The Avenging Fist - 拳神

The Avenging Fist (拳神) is a 2001 film out of Hong Kong. It stars a lot of people. But the main star is Wong Lee Hom. Apparently, the movie was to be based of Tekken, but the license was lost right before production. The movie was directed by Andrew Lau of all people.

Wong plays a young up and coming fighter. Wong's father was also a legendary fighter before his death. Now Wong wants to become the best fighter there is. However, there's a dark and secret force that threaten the world as they know it. The police investigate and love interest are introduce to Wong.

This movie was a blast to the past in terms of storyline and it goes something like this. "I like to fight, my dad liked to fight, so let's fight man!" The CGI was grossly overused, but was needed for the "world" created to house this madness.

Do you need to watch this? Yes. Will it suck? Prolly a little. But it is a no nonsense HK action movie at its core.

Lust, Caution - 色, 戒

Lust, Caution (色, 戒) is a 2007 film by Ang Lee (李安). Starring Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Wei Tang, Joan Chen and Lee-Hom Wang.

The movie is based in both Hong Kong and Shanghai during the Japanese occupation of China during World World II. The main plot point is that Tony Leung's character is targeted, considered a traitor to the Chinese for working for the Japanese. Leung's character tortures Chinese to help the Japanese. Wei Tang is sent in as a spy to find a way to assassinate Leung. A thriller, coming of age, and drama all rolled into one.

The emotional roller-coaster that Ang Lee puts you on is amazing. I was being pulled in all directions regarding many of the characters. Ang Lee once again shows you that you may not really understand the life his characters choose, but you end up pulling for them.

Honorable mention goes to Joan Chen for still holding it up after all these years. It was nice to see some Shanghainese (上海話). When I was around my grandparents more regularly in my elementary school days, I actually knew a hundred phrases or so. I couldn't tell if Joan Chen and Wei Tang's dialect was authentic though. But it was cool, nonetheless.

Watch and watch it again. Be aware as the reports of the heightened sexuality is not exaggerated. But you could argue that it was necessary for the purpose of the story.