Help me find good Jet Li flicks
 

Most of his american flicks suck (the one was decent), what are the flicks that made him popular, and how are the dvds of them.

New Legend of Shaolin is my favorite. I think its also called The Assassin in HK. I also liked My Father the Hero. I think Suncoast/Sam Goody sells $20 DVD version of these movies with the Cantonese and Mandarin tracks from Taiseng.

Fist of Legend Fist of Legend Fist of Legend Fist of Legend Fist of Legend Fist of Legend Fist of Legend Fist of Legend Fist of Legend Fist of Legend Fist of Legend Fist of Legend Fist of Legend Fist of Legend Fist of Legend.
For shizel.

It seems like this one is a disney title, how bad is the editing?

The only reason it's a Disney title is because they're the ones with the home video distribution rights. It's still a Hong Kong action film. (and my favorite as well)

No extras, and overpriced, but that's where Disney's involvement ends.

kung fu cult master and swordsman2

Legend of Fong Sai Yuk I & II

Okay. You want good Jet Li movies. Here's what you have to do.
First, stay away from the Disney/Miramax versions. Miramax? Fuhgedaboudit.

The only decent Jet Li movies on an American DVD are the Once Upon a Time in China movies put out by Columbia Tri-Star and even then, you might want to spring for one of the CyberHome DVD players so you can get the Hong Kong Legends versions of his movies.

But you can't do much better than the Once Upon a Time in China films, especially the first two.

Then you want to find the Fist of Legend put out by Ritek. This may not be easy, but it's the best available DVD rendition, as far as I know.

Then you want to find a HK e-tailer (listed in the International DVD forum here). There are several that are good. Actually DDDHouse has a place to click so you can see all the Jet Li films. From them, you want to get Fong Sai Yuk and Fong Sai Yuk 2.

For early Jet Li, you want to get Shaolin Temple and Kung Fu Cult Master. Personally, I also like Hitman and High Risk.

Shoot! I almost forgot Black Mask. There are at least 3 versions I can think of. Only one is uncut.

I also like My Father is a Hero.

Good luck. I wish I could see these again for the first time.
J

Twin Warriors (Tai Chi Master) is probably my favorite. Then FoL, FSY's, and OUATIC's.

Don't trust RoQuEr, he doesn't know what he's talking about.-wink-

I can't believe I forgot about Tai Chi Master. Once again, Twin Warriors is the title of the badly dubbed American version.
J

Why do I get the feeling that I'm the only person that actually enjoyed Romeo Must Die.

C'mon, the zip tie fight was righteous.

Echoing the above...
 

Order that springs to mind:

Fist of Legend - Bad Assed
Fong Sai Yuk I&II - Outrageous wirework and fun
Tai Chi Master - Good combination of elements
New Legend of Shaolin - Same, and with an AssKicking Kid too!
Shaolin Temple - His first movie, along with righteous Marital Arts showmanship, there's an unintentional hilarious DocuBio on Jet titled something like Jet Li the brave and strong.
The Legend of the Swordsman a.k.a. Swordsman II - Fun wirework fights, odd story.

has anybody seen the US region 1 Legend of the Swordsman? I heard it's cut. How's the a/v quality and how does it compare to the Mei Ah release?

amazon review (avoid at all cost
"Another instance of a perfectly good HK film being unnecessarily hacked up, repackaged, reformatted, and retitled for American audiences. The entire run of the "Jet Li Collection" DVDs are just plain awful in terms of everything except image quality. Buena Vista (Disney/Mirmax) regularly cuts a considerable amount of footage out of the original movies, rescores them, and for some bizarre reason refuses to offer the option of subtitles, only a very cheesy English Dub. No widescreen option, either. I would recommend avoiding ALL foreign DVDs distributed by Buena Vista, because you are getting an incomplete, censored, altered, and improperly titled version of the film by a company just trying to milk a hot trend for quick cash.

In the particular case of this movie, 10 minutes have been cut all together, which you can see clearly by comparing the technical specs here with those of the imported "Swordsman II" DVD (which, incidentally, is the *actual* title of this movie.)

The import versions of these movies sometimes have their own failings -- mediocre image quality and/or clumsy subtitling are the most common problems -- but if you want to see the *real* versions of these movies, I suggest you avoid Buena Vista's releases at all costs, until they start releasing the films as they were intended to be seen.

Since I can't go region free, are any of the region 0 dvds possible to pick up (with disney being so strict about licencing since you can't get iron monkey from any american retailer since it is owned by disney), and how is the quality there?

I've just taken a brief tour of stores metioned in the International forum section. Most of the films are available. Once again the Once Upon a Time in China films are readily available on Columbia/Tristar.

Is the quality the best in the universe? No, but unless you have a gazillion inch HDTV, they should be okay. Besides, would you rather quibble about quality or see the movie? For about five bucks a DVD, give it a shot.

Keeping in mind that you can go region free for probably less than $70 with one of the Cyber Home machines, these DVDs are the best quality you're going to find.
J

From what I've heard the Disney version of Iron Monkey isn't all that bad. I've got a R0 copy though. Every Jet Li movie I have is R0 actually, so you shouldn't have a problem.

Speaking for myself as a newbie Jet Li fan...I like My Father is a Hero (same as the Enforcer...I think?!), Romeo Must Die, and Kiss of the Dragon....

I've seen Black Mask and wouldn't recommend it...

I've seen the Once Upon a Time in China movies and they are pretty good and would recommend them also...

Vu

Except, if I recall, the soundtrack is changed and there was at least one important cut that provided important back information on a character.

One of the biggest arguments I have with Mickey Mouse film repackaging, is that they treat Asian films in the same sanitized way they treat the animated features.

Everything that might be the slightest bit controversial or offensive or complicating is chopped out so as not to burden the poor viewer.

This, in effect, alters the plot, the story, the character development, relationships between the characters, everything. It's like they take all the Asian-ness out of Asian films and leave just the most superficial, marketable elements. PFUI!

If, for instance, you watch the Ritek "Fist of Legend," it's quite apparent that one of the major themes is
.

If you watch the Disneyized version, it's about .

Anybody who prefers seeing a film in its OAR because that's what the director intended, should also shun Americanized Asian films because the final product is as valid as a bad pan-and-scan job when they're done simplifying and Americanizing the story.

The above two quotes are one person's opinion, but this just speaks to one of the issues regarding the many versions of a HK film. Regarding Black Mask, which version? The English dubbed? The Mei Ah? The ThunderMedia? Each one is going to give you a different story because of the cutting, the subtitles/dubbing.

I'd like to know why the OUATIC movies are only "pretty good."
J

I only remember watching the OUATIC movies in the box set...anyways....as for why they were "only 'pretty good'"...personal opinion based on the impression that it was trying way too hard to be funny....I think alot of the scenes when they were trying to add humor just took away from my personal enjoyment...I kept on "rolling my eyes" everytime that happened...that being said...I loved the fight scenes...and thus they balanced out to making the movies "pretty good"...NOT great but good...but to each his own...whatever!

Vu

Also, with the disney versions, do they cut out any of the fight scenes?

I don't know if they cut any of the scenes, but I believe that sometimes they sanitize them, by editing bits out here and there. However, I couldn't swear to this.
J