SPL aka Sha Po Lang aka Flashpoint

[GreenCloudCLF]

For those of you who haven't heard about this movie yet, it stars Donnie Yen (one of my faves) and Sammo Hung. It also features Wu Jing (look for the guy with bleached hair in the trailer). He is a younger training brother of Jet Li and has been mostly doing Chinese TV.

There is no wire work and no camera tricks. One of the high points of the movie is a one on one fight between Yen and Wu. Rumor has it the fight itself was unchoreographed because the 2 actors decided they were highly trained enough to do the scene without the choreography....supposed turned out to be a great scene...


Here's a link to the trailer (http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/003243.html)

[doug maverick]

i brang this topic up a few months back and know one seemed interested. this brings back, kung fu in movie making, this and seven swords are going to be the best to come out of hk in a while. i still haven't seen spl(as it's called) and i'm dying to see it. if you fined a site thats selling it let me know. i don't even think it's out in hk yet.

[GreenCloudCLF]

spl debuts at the toronto film festival (next week or something I think).

As far as I've heard Seven Swords bombed in Asia

[doug maverick]

oh well guess i was wrong about the seven swords thing. the trailer was okay i guess. but i really want to se sha po lang, i had my heart set on seeing this one for a while.

[Ben Gash]

Well I'm certainly interested. Donnie is one of my favourites, and with Sammo should be seriously cool.
Many Chinese films that do really well in the west bomb in Asia (CTHD being a prime example). They've struggled somewhat with the demands of Sync sound (which we prefer) because many HK actors don't speak Beijing dialect very well (Obviously Donnie and Wu Jing do, but is Sammo's that great?). In the same way, many films that do really well in Asia are received with bewlderment in th west.

[doug maverick]

Trying to find a copy of this somewhere if anyone knows where i can find it please tell me! i heard the fight between donnie and sammo is worth the price of admission. so if any body knows where i can buy or download it(seen the trailer like 6 or seven months ago) let me know. thanks

[gwa sow]

spl??? sorry but can you elaborate a little more on that pls. sounds interesting

[doug maverick]

is a donni/sammo flick that was supposed to be out since last year, but they just started screening a few months ago. you can check out the trailers(they have a new english one) on donnieyen.net, this film is amazing an a welcome back to hong kong action films. i really want to see this film.

[gwa sow]

hmmmm sounds intresting. :D

[SimonM]

That was Sammo?

It is all beginning to make sense now.:D

[RAYNYSC]

Hey Doug,
I have a copy of SPL the fight between Donnie & Sammo is bad ass. Shoot me a pm or a e-mail maybe we can work on getting you a copy.

[SimonM]

Badass?

It's the whole bloody reason to watch that movie. I didn't know it was Sammo (the long grey hair and beard threw me off) when I was watching it and I was like:


****! Whoever they cast to fight Donnie is certainly up to the job. I guess this movie wasn't a wast of 10 RMB after all!:D

[doug maverick]

hey whats up! i live in the BX, in concourse village(grandconcourse) if you can hook me up with a copy that'll be great.

[RAYNYSC]

No problem send me a e-mail so we can meet up.

[GeneChing]

SPL was a good one. Excellent choreography. Overdone plot, but tolerable because it sets up the fights well, and that's all I ever ask. It's my favorite recent kung fu flick. It blows out the over-anticipated Tom Yum Goong.

[SimonM]

I completely agree Gene. But I am not a Tony Jaa film fan. I didn't like Ong Bakh and didn't particularly like Tom Yung Goon. I did like SPL. But you are right about the plot. The gift from the daughter scene was so overblown.

[doug maverick]

I CAN'T SEEM TO FIND YOUR EMAIL, AND I CAN'T PM YOU. SO WHY DON'T YOU EMAIL ME AT:

DARKWATER2020@HOTMAIL.COM THANKS

[hasayfu]

I just watched this movie. My title says it all.
I liked the blend Donnie used of CMA and grappling. It filmed well and was believable (for a movie).

I like Wu Jing but don't you think he has too much of a baby face for the killer roll? I kept thinking of the leader of the lost boys in "Pan" I read a review that said that the fight between Donnie and Wu Jing was improved. Anyone know? When I saw it I thought it dragged on too long but I need to go back and watch it again.

I really enjoyed this story. (sans the daughter part) It's totally old school chinese cops and ganstas.

They need to cast Donnie in a good US vehicle. He has good presence. He really buffed out for this role too.

[GeneChing]

I thought Wu Jing's baby face worked well as the killer. It made him more psycho. I've always thought Wu Jing had great potential. I really liked the baton vs. wakizashi scene between Donnie and Wu Jing. There was some nice broken tempo stuff instead of the usually tik-tak-tik rhythm that pervades most choreographed swordfights. I'm eager to see what Wu Jing does next...

[hasayfu]

What a typo... My post should have read:

The fight between Donnie and Wu Jing was IMPROVISED!

that would explain the off tempo stuff. I need to watch the fight scene again. Any confirmation of the improv?

[doug maverick]

i just saw it on vcd with no english subs. so it was fun just making up my own dialogue. the fight s were awesome the best i've seen in years. i never really like that jacky wu jing guy but this movie made me change my mind about him. donnie and sammo were awesome in this film. sammo makes a great bad guy. he just has that don't **** with me look you want in all your villians. there were some bad points but i'm not gonna get into it, but i due see some improvement from the director. lets see how he does with dragon tiger gate. which i heard was gonna look like sin city.

[GeneChing]

Support the forum. See what everyone is talking about. SHA PO LANG (double DVD edition) (http://www.martialartsmart.net/dvd64538.html)

[Shaolinlueb]

Support the forum. See what everyone is talking about. SHA PO LANG (double DVD edition) (http://www.martialartsmart.net/dvd64538.html)


just picked up my copy gene!

[jethro]

Saw this at BB today under the name Kill zone. $17.99:eek:
After reading how great the fights in this movie are again though, I will have to fork over the money.

[jethro]

That movie was the SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!

If I would have known it was a dark hong kong movie I would have gotten my copy way before now. That was freaking sweet. I loved the grappling too.

The special features from Dragon Dynasty makes this one of the best DVD's ever. 15 minute interview with Sammo, 40 minutes with Donnie, 23 with Jacky Wu...

2 behind the scenes filming the 2 major action sequences. There is also a commentary track for these 2 making of's, FROM DONNIE YEN!!!!! So not only do you get a 93 minutes commentary with Bey Logan, you get a 58 minute commentary form and Bey Logan and Donnie.

I found it amazing that Donnie cut out a ton of action. You can tell he has grown up and is learning how to make real movies when he takes out his patented triple kick. Also when Donnie put the choke hold on Sammo and he started giving him elbows, they cut out a coulpe of knees that Sammo came in with too. Oh well, I can't get everythign I want.

[SimonM]

You think SPL was good wait until you see Long Hu Men. But, yeah, my 3 favorite martial arts movies of the last year were:

SPL (Donnie & Sammo)
Dragon Squad (Sammo)
Long Hu Men (Donnie)

Don't get me wrong, I loved Fearless, but it was more a drama that happened to be about a martial artist than it was a martial arts movie. You could see Fearless as being the anti-Tom Yum Goon.

[Jimbo]

I got my copy of SPL yesterday and watched it. Definitely the best HK movie in years, IMO, but it wasn't quite as good as I had expected. My favorite parts were those that showed Wu Jing in them, surprisingly. I liked him in The Tai Chi Master, but he played a nasty villain in SPL. His "babyface" looks made his character seem more menacing.

[doug maverick]

i haven't scene the killzone version but now i wanna pick it up, might rent it from netflix. as for dragon squad that **** was garbage to the maximum of garbage, and dragon tiger gate was pretty good but corny as hell!!!!!!!

[jethro]

i haven't scene the killzone version but now i wanna pick it up, might rent it from netflix. as for dragon squad that **** was garbage to the maximum of garbage, and dragon tiger gate was pretty good but corny as hell!!!!!!!


Kill zone version is defintely diffrerent than the chinese version. I heard Dragon Squad was awesome, so why didn't you like it? And I will check out Dragon Gate when I can but it did look pretty gay.

[SimonM]

Dragon Tiger Gate is a typical Gong Fu comic book adapted into a movie. It's nearly brainless and it has a plot that makes you go "Shenme"?

Dragon Squad follows the typical hong kong cop movie format. It's bloody and full of gun battles... however the fights between Sammo and the main villain (particularly the machettie fight) are really nice.

[doug maverick]

you mean besides the fact that it reminded me of the power rangers? well sammo was good ofcourse, but i hated how everyone had to have those stupid ass intro flashbacks when they did some kinda of action. if danny lee(the director) did that once then fine but he kept on doing it, and it made me wanna fly to hong kong run up to him and kick him right in the fukkin face. that one thing alone made what could've been a cool movie into garbage!

[SimonM]

You know people were shocked when I said I didn't like Ong Bakh despite the fact that it:

A) Had a useless soundtrack.
B) Was amateurishly shot... underlit fight scenes and low grade film stock are a bad combination.
C) Had a lead actor completely incapable of acting.
D) Had some decent fight corography but some really poorly shot moments... like when Jaa flicked his toe lightly against someone who would then go spinning to the ground.
E) Had that awful, useless, poorly shot, over blown, overly-long, pointless, worst-music-ever-made, taxi chace scene.

You say Dragon Squad sucks just because of the intro flashbacks?

They weren't that power ranger-esque.

Ayah.

[jethro]

Ong Bak brought a whole new kind of style with it. Tony Jaa is the main reason that all of this stuff works. It is an explosive type of action that you just don't like. I thought Ong Bak was great and that the Protector was one of the greatest action films ever. I will have to check out Dragon Squad sometime to see what the contreversy is about.

[doug maverick]

don't see dragon squad it was corny the plot was corny the acting was corny the whole **** thing except sammo was corny.

[Radhnoti]

Watched "Killzone" and that was the most depressing movie I think I've ever seen. Almost every character had "father" issues...and I suppose those particular elements just struck home. EVERY...SINGLE...TIME.
Every character either was a father (and tragic) or had estranged/dead fathers that were more tragic than usual in that situation. I went to bed depressed out of my mind.
Fight scenes were good...and probably the only thing I'll ever watch of the movie again. Did I mention how depressing it was? Especially liked the baton/small sword fight...and the grappling was pretty cool.
Sammo was really amazing with his portrayal in this film, he didn't have to speak to convey a lot with his expressions.
Wish I'd payed more attention to whoever said this was a "dark Hong Kong movie"...

[jethro]

Yeah, I probably said on here it was really dark. I am expecting something like 'In the Line of Duty', but it was a hell fo a lot more than that. I have only seen about 10 Wilson Yip movies and this is his first one that I REALLY liked. For another superb dark Hong Kong action movie check out 'The Longest Nite'.

[Jimbo]

I think one of the things that makes SPL even more depressing is what makes a lot of the Hong Kong films in recent years seem depressing, even when they aren't meant to be; that is, the movies seem "empty" of people, compared to movies made up until the early-to-mid-nineties. Hong Kong seems "depopulated", just like in Jackie Chan's "Gorgeous." In SPL, the only extras in the movie are the groups of young street thugs under Sammo's (Wong Po's) control. Otherwise, HK could be a ghost town, like the original Dawn of the Dead.

[PangQuan]

i may be a bit late, but i just saw this movie.

i really liked the action in it, donnie yen and samo hung? can we say bad ass?

i also liked that a couple of the fight scenes ended up in ground grappling

OMG CHINESE USING GRAPPLING

is this a sign of the apocolypse or something?

:cool:

[jethro]

Chinese movies are the only movies where I have seen good grappling overr the years.

[doug maverick]

ground fighting and grappling have been apart of chinese kung fu forever i don't why people think it's not there its there, you just have to get a good teacher who knows the whole system and not only the basics. even and internal style like xing yi has ground fighting in it(not that it's needed one tsuan chuan to the chest cavity and it throws all that bull**** 90% of all fights end up on the ground theory right out the window, btw i've been in plenty of fights and only maybe two ended with both guys wrestling on the floor) anyway just needed to state that, cause alot of martial artist even guys who have been training for twenty years always say kung fu has no ground techinques and i say to them where do you think all the other style get their ground fighting from?

[jethro]

Mickey brought up a few very good examples of Chinese wrestling in some Peng Kong movies. I still have to see Woman Avenger though. Man that movie looks awesome!

[Shaolin Wookie]

Anyone see Killzone?

In all of the fight scenes featuring Sammo Hung, expecially the one with Donnie Yen, there was groundfighting. They made it look pretty cool. I know grounfighting is notoriously boring to watch (for some people), but they actually used a lot of MMA takedowns (including that sweet armbar Donnie puts on Sammo, leading to a broken hand) and ground and pound strategy. I know it's sped up for entertainment value, but it seems these new waver Hong Kong movies might try to mix it up for the new generations.

Looked sweet to me.

[Shaolin Wookie]

Sammo was always amazing to me. Big guy, always older than his younger co-stars, but still one of the best movie MA's there was, and capable of moving like Jackie Chan when he needs to (except for the climbing up walls stuff Jackie does, and the insane stunts). Classic actor. Although, from what I hear, his injuries (and age, no less) keep him from really keeping up his old-style movements.

[mantis108]

Groundfighting in Kung Fu Flicks has started a few years back already. I think it was Vampire Effects that there was a "vampire that used something like a cross between Capoeira and BJJ. If memory serves, the protagonist in the movie used some pretty cool rope dart techniques to subdue the vam.

Donnie Yen used to live in the States I think, so he's exposed to the MA trends in the west.

Mantis108

[SevenStar]

ground fighting looks boring to some because it is real time. real time kendo looks boring as well. however, for a movie, you can transition from throw to lock and back, and make it very exciting. the wwe has mastered it. also, watch the judo choreography in cagney's old films.

[bakxierboxer]

Mantis 108 -



Donnie Yen used to live in the States I think, so he's exposed to the MA trends in the west.

Donnie Yen is the son of Mark Bow Sim and Klysler Yen.

Pete

[jethro]

Bruce Lee started the groundfighting in movies with Sammo in the opening scene of Enter the Dragon. Shaolin vs. Lama has some good Chinese wrestling in it, and don't forget about the ground fighting in Leg Fighters with Dorian Tan.

[GeneChing]

Lost gambling earnings on Kill Zone? :rolleyes:


Birmingham owner denies 'dirty money' link in HK trial (http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/19627513/birmingham-owner-denies-dirty-money-link-in-hk-trial/)
AFP
October 31, 2013, 9:29 pm

http://l.yimg.com/ea/img/-/131031/9f5963e7722843d873974d46da081d17051ad342-1974cof.jpg
Birmingham owner denies dirty money link in HK trial AFP Birmingham owner denies 'dirty money' link in HK trial

Hong Kong (AFP) - Birmingham City owner Carson Yeung said he amassed his wealth through stock-trading and gambling but denied dealing with triads, as he testified in his $93 million money-laundering trial in Hong Kong.

The hairdresser-turned-football tycoon from the southern Chinese city was arrested in June 2011 over allegedly dealing in ill-gotten gains worth tens of millions of dollars.

The high-profile yet oft-delayed case has put Yeung's wealth under an intense spotlight, as he faced questions about his spectacular rise from hairdresser to owner of an English football club.

The court heard Thursday that Yeung had invested HK$40 million ($5 million) in a local film company for the movie "Killzone" in 2005 with winnings from gambling in nearby Macau.

"It was the accumulation from several winnings," Yeung said.

But the movie, starring martial arts stars Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung, did not pass censors in China and the investment resulted in a loss, he told the court.

"It did well in Hong Kong, however on the mainland, it could not pass censoring authorities... we lost on this big market."

Throughout his testimony, starting October 15, Yeung and the prosecution have painted differing pictures of how his wealth was amassed, with prosecutors claiming around HK$720 million had passed through his bank accounts.

Yeung has said he accumulated hundreds of millions of dollars through stock trading, hairdressing, business ventures in mainland China and gambling.

He said his stock portfolio in 2007 was worth around HK$300 million dollars held in margin accounts with almost 40 stockbrokers, adding that he spent "all my time" trading stocks after the 1998 Asian market crash.

He also set up business ventures in Inner Mongolia from 2001 to 2007 where he made large profits from fertiliser and real estate operations.

"I was the first person in Hong Kong to invest in Inner Mongolia," Yeung said.

Gambling activities in Macau also raked in HK$20 to HK$30 million in profits between 2004 and 2008, Yeung claimed, adding his preference was to play baccarat in the Neptune Club in gaming tycoon Stanley Ho's Hotel Lisboa.

?I gambled as if I were running a business," Yeung told the court.

But prosecutor John Reading said Yeung had "grossly exaggerated" his earnings and constantly grilled him on his relationship and dealings with Cheung Chi-tai, an alleged triad boss.

"Did you know that Cheung Chi-tai was believed by police to be a member of a triad society?" Reading asked, to which Yeung replied: "I didn't know".

Yeung said Cheung, a major shareholder in gaming company Neptune Group Ltd., asked Yeung to invest in the company. Yeung invested HK$26.4million in a Neptune Club VIP room in the Hotel Lisboa in Macau in 2005.

When quizzed by Reading, he also said a payment of HK$18 million he received from Cheung in 2007 was a return from the investment in Neptune and that he used the money to buy property in London.

"I didn't ask him (where the money came from) because I knew him for many years, he was the second largest shareholder of Neptune Group," Yeung told the court, adding that he wasn't suspicious of the HK$18 million's origin.

When Reading asked if any of Yeung's proceeds were ill-gotten, he replied: "There were none...it was my money."

And when asked if he had used dirty money to purchase a stake in Birmingham City Football Club, Yeung said: "It was impossible".

The court also heard that Yeung spent lavishly, blowing HK$6 million on a Maybach car, HK$49 million on an 88 foot (27 metre) yacht along with a five million pound ($8 million) property in London.

Yeung, who was little-known prior to his emergence in English football, took control of Birmingham City in October 2009 in an 81 million pound takeover from David Sullivan and David Gold, now the co-owners of West Ham.

Birmingham City's fortunes have gone downhill since then. They were relegated from the Premier League in 2011, three months after winning the League Cup.

The court is expected to hand down a verdict next year.

[GeneChing]

Enter to win KungFuMagazine.com's contest for 'BEST OF DONNIE YEN' PRIZE PACK (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/sweepstakes-best-of-donnie-yen.php) including 5 Donnie Yen films on Blu-Ray™: IP MAN (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?52218-Ip-Man-starring-Donnie-Yen), IP MAN 2 (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?56421-Ip-Man-2), ICEMAN (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?62460-Iceman-冰封俠), FLASH POINT (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?38795-Spl?), & LEGEND OF THE FIST (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?55650-Legend-of-the-Fist-The-Return-of-Chen-Zhen)!!! Contest ends 6:00 p.m. PST on 4/16/15.

[GeneChing]

See our KUNG FU KILLER: ‘BEST OF DONNIE YEN’ PRIZE PACK winners (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?68626-KUNG-FU-KILLER-%91BEST-OF-DONNIE-YEN%92-PRIZE-PACK-winners) thread.

[GeneChing]

‘Ip Man 5’ among three Donnie Yen films revealed at Cannes (exclusive) (https://www.screendaily.com/news/ip-man-5-among-three-donnie-yen-films-revealed-at-cannes-exclusive/5182183.article)
BY SILVIA WONG 17 MAY 2023
https://d1nslcd7m2225b.cloudfront.net/Pictures/480xAny/5/7/9/1397579_4__0324_161282.jpg
SOURCE: MANDARIN MOTION PICTURES
‘IP MAN 4: THE FINALE’
A trio of action films led by martial arts superstar Donnie Yen have been revealed by Hong Kong-based Mandarin Motion Pictures at the Cannes market.

The company will introduce Ip Man 5, Flash Point Resurgence and Misjudgement to buyers at the Marché this week.

Yen, who was most recently seen in John Wick: Chapter 4, is well known for his role as the eponymous Ip Man, the real-life Wing Chun grandmaster who was a teacher of Bruce Lee. The previous instalment, Ip Man 4: The Finale, generated more than $176.3m at the worldwide box office following its release in 2019.

Flash Point Resurgence is developed from 2007’s Flash Point, which also starred Yen and Louis Koo. No directors have yet been revealed for the projects but all four Ip Man films and Flash Point were directed by Wilson Yip.

The third title, Misjudgement, has China’s Huace Pictures as a co-investor.

Plot details have yet to be revealed.



Cannes (https://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?53853-Cannes)
SPL-aka-Sha-Po-Lang-aka-Flashpoint (https://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?38795-SPL-aka-Sha-Po-Lang-aka-Flashpoint)
Ip-Man-4-The-Finale (https://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?69747-Ip-Man-4-The-Finale)
Misjudgement (https://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?72520-Misjudgement)