POLAR RESCUE Review: Donnie Yen Is The Reluctant Hero We Don’t Deserve In Lo Chi-Leung’s Unsettling Rescue Drama
Polar Rescue lands on digital and blu-ray beginning March 26 from Well Go USA.
Polar Rescue lands on digital and blu-ray beginning March 26 from Well Go USA.
Classic TV series Kung Fu had long been in the works for a remake/reboot of some kind until the CW network landed its own iteration starring actress Olivia Liang for a three season run. That show is streaming on Max and my reaction is here if you’re curious, while the word from Deadline is that Donnie Yen has been tapped to star in the project which has since moved to Universal Pictures and David Leitch and Kelly McCormick’s 87 North.
This month I’m hosting a rare giveaway for Sakra, one of the latest titles arriving on DVD and Blu-Ray next week. Donnie Yen directs and stars in the film and is joined by a bevy of actors Wu Yue, Yuqi Chen, Eddie Cheung, and Yase Liu for this Jin Yong adaptation.
Movie projects get announced all the time, and some get left on the backburner for years only to circle other directors and stars or never get made at all. That too, has been the case for action star Donnie Yen, and so as always, time will tell if the three action films revealed by Mandarin Motion Pictures at the Cannes market said to feature Yen will come to fruition.
Sakra opens in select theaters on April 14, and on Digital beginning April 18 from Well Go USA.
This week is as good a time as any to remind fans to subscribe to Well Go USA’s genre imprint, Hi-YAH!. The streamer will launch Ernesto Diaz Espinoza’s Fist Of The Condor this Friday starring Marko Zaror and Eyal Meyer who have been touring the east coast this week while promoting the film’s Alamo Drafthouse screening events in North America.
Welp, it’s about that time. Donnie Yen and his fellow John Wick: Chapter 4 cohorts are running the gamut of daytime and late night talk show hosts and the star also happens to be the subject of his most recent shared directorial venture with Kam Ka Wai, Sakra, based on the work of late literary legend “Jin Yong”. The pic also stars Chen Yuqi, Cya Liu, Wai Ying Hung and Wu Yue.
It’s only a matter of time now until martial arts fans in North America get a proper trailer and timetable for the release of Śakra, the newest adaptation of a Louis Cha literary classic from action star Donnie Yen who directs. According to Screendaily’s Michael Rosser on Wednesday, Well Go USA negotiated the deal with the filmmakers reps at Mandarin Motion Pictures to acquire rights to the film.
Taking the reins at directing his first feature since 2004, Donnie Yen is back to show he’s got what it takes to conquer both sides of the lens and this time with Śakra, based author Jin Yong’s “Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils” (1963) for his own treatment. Yen directs and he also produces the pic in reunion with Wong Jing with a cast that also includes Yukee Chen, Cya Liu and Grace Wong (Line Walker 1 & 2), along with Wu Yue (Ip Man 4) and Kara Hui (Wu Xia).
December is chock-filled with some Asian action delights over at Well Go USA’s niche streaming channel, Hi-YAH!, and the company has a brand new promo which you can view below, firstly introducing footage from Channel Choi’s Kowloon Walled City (2021), starring Shi Yan Neng (a.k.a. Xing Yu) as a migrant from Dongbei who finds himself up against evil forces to protect friends within the notorious city.
Action star Donnie Yen is back in the spotlight with Śakra, his sixth and latest directorial effort in nearly twenty years since the Barbara Wong co-helmer, Protégé de la Rose Noire.
Donnie Yen will reteam with Wu Xia director Peter Chan for Outright Loser, Hidden Master, according to Variety coverage out of Busan this month.
THR‘s Patrick Brzeski’s latest report reveals a first look at sales art for one of action star Donnie Yen’s newest tentpole ventures, Śakra, reteaming him with mega producer Wong Jing (Chasing The Dragon) for an adaptation of 1963 Chinese wuxia best-seller, “Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils”.
Already making the rounds is the latest trailer for New Kung Fu Cult Master, the first of two back-to-back installments re-adapting the Jin Yong classic novel from directing duo Wong Jing and Keung Kwok-Man. This one comes subtitled by way of Shaw Theatres who’ve just released the film a few days ago in Singapore.
Originally published 8.16.21: From a professional standpoint, the last seventeen months were quite hectic for me. Briefly, the translation business was not slowed down in the least by the pandemic, quite the contrary. Amongst other things, I am very grateful for the work – a regular income proved to be one less worry. Work not only kept me busy and paying the bills, it contributed to keeping me sane (long daily walks also helped). The pandemic ensured my disconnection from most people, including friends and acquaintances and the interests/hobbies we share. This year, Fantasia is also part of the general disconnect. As such, I had no idea the film festival’s 25th edition would feature the Canadian Premiere of Hong Kong Director Benny Chan’s (Chan Muk-sing, October 7, 1961 – August 23, 2020) very last film, Raging Fire. Usually, I keep track of these things as martial arts and films still fascinate me in the autumn of my life. My interest with film started at a very young age with my mother Yvette introducing me to black and white films featuring Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, James Cagney, the Marx Brothers, Deanna Durbin, movies we would watch on television. In my early teens, my father Georges and I were patrons of the local cinemas and watched double bills featuring the celluloid exploits of Bruce Lee, Angela Mao Ying and Jimmy Wang Yu. In my later teens and early adult years, I was drawn to films such as The Other Side of Midnight, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, Logan’s Run, and The Serpent’s Egg. !
The past two decades or so proved to be a pretty interesting era in Asian movies. Specifically, new blood entered the arena by the late nineties to carry onward the legacy and momentum of Hong Kong cinema following its latest crossovers of Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Donnie Yen and Michelle Yeoh, placing younger stars like actor Nicholas Tse firmly in the spotlight as the terrain shifted. The result has seen the trajectory expanded on significantly more prospective terms as, namely speaking, Yen’s pursuits saw him traveling the world for productions on both sides of the lens, while the likes of Tse and his Gen-X Cops helmer Benny Chan – director of Yen’s 1995 incarnation of Fist Of Fury – would eventually see the two collaborate several times over from 2004 through 2011.
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