Ass Whoopin Wednesdays: Hard Target 2 (2016)

When I was a kid growing up, I was a huge fan of Jean Claude Van Damme and all of his films. I have been becoming a huge fan of Scott Adkins (Ninja: Shadow Of A Tear) as of late so when I saw that he was starring in Hard Target 2 which is the sequel to Van Damme’s film, I decided to watch it for Ass Whoopin Wednesdays. Wes Baylor (Adkins) is one of the best in Mixed Martial Arts, but when he kills his best friend in the ring during a match, he can’t handle the guilt so he quits. After disappearing and taking underground fights in Thailand, he is contacted by a business man offering him a big payday. There’s only one catch, he is to be hunted by a group of rich hunters. If he can make it to the border he lives, but if he doesn’t he dies. The film also stars Robert Knepper (Hitman) as Aldrich, Rhona Mitra (The Number 23) as Sofia, Temuera Morrison (Star Wars: Episode III-Revenge Of The Sith) as Madden, Ann Truong (Hunters) as Tha, Adam Saunders (Blue Water High) as Esparto, Peter Hardy (Chopper) as Jacob Zimling, Sean Keenan (Strangerland) as Tobias Zimling, and the film was directed by Roel Reiné (Death Race 2). Before we check out the review of the film, let’s take a look at the stats:

The stats for this film were straightforward and sometimes a little tricky with certain questions. In the film Scott has about 26 kills/knockouts and I put an no next to origin story because we don’t know much about him other than he killed his best friend in a match. I wasn’t sure what to put for an answer as far as love interest was concerned because we don’t really know if he becomes a thing with Tha. As far as the next question s concerned, he did kill his best friend and Tha is also under attack as well. The big boss is defeated, but as always you’ll have to watch for yourself to find out how. I am really starting to become a big fan of Scott Adkins (I review Ninja: Shadow Of A Tear before) and he’s been in some films that I loved like The Expendables 2, etc. I’m not positive if I’ve seen the original Hard Target, but this wasn’t a bad film on it’s own. Sure, it’s basically a martial arts version of The Most Dangerous Game, but that’s what Hollywood and everyone else does. They rehash old ideas and they try to disguise them as fresh new ideas.The martial arts action in the film is pretty sick and I love all of the fight scenes with Adkins as a fighter before he joins the hunt. Those were some pretty sick fight scenes in the film for sure. You have to love the scenic shots of Thailand both in the city and in the jungle that are provided to you in the film including the closing credits. It wasn’t a bad action movie and of course you know what you’re getting with them. I am going to give the film 3.7 fists out of five for a final grade.

Ass Whoopin Wednesdays: Ong-bak (2003)

Being a fan of Martial Arts films, you follow all of the legendary guys who have made a big name for themselves from Bruce Lee all the way to Jet Li and Jean Claude Van Damme in the middle of all of that. After all of these guys made their mark on the scene, fans have been hoping for a new name and that name is Tony Jaa (The Protector). So, I chose to watch the film that made him a name in the US with Ong-bak for Ass Whoopin Wednesdays. The film stars Jaa as Ting, a young martial artists who is about to become a monk until something drastic happens in his village. A corrupt drug dealer from the big city saws off the head a sacred statue that means a lot to the village. They send Ting to the city with hopes that he’ll bring back the head of the statue, but what they don’t realize is that he’ll have to battle all of the underworld just to retrieve the statue. The film also stars Petchtai Wongkamlao (The Bodyguard) as George, Pumwaree Yodkamol (The Protector) as Muay Lek, Wannakit Sirioput (Sniper 3) as Don, Chatthapong Pantanaunku (Born To Fight) as Saming, and the film was directed by Prachya Pinkaew (Warrior King 2). Now let’s check out some stats before we get into the review of the film:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the action kicked off in this film I became a huge Tony Jaa fan because some of the stunts they do are just incredible. As you can see from the stats, it’s pretty straightforward as he knocks out 41 guys with some of them definitely dead. The only thing we know is that the statue means a lot to his village which is very poor so as far as an origin story was concerned there wasn’t any. I did want to say that Petchtai Wongkamlao was the perfect on screen partner for Tony Jaa as he provided some great comedy to the film and he is really the character that changes throughout the film and sees the light and error in his ways. One of the things that caught me by surprise was the constant instant replay shots that you get in all of the action scenes so just in case you missed the first time, they’ll show it to you again. It was different, but after a while I didn’t mind it at all. The fight scenes are amazing which is all you can hope to see from these films as well as some crazy martial arts moves. I also liked the realism in the look of how poor his village looked because it gave you a great sense of how much this statue meant to the people. I am going to give this film four fists out of five for a final grade. I’m definitely going to check out the other two films in the series now.

Ass Whoopin Wednesdays: The Big Boss (1971)

What kind of blog or even a segment like Ass Whoopin Wednesdays would we be without the master Bruce Lee and one of his amazing films. The man is the Godfather of modern Martial Arts films because he legitimized the genre and showed the world that you could make money with Martial Arts films. The film I chose for today I originally knew as Fists Of Fury, but I believe the original name of the film was The Big Boss. Bruce Lee (The Chinese Connection) stars as Cheng, he is travelling away from China and to Thailand to make a new start in his life after he promised Uncle (Chia-Cheng Tu) and his mother that he wouldn’t fight anymore. So, Cheng goes to live with is cousins and work his job at the local ice factory, but what he and his cousins don’t realize is that the factory is a front for distributing drugs inside the ice. One day, when one of the cousins finds the drugs inside, he disappears and soon all of the cousins start to disappear. So, now it’s up to Cheng to figure out exactly what is going on and to get himself some revenge. The movie also stars Maria Yi (Slash: Blade Of Death) as Chow Mei, Marilyn Bautista (Bloodfist) as Miss Wuman, Ying-Chieh Han (Lao hu sha xing ) as The Boss, Tony Liu (The Way Of The Dragon) as The Boss’s Son, James Tien (The Fearless Hyena) as Hsiu Chien, Shan Chin (The Chinese Connection) as Hua Sze, and the film was directed by Wei Lo (New Fist Of Fury). Now let’s check out some stats before we get into the review of the film:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bruce Lee is one of my all time favorite actors and I have to say that if it wasn’t for him I probably would have never liked or cared for the genre. If there was no Bruce Lee, there would be no Chuck Norris (He would still be there, but not as popular), Jean Claude Van Damme, Jackie Chan (would probably only be popular in Asia), Jet Li, and so on and so forth. This film was epic and it doesn’t even matter that in the first 30 minutes or so, Bruce Lee has only knocked out 2 guys because the story and the action is amazing right from the start. The film was filmed in Thailand and you can really notice the difference between the rich and the poor just through this film. I had to add something new to the stats because every once in a while in these action/martial arts films there is a sexual conquest and it’s with the beautiful Marilyn Bautista even though Bruce doesn’t realize it until the next day. Maria Yi is obviously a lot more beautiful in comparison, but she is more virtuous and delicate like a flower so a conquest with her is out of the picture. I definitely recommend watching this film if you want to learn more from the master. I am going to give this film 4.5 fists out of five for a final grade because it kicks major ass on Ass Whoopin Wednesdays.