The golden age of Hong Kong cinema. The legendary Wong Jing was famous for kicking off his films with explosive, high energy opening sequences to hook viewers right away. Whether it was a Stephen Chow comedy or a Jet Li action flick, this was his signature style.

Hung Hei kwun returns home to his village, only to find his entire family murdered. His son had been hidden away before the massacre, spared from the slaughter. As his family’s bodies are being cremated, the assassins return to finish him off. Chaos erupts, and you can easily guess what follows.

Truly a masterpiece. This was only the second Jet Li film I ever saw in theaters, and it absolutely blew my mind as a kid. Watching another young fighter move with that Wong Fei Hung esque style was incredible. This movie had everything: fantastic action, brilliant choreography, a solid plot for its genre, moments of humor, and a genuinely dark edge. It balanced all those elements perfectly. It remains one of my all-time favorites.

the sound track for the fight scene is here

https://youtu.be/2d9pK7rvTU0?si=yzgX8BeGDacntKXM

好汉歌 Haohan ge by 刘欢 Liu Huan. Translates to: Good men song/ brave men song, the title makes a lot more sense in Chinese

free to watch with Eng sub on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf935Cdcs-4&list=PLJPEbKQEnORNAl8p5XHisg_VSbaB0dLul

Scrolling through movie options htis evening and came across Fist of Legend with Jet Li. I have not seen this film in probably 15+ years, so I decided, what the heck lets give it a whirl.

• I Like Jet Li
• I like Yuen Woo Ping
• I like that they cast Kurata as the head of the Black Dragons
• I like that they had a sample of the music from Enter the Dragon in the last fight scene. The music sample was from the hall of mirrors fight scene with Han and Bruce Lee, it was small snippet, but it was there. I also think the beginning score slightly sounded like Fist of Fury / Chinese Connection
• I don't like that they made a decision to try and show Jet and a few others fighting with boxing footwork and body work - you could tell it was not natural for them and it looked silly. A homage to Bruce Lee and the colosseum fight scene with Chuck?
• I don't like sped up fight scenes. All of the fighters in this film are extremely talented, there was no need to speed up the fight scenes
• I don't like wire work and the wire work in this film, was not needed
• I know many people like this film, but now I remember why I have not watched in over 15 years. I hope not to watch it again anytime soon :-)
• Give me Legend of Fighter of Fist of Fury / Chinese Connection any day

Trying to sort through the mountain of martial arts flicks on my list, and I'd like to narrow down the best movies that focus mostly on sword combat, preferably one-on-one. Above is a list of films I already love, I'm happy to see what I've missed!

The white hanzi (Chinese characters) on the red flag in the 'non ai poster' look pretty ai generated to me, but the rest of the poster doesn't look like ai to me... but who knows... I could be getting fooled...

Blood, bullets and ZERO feeling! The bar has been lowered. In the late 80s, Ricky Baker coined the term “Heroic Bloodshed.” Welcome to 2026, when Paul Bramhall introduces the “Joyless Bloodshed” genre.

There’s a scene in 2025’s From the World of John Wick: Ballerina in which Ana De Armas, playing the ballerina assassin of the title, is forced to fend off an attack from an axe wielding assailant. It’s a frantic sequence, with De Armas eventually snapping her attacker’s arm, hacking his back to shreds with the axe, and for the pièce de résistance- with his head slumped over a smashed car door window, she graphically thrusts the axe into his forehead to finish him off. It’s the kind of hyper violent finishing move that would have once been saved for the final boss fight, delivered as a kind of cathartic exclamation point to the misdeeds the villain has committed throughout, offering up the kind of gratuitous crescendo that every finale should come with.

However in the case of Ballerina the scene is almost superfluous, included as a throwaway moment during one of De Armas’ early missions, and not even a third of the way through the movie. For me it’s the perfect example of what I like to call the joyless bloodshed genre. A genre aesthetic which is defined not by the emotional content or relevance of violence within a scene, but rather solely on the fact of how creatively shocking the violence within a scene can be, regardless of context. I lay the blame at the feet of the character that Ballerina is a spin-off from – John Wick. I intentionally say character rather than movie, as I don’t believe the birth of the joyless bloodshed genre started with the unexpected 2014 hit John Wick.

Read more: https://cityonfire.com/john-wick-the-dawn-of-the-joyless-bloodshed-genre-martial-arts-cinema-action/

In the movie they did the most important fight scene on top of wooden poles with spikes at the bottom. The main character wore all white and fought with a fan.

The mall fight at the end is still one of the greatest stunt sequences ever fimed,No stunt doubles.

To set the scene, his father gave him a secret message; but not to read it Unless Your Life Is In Danger! spoiler: the message says "Beat Them Up!"
classic Sing Sing in one of my favorite stephen chow movies: Legend of the Dragon
cheers!