Project A II (1987)

Dragon vs Cops: 3.25/5


Dragon & Crew vs Thugs: 4.25/5


Dragon vs Tiger & henchman: 3.75/5


Pirates Chasing Dragon/Chung: 4/5


Finale: 4.25/5



What a great film. Recommended.

Police Story 3: Supercop (1992)

Chan vs Wang: 3.5/5


Chan vs Guards: 3.25/5


Restaurant Fight: 3.25/5


Train Fight: 3/5



The Police Story franchise gets gradually weaker over each installment. This is the third in the series, and it's still pretty damn great. Though there are no blow away fights like in the first 2, the fighting that it has is solid and the action scenes are larger in scale and scope.

This is the first film in the series Jackie didn't direct. It does have a different feel than the first 2. The other new thing about this one is that it has Michelle Yeoh. She's great and steals the movie at multiple points. She pulls off a stoic, badass yet not invulnerable female action star like we don't see much of anymore save for a Furiosa. She also plays off of Jackie's character very well.

Watching the outtakes in the credits is always great fun too. These stunts were no joke. Great action.

I dig this movie. Recommended.

Fist Of Legend (1994)

Chen vs Karate Students: 3/5


Ting vs Ngai: 3/5


Chen vs Dojo Students: 4/5


Chen vs Akugatawa: 3.5/5


Battle At Jingwu: 3.75/5


Chen vs Ting: 4.75/5


Chen vs Funakochi: 4.75/5


Ting vs Fujita: 3.75/5


Chen vs Fujita: 5/5



One of the greatest martial arts films ever made. Yuen Woo Ping, one of the best fight choreographers ever, was at the peak of his game here. This is not only his, but also Jet Li's magnum opus. The final fight is one of my favorite fights of all time, an easy 5 stars. I can't say enough good things about this masterpiece. Just go watch it.

HIGHLY Recommended.

Armor Of God (1986)

Jackie vs Natives: 1.75/5


Jackie vs Monks: 4.75/5


Jackie vs Assassins: 4/5




This is a great action film. Not in the upper echelon of Jackie's movies, but still great nonetheless. Jackie fighting the monks is one of the best group fights you'll ever see.

Recommended.

Drive (1997)

Opening Fight: 3/5


Bar Fight: 2.5/5


Handcuff Fight: 2.75/5


Motel Fight: 3.75/5


Garage Fight: 4/5


Toby/Malik vs Thugs/Bikers: 2.75/5


Toby vs Advanced Model: 4.5/5



What a great movie. Ok, so it's cheesy, the acting's not very good and it's not very well written. But it's still great.

Mark Dacascos' screen fighting was so good in this. The stunt work and choreography were both on point. Creative martial arts action sequences. And wire work that didn't annoy me.

The final fight feels so epic. It hits all of the cliche "final fight" beats but does it so well. This came out before The Matrix and while it's not in the same league as The Matrix as a film, as a martial arts movie it's quite comparable. Really good work there.

I dig this movie. Recommended.

Ip Man 2 (2010)

Ip Man vs Wong: 2.75/5


Ip Man vs 3 Dudes: 2.5/5


Wong vs Martial Artist: 2.75/5


Ip Man/Wong vs Gang: 3.25/5


Ip Man vs Law: 2.25/5


Ip Man vs Cheng: 3/5


Ip Man vs Hung: 4/5


Twister vs Hung: 3.75/5


Ip man vs Twister: 4.25/5



This is a great film. Ip Man is Donnie Yen's best role. Good fighting throughout, with 2 great fights that make the whole film worthwhile.

It's kind of hilarious how evil the foreigners act. This is a very "Ra Ra China!" movie. Though that's a fairly common trope among Chinese martial arts films, it was especially noticeable in this.

The final fight is so great. I really dig the music backing it. The choreography blending the styles together, Ip man overcoming the odds, using Sammo's moves...really well done. I'm also a huge fan of limb destruction in fight scenes, so Ip Man's comeback was especially cool to me.

As good as the first movie. Recommended.

Unlucky Stars (2016, or possibly earlier)

Josh vs Stan: 2.75/5


Church Fight: 4/5


Josh/Ken vs Muggers: 3/5


Tomas vs Thugs: 2.5/5


Josh/Ken vs Marty: 3.25/5


Rehab House Fight: 3.25/5


Josh vs Rich: 4/5


Ken vs Vic: 3.75/5


David vs Sam: 4/5


Josh/Ken vs Kyle: 3.5/5



I really dug this movie. It's as good an 80's Hong Kong tribute film as you'll find.

Let's start with the obvious. The fight choreography and execution are on point. The thing I love about these indy martial arts films is their clear devotion to making great fight scenes. Watching Dennis fight Manny is a dream fight for me. They're two of my favorite active screen fighters. I believe this is their first screen battle. And it's my favorite fight in the movie (Josh vs Rich, as scored above).

Fighting aside, this is a very enjoyable movie. Dennis and Ken's chemistry is great. I really liked Vlad as the noble overlooked stuntman. It's such a perfect hero for this type of film. I loved how Dennis, Ken and Vlad were clearly set up as the modern Jackie, Yuen Biao and Sammo Hung. Sari Sabella and Steve Yuen are quite funny. Jose Montesinos carries a lot of the emotional weight of the film. Sam Hargrave kills it as the villain. He's probably the most charismatic performance.

I do wish Shawn Bernal was in this more. He's awesome.

There's a lot of commentary going on in this movie about the entertainment industry. And how it's a bunch of malarkey. As someone in the business myself, I relate and find it awesome.

I remember Vlad talking about how the finale was where this movie was going to shine. It certainly did peak there, which is when a martial arts movie should. It was very reminiscent of the old 3 Dragon films where they would each have to take on a different bad guy. I dug that.

Now to some minor qualms I have with the movie. I don't think there are any Fight Of The Year contenders. Every fight in this movie is good (not counting the fight scenes in the movies within the movie, which I didn't grade) to great. But there's nothing I would call excellent. Now...excellent fights are hard to find. So I'm not bashing this movie at all, clearly. I think it just goes to show how hard it is to make an enduring classic fight scene. Dennis vs Manny comes the closest but I wish it had been longer.

Maybe part of my disappointment is me looking forward to watching this movie for 4 years. And maybe part of my disappointment is just that it's not Contour, which is the best indy martial arts film ever. Sure, this is a more complete and mature film than Contour, but the action never peaks as high as Contour does. That being said, Unlucky Stars has got to be my 2nd favorite indy martial arts film of all time.

There were also a couple of editing instances I didn't like. Hollywood style editing on hits rather than Hong Kong style. Again, this happens maybe 3 times in the entire film, so these are minor complaints.

I really liked how they built to the fights at the end. Manny and Roy's characters wanted a piece of Dennis and Ken from early on and you could tell. Really made it satisfying to see them throw down later.

The finale is also edited really well. The transitions between the showdowns are great. As far as martial arts film finales go you probably won't see a better one this year.

This is my favorite martial arts film since The Raid 2. Highly recommended.

Chinese Zodiac a.k.a. CZ12 a.k.a. Armor of God 3 (2012)

Dock fight: 1.75/5


Team JC vs Pirates: 2.25/5


JC vs Vulture: 4.25/5


JC vs henchmen: 3.75/5


Katie vs Bonnie: 3/5



This is not the best Jackie Chan movie ever. It's not even in the top 30, probably. It does have its fun moments, though. It's better than most of the Hollywood stuff he's done. And at least it's a true Jackie Chan Hong Kong film. So for that alone, I enjoyed it.

There isn't a whole lot of fighting in the first 75% of it. The fighting at the tail end of the movie is great though, and is true Jackie Chan creative and at times comedic choreography. There's also a fight between two female characters that is pretty cool. This 15 minute chunk is by far the highlight of the film. Many other plot points and action sequences just don't click and the comedy is very hit or miss.

Mildly Recommended. VERY Mildly.