02-03-2025, 11:40 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-04-2025, 12:08 AM by Drunk Monk.)
I just rewatched this and was struck again by how much of it I forgot.
I do love how it plays with Karate ideals in the academic way - only for defense, yeah right. I also love the choreo which has the most authentic Karate feel. The finale fight gets dirty in the mud and it's a one-er that's notably tense and complicated because they're rolling in mud.
And that cast is authentic practitioners:
Taikan (Tatsuya Naka, 7th Dan JKA Shotokan karate)
Choei (Yuji Suzuki, 1st Dan Kyokushin karate)
Giryu (Akihito Yagi, 7th Dan Goju-ryu karate)
This still holds up. It's timeless. There's some arty stuff, like the focus on the red balloon, and some clever use of B&W for that mud wrasslin finale fight (I shouldn't denigrate it that way because it is very well done).
The evil Japanese captain reminded me faintly of my grandfather.
Still D00M recommended
I do love how it plays with Karate ideals in the academic way - only for defense, yeah right. I also love the choreo which has the most authentic Karate feel. The finale fight gets dirty in the mud and it's a one-er that's notably tense and complicated because they're rolling in mud.
And that cast is authentic practitioners:
Taikan (Tatsuya Naka, 7th Dan JKA Shotokan karate)
Choei (Yuji Suzuki, 1st Dan Kyokushin karate)
Giryu (Akihito Yagi, 7th Dan Goju-ryu karate)
This still holds up. It's timeless. There's some arty stuff, like the focus on the red balloon, and some clever use of B&W for that mud wrasslin finale fight (I shouldn't denigrate it that way because it is very well done).
The evil Japanese captain reminded me faintly of my grandfather.
Still D00M recommended
Shadow boxing the apocalypse