March 21, 2024 • 30 mins
Based on the classic wuxia novel Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils by Jin Yong. Qiao Feng, the respected leader of a roving band of martial artists, the Beggar's Gang, is wrongfully accused of murder and is subsequently exiled. Qiao Feng goes on the run in search of answers about his own mysterious origin story-and the unknown enemies working to destroy him from the shadows.
Starring Donnie Yen, Wu Yue, Chen Yuqi, Cya Liu, Wai Ying Hung, Cheung Siu Fai, Wong Kwan Hing, Du Yumung, Lui Leung Wai, Tsui Siu Ming, and many more.
Art Direction by Liu Shi Yun
Edited by Ka-Wing
Cinematography by Chan Chi Ying
Action Direction by Kenji Tanigaki and Donnie Yen
Action Choreography by Yan Hua and Zhang Chao
Directed by Donnie Yen and Ka-Wai Lam
Starring Donnie Yen, Wu Yue, Chen Yuqi, Cya Liu, Wai Ying Hung, Cheung Siu Fai, Wong Kwan Hing, Du Yumung, Lui Leung Wai, Tsui Siu Ming, and many more.
Art Direction by Liu Shi Yun
Edited by Ka-Wing
Cinematography by Chan Chi Ying
Action Direction by Kenji Tanigaki and Donnie Yen
Action Choreography by Yan Hua and Zhang Chao
Directed by Donnie Yen and Ka-Wai Lam
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:35):
All right, let's send him aback another dish. How we doing out
(01:26):
there? Good? Great gray yanda yan puke. As you see on
your screen, your dial, however, you are choosing to join me today,
I appreciate you. Well, maybeI don't know. I can't I
can't decide, but I know thatthe filmmakers involved in this one due that's
for sure. So as you seeon your screen, your doll. Socra
(01:49):
Socra starring Donnie Yen, based onthe classic Wusha novel Demigods and Semi Deevils
by Lewis Chaud, known worldwide byhis pen name janielleung Soccra stars Donnie Yen
as Kilfeng, the respected leader ofa robing band of martial artists. After
he is wrongfully accused of murder andsubsequently exiled, cal Feg goes on the
(02:14):
run in search of answers about hisown mysterious origin story and the unknown enemies
working to destroy him from the shadows. The physical disc is now available.
You can get this now. Infact, I apologize I'm doing this probably
a year late, But have youever heard of life and a real job
(02:36):
that gives you gentle? This onedoes not So I apologize for taking so
long to get this one out here, but the physical disc is available now,
and should you not want to spendmoney based on my recommendation, it's
also screaming as streaming for free,streaming for free on tub. I tell
(02:57):
you what, tub has a shitton of awesome martial arts films on there
right now. I don't know howthey got the rights to all that,
even like the B level ones.You know there's B level horror films.
Well, there's a shit ton ofB level kun Fu movies as well,
so make sure you head on overto to Be to check that out.
So Sokra is starring Donnie Yang,Dani Yen is q Feng. We got
(03:24):
Wu Yu who plays marang Fu.We got Chen yu Ki who plays Azu,
Sia Liu who plays Azi. Azuand Azi those are two different character
names. And we'll get into thekind of the convolutedness towards the end.
(03:45):
But I don't even know if it'sconvoluted or I'm just stupid, and I
am so geared to just assuming thatI'm to blame for kind of not understand.
Well, we'll get there. Wegot why ying Hung who plays Roun
j You run Jing Yu jing Zhugod Damn. We got Ching Siu phi
(04:06):
Ching Siufi who plays duan Jing junWang kwang Hing who plays missus Ma.
We got dou yu Ming who playsby Jijing Jijing. We got lu liong
Hui who plays Marang bo uh SuitSi Ming who plays Kuma Chi Xu Jing
(04:27):
jiang Dung who plays Ju Nanan.Y you guys are loving this, Yuan
Jing Grin who plays Ju Mua.Yeah, that's great, that's this is
so great. I always just soyou guys know, I always make it
a point to do this for thefirst time. So you guys, I
I know that this is gonna soundlike an excuse, but I promise you
(04:48):
it is more so some of youyounger cats that listen to this, It's
okay to fail. Okay, it'sall right to fail. This is you
know, And I don't mind failingin front of an audience. That's that's
quite alright with me anyway. HuanJing Green who plays Ju Muha, li
Xiang Hua who plays Elder song Ling, Liang Gurong who plays Elder Wu Ching
(05:12):
Cheng who plays Elterer, t ChangTi Hui who plays Elter ch Elder Chen
and Gua Jing Long Ju Long,who plays Elter Ju. I'm sure I
missed, uh, just so manypeople that were in it, but like
after a certain point, I'm likeall right, like, especially since I
(05:36):
don't know if you guys ever,go on IMDb to check out the cast
and crew list for some of thefilms that I review, specifically the foreign
films or smaller films that this one'snot small at all, but a lot
of times with the Chinese Japanese films, I get a little concerned by the
amount of information that's on there.I mean, like the one that I
(05:57):
did most previous, or the oneI did previously, what was it one
percent Warrior, which is also calledone percenter. You can find both names
on there, and it's it's almostlike there was a crew of none.
So I don't know what's going onwith that, but anyway, the crew
for Soakra we got art direction byLiu Shi Yung, edited by Ka Wing
(06:19):
Cinematography, which was off the chartshere, cinematography by Chan Chi Ying.
We had action direction from Kenji Tanigakiand Donni Yen, action choreographer Yang Hua
and Cheng Choo and This is basedon, like I said, the Wu
Sha novel Demigods and Semi Devils,written by Jingyong. The screenplay appears to
(06:43):
be done by a host of people. We got he ben Chen Li Sheng
Sheng lin Zi Lie Jeng Chen Xu, Yifan Wi Hu and also credited as
Lewis Chab but that if you readIMDb, Lewis cha is Jingyong Jingyong,
it's Lewis Chaw, so the guywho wrote the novel anyway, directed by
(07:05):
Donnie Yen, And then there's alsoin the credits co directed by Kahuai.
Come really kind of getting confused asto how I'm supposed to pronounce these names
if it goes last name first,first name last, because I am pretty
sure there's a uh, there's arespect that goes behind saying the name right.
(07:27):
And I just want to tell you, anybody involved in the film out
there listening, I'm a dope,but I promise you I love this film
and I mean no disrespect by mebeing an idiot. So in the early
Northern Song dynasty, the country wasoften invaded by the Katan led the Ao
dynasty. The former Yan Kingdom's oldforces were secretly planning to restore their power.
(07:54):
Territorial disputes triggered wars. Kindness andiminity and enmity. We're everywhere.
Love and hatred were all ignited bygreed and jealousy. No one was an
exception. Those who had feelings wereall caught in them. So the movie
starts as an origin story. Wemeet baby Chiao Feng, and as a
(08:18):
baby Katan born Kiao Feng loses hisparents and is sent to be raised by
a couple from the Song Empire,which is at war with the Katan led
Leao Empire. Kiou Feng grows upand becomes a powerful chief of the Beggars
Gang. Yes, that's right,the Beggar's Gang Man. Some of the
(08:39):
subtitles in this I I as aside gig. As long as I'm getting
paid for it. I want tostart doing subtitles that don't come off lazy
and or confusing in some of thesemovies, because in this one, there's
just stuff like and we'll get therebriefly, I'm gonna touch on it,
(09:01):
but there's just times where I'm like, well, that is said in the
most elementary way possible, and Iget it. Americans are stupid, and
the Chinese are you know, they'retaking college courses when they're in fucking fifth
grade. But holy moly, Ithink we can step up then and for
you guys to listen to the show. You know, this isn't my first
(09:24):
beef with subtitles. I don't knowif the people doing the subtitles just think
that we aren't paying attention, orif like they just assume that we're watching
this as a second screen, meaningthat the phone is our first screen and
the movie is our second screen.I don't know what the issue is,
(09:46):
but sometimes it just makes me laugh. It just makes me laugh where I'm
just like, huh boy, wedidn't even try there. Anyway. He
kill Fag grows up to become apowerful chief of the Beggars gang, utilizing
martial arts in battles. However,he is framed for the murder of Deputy
(10:07):
Chief Ma Deputy Chief Ma Daijuan byhis wife, Lady Ma, and he
is kicked out of the gang afterthey discover his origins as a part of
the Katan people. He is alsoslandered and accused of the murder of his
adopted Get this, Kiao Fang ishaving quite possibly the worst day of his
(10:31):
life. He is accused of murder, not once, not twice, three
times in this movie, three timeshe is accused of murder. Talk about
fuck this, but now I askyou this. If you're if you're accused
three times of murder, Hey,where there's smoke, there's fire. I'm
(10:52):
just kidding. He didn't murder anyone. Oh spoiler alert. Anyway, he
is also slandered and accused of murderof his adoptive father and mother. When
he goes to the Shaolin temple tovisit his master, he finds that his
master is dead. So now he'saccused of that shit too. When he
is hiding behind oh man, thisis a little too specific. When he
(11:16):
is hiding behind the Buddhist statue andthe Bodhi Temple Bodai Temple, he is
discovered by the head of the Shaolinsect Abbot Juansi, the head of the
boy Thai temple Chiu Huan juan Nan, and the Oh my goodness, all
right, let's get past some ofthis. So he is accused of not
(11:37):
one, not two, but threemurders. Another thing about the Chinese that
they don't give a fuck about,Like in terms of americanizing a story,
the way they pass time is kindof nuts. Like, within the first
ten minutes, we see Kilfung Kilfenkel Fung as a child, as an
(12:03):
adolescent, a teenager, and thena grown ass man in about five times.
And there's nothing wrong with that,it's just the way that it's executed.
It, I don't know for peoplenot me, I could see how
it fucking comes off as confusing.So anyway, kill Feng now an adult,
(12:31):
We're going to start the film herein the town square. Men show
up with a caged carriage. Somebodyis inside. The travelers, who are
carding around the caged carriage, sitdown to eat. The leader of the
men is asked what is in thecarriage, to which he responds that he
found a creature in his travels,and after some vamping, kill Feng,
(12:54):
who sits in the back of therestaurant, stops the conversation. Basically,
he tells the dude who brought thecaged creature as it were, that if
he was a compassionate monk, hewouldn't cage any living thing, and we
learned that his captive is Duan Yuof Dolli and the leader the leader monk.
(13:18):
The leading monk is Jiu Mazi.Jiu Mazi is going to sacrifice duan
Yu at marang Bo's tomb in Gousu. I say that again, maurng Bo's
tomb in Gousu. Immediately we seewhat type of movie we're in for because
uh Ki Feng, whom was onceseed in the back of the restaurant,
(13:41):
now wire foos his way to thetable of Geomn's Mazi. Mazi, You're
about to embark on a fantasy felm. That's I mean, the way that
he glides up to the table,it really sets the tone of what's going
on or what type of movie you'regoing to be. Anyway, the Beggars
klan uh after after this particular sequence, which I mean one of the this
(14:09):
scene is worth mentioning in terms ofsetting the tone because Kifeng and chio Matzi
were convinced or after their conversating aboutthe prisoner, Gio Monci has no intention
of releasing the prisoner, so it'stime to fucking fight and quickly we get
to see why Donnie is one ofthe best on screen martial artists and action
(14:33):
directors out there. I mean,we really, real, really do,
and I think people forget just youknow, how long he's been doing action
directing himself. I mean this goesback, I want to say, late
nineties, early two thousands back,and you can read stories he was he
(14:54):
was, he was a little meanto like Yng Muping. They had some
creative differences, and I guess Ilook at it two ways. One be
happy that you're in the presence ofyoung Wooping. But at the same time,
if I don't to a certain degree, like you don't want to be
(15:18):
tied down by you know, previouseras styles or moves or a look of
things. And so I go backand forth on that, like when we're
talking about something like movies. It'snot life or death. But at the
same time, like I do thinkthere should be room and not that there
(15:39):
is an on set. I'm nothopefully I'm not coming off saying that like,
oh, if you're an actor andactresses, you just do what the
fuck the director tells you and that'sthe end of it, not always like
sometimes you know, it is aevolving piece. But anyway, I digress.
We just get to see why Donnieis one of the best on screen
(16:00):
martial artists that has ever lived,at least up until this point. Anyway,
in this first scene here with Giumtzi, we get to see a heavy
dose of wire fu, hand tohand combat, and weapons play. I
(16:21):
mean, the way that the cameramoves in the scenes in this scene proves
they weren't being lazy on this particularaction fantasy set. The camera glides effortlessly,
much like Kio Feng does so whenyou're seeing some wirefoo and he's gliding
from table to table or roof toroof. The way that the camera moves
I've seen in past, in thepast where it just it's like we did
(16:45):
CG and we did like the roughdraft of it, and we just said
that's fine. Not the case here, Not the case here. In fact,
back to a testament of how goodDonnie is. In this particular scene,
he almost looks bored. And that'snot to say that he actually is.
It's to say that he's so goodat what he does, he makes
(17:08):
it. He makes the moves depictedon screen look like child's play. I
mean, that's really what it islike you've been doing something for you know,
forty years, it really is.I feel blessed to watch it and
the only thing on this particular sceneand scenes that happen following this, it's
(17:32):
it's like a lot of Chinese actionfilms in general. They really skimp I
shouldn't say skimp. They they reallyare CGI heavy. When it comes like
it's like there's this tipping point,like you get to the point where it's
like, all right, practical,practical, practical, practical, and then
fuck it. And in this particularseed, like there's a lot of impacts
(17:59):
on table chairs, walls, pillars, like people going through it, punches
going into it, all done withCGI and there's moments where it looks really
good and then there's moments where it'slike ah fuck And I get it,
like to a certain extent. Imean this is based off a Wusha novel,
Like I understand that it's going tobe fantastical to a certain degree.
(18:22):
However, it's almost like instead ofpicking and choosing where we can use it
with like the breaking of a table, like come on, like I understand
that, you know, shooting squibsand like bullets and stuff like that.
You know, we we got tobe really careful. But a stunt actor
falling back first on a table,I mean, come on, as long
(18:45):
as you raise, you elevate thecamera a little bit to not show where
I'm actually landed landing. Just throwme through a fucking table, you know,
like a fake table made a fuckin Plywood. We don't do that
here. It's weird. It comesoff so weird when you see a computer
(19:07):
generated table explode underneath someone who justgot thrown to it. It's just it's
I don't know, it's it's theCGI is glaring in this scene and throughout
the movie. And again, don'tthink that I'm shitting on it. I
understand that it's it's meant to befantasy, but these parts aren't fantasy.
Someone going through a table isn't fantasy. I get if you're throwing someone into
(19:30):
a fucking cloud or a fucking Idon't know what I'm trying to say.
All I know is like, dah, why do we have to do this?
And it's and it's all the time, and maybe this is the flip
side. So like how I say, I can't stand American action films for
doing car chases and this, thatand the other thing. This is one
(19:52):
of those moments where I sometimes Ican't stand, you know, Chinese epics
because they you know, we're spoiled. We see stuff from ILM and Wetta,
you know, in Marvel movies andin Dune and whatever that we're spoiled.
That's that's all. It's all.It's a fantasy movie show. And
(20:15):
don't be so fucking harsh, allright, listen, the fight. The
fighting in this and the use ofthe wires in this scene is so fucking
clean it cannot be understated. It'sjust the CGI just blows my mind sometimes,
Like I get like in this scene, so to Mazi uh Ju Motzi
at one point spoiler alert, hishe engulfs his own hands and flames,
(20:38):
you know, because it's Chinese epic. But actually that portion doesn't look bad
when his hands are engulfed in flames, Like I get to a certain degree,
you can't you can't fake practical forthat, and that's fine. It's
just like, Okay, so he'sgot fire hands. Why do we need
to use CG for the fucking tablefall? Wouldn't it save you actually some
(21:02):
money to not do that? Turnsout? Now, Another scene that I
really enjoyed is where Kio Fang goesto the beggars the Beggars Gang meet up
spot, and I'm pretty sure andI can't remember, and I'm not gonna
fucking go back and look, butthis is where the subtitles come in.
He goes to like it's called likethe Hero's Manner, the Hero's Meeting Hall,
(21:26):
Like it's just like and here atthe Hall of Justice. And I
just was kind of like, really, that's that's what that's what we're gonna
call it. We're just gonna callit the Hero's Manner. Anyway, there
when he goes to the Beggars Gangmeet up spot, you get to actually
see some fucking goddamn strong acting fromDonnie here. What basically takes place in
(21:52):
this scene, which I also likethe idea of it. Obviously the Beggars
Gang at this point he's accused ofthree fucking murders, so they all want
him dead. And in fact,right before he gets exiled, I didn't
mention, so right after he's accusedof the first murder, the Beggars Gang
basically stops him and says, hey, you're a trader, you're this or
(22:15):
that or whatever, and he's like, hey, I'm gonna go look for
who who killed who was actually responsible? For the murder of Vice Master Ma,
and before he does, he stabshimself in the stomach like five times.
You want to talk about loyalty intradition, Holy moly. Anyway,
(22:37):
So now back in the Beggar atthe Hero's Manna solid acting here from Donnie.
Basically he's about to go to warwith everyone from the Beggars Klang and
the Beggar's Gang that was clang,clan and gang all mixed up into man,
maybe I should just stop doing thisfucking pod cast. I am the
(23:00):
goddamn worst. Anyway. Tradition saysyou must toast and drink with your enemy
before you fight, so everybody wantsa piece of kill fang. He drinks
a lot here Donnie does, andin fact I wouldn't be able to stand
after all the toast he makes.But what I what I like here is
(23:22):
that everyone that's toasting before battle,not everybody wants to kill him. Not
everybody wants to kill him, no, No, In fact, some of
them are actually sad that they haveto make the toast to basically battle to
each other's death. And the waythat's done, I thought it was fantastic.
(23:45):
Right before the fight sequence occurs.I like, it's actually heartfelt.
You're like, oh man, you'rebelieving the acting here, which doesn't always
happen in action films sometimes, especiallyif we're talking BCD F characters, they
don't really get a moment to shine, to add some layers to an action
(24:08):
piece. But I think it's donereally well here. Like I actually believe
that half the people that are toastingright now don't want to fucking kill him.
And then what ensues after that isjust a goddamn good fight sequence.
You don't get a chance to seea lot of it in American action films.
That's for sure. It's epic,it's quick, it's sharp. I
(24:32):
mean, we still have a littlebit of the CG of shit breaking,
but for the most part, it'sreally well done. And another scene that
I just kind of wanted to pointout before I leave you today is the
one of the final sequences, andit's the final battle between our villain marong
Fu and kill Feng, and it'sabout as epic as you could ask for
(24:56):
k Fang versus marong Fu in hisentire fucking arm me. And given what
I've said this film already entails,I'll just leave it at that you'll have
to watch and see how everything unfolds, and is this the last time we
will see ko Fing. Here's whatI'll tell you. There is two I
can't remember off the top of myhead, two maybe three post credit sequences,
(25:21):
and that's where as I mentioned atthe top of the show, it
got a little convoluted to me.But I don't blame the film. I
blame me for being a fool becauseit kind of reminded me of the end
of David Lynch's Doune. If youguys have seen that, If you guys
(25:41):
have seen that, in the lasttwenty minutes, we cram so much in
that you're like, wait a minute, what the fuck happened here? And
that's kind of the same in theend of Soakra, where I'm just like,
wait a minute, somebody's two differentpeople and this is this is this
(26:07):
is not even the beginning beginning.This is like the beginning of the beginning.
And I haven't seen anything announced thatwe may continue this story, but
but it is definitely the beginning ofthe beginning. It almost feels like the
way that those post credit sequences playout, It's almost like, yeah,
some of the stuff mattered that wejust sat two hours through, but most
(26:33):
of it doesn't. And here's thething I could be I could be wrong,
Like I said, I am astupid person. But it just felt
like it was one of those instanceslike I'll give you a case in point.
We see uh directed by Donnie Yen, and then it goes into I
want to say, another four tosix minute sequence, and then we see
(26:56):
some more credits, and then anothertwo minute sequence and then the rest of
the credits, and I'm like,wait, what all just took place right
now? Like, wait a minute, who just ripped off that? Did?
Did? Somebody was wearing the faceof somebody else. I'm so confused.
See, but now you should haveintrigued. Wait a minute, there's
(27:18):
there's shape shifters, sean, There'speople wearing each other's faces. Yeah,
there's some of that. Yeah,there's some of that. I mean,
if you if you went to IMDband saw kind of the character list,
it does actually kind of spoil athing or two about a thing or two.
But I won't do that to youtoday because that I am going to
(27:41):
start being a little bit more spoilerfilled. But there's only that My hypocrisy
only goes so far, gang,I can't. I want you to actually
go out and seek these things,and you're not gonna fucking go out.
I don't. I don't care ifI get the listens or the views.
I I really don't care. Iwant this to aid in the purchase of
(28:02):
this movie or the streaming of thismovie. I don't give a fuck about
my numbers. But what some ofyou forget is that if we don't stream
these things, if we don't buythe physical media of these things, we
don't get these things. You knowwhat I'm saying, Like, when people
pirate this, that or the otherthing, do you not understand that you're
taking money away from the very sequelthat you want to see. So I
(28:25):
will only spoil so much. SocraA well, go USA Entertainment release Well,
go Usa Soccra. You can getthe physical disc should that be your
thing right now? And as aforementioned, it is also streaming for free on
to Be for free on to B. I told you that we got a
(28:45):
lot of kung fu films coming downthe bike. We really do, so
brace yourself for that. Ellis CinemaWell, Go USA Sacra ring Donnie Yen
Wu Yu chen Yu Qui si Alu, whay Ying Kong Chiong Siu by Wang
(29:10):
Kwan Hing and Don't Forget About theCrew edited by Ka Way, cinematography by
Chan Chiang chi Ying, action directorKenji Tani Daki and Donni En action choreographer
Yangua and Chang Chau, and directedby the man limit the Legend himself,
(29:32):
Donny Yen. Check it out.Hopefully we get to see this the next
installment to Soakra, because I'm herefor it. Ellis Cinema were Gon too,
All right, let's send him aback another dish. How we doing out
(01:26):
there? Good? Great gray yanda yan puke. As you see on
your screen, your dial, however, you are choosing to join me today,
I appreciate you. Well, maybeI don't know. I can't I
can't decide, but I know thatthe filmmakers involved in this one due that's
for sure. So as you seeon your screen, your doll. Socra
(01:49):
Socra starring Donnie Yen, based onthe classic Wusha novel Demigods and Semi Deevils
by Lewis Chaud, known worldwide byhis pen name janielleung Soccra stars Donnie Yen
as Kilfeng, the respected leader ofa robing band of martial artists. After
he is wrongfully accused of murder andsubsequently exiled, cal Feg goes on the
(02:14):
run in search of answers about hisown mysterious origin story and the unknown enemies
working to destroy him from the shadows. The physical disc is now available.
You can get this now. Infact, I apologize I'm doing this probably
a year late, But have youever heard of life and a real job
(02:36):
that gives you gentle? This onedoes not So I apologize for taking so
long to get this one out here, but the physical disc is available now,
and should you not want to spendmoney based on my recommendation, it's
also screaming as streaming for free,streaming for free on tub. I tell
(02:57):
you what, tub has a shitton of awesome martial arts films on there
right now. I don't know howthey got the rights to all that,
even like the B level ones.You know there's B level horror films.
Well, there's a shit ton ofB level kun Fu movies as well,
so make sure you head on overto to Be to check that out.
So Sokra is starring Donnie Yang,Dani Yen is q Feng. We got
(03:24):
Wu Yu who plays marang Fu.We got Chen yu Ki who plays Azu,
Sia Liu who plays Azi. Azuand Azi those are two different character
names. And we'll get into thekind of the convolutedness towards the end.
(03:45):
But I don't even know if it'sconvoluted or I'm just stupid, and I
am so geared to just assuming thatI'm to blame for kind of not understand.
Well, we'll get there. Wegot why ying Hung who plays Roun
j You run Jing Yu jing Zhugod Damn. We got Ching Siu phi
(04:06):
Ching Siufi who plays duan Jing junWang kwang Hing who plays missus Ma.
We got dou yu Ming who playsby Jijing Jijing. We got lu liong
Hui who plays Marang bo uh SuitSi Ming who plays Kuma Chi Xu Jing
(04:27):
jiang Dung who plays Ju Nanan.Y you guys are loving this, Yuan
Jing Grin who plays Ju Mua.Yeah, that's great, that's this is
so great. I always just soyou guys know, I always make it
a point to do this for thefirst time. So you guys, I
I know that this is gonna soundlike an excuse, but I promise you
(04:48):
it is more so some of youyounger cats that listen to this, It's
okay to fail. Okay, it'sall right to fail. This is you
know, And I don't mind failingin front of an audience. That's that's
quite alright with me anyway. HuanJing Green who plays Ju Muha, li
Xiang Hua who plays Elder song Ling, Liang Gurong who plays Elder Wu Ching
(05:12):
Cheng who plays Elterer, t ChangTi Hui who plays Elter ch Elder Chen
and Gua Jing Long Ju Long,who plays Elter Ju. I'm sure I
missed, uh, just so manypeople that were in it, but like
after a certain point, I'm likeall right, like, especially since I
(05:36):
don't know if you guys ever,go on IMDb to check out the cast
and crew list for some of thefilms that I review, specifically the foreign
films or smaller films that this one'snot small at all, but a lot
of times with the Chinese Japanese films, I get a little concerned by the
amount of information that's on there.I mean, like the one that I
(05:57):
did most previous, or the oneI did previously, what was it one
percent Warrior, which is also calledone percenter. You can find both names
on there, and it's it's almostlike there was a crew of none.
So I don't know what's going onwith that, but anyway, the crew
for Soakra we got art direction byLiu Shi Yung, edited by Ka Wing
(06:19):
Cinematography, which was off the chartshere, cinematography by Chan Chi Ying.
We had action direction from Kenji Tanigakiand Donni Yen, action choreographer Yang Hua
and Cheng Choo and This is basedon, like I said, the Wu
Sha novel Demigods and Semi Devils,written by Jingyong. The screenplay appears to
(06:43):
be done by a host of people. We got he ben Chen Li Sheng
Sheng lin Zi Lie Jeng Chen Xu, Yifan Wi Hu and also credited as
Lewis Chab but that if you readIMDb, Lewis cha is Jingyong Jingyong,
it's Lewis Chaw, so the guywho wrote the novel anyway, directed by
(07:05):
Donnie Yen, And then there's alsoin the credits co directed by Kahuai.
Come really kind of getting confused asto how I'm supposed to pronounce these names
if it goes last name first,first name last, because I am pretty
sure there's a uh, there's arespect that goes behind saying the name right.
(07:27):
And I just want to tell you, anybody involved in the film out
there listening, I'm a dope,but I promise you I love this film
and I mean no disrespect by mebeing an idiot. So in the early
Northern Song dynasty, the country wasoften invaded by the Katan led the Ao
dynasty. The former Yan Kingdom's oldforces were secretly planning to restore their power.
(07:54):
Territorial disputes triggered wars. Kindness andiminity and enmity. We're everywhere.
Love and hatred were all ignited bygreed and jealousy. No one was an
exception. Those who had feelings wereall caught in them. So the movie
starts as an origin story. Wemeet baby Chiao Feng, and as a
(08:18):
baby Katan born Kiao Feng loses hisparents and is sent to be raised by
a couple from the Song Empire,which is at war with the Katan led
Leao Empire. Kiou Feng grows upand becomes a powerful chief of the Beggars
Gang. Yes, that's right,the Beggar's Gang Man. Some of the
(08:39):
subtitles in this I I as aside gig. As long as I'm getting
paid for it. I want tostart doing subtitles that don't come off lazy
and or confusing in some of thesemovies, because in this one, there's
just stuff like and we'll get therebriefly, I'm gonna touch on it,
(09:01):
but there's just times where I'm like, well, that is said in the
most elementary way possible, and Iget it. Americans are stupid, and
the Chinese are you know, they'retaking college courses when they're in fucking fifth
grade. But holy moly, Ithink we can step up then and for
you guys to listen to the show. You know, this isn't my first
(09:24):
beef with subtitles. I don't knowif the people doing the subtitles just think
that we aren't paying attention, orif like they just assume that we're watching
this as a second screen, meaningthat the phone is our first screen and
the movie is our second screen.I don't know what the issue is,
(09:46):
but sometimes it just makes me laugh. It just makes me laugh where I'm
just like, huh boy, wedidn't even try there. Anyway. He
kill Fag grows up to become apowerful chief of the Beggars gang, utilizing
martial arts in battles. However,he is framed for the murder of Deputy
(10:07):
Chief Ma Deputy Chief Ma Daijuan byhis wife, Lady Ma, and he
is kicked out of the gang afterthey discover his origins as a part of
the Katan people. He is alsoslandered and accused of the murder of his
adopted Get this, Kiao Fang ishaving quite possibly the worst day of his
(10:31):
life. He is accused of murder, not once, not twice, three
times in this movie, three timeshe is accused of murder. Talk about
fuck this, but now I askyou this. If you're if you're accused
three times of murder, Hey,where there's smoke, there's fire. I'm
(10:52):
just kidding. He didn't murder anyone. Oh spoiler alert. Anyway, he
is also slandered and accused of murderof his adoptive father and mother. When
he goes to the Shaolin temple tovisit his master, he finds that his
master is dead. So now he'saccused of that shit too. When he
is hiding behind oh man, thisis a little too specific. When he
(11:16):
is hiding behind the Buddhist statue andthe Bodhi Temple Bodai Temple, he is
discovered by the head of the Shaolinsect Abbot Juansi, the head of the
boy Thai temple Chiu Huan juan Nan, and the Oh my goodness, all
right, let's get past some ofthis. So he is accused of not
(11:37):
one, not two, but threemurders. Another thing about the Chinese that
they don't give a fuck about,Like in terms of americanizing a story,
the way they pass time is kindof nuts. Like, within the first
ten minutes, we see Kilfung Kilfenkel Fung as a child, as an
(12:03):
adolescent, a teenager, and thena grown ass man in about five times.
And there's nothing wrong with that,it's just the way that it's executed.
It, I don't know for peoplenot me, I could see how
it fucking comes off as confusing.So anyway, kill Feng now an adult,
(12:31):
We're going to start the film herein the town square. Men show
up with a caged carriage. Somebodyis inside. The travelers, who are
carding around the caged carriage, sitdown to eat. The leader of the
men is asked what is in thecarriage, to which he responds that he
found a creature in his travels,and after some vamping, kill Feng,
(12:54):
who sits in the back of therestaurant, stops the conversation. Basically,
he tells the dude who brought thecaged creature as it were, that if
he was a compassionate monk, hewouldn't cage any living thing, and we
learned that his captive is Duan Yuof Dolli and the leader the leader monk.
(13:18):
The leading monk is Jiu Mazi.Jiu Mazi is going to sacrifice duan
Yu at marang Bo's tomb in Gousu. I say that again, maurng Bo's
tomb in Gousu. Immediately we seewhat type of movie we're in for because
uh Ki Feng, whom was onceseed in the back of the restaurant,
(13:41):
now wire foos his way to thetable of Geomn's Mazi. Mazi, You're
about to embark on a fantasy felm. That's I mean, the way that
he glides up to the table,it really sets the tone of what's going
on or what type of movie you'regoing to be. Anyway, the Beggars
klan uh after after this particular sequence, which I mean one of the this
(14:09):
scene is worth mentioning in terms ofsetting the tone because Kifeng and chio Matzi
were convinced or after their conversating aboutthe prisoner, Gio Monci has no intention
of releasing the prisoner, so it'stime to fucking fight and quickly we get
to see why Donnie is one ofthe best on screen martial artists and action
(14:33):
directors out there. I mean,we really, real, really do,
and I think people forget just youknow, how long he's been doing action
directing himself. I mean this goesback, I want to say, late
nineties, early two thousands back,and you can read stories he was he
(14:54):
was, he was a little meanto like Yng Muping. They had some
creative differences, and I guess Ilook at it two ways. One be
happy that you're in the presence ofyoung Wooping. But at the same time,
if I don't to a certain degree, like you don't want to be
(15:18):
tied down by you know, previouseras styles or moves or a look of
things. And so I go backand forth on that, like when we're
talking about something like movies. It'snot life or death. But at the
same time, like I do thinkthere should be room and not that there
(15:39):
is an on set. I'm nothopefully I'm not coming off saying that like,
oh, if you're an actor andactresses, you just do what the
fuck the director tells you and that'sthe end of it, not always like
sometimes you know, it is aevolving piece. But anyway, I digress.
We just get to see why Donnieis one of the best on screen
(16:00):
martial artists that has ever lived,at least up until this point. Anyway,
in this first scene here with Giumtzi, we get to see a heavy
dose of wire fu, hand tohand combat, and weapons play. I
(16:21):
mean, the way that the cameramoves in the scenes in this scene proves
they weren't being lazy on this particularaction fantasy set. The camera glides effortlessly,
much like Kio Feng does so whenyou're seeing some wirefoo and he's gliding
from table to table or roof toroof. The way that the camera moves
I've seen in past, in thepast where it just it's like we did
(16:45):
CG and we did like the roughdraft of it, and we just said
that's fine. Not the case here, Not the case here. In fact,
back to a testament of how goodDonnie is. In this particular scene,
he almost looks bored. And that'snot to say that he actually is.
It's to say that he's so goodat what he does, he makes
(17:08):
it. He makes the moves depictedon screen look like child's play. I
mean, that's really what it islike you've been doing something for you know,
forty years, it really is.I feel blessed to watch it and
the only thing on this particular sceneand scenes that happen following this, it's
(17:32):
it's like a lot of Chinese actionfilms in general. They really skimp I
shouldn't say skimp. They they reallyare CGI heavy. When it comes like
it's like there's this tipping point,like you get to the point where it's
like, all right, practical,practical, practical, practical, and then
fuck it. And in this particularseed, like there's a lot of impacts
(17:59):
on table chairs, walls, pillars, like people going through it, punches
going into it, all done withCGI and there's moments where it looks really
good and then there's moments where it'slike ah fuck And I get it,
like to a certain extent. Imean this is based off a Wusha novel,
Like I understand that it's going tobe fantastical to a certain degree.
(18:22):
However, it's almost like instead ofpicking and choosing where we can use it
with like the breaking of a table, like come on, like I understand
that, you know, shooting squibsand like bullets and stuff like that.
You know, we we got tobe really careful. But a stunt actor
falling back first on a table,I mean, come on, as long
(18:45):
as you raise, you elevate thecamera a little bit to not show where
I'm actually landed landing. Just throwme through a fucking table, you know,
like a fake table made a fuckin Plywood. We don't do that
here. It's weird. It comesoff so weird when you see a computer
(19:07):
generated table explode underneath someone who justgot thrown to it. It's just it's
I don't know, it's it's theCGI is glaring in this scene and throughout
the movie. And again, don'tthink that I'm shitting on it. I
understand that it's it's meant to befantasy, but these parts aren't fantasy.
Someone going through a table isn't fantasy. I get if you're throwing someone into
(19:30):
a fucking cloud or a fucking Idon't know what I'm trying to say.
All I know is like, dah, why do we have to do this?
And it's and it's all the time, and maybe this is the flip
side. So like how I say, I can't stand American action films for
doing car chases and this, thatand the other thing. This is one
(19:52):
of those moments where I sometimes Ican't stand, you know, Chinese epics
because they you know, we're spoiled. We see stuff from ILM and Wetta,
you know, in Marvel movies andin Dune and whatever that we're spoiled.
That's that's all. It's all.It's a fantasy movie show. And
(20:15):
don't be so fucking harsh, allright, listen, the fight. The
fighting in this and the use ofthe wires in this scene is so fucking
clean it cannot be understated. It'sjust the CGI just blows my mind sometimes,
Like I get like in this scene, so to Mazi uh Ju Motzi
at one point spoiler alert, hishe engulfs his own hands and flames,
(20:38):
you know, because it's Chinese epic. But actually that portion doesn't look bad
when his hands are engulfed in flames, Like I get to a certain degree,
you can't you can't fake practical forthat, and that's fine. It's
just like, Okay, so he'sgot fire hands. Why do we need
to use CG for the fucking tablefall? Wouldn't it save you actually some
(21:02):
money to not do that? Turnsout? Now, Another scene that I
really enjoyed is where Kio Fang goesto the beggars the Beggars Gang meet up
spot, and I'm pretty sure andI can't remember, and I'm not gonna
fucking go back and look, butthis is where the subtitles come in.
He goes to like it's called likethe Hero's Manner, the Hero's Meeting Hall,
(21:26):
Like it's just like and here atthe Hall of Justice. And I
just was kind of like, really, that's that's what that's what we're gonna
call it. We're just gonna callit the Hero's Manner. Anyway, there
when he goes to the Beggars Gangmeet up spot, you get to actually
see some fucking goddamn strong acting fromDonnie here. What basically takes place in
(21:52):
this scene, which I also likethe idea of it. Obviously the Beggars
Gang at this point he's accused ofthree fucking murders, so they all want
him dead. And in fact,right before he gets exiled, I didn't
mention, so right after he's accusedof the first murder, the Beggars Gang
basically stops him and says, hey, you're a trader, you're this or
(22:15):
that or whatever, and he's like, hey, I'm gonna go look for
who who killed who was actually responsible? For the murder of Vice Master Ma,
and before he does, he stabshimself in the stomach like five times.
You want to talk about loyalty intradition, Holy moly. Anyway,
(22:37):
So now back in the Beggar atthe Hero's Manna solid acting here from Donnie.
Basically he's about to go to warwith everyone from the Beggars Klang and
the Beggar's Gang that was clang,clan and gang all mixed up into man,
maybe I should just stop doing thisfucking pod cast. I am the
(23:00):
goddamn worst. Anyway. Tradition saysyou must toast and drink with your enemy
before you fight, so everybody wantsa piece of kill fang. He drinks
a lot here Donnie does, andin fact I wouldn't be able to stand
after all the toast he makes.But what I what I like here is
(23:22):
that everyone that's toasting before battle,not everybody wants to kill him. Not
everybody wants to kill him, no, No, In fact, some of
them are actually sad that they haveto make the toast to basically battle to
each other's death. And the waythat's done, I thought it was fantastic.
(23:45):
Right before the fight sequence occurs.I like, it's actually heartfelt.
You're like, oh man, you'rebelieving the acting here, which doesn't always
happen in action films sometimes, especiallyif we're talking BCD F characters, they
don't really get a moment to shine, to add some layers to an action
(24:08):
piece. But I think it's donereally well here. Like I actually believe
that half the people that are toastingright now don't want to fucking kill him.
And then what ensues after that isjust a goddamn good fight sequence.
You don't get a chance to seea lot of it in American action films.
That's for sure. It's epic,it's quick, it's sharp. I
(24:32):
mean, we still have a littlebit of the CG of shit breaking,
but for the most part, it'sreally well done. And another scene that
I just kind of wanted to pointout before I leave you today is the
one of the final sequences, andit's the final battle between our villain marong
Fu and kill Feng, and it'sabout as epic as you could ask for
(24:56):
k Fang versus marong Fu in hisentire fucking arm me. And given what
I've said this film already entails,I'll just leave it at that you'll have
to watch and see how everything unfolds, and is this the last time we
will see ko Fing. Here's whatI'll tell you. There is two I
can't remember off the top of myhead, two maybe three post credit sequences,
(25:21):
and that's where as I mentioned atthe top of the show, it
got a little convoluted to me.But I don't blame the film. I
blame me for being a fool becauseit kind of reminded me of the end
of David Lynch's Doune. If youguys have seen that, If you guys
(25:41):
have seen that, in the lasttwenty minutes, we cram so much in
that you're like, wait a minute, what the fuck happened here? And
that's kind of the same in theend of Soakra, where I'm just like,
wait a minute, somebody's two differentpeople and this is this is this
(26:07):
is not even the beginning beginning.This is like the beginning of the beginning.
And I haven't seen anything announced thatwe may continue this story, but
but it is definitely the beginning ofthe beginning. It almost feels like the
way that those post credit sequences playout, It's almost like, yeah,
some of the stuff mattered that wejust sat two hours through, but most
(26:33):
of it doesn't. And here's thething I could be I could be wrong,
Like I said, I am astupid person. But it just felt
like it was one of those instanceslike I'll give you a case in point.
We see uh directed by Donnie Yen, and then it goes into I
want to say, another four tosix minute sequence, and then we see
(26:56):
some more credits, and then anothertwo minute sequence and then the rest of
the credits, and I'm like,wait, what all just took place right
now? Like, wait a minute, who just ripped off that? Did?
Did? Somebody was wearing the faceof somebody else. I'm so confused.
See, but now you should haveintrigued. Wait a minute, there's
(27:18):
there's shape shifters, sean, There'speople wearing each other's faces. Yeah,
there's some of that. Yeah,there's some of that. I mean,
if you if you went to IMDband saw kind of the character list,
it does actually kind of spoil athing or two about a thing or two.
But I won't do that to youtoday because that I am going to
(27:41):
start being a little bit more spoilerfilled. But there's only that My hypocrisy
only goes so far, gang,I can't. I want you to actually
go out and seek these things,and you're not gonna fucking go out.
I don't. I don't care ifI get the listens or the views.
I I really don't care. Iwant this to aid in the purchase of
(28:02):
this movie or the streaming of thismovie. I don't give a fuck about
my numbers. But what some ofyou forget is that if we don't stream
these things, if we don't buythe physical media of these things, we
don't get these things. You knowwhat I'm saying, Like, when people
pirate this, that or the otherthing, do you not understand that you're
taking money away from the very sequelthat you want to see. So I
(28:25):
will only spoil so much. SocraA well, go USA Entertainment release Well,
go Usa Soccra. You can getthe physical disc should that be your
thing right now? And as aforementioned, it is also streaming for free on
to Be for free on to B. I told you that we got a
(28:45):
lot of kung fu films coming downthe bike. We really do, so
brace yourself for that. Ellis CinemaWell, Go USA Sacra ring Donnie Yen
Wu Yu chen Yu Qui si Alu, whay Ying Kong Chiong Siu by Wang
(29:10):
Kwan Hing and Don't Forget About theCrew edited by Ka Way, cinematography by
Chan Chiang chi Ying, action directorKenji Tani Daki and Donni En action choreographer
Yangua and Chang Chau, and directedby the man limit the Legend himself,
(29:32):
Donny Yen. Check it out.Hopefully we get to see this the next
installment to Soakra, because I'm herefor it. Ellis Cinema were Gon too,
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