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Fatal Contact
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List Price: $19.95
Our Price: $17.99
Your Save: $ 1.96 ( 10% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Dragon Dynasty
Starring: Cheung Siu Fai, Wu Jing, Lam Suet, Jacky Wu, Andy On
Directed By: Dennis Law
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
Brand: WELLSPRING/GENIUS
EAN: 0796019808101
Format: Closed-captioned
Label: Dragon Dynasty
Manufacturer: Dragon Dynasty
Number Of Items: 2
Publisher: Dragon Dynasty
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2008-01-22
Running Time: 106
Studio: Dragon Dynasty
Theatrical Release Date: 2006
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Editorial Reviews:
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(Action) A na ve young athlete joins an underground prizefighting circuit to earn a little extra money to support his girlfriend. Surrounded by greed and ruthlessness he is hardened into a brutal fighting machine defeating opponent after opponent in a series of vicious battles until he reaches the ultimate showdown where both his life and his soul hang in the balance. System Requirements:Run Time: 106 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre:Â ACTION/ADVENTURE/MARTIAL ARTS Rating:Â UNRATED UPC:Â 796019808101 Manufacturer No:Â 80810
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Jacky WU IS THAT DUDE
Comment: Jacky Wu is the man this movie was really good. The end was a little to dramatic for me, but overall I enjoyed the movie. The fight he has to throw was good, so was the one in that fancy room with the brother from Flash point. One of my favorite dragon dynasty titles worth checking out.
Customer Rating:
Summary: fatal last fifteen minutes...
Comment: great fight sequences, clumsy acting by the lead, and the most overdramatic and drawn-out death scene/ending since Cyrano de Bergerac.
i agree with other reviewers who say the last 15 minutes of Fatal Contact needed help.
if you've read Bernard Malamud's The Natural (yes, it was made into the baseball movie starring Robert Redford) - this is the cinematic equivalent. if you haven't read it, let's just say the book's end is not the way the movie ends...
Customer Rating:
Summary: FATALLY FLAWED
Comment: For me Fatal Contact started out with a lot of promise. The basic plot revolves around a performer who gets drawn into the seedy world of underground fighting. Not incredibly original, but like I said... it had promise. Throughout the film the main character hangs out with his girlfriend and this irritating homeless guy who works for the gangsters who run the fights. Of course, surprise, surprise, the irritating guy turns out to be a kung fu master himself. Wow! I didn't see that coming. (That's sarcasm, in case you were wondering). As the movie progresses there are, quite naturally, a lot of fight scenes (it is a movie about fighting after all). On the plus side, most of the action is very well done and the fights are well choreographed. So, what's my problem you ask? I'll tell you. This movie has one of the worst endings of all time. If you're anything like me, no matter how much you enjoy the first 3/4 of this film, the end will ruin it for you. I don't want to give anything away but very near the end the plot takes an totally unexpected turn, and the movie gets really dark for no apparent reason. It seems like the creators didn't know how to end this one, so basically something bad (i.e. stupid) happens that makes the main character, who was a pretty decent guy up till now, go nuts and kill a bunch of people. The end of this movie is so out of left field, and makes so little sense, that it just blows the whole thing and ruins what could have been a pretty good addition to the kung fu, action genre. That's my opinion, and I'm sticking to it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Jacky Wu IS the next Jet Li!
Comment: For those of you who are not familiar with this works, Jacky Wu is the up-and-coming martials star who is self proclaiming to be the next Jet Li. With the credit of this movie under his belt, he is well on his way to proving that point. I first took note of Jacky Wu in a movie called Tai Chi II. He astounded me with his use of tai-chi and his kicks were amazing. In Fatal Contact he has only proven to have gotten better over the years! His acting is well versed and his fluidity in martial arts styles is a force to be reckoned with. His acting can easily pass for Jet Li in his younger days and coupled with his fighting styles... Well, let's just say, you haven't seen Martial Arts until you've seen this movie. Some of the BEST Fighting you'll see next to Jet and Jacky!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent Action Movie That Shatters Genre Clichés, and 10 Times Better Than Anything the
Comment: Anyone familiar with East Asian cinema knows that Bruce Lee is like some kind of revered God. Yes, he had great influence in many ways, but we need to stop lying to ourselves when thinking that his movies were any good - they weren't. With the exception of a few good martial arts maneuvers, his films are beyond awful. Horrible plot lines, horrible dialogue, horrible characters, horrible humor - and in many cases - subpar, repetitive, and boring action scenes.
Fast forward to the present: Wu Jing is one of the most talented action stars on the planet (along with Tony Jaa), and he definitely gets to show his goods in Fatal Contact. In fact, EVERYTHING in Fatal Contact is about 10 times better than ANYTHING Bruce Lee ever did. Now, that's not saying that Fatal Contact is the best martial arts film ever made, because it's really not that difficult to make a movie more entertaining than Bruce Lee's films. Even Jackie Chan's lesser efforts are better than anything good ole Bruce ever did. Hell, Jean Claude Van Damme had better movies, and that's not saying much.
During the opening 50 minutes of Fatal Contact there are a series of short (yet sweet) fights, but the two best action set pieces occur during the second half of the film as Wu takes on 3 street fighters (one played by ultra-cool Andy On) and a champion kickboxer, both of which are very well choreographed and violent. Quite literally, the fights seemingly explode on the screen with remarkable intensity. No doubt this is attributable to the choreography and the skill of the performers, as well as the soundtrack, but there's an X-factor here that's difficult to place. Whatever it is, Fatal Contact had me dodging and ducking in my seat along with the characters. A remarkable success indeed. As an added bonus, watch for the hilarious training sequence involving Wu's heavily padded girlfriend.
[..]In all honesty, I can't see the problem. Especially considering how some of the most revered "classics" of martial arts cinema have some of the worst plots and characters imaginable - which brings us to comparisons of those archaic Bruce Lee movies that seem to be popular more for sentimental reasons than actual film quality.
There are two reviews on IMDb as I write this (which proves in and of itself that this film is criminally ignored and underrated). Brucev13 says that the story is "ridiculous", but provides no compelling reasons as to why. He only says that this film "doesn't need the drama." This statement is actually quite ironic considering how many complain that nothing new is ever offered in martial arts films. Well, I can tell you this: No martial arts film in existence has ended quite like this one! Brucev13 also contends that the pace is "a bit slow." I disagree. The pacing is fine if you recognize that the most important character is Siu Tin (played by Miki Yeung) because she influences Wu and how he exerts his power. Every single sentence and action of Siu is an interesting character study that contributes a lot more to Fatal Contact than most other action movies are capable of achieving. Heck, that one friggin scene (you'll know when it happens) is FOREVER embedded into my mind, and will undoubtedly provoke "gasps" of shock from most viewers. You can't say that about the dramatic elements in ANY Jackie Chan or Jet Li movie. Fatal Contact should be commended for executing such an insanely unpredictable scene that is still completely consistent with previously established character psychology.
Now, I do think that the spacing of action is unorthodox here. A few fights are peppered throughout the opening 50 minutes, then the two action set piece showcases follow within the next half hour, leaving the final 30 minutes for . . . something else. And that's the heart of Fatal Contact: follow the "Martial Arts Movie Guide" to a T, only to then completely shatter genre conventions to provide a point that hits the viewer like a ton of bricks. Nicely done! Ace52387 claims that the "whole setup is pretty nonsensical" because "some guys walk into an opera performance, and somehow recognize skill in a performer." What Ace52387 doesn't realize is that those guys already knew that Wu was part of the National Kung Fu Team, and intentionally seeked him out by finding where he worked in his spare time. It's really not that difficult to understand if you pay attention.
Some have even gone so far as to criticize Wu Jing of overacting. Please! If Wu Jing overacts, what does that say about Bruce Lee? Heck, Bruce makes Donnie Yen look tame in terms of flailing arms, stupid screams, and cheesy mannerisms.
As far as the action choreography in Fatal Contact is concerned, virtually no one complains about it. And for good reason - it's awesome! And yes, it's much better than anything Bruce Lee ever did. In fact, the Wu Jing/Andy On fight is about 1,000 times better than the obscenely overrated Bruce Lee/Chuck Norris fight (or any of his other revered battles, for that matter).
When all is said and done, Fatal Contact provides remarkable action AS WELL AS an interesting scenario for the action to revolve around. In other words, it mops the floor with any Bruce Lee film.
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