Kickboxer's Tears
1/1/01
Review
Format: Non Subtitled VCD
Stars: Moon Lee, Billy Chow, Yukari Oshima, Kenneth Lo, Mark Cheng

(Keep in mind I'm trying to follow a movie that doesn't have subtitles.) Moon Lee is set out on the path of revenge after her brother, Kenneth Lo, is killed in a kickboxing match against Billy Chow after Chow cheats in the ring.

Let me say something first. THIS IS AN EXCELLENT MOVIE. Don't let the reviews get to you that say that this is one of the worst movies ever. They're fuled with the pro-Iron-Monkey ideal where every camera angle must look beautiful, and they cannot find it in themselves to appreciate the talents of the actors instead of the director, for once. Everybody, even Mark Cheng, proves me right in this, especially, well, uh, especially all of them I guess. Ok I'll explain now.

The movie pretty much starts off with a regulated kickboxing match between Chow and Ken Lo. This fight is not only extremely long, but totally realistic, with some camera cuts that lasted so long I wondered if Chow and Lo even bothered remembering any moves and instead just went at eachother with their Muay Thai skills. Great kicking from both of them, obviously they knew what they were doing. Nothing glitsy either, mainly because sweep moves and axe kicks aren't very common in muay thai, so this is very realistic. Chow ends up putting liniment on his gloves which blinds Ken Lo, who WAS about to win, but gets beaten to death. Here's what I don't understand. People dog this movie because the camera goes outside the ring and looks through the ropes at the action, and they complain that they see "rope" instead of the fight. Well, I can see the fight, and if you can't (by looking at the pictures below) then you're just as blind as them. Keep in mind that the camera holds a cut for about a minute one of these times, while Ken Lo and Billy Chow actually seem to be hitting eachother, either with kicks, knees, punches, or elbows. Something to note too. Ken Lo and Chow knew where the camera was the whole time, too, and did their moves on that side so we, the audience, could see what was happening. Now how's that for talent? It lasts for over 7 minutes I'm sure.



Mark Cheng fights some unknown in the ring next, which isn't as impressive because some of it seems undercranked, and the opponent swings unnecessarily at times, as though he's trying to make the fight more intense. But they still both show some good skill. This one's a lot shorter, and more of a choreography than anything.



Then there's some outdoor action when Moon Lee has something stolen from her by a little gangster, who gets all his friends together. Half of them chase her friend, who I don't know, and Moon Lee gets to take on 4 others and looks good doing it. Just some typical defensive kickboxing from her.



Moon Lee interrupts Billy Chow in the middle of coffee in a mahjong parlor and gets in a really nice fight with him, which is later interrupted by his zealous girlfriend Oshima. This one is nicely filmed, with good choreography, and Chow's kicks are good as always. Oshima does a nice wall kick too. The whole thing is 2 minutes long. Chow is obviously doubled in some parts for some stunts, and it looked like Mark Cheng did that work, but I'm not sure.



The two of them take it to an underground ring next, which is more brutal than the last. It's more kickboxing than muay thai this time, so there's more emphasis on neat looking kicks from the two of them. It's long too, just like all the fights in this film, around 2 minutes I believe, and Moon Lee does a great sort of high whirlwind like Biao does in Knockabout. She paralyzes Chow at the end of it with a knee to his back, so Oshima gets the next fight.



The fight between Moon Lee and Oshima isn't exactly long, but it's still good. I doubt there's more than a minute of straight kickboxing, but regardless they both do really well. Mostly hand to hand fighting, which is filmed well, and the kicking is filmed from above. Oshima is obviously doubled at times. The person who did it pulled the rag off a mop and dyed it black (it seems). I expected something longer though, since it's really the last good fight in the movie.



The end scene is more of a slush of HK stuff, minus a good fight. Some gun fights, two guys get in a blade fight, and Moon Lee fights Chow's manager, which doesn't last long. After that, Moon fights the big boss guy, whoever he was, and he's super strong, but not impressive at all. He can't fight, and gets hanged.



Well, despite a fight that was too small with Oshima and a really uninspiring end scene this movie had great action all around. Chow's fighting skills aren't to be mocked, and his fight with Ken Lo in the beginning is a marvel. See this if you like kickboxing in any way, shape, or form, or even if you just wanna see some good Moon Lee action. For such a low budget film, this one is a great effort. For those of you who insist on seeing only high budget, blockbuster HK films like Red Wolf or Iron Monkey (bleh) then you might not like this one. But screw you if you don't see it anyways!

4/5

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