I love all things martial arts and when it comes to cinema, I have a very specific thing I am looking for in these films. I give any one I can find a chance in hopes that it hits all the marks and a lot of times the ones straight from Asia do just that, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some stinkers out there. The latest looking to make its mark is 100 Yards starring Jacky Heung and Beahayden Kuo from brother directing duo Haofeng Xu and Junfeng Xu. Could this film bring the martial arts action we expect, or will it fail to win the fight?
 

100 Yards follows a time in history a mere decade after the establishment of the first formal martial arts school in the area in 1912. As more schools began opening and acting as natural crime deterrents in their designated areas, martial arts practitioners—and the newly founded clandestine martial arts circle—grew in prominence and expanded their range of influence, leading to a fierce power struggle that hit a breaking point after the death of the renowned master of a Tianjin martial arts school.
 

This film wastes no time getting right to the action as it sets up the story and its direct connection with martial arts. The story is simple and screams of the old Shaw Brothers films in tone and execution with it all about the battling of the schools and masters. This focus keeps the film streamlined in its direction, keeping it from veering to far off course like some of these films tend to do.
 

It hits all the right notes for the perfect old school martial arts flick. There are fights galore with most of them hitting all the right notes. The action is well choreographed with only a couple of fights falling flat. One of them is intentional with the master seemingly smacking around some that aren’t great fighters, but it just looks so cheesy and bad that it takes the steam out of the rest of the film. Thankfully most of the others are well executed and a blast to watch.
 

​