Martial Arts Team-Ups of Asskickery!

"Hey, let's look at some martial arts team-ups, Ti Lung." "Okay, David."

Tonight Yayan Ruhian teams up with director Takashi Miike in Yakuza Apocalypse. He might also team up with a frog, a vampire hunter and a vampire gangster. And last night, we saw Tony Jaa and Wu Jing team up together for justice and against terminal illness. So it seems like an excellent time to look at some Martial Arts Team Ups of Asskickery!

David Chiang and Ti Lung are the quintessential martial arts team-up. They started working together on The Young Juvenile / Dead End (1969) and worked on countless films together between then and the release of Chang Cheh's Blood Brothers in 1973. It's not actually countless, but since Ti Lung has currently been in 118 films and Chiang has been in 138 and is still going strong, I'm just leaving it at that. In fact, there are so many movies, I'm just going to pass along this tribute video.

After working Chiang and Ti Lung, director Chang Cheh gathered a new stable of actors including, Sun Chien, Philip Kwok Chun-Fung, Lo Meng, Lu Feng, Chiang Sheng and Johnny Wang Lung-Wei in 1978's The Five Deadly Venoms. Here the chief of the Poison Clan (Dick Wei) explains to Yang Tieh (Chiang Sheng) the nature of his mission--and just happens to introduce the Five Deadly Venoms themselves.

Various combinations of these actors appeared together in Chang's subsequent films, including Crippled Avengers / The Return of the Five Deadly Venoms (1978); Ten Tigers of Kwantung (1979);  Shaolin Rescuers (1979) and The Kid With The Golden Arm (1979).

One of the many pleasures of Hong Kong cinema is playing, "Recognize the Deadly Venom" in this film. For instance, Lo Meng and Philip Kwok appear in John Woo's Hard Boiled (1992), which features a pretty sweet team-up between Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai. Please note how Philip Kwok dismounts his motorcycle here...

But to get back to kung fu team-ups, Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao have appeared in a bunch of movies together (and in various combinations), including Project A (1984), Wheels On Meals (1984), and Dragons Forever (1988). Here they fight Benny "The Jet" Urquidez in Dragons Forever.

Lot fewer offices and factories feature glass furniture after this kind of things.

Yuen Biao and Sammo Hung also teamed up with Lam Ching-Ying (Mr. Vampire) in one of my favorite movies, The Prodigal Son (1981).

Sammo Hung did a lot of work with the great Angela Mao Ying, and even presented her with a Lifetime Achievement Award at NYAFF. When Taekwondo strikes, it's Angela Mao Ying kicking Sammo Hung's ass.

And Sammo even teamed up with Donnie Yen in my favorite fight in SPL (2005). (With Simon Yam Tat-Wah in peril!)

See Tony Jaa and Wu Jing team up in  SPL 2: A TIME FOR CONSEQUENCES:
Fri, Sept 18, 3:30 PM BLOOR HOT DOCS
Sun, Sept 20, 6:30 PM SCOTIABANK 2

Meanwhile, Yayan Ruhian teams up with Takashi Miike in YAKUZA APOCALYPSE:
Fri, Sept 18, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Sat, Sept 19, 3:00 PM SCOTIABANK

Gentlemen of Asskickery: "Mad Dog" Yayan Ruhian

When The Raid premiered at Midnight Madness in 2011, Maniacs went wild at the amazing, brutal set-pieces. Yayan Ruhian is returning to the Madness tonight with Takashi Miike's Yakuza Apocalypse. Before he was cast as Eric in Gareth Evans' Merantau (2009), fight choreographer and actor Yayan Ruhian was a pencak silat teacher and even taught police martial arts techniques. Actually, that makes it sound like Yayan is no longer an instructor, but he still teaches silat. He told The Jakarta Post how he became involved in silat.

“There was a new school [of pencak silat] that was experiencing quite a boom and I tried to enroll there … now it is called PTSD [Pencak Silat Tenaga Dasar] Indonesia. I finally became assistant coach and then I was summoned to Jakarta to become a professional trainer,” he said.

Unfortunately, he was unaware that his training to be a jury referee (wasit juri) in Jakarta would prevent him from participating in future tournaments. He was only told of the prohibition later when he tried to register for a tournament.

“It’s all right. If I can’t be an athlete, I’ll create athletes,” Yayan said, smiling. 

Yayan participated in a documentary fellow Midnight Madness Alumnus Gareth Evans was making about silat. And the next thing you know, we have Merantau and this excellent elevator fight.

Here he's working on fight choreography with Iko Uwais for The Raid / The Raid: Redemption.

And the  choreography comes to fruition in this fight with Joe Taslim in The Raid / The Raid: Redemption.

Yayan Ruhian gets up to some brutal business as hitman Prakoso in The Raid 2 / Berandal (2014)

And finally, never forget Mad Dog's"fluorescent tube" fight in The Raid.

See Yayan Ruhian's return to Midnight Madness tonight in Yakuza Apocalypse!

YAKUZA APOCALYPSE Screening Times:
Fri, Sept 18, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Sat, Sept 19, 3:00 PM SCOTIABANK

Gentlemen of Asskickery: The Dapper Fist of Zhang Jin.

Zhang Jin was Zhang Ziyi's stunt double in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and was a stunt performer in Hero (2002). He won Best Supporting Actor at the Hong Kong Film awards for his portrayal of Ma San in Wong Kar-Wai's tribute to Ip Man, The Grandmaster (201.  He was Ghost Eyes in From Vegas To Macau (2014) and Wu Long in the new Wong Fei-Hong movie, Rise Of The Legend (2014). He played the young Mue Che in Shaolin vs. Evil Dead: Ultimate Power (2006).

And from the SPL 2 stills and posters, it looks like Zhang Jin is Master of Dapper Fist.

Dapperly villainous.

Fine, I'll take off my jacket, but only because there's two of you.

Fit is crucial in a duel.

Wu Jing has been framed and imprisoned for fashion crimes.

And then there is Louis Koo. What is he even doing? Do you even recognize him?

See Zhang Jin kick ass with style tonight!

SPL 2: A TIME FOR CONSEQUENCES screens:
Thu, Sept 17, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Fri, Sept 18, 3:30 PM BLOOR HOT DOCS
Sun, Sept 20, 6:30 PM SCOTIABANK

Gentlemen of Asskickery: Wu Jing

Wu Jing, aka, "Jacky Wu," returns to Midnight Madness with SPL 2: A Time For Consequences. Madniks might remember Wu Jing from the first SPL (2005), directed by Wilson Yip Wai-Shun, and Wu Jing and Donnie Yen beating the bejeezus out of each other in an alley fight.

Wu Jing was born in Beijing in 1974. He entered the Beijing Wushu School when he was six and is a Chinese National Wushu Champion. Wu got his first break when he was discovered by director and choreographer, Yuen Woo-Ping. Yuen gave Wu a role in Tai Chi 2 / Tai Chi Boxer (1996). 

Here Wu fights Billy Chow in Yuen Woo-Ping's Tai Chi 2:

Which led to Wu starring in Yuen Woo-Ping's 1997 tv series Master of Tai Chi.

Yuen Woo-Ping and Wu Jing made two more tv series together: New Shaolin Temple and Swordsman of Flying Dagger. Man, I wish I got TVB. But my sadness is easily distracted by this fight between Wu Jing and be-ascoted Sammo Hung in Fatal Contact (2006). (Guys, Sammo Hung is fighting in an ascot).

A nice fight between Wu and Shawn Yue in Invisible Target (2007).

Legendary Assassin (2008) was co-directed by Wu and Li Chung-Chi, who is SPL 2's fight choreographer.

Wu Jing wrote, directed and starred in Wolf Warriors / I Fight For China (2015). It features Scott Adkins (The Undisputed Series; Universal Soldier: Day Of Reckoning). The hand-to-hand fighting starts at about 1:45.

And to get you in the mood for SPL 2, Wu Jing's alleyway throwdown with Donnie Yen in SPL.

SPL 2: A TIME FOR CONSEQUENCES screens:
Thu, Sept 17, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Fri, Sept 18, 3:30 PM BLOOR HOT DOCS
Sun, Sept 20, 6:30 PM SCOTIABANK

Gentlemen Of Asskickery: The Return of Tony Jaa

One of my most cherished Midnight Madness memories is seeing Tony Jaa kicking a guy with his legs on fire at the world premiere of Ong-Bak (2003). And this was back in the Uptown days, when you could see men with legs aflame knee someone on the enormous screen of an old movie palace. This memory still fills me with wonder and joy, because I am a terrible person.

Tony Jaa got his start in the late Panna Rittikrai's Muay Thai Stunt Team. He performed in some of Panna's films--and was occasionally a villainous henchman. Since then, Jaa's become a superstar in Thailand, with films reflecting pride in Thai antiquities and heritage (especially elephants).  And now, Tony Jaa, like MM Alumnus Joe Taslim (The Raid) before him, has become of a member of the Fast & Furious family, with an excellent featured fight in Fast & Furious 7.

Now Tony Jaa returns to Midnight Madness in SPL 2: A Time For Consequences. In SPL 2, his character, Chai, does a lot of sensitive parenting as the father of a terminally ill daughter. He also beats the hell out of a lot of people. In that spirit, let's look at some clips of Tony Jaa bringing it!

The sweet chase scene from Ong-Bak:

Drunken style in Ong-Bak 2 (2008):

Fighting Lateef Crowder in Tom Yum Goong / The Protector (2005):

Having some fun making references to the chase scene in Ong-Bak and the quest to find his elephant in Tom Yum Goong / The Protector in The Bodyguard (2007)

A bit of the bus fight in Furious 7 (2015):

Tony Jaa and Michael Jai White in Skin Trade (2015):

And kicking a dude with his legs on fire:

SPL 2: A TIME FOR CONSEQUENCES screens:
Thu, Sept 17, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Fri, Sept 18, 3:30 PM BLOOR HOT DOCS
Sun, Sept 20, 6:30 PM SCOTIABANK