, he's not totally hopeless because in addition to the brothers coming to his rescue, his nephew is gangster turned rice-loving restaurateur Ken (Chow Yun-Fat, back by popular demand).

This movie is likely famous for its eyebrow-raising scenes (which I'll discuss later) and its over the top violence above all else - well, that and appearing in True Romance - but it's just as well known for its troubled production. Besides stunt mishaps that caused broken limbs and one that almost engulfed Chow Yun-Fat in flames, director John Woo and producer Tsui Hark had opposing ideas about the story, so much so that they hired a third party to make a proper edit before the scheduled release date lapsed. I approve of the end result, so much so that I think it’s on par with the best of Woo's movies from this era. I have no trouble following the story, and what messiness results from Woo and Hark's contention adds grit and memorability. Also - and most importantly - the snafu did not dilute Woo's talent for directing action. He knows how and when to use slow motion as well as the appeal of one-man armies, the highlights being Ken taking out hordes of gangsters who ambush him at a hotel and of course the blood-soaked mansion finale. If there's a scene as bloody as that one in any action movie period, I'd like to see it. As for Woo's flair for melodrama, the results are, well, different. There's the notorious "rice" scene, in which Chow Yun-Fat acts out every emotion as if he's going through the seven stages of grief over all the spilled rice on his restaurant floor, and all the while, you can't help but think "this is still going on?" as every minute ticks by. Nonetheless, the bigger oddity may be the "orange" scene. In it, Ken and his traumatized Uncle Lung celebrate the latter's desire to eat again by sharing oranges while practically writhing in ecstasy. Having said all of this, am I complaining these scenes or praising them? I'm not sure. All I know is that I wouldn't change anything about them.



Like I said, the action is over the top, so much so that it strains credulity at times. Our four heroes take so many bullets and survive that Daffy Duck would be jealous. Speaking of cartoons, as thrilling as the action may be, that one person can take out dozens of equally armed to the teeth gangsters and survive made me feel like I was watching a cartoon at times. With that said, flaws and all, I still think it's one of Woo's best, and it has all of the qualities from its stunts to its charismatic performers to its machismo that made me love this sub-genre. Oh, and if you love city settings as much as I do, the footage of Hong Kong and New York is a joy to take in.

My guy (or gal): Ken. He's just as cool while strafing dozens of bad guys as he is cooking fried rice.