Another big winner on the night was a little known movie called “Echoes of the Rainbow”, which starred Simon Yam who also picked up best actor for his role. The movie also went on to win another three awards, which seen Alex Law pick up best screenplay.

Also a highlight for me was knowing that Lau Kar Leung finally picked up his lifetime achievment award which is well over due in my eyes.

Here is the list of all the winners.

Best film: – Bodyguards and Assassins

Best director: “Teddy Chen” – Bodyguards and Assassins

Best actor: Simon Yam, ‘Echoes of the Rainbow’

Best actress: Kara Hui, ‘At the End of Daybreak’

Best supporting actor: Nicholas Tse, ‘Bodyguards and Assassins’

Best supporting actress: Michelle Ye, ‘Accident’

Best screenplay: “Alex Law” – Echoes of the Rainbow

Best new performer: Aarif Lee, ‘Echoes of the Rainbow’

Best action choreography: Stephen Tung, Lee Tat-chiu, ‘Bodyguards and Assassins’

Best cinematographer: Arthur Wong, ‘Bodyguards and Assassins’

Best film editing: Kong Chi-leung, Chan Chi-wai, ‘Overheard’

Best art direction: Ken Mak, ‘Bodyguards and Assassins’

Best costume and makeup design: Dora Ng, ‘Bodyguards and Assassins’

Best original film score: Chan Kwong-wing, Peter Kam, ‘Bodyguards and Assassins’

Best original film song: ‘Echoes of the Rainbow’ from ‘Echoes of the Rainbow’, composer Lowell Lo, lyrics by Alex Law, performed by Aarif Lee

Best sound design: Steve Burgess, Wu Jiang, ‘Red Cliff II’

Best visual effects: Ng Yuen-fai, Chas Chau, Tam Kai-kwan, ‘The Storm Warriors’

Best new director: Cheung King-wai, ‘KJ: Music and Life’

Best Asian film: ‘Departures’ (Japan)

Lifetime achievement award: Lau Kar-leung

Sources: yahoo news.

10. The Magnificent Butcher – Yuen biao vs Lam Ching Ying

Amazingly complex choreography, beautiful technqiues, unbelievable timing. This is it folks. When Sammo and Yuen or Jackie get together the results are usually explosive!

Yuen Biao is in perfect form here and its just a crying shame that this guy did not go on to be as successful internationally as his brothers Jackie and Sammo did.

Click here to view the embedded video.

9. Warriors Two – End Fight

IMO the Greatest Wing Chun movie Ever Made and also one of the best Kung Fu Movies. There was a very good reason why Donnie Yen picked Sammo to do the fight choreography for the Ip Man film and this is it.

Click here to view the embedded video.

8. Flashpoint – Donnie Yen

The only film to make are top 20 which was released in the 21st Century! What makes this fight scene so special is that Donnie here is trying to build a new style of screen fighting. By combining the fighting with more complex Judo/MMA, what we have here is a fight which for the first time ever shows the devastating onscreen potential of grabbling. Previously grabbling/ floor fighting at not been used much on screen as many felt it would not excite audiences, but given the success of MMA/UFC in recent years; many audiences are now more observant to the complex moves used on the floor. The soundtrack also adds that extra hump to every hit. It truly hits the spot. Donnie is back kicking just as good now as he did 20 years ago if not BETTER!

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7. Legendary weapons of kung fu/China – lau kar leung vs lau kar wing

Brotherly love is out of the window here as real life brothers Lau Kar Leung and Lau Kar Wing go against each other in the best weapon based fight of all time. Now when we say weapons WE MEAN WEAPONS! I literally lost count of the number of weapons used in this fight scene. Each one expertly used to defend against the other, attack followed by count attack followed by another attack. Weapon fighting DOES NOT GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS.

Click here to view the embedded video.

6. Police Story 1 – Jackie Chan vs The MALL!

Man this was a hard decision. For many this could easily have been number 1 but after weeks of discussions we came to the conclusion that we had to put Police Story at number 6 (given the movies we have above it). For alot of fans this was their first exposure to Jackie Chan and what a introduction this is! Jackie Chan almost single handledly destroys a mall! This was also the movie that refined glass! and breaking glass! Glass is broken everywhere and by everything. By Bikes, by Punches, by Faces! by kicks, by bodies being completely thrown at glass. WOW! One of the reasons we had to put this down to number 6 is because you could argue that the scene is more famous for the stunt work over the actual hand to hand combat which whilst great is completely overshadowed by what Jackie was able to do to the mall.

Enjoy!

Click here to view the embedded video.

40.Call Me Dragon – Yaskuaki Kurata vs Bruce Liang
Here we get to see fantastic kicking skills and hand to hand combat from both fighters, which ends in a brutal fight. Both show why there excellent at combat and as the fight goes on we also see Kurata take out a Tonfas, so Liang suddenly takes out his nunchakus then we see even more crazy and brilliant attacks. Good watch.

39.Heart Of The Dragon – Car Park Fight
Jackie Chan and his “police” friends fight a bunch of guys inside a car park, we get to see the likes of lee hoi san take on jackie chan, with chan showing how good is hand techniques are with great strikes and blocks. Also chin Kar Lok and Corey Yuen show up in this fight that only lasts around 2 minutes but worth every second, hard hitting fight.

38.Legend Of A Fighter – Final Fight
Here Leung Kar Yan is fighting for Chinese honour against his old Japanese teacher, Chiang-Ho Shan (Yasuaki Kurata) in this brilliant kung fu scene. At first Leung Kar Yan doesn’t want to fight his old teacher, but after him saying the chinese are “scum”, only then does he stand up for his people and take on the japanese fighter. Some great kicking skills in this scene and a few weird moments when Leung can suddenly run around walls and counter attack. Once again Yuen Woo Ping is choreographing the scenes and brings out the best in Leung Kar Yan just like Sammo Hung did in his movies.

37.Thundering Mantis – Final Fight
Leung Kar Yan is a man full of rage destroying many badguys before fighting Eddie Ko in a fantastic showdown. I also love the way the thugs are punching and kicking Leung but he doesn’t feel it and just attacks like mad. The way he finishes off his enemy by breaking his back on his knee and killing him is a great way to finish someone off, the scenery reminds me of the final part of The Victim, another Leung Kar Yan classic.

36.Ninja In The Dragon’s Den – Sanada Hiroyuki vs Conan Lee
Meng Hoi and Corey Yuen choreograph these brilliant fight scenes, this one is my favorite throughout the movie. It starts with the samurai throwing his sword away and taking on Conan with hand to hand combat, high kicks and acrobatics, the movement is fast with some great angels to show to more difficult moves. We also see conan using a cloke to drift into the background so his enemy cannot see him and this is when the fight starts to change.After the fight they decide to team up and go face to face with kicking legend Hwang Jang Lee, great film.

35.Snake And Crane,Art Of Shaolin – Jackie Chan vs 3 Fighters
One of Jackie’s better movies for Lo Wei, and here we see him show some brilliant moves as he easily beats 3 thugs. His style reminds me of his character in Dragon Fist, with very direct and hard hitting punches and kicks. We also see Jackie flip on his head on to a guy lay on the ground then back to his feet (Great move). Also when he faces the spears, the way he jumps in and out of them and moves to avoid being hit is excellent. Jackie Chan is a Hong Kong legend.

34.Tiger Over Wall – Philip Ko vs Hwang Jang Lee
Philip Ko heads to the place where Hwang Jang Lee is staying but is confronted by a few of his men with wodden poles,(not that it bothers Ko in the slightest). Hwang then suudenly turns up with his “Kwan Do” and starts to get the better of Ko until he disharms him and fight goes fist to fist, the action is very fast paced with some wounderful hand techniques and blocks. Towards the end of the fight we do see more trademark kicks from Hwang with a jumping double back kick to the face, but even thats not enough to win the fight and in the end i think he gets the point.

33.Operation Scorpio – Lau Kar Leung vs Won Jin
Lau Kar Leung and Chin Kar Lok both head to Won Jin’s mansion but are faced by lots of Jin’s thugs who all a taste of Leung’s power from his Hung Gar fist. Then he faces Jin in a fight which will have you reaching for the rewind button, as we see some incredible kicks from Won Jin, who also plays a great badguy. Some crazy movements from Won Jin as he loves performing random splits up a wall, but its all down to fists vs kicks – who will win? But make no mistake its an enjoyable film with a legend in the main role.

32.Born Invincible – Final Fight
Carter Wong stars in this excellent film as a laughing white-haired Chi Kung expert who wreaks havoc in the martial world. He shows he has alot of power behind each punch he throws, the fight is once again directed by legend Yuen Woo Ping, so you know its going to be good. Also the way Carter Wong’s character dies is brutal with a knife threw into his mouth when laughing and coming out the other side.

31.Eastern Condors – Final Fight
Sammo Hung vs Billy Chow, Yuen Biao vs Yasuaki Kurata and Dick Wei is just for starts in this final scene from this epic war movie. It kicks off with alot of gun fire and it isn’t until we see Lam Ching Ying get shot that the fighting really starts, Biao showing us some incredible acrobatic movement as he flips over cars and performs lots of high kicks and stunts. Biao then takes on Yuen Wah but Wah is a bit to much for him so Sammo finally steps in and shows Biao how to do it. Sammo is in excellent form and lost alot of weight for this role (which really does show with flips and high kicks). Great movie with an all star cast which also includes Yuen Woo Ping and Corey Yuen with small roles.

The art of screen fighting

It truly is an art all of its own. Often we talk about dramatic actors and how hard their task is but surely the art of screen fighting is the most impressive form of acting? timing, skill, stunts and the danger – this is what many 21st century audiences want to see.

But with so many martial arts movies how do you pick the best ones? How does the martial arts actor find a way to showcase new skills to an ever evolving audience? What about those new to martial arts movies?

Where do beginners start in order to find the best screen fighting artists around?

The Official AMP Top 100 onscreen Martial Arts fights should help answer your questions. Over the next few days we will be counting down from 100, the best fights ever put to film. Stick with us over the next few weeks and find out which fight scenes make it into our top 10, and of course use the comments box to the right to discuss any of our choices.

New Legend Of Shaolin – Beginning Fight

This fight starts quick with Jet Li being attacked by a load of ninja’s led by the main bad guy, Jet uses a spear to disguard some of the foe sticking through about 4 at a time.
There is some wire work (which i’m not always pleased with), but it seems to work, the setting is very similar to the fight in Once Upon A Time In China with the burning fire and the fight being at night. A hard hitting fight in a movie all will truly enjoy.

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon – Michelle vs Zhang
The camera takes us to the heart of the action one moment and then pulls away to let you appreciate the complexity of the movements on display. Both fighters are very impressive, with great weapon work, fantastic timing and movement and this is one film where wire work actually works. Good fight and a shining example of wirework used correctly.

Righting Wrongs – Yuen Biao vs Cynthia Rothrock
When I first saw these two go head to head I thought damn Cynthia can fight, she has great kicking skills and she puts it to test against a legend in the kicking field Yuen Biao. The fight isn’t very long but it does show some fast action with Biao flipping from one chair to the next and Rothrock trying to arrest him using any move possible. Both do great in the scene with Biao performing an impressive jump from a balcony at the end.

Game Of Death – Bruce lee vs Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
This was Bruce’s tallest ever Opponent and he has to find different ways to defeat this giant. After getting a beating in the early stages of the fight (which leaves him with a huge footprint on the front of his clothes) Bruce switches to grappling his opponent to the floor and apply a head lock. Great to see a small man defeat such a bigger man. This fight is not only well executed but also showcases how martial arts can be used to defend a real life opponent.

Once Upon A Time In China – Opera House Fight
I know some people might have this fight higher in the list and although I enjoyed it I couldn’t get it out of my head that Jet gets doubled alot throughout this and the movie (He broke his leg). Apart from that the fight is good to watch with the use of hand techniques, weapon work and kicking skills to get rid of the foreign invasion. The scene is quiet harsh with the killing of innocent people but the fight makes up for it with Yuen Biao also popping up in the scene and Kent Cheung.

HERO- Jet Li vs Donnie Yen
This is the only action scene in the film where Kung Fu is the focus and not cinematography or flashy editing. Also this is the second fight between both guys (OUATIC 2 being the first).
When Donnie and Jet do face each other though the results are great, although the fact they are fighting each other in their minds and not physically is a shame. Its a good scene with both fighters using wepons more than anything else.

Warrior King – Tony Jaa verses 100
After getting beat up for a bit and then a stabbing Jaa finally starts to fight back with a new kind of brutality not seen on screen before. Every person that comes towards him he must break a part of their body with some brutal moves.

Hells Wind Staff – Meng Hoi and Meng Yuan Man vs Hwang Jang Lee
First of all Meng Hoi finishes off a henchman without too much difficulty but then he comes face to face with super kicker Hwang Jang Lee and his devastating ‘Hellz Wind Staff’.
Hwang does perform some great pole fighting with some amazing kicks but the intensity only increases when Meng Yuan Man joins in. Brilliant 2 on 1 fight scene from the man they call Hwang Jang Lee.

Invincible Armour – John Liu & Tino Wong vs Hwang Jang Lee
Yes people another Hwang Jang Lee fight scene and this one again doesn’t fail to impress. Hwang brings the style of Eagles Claw to the screen and in this fight we see Tino Wongs character not being able to defeat the eagles claw. Then we see John Liu turn up and it all changes from there, with great kicking techniques from the fighters and also what i really liked was the fact it would show a egg being crushed when someone would get hit in a certain part, (Have a think) ha. Its a fast paced scene with great timing and skill.

Last Hero In China – End Fight
Yuen Woo Ping choreographes the fight scenes and you can certainly tell as he pushes Jet to the max. We actually get to see him using Drunken Boxing and although not as good as Jackie Chan it still looks good on screen, there is once alot of wire work throughout the movie (someone that would later become a trademark of Jet Li films) and some doubling involved but seeing Jet use this style to defeat his opponent with the Wong Fei Hung theme playing behind is a great watch.

90 – 81 coming soon

The company was run by two brothers Run Run Shaw and Runme Shaw and it wasn’t until 1933 when movies started to bring sound, that the company started to bring in more money. They then produced a movie called Platinum Dragon about a chinese opera group and that brought them a break through to the Hong Kong and Singapore audiences.

By 1939 the brothers had 139 cinemas across the east of asia but by the time the war ended, the japanese had already invaded and taken most of the shaws money and assets, also they were foreced to use their studio and cinema to show Japanese movies. After the war was over the shaws got back in charge of their business and started to expand it across asia and make it bigger than anyone had ever seen.

First Major Breakthrough

It was a movie called “The Kingdom And The Beauty” (1958) which was a global success and brought quiet a bit of money in, then in 1962 another movie hit the screens which would win the “Grand Prix” at the cannes film festival called “Magnificent Concubine“. Another movie around that time which was shown was King Hu’s “Come Drink With Me” which made a new path for Wuxia-Pian movies.

One Armed Swordsman - a true classic

In 1967 a director called Chang Cheh made a brilliant movie called “One Armed Swordsmen” starring the legend Jimmy Wang Yu and it broke box office records at that time breaking the $1,000,000 mark. After this film Chang Cheh went on to make a movie called “Vengence” (1979) and many say that this is the first real kung fu movie , the movie also brought together for the first time the great Ti Lung and David Chaing. By the end of the 70′s the success was beyond what they could have dreamed off. Shortly followed was the international hit movie “The Five Venoms” which to this day is still being bought and shown all over the world.

By 1973 they had started their own tv station TVB, the also began working with international productions with movies like Blade Runner and Seven Golden Vampires and by the mid 70′s they owned 230 cinemas and another 500+ cinemas in distribution deal and over 1 million people per week went to watch a shaw brothers movie.

Major stars and Directors

Well the Five Venoms movie the business had made some new stars. These five were Lo Mang, Lu Feng, Sun Chien, Chiang Sheng and Kuo Chui, who had been stars in the Shaw studio for years, but did not become memorable faces until the Five Deadly Venoms. Of course in the 70′s as mentioned before we had Ti Lung and David Chaing but in the middle of that decade the duo were overshadowed by the rise of Alexander Fu Sheng who had played supporting roles opposite them on many occasions. Fu was eventually killed in 1983 in a car accident, at age 28, ending a brief but spectacular career. Members of the Peking Opera School, including Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung, played extras and bit parts in several Shaw Brothers films in the 1970s, although they were obviously unknowns at the time.

A major name involved with shaw brothers was ofcourse Lau Kar Leung, In the 1960s he became one of Shaw Brothers’ main choreographers and had a strong working relationship with director Chang Cheh, working on many of Chang’s movies as a choreographer, including The One-Armed Swordsman, as well as other Shaw Bros Wuxia pictures, such as The Jade Bow. After a split with Chang on the set of Marco Polo, Lau evolved into a director during the sudden boom of kung-fu movies in the early 1970s. He occasionally did choreography work for non-Shaw movies as well, such as Master of the Flying Guillotine.
Some of his biggest work include movies like 36th chamber of shaolin, Legendary weapons of kung fu, Heros of the east just t name a few.

Recent Years

The last real shaw brothers kung fu movie was Drunken Monkey starring legends Lau Kar Leung and Gordon Liu and also rising star Wu Jing. The movie wasn’t as big a success as they had hoped for although seeing the two legends back on screen and also fighting each other made up for that fact.
The recent output from them was the new action film Laughing Gor also starring Yuen Biao in a cameo role as a officer. The company is still a big factor today in the kung fu movie making and will continue to make big movies and bring through new talent.

Really wish for atleast one more movie with Lau Kar Leung infront and behind the camera, one last classic from the master of fight choreography, who to me only has one equal in that field and that is…… Sammo Hung.

Lau Kar Leung stars in this excellent kung fu piece which many people regard as not only one of the best shaw brothers movies but one of the greatest kung fu movie ever made.

In bizarre rituals kung fu masters all meet to compare their powers against there deadlist enermy – the gun.  When they stand there and go against the gun, all the masters stand still and even start to smile then suddenly all of them drop dead,(not what you want). Only one master refuses to be defeated and that is Lei Kung (lau lar leung),who suddenly makes a break for it and leaves everything behind.

Other schools in the area want Kung dead and send three hitmen after him, one of them being kar leungs real life brother (lau kar wing), in a 20+minutes fight scene both using every single weapon you could ever think off and also magic.

Theres one scene when a fake martial artist goes into the village and uses guys with fake blades to attack him, until it all turns nasty and his insides actually come out of his stomach(so he ties it up).

Everything about the film i love, great characters, the plot is well done and ofcourse the outstanding fight choreography by the lau brothers. Hsiao Hou is also in the movie and to me is just behind yuen biao for the most flexable martial arts star, but also holds his own as a fantastic stuntman.

I give this movie 10/10

[Rating:10/10]

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