A number of standout martial arts films have been ok to warrant sequels – however some took longer to occur than others. Many instantly launched into franchises, whereas others took a decade or extra earlier than they grew past a standalone story. There are additionally conditions the place martial arts film franchises fell dormant for years, solely to be revived later.
Naturally, a sequel to an older film or a “lifeless” franchise, comes with large dangers, contemplating that it is dependent upon curiosity nonetheless being there after so a few years. However as current blockbusters like Prime Gun: Maverick have confirmed, such movies are definitely price revisiting.
The martial arts style, for its half, has witnessed various levels of success with this system. A handful of martial arts gems – together with people who might have appeared like films that should not be touched – have been resurrected through the sequel remedy, generally with new casts and in different situations, with the unique lead actor.
Return Of The Fist: Legend Of Chen Zhen
Primarily based on appearances alone, it will not be instantly apparent that Donnie Yen’s 2008 superhero interval piece is a sequel to one in all Jet Li’s greatest films. In 1994, Jet Li starred in Fist of Legend, a remake of the 1972 Bruce Lee martial arts traditional, Fist of Fury. Return of the Fist: Legend of Chen Zhen noticed Yen substitute Li in a follow-up to Fist of Legend.
By differing from the ending provided by the Bruce Lee authentic, Fist of Legend was capable of pave the way in which for a continuation, even when it wasn’t intentional on the time. As an alternative of throwing himself right into a blaze of gunfire as he did in Fist of Fury, Li’s Chen Zhen faked his loss of life, permitting Yen’s tackle the character to return as a disguised Chen Zhen in Thirties China.
This backstory offered the superb basis for a enjoyable superhero story laced with martial arts motion. Return of the Fist was very totally different from earlier Chen Zhen tales, however the masked vigilante ingredient to it was useful for organising some nice Donnie Yen battle scenes the place he bought to go up in opposition to hordes of armed opponents.
Flying Swords Of Dragon Gate
Flying Swords of Dragon Gate is a singular case, in that it serves as each a remake and a sequel. One of the crucial influential wuxia film ever made, King Hu’s Dragon Inn sees a lot of figures meet and conflict on the Dragon Gate Inn in historical China. Hong Kong filmmaker Tsui Hark produced two variations of the movie, New Dragon Gate Inn and The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate.
The latter, launched 19 years after Tsui Hark’s first make and 44 years after the unique, weaves the same story however is revealed to happen three years after the Dragon Gate Inn was burned down in New Dragon Gate. That includes a brand new solid of characters (together with Jet Li), Flying Swords of Dragon Gate created a vibrant world for its wuxia journey story.
Having confirmed to be a seamless slot in wuxia movies, Jet Li contributed tremendously to Flying Swords of Dragon Gate’s epic motion sequences, however took a backseat to the opposite members of the solid, who displayed wonderful chemistry and martial arts expertise of their very own.
CZ12
CZ12 (often known as Chinese language Zodiac) is a 2012 Jackie Chan motion film that places the actor again in a task he had performed in 21 years. In two Nineteen Eighties Hong Kong films, Armour of God and Armour of God II: Operation Condor, Chan performed Asian Hawk, who operated as considerably of an Indiana-Jones model motion hero.
Jackie Chan’s dedication to doing his personal stunts and the Indiana Jones system made for an ideal mixture within the two movies, and Chan made probably the most of that once more for a 3rd time in CZ12. Actually, it went so heavy on stuntwork that it entered the Guiness E-book of Data for the variety of stunts included in a single film.
The Karate Child: Legends
Piggybacking off the renewed curiosity in The Karate Child franchise that Cobra Kai had helped domesticate, The Karate Child: Legends featured the primary big-screen outing for Ralph Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso in 36 years. The franchise continued with out him for one film, 1994’s The Subsequent Karate Child, however deserted that canon with the 2010 Karate Child remake.
Although The Karate Child: Legends, the franchise was capable of merge the continuity of the remake with the unique films, primarily making it a sequel to each tales. This distinctive idea set in movement an thrilling team-up and mix of martial arts types the place Jackie Chan’s Mr. Han and Macchio’s Daniel skilled a brand new “Karate Child” to win a martial arts event.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon II: Sword Of Future
In 2000, Chow Yun-Fats and Michelle Yeoh co-starred within the Greatest Image-nominated wuxia movie, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The groundbreaking martial arts film created a brand new period for the style, however the film itself did not bear a sequel for an additional 16 years. In 2016, Yeoh returned to star within the Netflix authentic film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon II: Sword of Future.
It was at all times an excessive amount of to anticipate for a sequel to a film with a 98% Rotten Tomatoes rating and 10 Academy Award nominations to match the unique, however Sword of Future is a worthy successor nonetheless. It options a ravishing wuxia setting, memorable performances for Yeoh and Yen, and a mixture of wushu motion and romance that comprises a spirit according to the primary film.
Drunken Grasp II
Within the aftermath of Drunken Grasp’s launch, a number of follow-ups – together with Dance of the Drunk Mantis – have been made to capitalize on its success, however sadly a correct sequel with Jackie Chan wasn’t amongst them, on condition that he had moved on to a brand new stage in his profession. However Chan did return to the function finally, through Drunken Grasp II in 1994.
Fairly presumably the very best martial arts sequel ever made, Drunken Grasp II completed the uncommon process of bettering on the unique. Pairing Chan with one of many best martial arts administrators of all time in Lau Kar-leung had so much to do with that, in addition to the choice to place better give attention to the emotional stakes of the story and the dangers of utilizing drunken boxing kung fu.