Fighting Fish

And if you're not a martial arts fan, this is such a crappy movie, it should be a cult hit. The dialog is beyond cliché, the sets are visibly cheap, and the Chinese main character speaks English with a Dutch accent! So, when I saw it for the first time, I had a great time. And I've seen it several times after and it's still funny. Thank god the director took himself so seriously. The original screenplay was less than 60 pages, because time is filled with long martial art scenes. And the classic ones, so no wires. There were plans to re-release it as a cult film, but eventually they just released it on DVD. Too bad, because it would have been great as an audience participation flick. Even the producer would have wanted it that way. But there's still that director who thinks to highly of this huge Dutch flop.

A really great Martial Arts movie. Especially concerning the budget.. I really don't get it why so many people on here are SO negative about this movie. Looks a lot like a 70's classic (in the Bruce Lee style), so what do they expect..The Matrix ?!?...

It's mostly the fighting scenes that REALLY stand out here. NOT the storyline. So you know.

It's a great movie if you love M.A. if you don't you won't like it at all. I don't like horror movies so no matter HOW good such a film is, I won't like it. It's the same with this one here. Either you like it or you hate it. It's purely based on personal taste. And I love it!!! ;-)

Well, let's see, this film has some nice fight scenes, very original indeed. The art direction makes for some great images, especially the scenes where Kim Ho Kim fights with the three bad guys after he accused them of killing his brother looks much like a real Hong Kong setting. The music is also very good, it's very original and of a high quality level.

As far as the story goes, it's predictable and nothing special really... the acting is not great, and some dialog is really bad... but Jennifer the Jong is not all that bad.. They better use the fighters from this movie in a production with a better script.

I got the DVD for a few euro's, and it contains a lot of bonus material, a making of and documentary, and the short feature "Buren" which is from the same director. I think Buren is a very nice short film, which also has nice art direction, and a good performance by Esmeé de la Bretonière. All in all a rather nice DVD.

Road map of Fighting Fish is very predictable. Content is razor thin and I suspects some copy work too. And the actor's performance can be compared with Arnold Schwarzenegger in this early years. Although the stif character of the A-Ken suits very well.

You have to watch this movie with a martial arts glasses. And when you do this, Fighting Fish is one of the top I have seen. It is not the spectacular kind of special effects a la Matrix. But more a slow and long shoot action style. There is of course show elements but the actions scenes are sublime. Especially the combination with the Asian drum like music make this movie a top in his kind.

A lot of this movie was made before it came out, as it's the first martial arts film from the Netherlands. After watching there can be 2 conclusions made: 1. it will probably be the last M.A. film from the Netherlands as well and 2. there's a reason for that.

Let's look at the story first. Boy and girl fall in love. Boy has to 'do something' for honour of the family. Girl gets beaten up by gang. Older brother forbids the formerly 'bad guy' to stay in her life. In the end it all works out.

I know, booooriiiiiing. So let's look at what should have made this movie special. Should have, because this movie is everything but special. Now, these martial arts fighting scenes are so silly, the camera-work is so dull and the fights way too long... one can only wonder, 'what were they thinking'?

The movie got slammed both by the critics as well as the public, and there's a reason for that...

2/10.