100 Yards (2023)

"Games between men are pathetic"

I don’t require a lot from martial arts films. Give me some good fights and a somewhat coherent story, maybe even one compelling character and I’m in. 100 Yards had maybe one out of those three criteria.

Shen An’s father is the head of a martial arts academy and dying. His best student comes home and his father has him dual his son for the academy. The academies are part of The Circle which helps to keep the peace. Once upon a time each academy was responsible for policing 100 yards around their school and gradually those territories grew. Now the student and the son butt heads over the future of The Circle and the city.

The fights were well shot without wires and without ridiculous undercranked or sped up shots. They were also sans CGI and extreme close-ups ---thank goodness. No one was thrown twenty feet into the air and bodies didn’t crush brick walls. The fight choreography was more realistic and Jacky Heung had nice moves. His acting, on the other hand, was painfully bad. He only had one facial expression in his bag of tricks which began to wear thin. Andy On’s Qi wasn’t much better. The never-ending fights began to feel pointless and in the end were pointless. The writing and directing went too heavy on the try and instead of cool came across as overly dramatic and cringey.

100 Yards is worth seeing if you are interested in a variety of fights with different weapons and styles. As long as you don’t expect any sort of compelling story or characters.

27 March 2026
Trigger warnings: there were a few slicey scenes but nothing egregious.

Note: The original Circle Chairperson was an actress they styled to look like a cross dressing Brigitte Lin. Hoping it was a respectful homage.

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