Free tickets to Fist of dragon
award-winning Malaysian filmmaker Michael Chuah showcases his kung fu in Fistofdragon.
AGANGSTER movie with 80% action plus genuine martial artists and minimal post-production work, Fist Of Dragon sounds like an actioner aimed to please fans of the genre.
Playing the movie’s protagonist, film director Michael Chuah, who has been practising martial arts since age nine, worked with action director Lai Kong Fai to choreograph action utilising Southern style Chinese wushu combined with modern street-fighting for a more contemporarylooking style.
Dubbed the young Donnie Yen, it is obvious that action is Chuah’s first love, although he made his feature film directorial debut with the horror thriller Seed Of Darkness (2005). That film won him the Most Promising Director Award at the 20th Malaysian Film Festival (2007).
Chuah, 32, was accompanied by Singaporean actor Henry Thia and Malaysian actor Monday Kang at a press conference held two weeks ago.
In Fist Of Dragon, Chinese martial artist Jie (Chuah) is sent by his father to help his Chen (Thia), who runs a coffeeshop in Malacca. Chen faces constant harassment from local gangsters led by See Ming (Kang).
Despite Chen’s misgivings, Jie decides to protect the villagers by fighting back. Chen’s shop assistant Qing (Wang Xiao Chen) joins him.
They later discover that Chen’s daughter Lily (Fiona Xie) has joined the triads and hangs out with Hao (Kelvin Lau).
The movie has a bit of everything to please viewers. There is Chuah and 2005 World Wushu Champion Jey Tong dishing out the action; Thia and Kang doling out the laughs; Steve Yap and Kelvin Lau as local gangsters; and Singapore’s Xie and China’s Wang to provide the eye candy.
Chuah, who said he drew inspiration from the idea that people should stand up for themselves and lend others a helping hand instead of just standing by and allowing crime to escalate.
Kang is making his big screen debut in Fist Of Dragon. In the movie, we get to see Kang hamming it up as a flippantly violent and unpredictable junkie, tottering around on constantly unsteady feet and staring out of glassy eyes thickly ringed with ultra
black guyliner/manliner.
Commenting on Kang’s performance, a perpetually serious-looking Chuah offered: “I suggested that he takes a character in Shinjuku Incident as a point of reference. But, all the actors have a free rein to interpret their characters as they saw fit.”
A lot of the scenes from the movie were shot after nightfall, prompting the director to clarify that he was inspired by action movies like SPL: Sha Po Lang (2005).
“It just wouldn’t look right if we shot a gangster movie in broad daylight,” said Chuah, who is working on a Malaysianised Chinese action comedy and looking to cast Malay actor Aaron Aziz, whom he liked in KL Gangster.
The movie was mainly filmed in Malacca with early scenes shot in Beijing, where Jie was supposed to come from. Filming with both Thia and Kang also brought many fans to the set of Fist Of Dragon.
Due to Kang’s resemblance to Edison Chen, there’d be fans clamouring for autographs and he’d happily play along and oblige them.
Thia also had his own set of supporters whom he would humour with his signature line (Have you eaten yet?) from Money No Enough 2 (2008).
The release date for China is yet to be confirmed as the movie has been banned there due to its triad theme as well as its extremely graphic depiction of violence.
n Fist Of Dragon opens in local cinemas today.