Reviews of Chop Socky and Rise of the Kasai
by Patrick Vuong

Chop Socky: Cinema Hong Kong
Featuring: Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Sammo Hung and John Woo
Writer/Director: Ian Taylor
DVD Bonus Material: Interviews and trailers

Finally, a movie featuring Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Sammo Hung and director John Woo on the same screen has arrived.

While Chop Socky: Cinema Hong Kong isn’t a big-budget blockbuster, it’s an engaging documentary that explores the many facets of kung fu films by showing archival footage, analyzing fight scenes and interviewing the aforementioned stars. It accurately chronicles the genre and intersperses clips from classics such as The One-Armed Swordsman. While it doesn’t have the creativity or drama of some other documentaries, this Independent Film Channel production is far better looking than most. It packs a punch you’ll definitely feel, whether you’re a genre guru or an action neophyte.

After noting the recent international appeal of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the Kill Bill movies, writer-director Ian Taylor explains that the first Chinese action flicks were filmed in Shanghai during the 1920s and based on wu xia (period-piece kung fu) novels. Eventually, productions migrated south to China’s most famous island.

Impressively, Chop Socky shows 50-year-old clips of an important Hong Kong actor who’s usually neglected in other documentaries: Kwan Tak-Hing. Kwan portrayed the real-life folk hero Wong Fei Hung in more than 70 films and paved the way for Jet Li to play the character in the Once Upon a Time in China series.

The documentary then highlights the more contemporary movies, from swordplay epics of the ’60s to international blockbusters starring Chan and Li. It also features interviews with screen legends like Crouching Tiger villainess Cheng Pei Pei, Spiritual Boxer director Lau Ka Leung and Kill Bill co-star Gordon Liu.

However, Chop Socky isn’t without its faults. First, its 55-minute running time isn’t enough to encapsulate the entire genre. Second, it could use a more powerful narrator, like Star Trek’s George Takei, whose booming voice highlights the Bruce Lee documentary Curse of the Dragon. Finally, it glosses over Lee’s global influence and focuses only on his hyper-realistic fight choreography.

They’re minor flaws, however, and the rest of Chop Socky more than makes up for them. For example, Chan hilariously remembers the manic search to replace the Little Dragon: “There was Bruce Le, Bruce Li, Bruce Table, Bruce Chair—everything Bruce!” It was in that post-Lee era that Chan revitalized the genre by becoming his hero’s antithesis. Out of Lee’s onscreen superman sprang Chan’s kung fu clown.

It’s such key moments in Hong Kong cinema that this documentary nails perfectly—and for that, Chop Socky is definitely worth watching. Recently released on DVD with bare-bones bonus features, it sells for $26.95.

Rise of the Kasai
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
Platform: PlayStation 2
Rating: Mature
Players: 1

Sony has done it. It’s created a video game that’s both a sequel and a prequel. Set in a realm that combines Conan-like mysticism with Pacific Island martial arts, Rise of the Kasai continues the saga built in The Mark of Kri, albeit in a confusing way.

Kasai is set a decade before its predecessor, giving you control of two new characters. Then the game rockets you forward 10 years after The Mark of Kri, putting you in the boots of Rau, the series’ original hero, and his sister. The time jumping is an inventive concept, but it takes you out of the game more than it draws you in.

It does offer interesting game play, though. After you choose your character for each level, your computer-controlled partner joins in on the decapitating fun. (Hey, it’s rated Mature for a reason.) Other titles now duplicate the series’ stealth tactics and targeting system, but no matter how you slice it, Kasai is still a button-masher, and halving your enemies with an ax is amusing for only so long.

Fortunately, there’s crisp sound and music, and the cartoon animation is pure eye candy. Sony should be commended for experimenting with the conventions of the action-adventure genre. Rise of the Kasai will entertain and amuse, but not mesmerize. It retails for $39.99.

About the author: Patrick Vuong is a Santa Ana, California-based freelance journalist, screenwriter and martial artist who trains in tai chi chuan, kung fu and kenpo. To contact him, send e-mail to bbscreenshots@yahoo.com.