Board 8 > Gauntlet Crew Ranks Martial Arts Movies - "Don't think! Feeeel!"

(+) Yeah! (+)

22. Rush Hour - 146 points

Wickle - 2
Inviso - 9
Johnbobb - 17
Karo - 20
scarlet - 30
Snake - 30
JONA - 38

Wickle - I still love this movie, no matter how annoying Carter is, it still is balanced with Lee meshing well with him and just the mixture of the two cultures. I also mention blooper stuff in another movie, and this one has the hilarious nature where you know how much shit Chris Tucker was giving Jackie Chan during the making of the movie as he starts giving him shit for screwing up Chinese at the very end. Also speaking of the end, that ending was the best where hes just like ah shit not this again since Lee was singing War. And more, the fight in the museum always is so fun, with Lee and the pottery, as well as Carter vs the villain dude.

Inviso - I know it probably has no business ranking this high, but dammit if Rush Hour isnt one of those movies Id actively sit through and enjoy again and again and again. Im able to tolerate Chris Tuckers motor mouth (and actively find his showboating comical), but Im sure that wont be a common opinion among our gauntlet crew. Just bringing a Hong Kong actor like Jackie Chan to America is almost guaranteed to be good, because its right in his wheelhouse. Fish out of water that dont want no trouble. Paired up with a fast-talking comic relief character who will help him with his shenanigans. Its great. Plus, Jackie gets to kick bleach-blonde JONAs ass multiple times before Chris Tucker gets his licks in, AND the movie features a little girl talking shit to her captors. Now granted, Im a little biased because I actually love Rush Hour 2 even MORE than this, so it gets points docked for that. But still, I love the film.

Johnbobb - Still stand by the rule that any Jackie Chan is good Jackie Chan. This is probably the only movie on this list where I have nostalgia working toward it, as I have really fond memories of seeing the whole Rush Hour series with my dad as a kid. Chris Tucker is alright (kind of a racist dick at the beginning) but he has surprisingly good chemistry with Chan, whos always just a blast on screen. The story itself isnt particularly impressive, but it remains one of my favorite buddy cop movies despite its weaknesses.

Karo - Jackie Chan has to solve a kidnapping case with the help of a reject american police detective whose main goals in life are joining the FBI, and being an embarrassment to his race.
This unlikely duo somehow succeeds where trained federal agents cannot, despite one of them possibly being mentally r*****ed. Though it has its moments, maybe just a mite too much of the movie's humor is derived from racial stereotyping involving the all-minority main cast.

scarlet - If youre wondering how much Chris Tucker drags Jackie Chan down in a ranking, the answer is some. Brett Ratner does more. Of course, now Brett Ratner is more famous for his sexual misconduct, but there was in fact a time where we all hated him for just being a mediocre director.

Snake - Nothing too special, just a buddy flick with hit-or-miss jokes, overabundance of wise-cracks, and stunts, stunts, stunts. I will say Chan and Tucker have some decent chemistry though.

JONA - Nothing in this movie really ever goes beyond "ok." Action is ok, story is ok, Chris Rock Eddie Murphy Chris Tucker is really annoying, but I'll admit he does have a bit of chemistry with Jackie Chan. Fine martial arts movie for plebs.
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Aw damn. I actually had my whole top ten intact, too.
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Outlier Rankings

JONA - 176
Inviso - 165
scarlet - 149
Snake - 137
Wickle - 132
Karo - 131
Johnbobb - 79

The middle placements get changed up a bit.

Hint for 21.

Movie's original language is Mandarin and/or Cantonese.
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I'd have to individually check all of this, too much work for a minor thing.
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We need a guess, I'll put Ip Man out there.
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Gonna continue guessing Crouching Tiger.
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Gonna continue guessing Five Deadly Venoms
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21. Five Deadly Venoms - 144 points

Wickle - 5
Snake - 11
scarlet - 15
Inviso - 20
JONA - 28
Johnbobb - 30
Karo - 35

Wickle - Fairly developed characters make this regular plot and a mainly slow movie very enjoyable. And the plot twist of who the scorpion was actually really good, Id be interested in a second watch through just to see if there are any little keys to discover who it is. Found each of the poison clan enjoyable at their own points of the movie, centipede being the weakest link since for being the first student he was kinda just a follower of snake.

Snake - Intense as hell, with cat-and-mouse deceptions, and I enjoyed each of the Poison Clans fighting styles. Each one had an interesting character and personality too, I felt a connection that was lacking in other films here. Theres a few trash elements, like the sound effects, but it doesnt do much to diminish the film.

scarlet - A very good premise, especially since kung fu films have such familiar and repetitive narratives. The pacing gets a little slow at times, but it's always interesting. The fighting is fun, and the villains are deliciously ruthless.

Inviso - The kung-fu in this movie was no different than most of the movies Ive watched from the 70s thus far. Exaggerated sound effects, exaggerated blood effects, and lots of broken wood and walls. But what made this one stand out for me was the general atmosphere it created. Yeah, it was pretty obvious who everyone was, but it still impressed me how the movie kept up an air of mystery. We knew centipede JONA was working with snake JONA, but THEY didnt find the treasure despite committing the murder. We knew toad JONA and lizard JONA were the good guys who would look defeated until the last second. And we knew scorpion JONA was the second cop because he was the only other major character left. Just the twists and turns, no matter how blatantly telegraphed (plus the political intrigue of using the legal process to save centipede JONA and kill toad JONA) made this a very compelling film.

JONA - The characters and their different styles were all fun to watch and the movie had a good bit of intrigue but the pacing was a bit too slow for me.

Johnbobb - The opening scene is pretty great; I loved the breakdown of the fighting styles, and the visual style of the sequence worked well. The breakdown of the weaknesses of each style was similarly interesting. Some of the scenes were downright hard to watch; particularly the torture and murder scenes. The film almost seems like its more about legal maneuvering more than it is martial arts, but thats not a bad thing.

Karo - Theres these five disciples of the school of Stupid Looking Kung Fu and they spend the film killing each other over some hidden treasure or arguing in a courtroom and there's a sixth disciple who acts like an idiot and please Buddha make it stop nobody cares about ninja lawyers who wield platypus style or whatever the fuck. The greatest deadly venom of all is simply watching this movie.
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Outlier Rankings

JONA - 183
Inviso - 166
scarlet - 155
Wickle - 148
Snake - 147
Karo - 145
Johnbobb - 88

Wickle overpasses Snake in that tight middle.

Time for a recap.

21. Five Deadly Venoms
22. Rush Hour
23. The 36th Chamber of Shaolin
24. Once Upon a Time in China
25. Crippled Avengers
26. Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky
27. Big Trouble in Little China
28. Way of the Dragon
29. Come Drink With Me
30. The Forbidden Kingdom
31. Fist of Fury/The Chinese Connection
32. Bloodsport
33. The Big Boss/Fists of Fury
34. One Armed Swordsman
35. The Street Fighter
36. Master of the Flying Guillotine
37. Kung Pow! Enter the Fist
38. Game of Death
39. Executioners from Shaolin
40. Kickboxer

What's left:

Chocolate
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Drunken Master
Drunken Master II/The Legend of the Drunken Master
Enter the Dragon
Fearless
Hero
House of Flying Daggers
Ip Man
Kill Bill: Volume 1
Kill Bill: Volume 2
Kung Fu Hustle
Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior
Police Story
Rumble in the Bronx
SPL: Sha Po Lang/Kill Zone
The Karate Kid (1984)
The Raid 2
The Raid: Redemption
Tom-Yum-Goong/The Protector

Hint for 20.

A film that stars either Jackie Chan or Jet Li.
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... You fucking kidding me. Fucking garbage.
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1. ???
2. ???
3. ???
4. ???
5. ???
6. Rush Hour
7. Five Deadly Venoms
8. ???
9. ???
10. ???
11. The 36th Chamber of Shaolin
12. ???
13. ???
14. The Way of the Dragon
15. Forbidden Kingdom
16. ???
17. ???
18. Bloodsport
19. Kickboxer
20. The Street Fighter
21. Kung Pow! Enter the Fist
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1. ?
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?
5. ?
6. ?
7. ?
8. ?
9. ?
10. ?
11. ?
12. ?
13. Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky
14. ?
15. ?
16. ?
17. Rush Hour
18. ?
19. Come Drink with Me
20. ?
21. The Forbidden Kingdom
22. ?
23. ?
24. ?
25. Once Upon a Time in China
26. The 36th Chamber of Shaolin
27. Big Trouble in Little China
28. The Big Boss
29. One-Armed Swordsman
30. Five Deadly Venoms
31. Fist of Fury/The Chinese Connection
32. Way of the Dragon
33. Crippled Avengers
34. The Street Fighter
35. Bloodsport
36. Kickboxer
37. Game of Death
38. Executioners from Shaolin
39. Master of the Flying Guillotine
40. Kung Pow! Enter the Fist

going pretty well so far imo
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I'm gonna take a new guess and say Drunken Master
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I'm gonna guess Rumble in the Bronx.
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1. ???
2. ???
3. ???
4. ???
5. ???
6. ???
7. ???
8. ???
9. ???
10. ???
11. ???
12. Way of the Dragon
13. ???
14. ??
15. The Forbidden Kingdom
16. Once Upon a Time in China
17. ???
18. ???
19. The Big Boss
20. Rush Hour
21. ???
22. ???
23. The Chinese Connection
24. ???
25. Kickboxer
26. Bloodsport
27. ???
28. The 36th Chamber of Shaolin
29. Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky
30. Crippled Avengers
31. The One-Armed Swordsman
32. Come Drink with Me
33. ???
34. Executioners from Shaolin
35. Five Deadly Venoms
36. Game of Death
37. The Street Fighter
38. Master of the Flying Guillotine
39. Big Trouble in Little China
40. Kung Pow! Enter the Fist
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bump for ranking
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20. Rumble in the Bronx - 143 points

Karo - 11
Wickle - 11
Inviso - 18
Johnbobb - 18
JONA - 22
Snake - 29
scarlet - 34

Karo - Jackie Chan goes to the Bronx to attend a wedding, and in the process of helping defend the family business against thugs he gets tangled up with the mafia. It's a fairly standard Chan movie, he's sort of a straight-edge everyman who doesnt want any trouble and beats up bad guys in slightly comedic fight scenes. It's entertaining, but not especially noteworthy.

Wickle - Ah, I really do enjoy blooper reels in action films at the end of movies. Also pieces of this movie, was kinda generic and boring for most of it, but also had plenty of interesting pieces and some good fights.

Inviso - This movie, despite coming out in 1995, is SO fucking 80s its not even funny. The styles, the whole general attitude of the biker gangits fucking crazy. But yeah, old JONA is getting married and invites his nephew, Jackie Chan, to the wedding in America. Along the way, Jackie runs afoul of a street gang while defending the new owner of his uncles store, which in turn leads him to run afoul of an international crime syndicate that robbed diamonds from people. Youve got a lot of your Jackie Chan standards, like him having a heart of gold, being a damn hero, and fighting in cluttered locations that allow the use of, and interaction with, a fuckton of props and otherwise breakable materials. Its almost TOO MUCH. Particularly the hovercraft chase which seems like it couldve been diffused far more easily than it was. Thats why I rank it lower than a similar movie in Police Story, for example.

Johnbobb - Man, what was their plan here? They dont want any witnesses, so they start the biggest and most noticeable police chase ever? The bad guys in here were just absurdly sloppy, which made them a LITTLE hard to take seriously (even after woodchipping a guy). Really though, in any Jackie Chan movie, 90% of the appeal comes from Chan himself. Honestly, its kind of surprising this is a Hong Kong movie; everything about it feels American (in good ways and bad).

JONA - Just a fun Jackie Chan flick. Solid fights from Jackie and stunts and some decent comedy (that poor store) make up for underwhelming plot and characters, that can be enjoyably bad at times, though. My biggest problem with the movie is that this setting is definitely not the Bronx.

Snake - Once again, Chan shows his committance to practical stunts and having real broken bones and bruises to show at the end of it all. Unfortunately, Rumble is a bit clich in most departments and some of the scenes were unintentionally funny. Its not the worst ever, but I almost feel like Chan wasted the real stunts here.

scarlet - I dont know if I was just in the wrong frame of mind for this film or I ate a bad burrito or what, but Rumble just did nothing for me.
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Outlier Rankings

JONA - 185
scarlet - 169
Inviso - 168
Wickle - 157
Snake - 156
Karo - 154
Johnbobb - 90

scarlet manages to overtake 2nd.

Hint for 19.

Time for a controversial placement.
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I'm guessing Kill Bill Volume 1.
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I'm going to guess this one is Crouching Tiger, just because a lot of people have been guessing that meaning some people probably ranked it low, but it's definitely a weird one to be low going on general reception.

Also almost criminal to see Rumble in the Bronx within 2 of Rush Hour I gotta say
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Enter the Dragon
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Maybe The Karate Kid
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goddamn still under 100
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19. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - 142 points

scarlet - 4
Snake - 5
Johnbobb - 8
Karo - 21
JONA - 31
Inviso - 36
Wickle - 37

scarlet - The beautiful story and scenery make Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon more than a regular kung-fu adventure. It's romantic and unique, and the acting is top notch. Also, its nice to see the origin of a Star Trek captain.

Snake - This is poetry in motion, a genuine fluidity to the actors movements that are so much more than your typical kung-fu battle. Zhang Ziyi was perfect as Jen Yu, a sort of rebellious daughter, who's yet to find what she really wants in life. With a range of emotions ranging confusion to angst to despair, Zhang remains comitted, believable, and relatable. The aesthetic is definitely top-notch. With deft drama and revolutionary action, Crouching Tiger is one of the shining examples of the genre.

Johnbobb - I went into this movie with too high of expectations. Brokeback Mountain and Life of Pi are both among my all-time favorite films, so I went into CTHD expecting nothing less. In hindsight, maybe that was unfair, because I dont quite rank it with those two, but its still an excellent film and one of the ones I feel is objectively among the best on this list. It definitely stands out as the best example of wuxia films here, with incredible performances all around (in particular, Im really starting to admire Zhang Ziyi as an actress, and shes at her absolute best here). While I cant quite call it an all-time favorite, its really just a brilliantly made film, and I cant really complain about it.

Karo - The tale of various kung fu people who wear invisible bungee harnesses that give them the ability to jump through the air like Luigi. The film's vaunted martial arts choreography is impressive, but any time people aren't fighting it is dreadfully boring. The plot is confusing and fractured, and all the characters save for Darth Mulan are as dull as mud. In one place the movie randomly jumps into an extended flashback about Dothraki horselords, At the end the heroine is reunited with her desert lover, which makes her so happy she promptly commits suicide. How touching.

JONA - As good as the movie is when it comes to executing its emotional beats, the actual story kinda has too much problems for my liking. As awesome as Michelle Yeoh is, her character doesn't particularly do much. She's just kinda there to add another female to the action and having that emotional ending with Chow Yun-fat. The flashback with Yamcha the Desert Bandit really takes up a lot of time and halts the momentum the movie has just for more character development for Jen (which she had plenty of by that point). Why did Jade Fox just drug Jen into sleep and put her in the cavern when she wanted to kill Jen anyway? Also, while the action is good, it's not particularly my cup of tea.
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Inviso - I know Im gonna get crucified by Scarlet for this write-up, because the movie won a Best Foreign Film Oscar and was nominated for Best Picture, but I just found this movie to be extraordinarily tedious and boring. Like, the general plot is fine. I like the idea of girl JONA (played by Zhang Ziyi) pulling a Mulan and feeling restrained by her forced marriage and general lack of freedom as a female in feudal Chinese society. Butfor fucks sake, this movie is too damn long. Its two goddamn hours, and a LOT of that excessive runtime is dedicated to girl JONA stealing a sword, then ponytail JONA and older woman JONA chasing her. Then she gets away. Then they meet up again, and she gets away. Repeat. Repeat. Throw in a romantic subplot that isnt introduced until an hour into the film, and this movie is REALLY padded in its length.

To make matters worse, I feel like the plot doesnt focus properly. Youve got this Jade Fox storyline which seems almost as important as girl JONAs journey, but its dropped and picked up seemingly at random at different points in the movie, and doesnt get the dedicated focus I think it needs to truly be compelling. Also, I know its a kung fu movie, but I cant get into fight scenes when they feel like theyre only happening to have an artistic, choreographed fight scene. Seriously, theres a scene where girl JONA and woman JONA have a battle with various weapons that feels like it pops up randomly just to have a weapon exhibition. And then the endingwhat the FUCK, guys? The movie just feels like it cares more about visuals than any sort of decent storytelling or motivation.

Wickle - We get another female lead in a martial arts movie, and it becomes one of the worst done movies on this list. Main character somehow ends up becoming one of, if not the most insufferable main character on this list, which is pretty sad because it had two really strong leads in Mu Bai and Shu Lien. Granted, still would not completely save the movie from the characters trying to fly like a Pegasus, making it exceptionally obvious that theyre on strings. To gather the actual movie, the pacing is godawful and scene changes hardly explain whats even going on with how each character got to where theyre at.
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Outlier Rankings

JONA - 197
Inviso - 185
scarlet - 184
Wickle - 175
Snake - 170
Karo - 156
Johnbobb - 101

Inviso takes back 2nd and Johnbobb finally reaches the 100 point mark.

Hint for 18.

The first movie of a series.
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Inviso pretty much nailed my thoughts on the movie. Probably wouldn't have put it quite that low but the write-up is closest to my own thoughts for sure.
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About fucking time Pegasus shits.
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Also going to guess Karate Kid for this one.
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drunken master
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Gonna guess Karate Kid.
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Granted, this is one of those movies that completely makes me realize I don't actually know the gauntlet crew's opinions on a lot. Granted, doesn't help that I utterly refuse to read Inviso's write-ups because they're stale shit with the same stupid joke. GUESS WHAT VIS, JONA IS FILIPINO, HE'S NOT EVEN MAINLAND FUCKING ASIAN YOU RACIST FUCKING SHIT.

So I can't even find why I'm wrong when in reality I was expecting top 10 for him strictly because of Michelle Yeoh's character. Then I was sitting there hoping Scar would be with me on just how frickin' bad this movie truly is to be called an outstanding shit. Like fuck this movie's stunts makes 90% of Soccer/basketball players ready for whatever movie industry is part of the country they're from. Flop flop flop flop, sit on the field grasping at your leg and then jog off the field... These sorts of people have better stunts than this fucking movie.

And I can keep ranting about this shit but there's no point to it.
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I literally asked JONA if it was okay to make that joke, just to goof around.
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Well, you didn't realize it could offend someone other than JONA, and it's definitely pissed me off.
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Huh I didn't even realize that JONAs were exclusively reserved for Asian characters. Just assumed Inviso was using it for "every random character who we can't be bothered to track the name of because they're Martial Arts Movies"

Probably a better joke that way too!
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Lopen posted...

Huh I didn't even realize that JONAs were exclusively reserved for Asian characters. Just assumed Inviso was using it for "every random character who we can't be bothered to track the name of because they're Martial Arts Movies"

Probably a better joke that way too!

I thought the same thing actually

Also guessing Drunken Master

Also what the fuck at Crouching Hidden being so low
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WickIebee posted...

Then I was sitting there hoping Scar would be with me on just how frickin' bad this movie truly is to be called an outstanding shit

I tend to not be in lockstep with anyone in this group. On... virtually everything? Come on. I'm the guy who had 101 Dalmatians in my Top 5 because of the heavy satirical nature of the film and no one else even mentioned that aspect of it.
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wait, 101 Dalmatians is satirical?

in what way
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PrinceKaro posted...

wait, 101 Dalmatians is satirical?

in what way

God, where do I even start on that? The fact that the two criminals are a skewed parody of 50s/60s domestic life is the first place. What's My Crime? is a fantastic little lampoon of what was at the time modern television. The puppies sitting in front of television was also a jab at how children were raised at the time. Cruella is meant to be a cutting referendum on the self-obsessed fashion world. There's a lot in that movie that plays with modern domestic life.
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18. Drunken Master - 140 points

Snake - 14
Wickle - 15
JONA - 18
scarlet - 19
Johnbobb - 24
Karo - 24
Inviso - 26

Snake - I really enjoyed the comedy in this film, Jackie Chan never disappoints as a comedic actor. The more exaggerated style of martial arts really fits in with a more comedic style. One thing it has is personality and its certainly fun to watch Jackie Chan fight In this.

Wickle - Jackie Chan appears As more than a child I should say. Well, he appears as a bratty youth who sits there cocky as hell, beats up some people while gets his ass kicked by others, acts with no responsibility and whines a lot. Granted, I highly doubt were supposed to like him anyway, were supposed to long for the actual drunken fighting that we do end up learning and then the movie is done Well, except for the one assassin being beat. Still, such a classic I still was left enjoying it despite hating our main character.

JONA - It's definitely interesting to see Jackie Chan in more of a goofball role and he's quite good at it. There's some good comedy and it's really great to watch the unorthodox style that inspired so much.

scarlet - Chan's lead isn't all that likeable, but the choreography is nice and the film's fast pace keeps it pretty entertaining. I enjoy Chans style of physical comedy and that keeps this film afloat.

Johnbobb - Man this fucking movie and its Traverse Town training music. Jackie Chan is far and away one of the most universally likable people in the world. The way he dominates his fight scenes is constantly delightful. Hes barely fighting, moreso just playing with the environment. Theres not a whole lot of plot going on here; its mostly just goofing off, fighting, training, fighting, repeat until the end of the movie. Thats not that bad of a thing though, because Chan is hilarious.

Karo - A long time ago in ancient China (around the 1960's), an unruly young man gets sent by his father to train under the great kung fu master So Hai, who teaches him how to gain superpowers from alcohol poisoning. Much ass is thus kicked. They hadn't really gotten the Jackie Chan formula down right at this point, and the humor in the film feels far too juvenile and unrefined. Fart jokes, really?

Inviso - Ah, the first Jackie Chan movie I watch (although apparently he was a child actor in Come Drink With Me), and its a good showcase of just how much of a goofball he is. I mean, Ive seen several of his later movies where hes acting in American movies, and he works well in a comedic role. Granted, I watched a dub version and the dubbed VA for Jackie was TERRIBLE. Likeholy shit its like playing FFX all over again. Lets than that though, the movie is fine. Its fast and fun and its got Jackie acting in a comedic role as hes kind of a cocky douchebag who learns some discipline under a drunken kung fu master. Butthere really isnt a solid central plot. Jackie learns drunken kung fu because hes a douche, but its not until like, 15 minutes are left in the movie that we actually learn how the plot is going to conclude. It concludes when 70s porn JONA is hired to assassinate Jackies dad over some land dispute. Yeahthe plot is super fucking thin, but Jackies comedy makes up for it enough I guess.
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Outlier Rankings

JONA - 197
Inviso - 193
scarlet - 185
Wickle - 178
Snake - 174
Karo - 162
Johnbobb - 107

No changes here but Inviso's getting close to passing me.

Hint for 17.

A ranker loses their #1.
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I...STILL don't think this is likely to be mine.

I'm gonna guess Karate Kid as Wickle's number 1.
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I doubt it's mine. Has a chance to be Snake's if he has one of the Raids as his #1. I know Vis's is one of the Kill Bills, dunno Scarlet's, but it has a few good possibilities. Karo's is possibly Chocolate which also has a chance to fall. Johnbobb and JONA are too tough to predict though.
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Actually... possibly is Enter the Dragon. That sounds like a fair #1 for someone and we know Vis has it low-ish. Maybe some others.
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Could be my #1.
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I almost guarantee it's my number 1
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Also for the record

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMToNdwfg7U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDizdSZB2Gw
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17. SPL: Sha Po Lang/Kill Zone - 133 points

Inviso - 1
JONA - 5
Wickle - 8
Johnbobb - 20
Snake - 31
Karo - 33
scarlet - 35

Inviso - You know, Im honestly surprised that something managed to surpass Kill Bill for me (and hell, nine movies left after this one, so anything is possible), but SPL did it. It took a small cast and developed them all as characters (okay, except maybe the pretty boy who dies first from the team), gave them distinct personalities, and best of all, it didnt feel like a completely generic these guys are 100% good, and these guys are 100% bad kind of character development. Team Cops had guys that stolen money that shouldve been put into evidence (for a good cause, but still), and they were willing to falsify evidence in order to get their conviction. Meanwhile, Team Criminals still had some bad dudes (including Boy Band Joffrey), but even Big Bad JONA was a fleshed-out character. Yeah, he was a scumbag, but he still cared about his family and they meant more to him than anything in the world. I think thats what really sent the movie over the top for me. If JONA just kicked fat JONAs ass and everyone had a happy ending, then it still wouldve been goodbut it wouldve been expected. To have fat JONA come back, shove JONA through a window, and ultimately defeat HIMSELF by accidentally killing his own wife and sonTHAT was a solid ending. It brought all the characterization full circle, and its a very The Mist kind of twist.

JONA - It's not the most unique story but I really dug the idea of cops not being 100% goody two-shoes and taking immoral actions in order to take someone down. While the plot itself isn't unique, its execution is really well done and has some unexpected twists which have good shock value. I liked the characters in the movie, especially Simon Yam's and Sammo Hung's both of whom do some really great acting. I enjoyed the movie's dark atmosphere and the action is quite exciting, even if there's few of it. Donnie Yen's character vs. Jack is really outstanding as well as the fight between Donnie Yen's character and Sammo Hung's.

Wickle - A bit sad, though a well executed film. Enjoyed the remorse of some characters, and even the retribution towards the end due to the last few deaths. The fight with Wong Pos main henchmen was so satisfying too. Still thought it was gonna start with Wong Po kidnapping the child since him not being able to give birth, and then that didnt happen so it was nice that they gave him a bit of character even from the beginning in how he doesnt give up Which played on to the rest of the movie.

Johnbobb - I couldnt quite follow all the logic here. There is video evidence of Wong Po torturing someone, and then in jail Wong Po assaults an officer AND threatens the lives of several other officers and then hes released because he didnt kill the person in the video? I dont know, little things like this kept this movie from being one of the best. The performances werent particularly standout, nor was the combat, but the story was mostly intelligent and heart-wrenching. Im tempted to go watch the sequel now (in part because it stars Tony Jaa, whos quickly growing on me) despite the fact that this movie REALLY doesnt feel like it should have a sequel.

Snake - The one fight scene with Donnie and Jing Wu was incredible, but unfortunately, the rest of the film fails to elevates past its typical premise and clich characters.
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Karo - The misadventures of a police precinct in hong kong whose mantra is 'if the perp isnt bleeding from every orifice, we aint doing our job'. Basically these numbskulls do everything in their power to give cops a bad name, from altering (and making up) evidence because the suspect 'deserved it', to gushing about how cool it was when one of the cops punched a guy so hard he got brain damage.

scarlet - A couple fantastic action scenes but they are too few and far between and the story just isn't that interesting.
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Wow, fuck right off.
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