One of the challenges of being a great artist is that not all of your art is going to be great. The Beatles wrote several songs that lesser acts would have turned into careers, but that nonetheless lack the power of "Yesterday" or the joy of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand"; George Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier is an excellent work of journalism, but not nearly as good as Homage to Catalonia. Redbelt, the latest film from writer-director David Mamet, is not as impressive or thought-provoking as some of his other dramatic works, like Glengarry Glen Ross or House of Games or Oleanna; at the same time, it's an exciting, engaging mix of drama and action supported by an immensely appealing lead performance by Chiwetel Ejiofor (Dirty Pretty Things, Children of Men).

Redbelt's subject and setting may make it seem incongruous -- Why is one of America's greatest playwrights making a film about mixed martial arts and Jiu-jitsu? -- but it's actually in keeping with Mamet's other recent entertainments like Spartan, his work as a co-creator of The Unit and his pseudonymous work on the screenplay for Ronin. Redbelt fits in with these projects: They have a kind of heroic stoicism under them; they're stories of honorable men in a dishonorable world. They've all got a kind of muscular poetry, too, a hard-bitten nobility that's still a little sad about the edges.

It's a pity, but it's probably mandatory for modern film fans to know a little history before watching King Boxer (better known in the US as 5 Fingers of Death) for the first time. Otherwise, you might watch it and think: "Fun little movie with great kick-butt action, but what's all the fuss about? Why do some people think this particular kung fu movie is so great?"

Bruce Lee had given US television viewers a taste of martial arts in his sidekick role as Kato in The Green Hornet (1966-1967) and David Carradine further whetted appetites with the TV show Kung Fu, which debuted in February 1972. Of course, Hong Kong had already produced dozens of martial arts films, many of which played on the Chinatown movie theater circuit in the US, but even for a seasoned viewer, Korean director Chang-Hwa Jeong (AKA Chang Chang Ho) worked several new twists into the familiar fabric. For moviegoers in general, King Boxer was a sucker punch to the gut, featuring fighting styles never before seen on screen, surprising in its extreme violence, and filled to the brim with socko brutality and in-your-face action. No wonder its theatrical release kick-started the kung fu craze in America.

I was a big fan of Kung Fu, but there was no way my parents would ever let me see an R-rated movie in the spring of 1973, much less one that was already fabled for its bloody violence. So I sulked and listened jealously while school friends raved about how "cool" the movie was -- especially when the guy got his eyeballs gouged out! More than 30 years later, the violence has long been surpassed, which allows the strength of the storytelling, characterizations, and action choreography to come to the fore.

With Balls of Fury, I thought we were going to go in a new direction with sports movies -- taking that Karate Kid feel and putting it into another alternative sports form. Not quite. Christopher Campbell just told you about Will Smith re-creating the famous movie for his son, Jaden, to star in. (My pitch: That karate lady Hilary Swank comes to teach the ways to the young Smith! Yeah, I'm not taking the whole project seriously.) Now we're getting another one, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Summit Entertainment has grabbed Sensei, a comedy spec from David Caspe. Either that whole collective conscious thing is working in full force, or there's a lot of sneaky idea snooping going on.

It might have all started a few years ago, when stuntwoman/actress Diana Lee Inosanto had trouble shooting her freshman debut, the indie film The Sensei, which is supposed to come out this year. The Columbine school district wouldn't let her film on location because scenes of bullying would hurt their healing process. It's about a gay kid who learns martial arts to defend himself when the AIDS crisis inspires kids to beat on him. Did the others hear about this flick and then decide to saccharine it up a bit?

This comedic Sensei, without the "The" is much lighter -- it's about "an overweight former karate champion who agrees to a nationally televised rematch with his nemesis to settle a score the two have kept since an historic 1984 showdown." That just so happens to be the year The Karate Kid came out, so man, I would definitely go to see this if they got Ralph Macchio to gain and lose a lot of weight to have a rematch against William Zabka, even if they're different characters. That would be excellent. What do you think?

The first Shogun Assassin was something of a mongrel. Released in 1980, it was culled from the first two films in the Lone Wolf and Cub series of films (referred to in some translations as The Babycart films), Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance and Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx, both of which were from 1972 and based on a series of manga. Set in feudal Japan, Shogun Assassin told the tale of Ogami Itto (Tomisaburo Wakayama), samurai and former executioner to a powerful Shogun. After being betrayed by his master who also murdered his wife, Ogami is forced to flee and wander the land with his young son Daigoro (Akihiro Tomikawa). The Shogun's men are dispatched to kill the samurai, and violence finds the father and son at nearly every turn. Though I haven't seen the first two films in their unedited state, the hybrid they form with Shogun Assassin is an exciting and brutally violent film. The narrative is choppy at times, but the nearly non-stop samurai carnage forgives many flaws. I've heard purists say these films are best watched in their original forms, but Shogun Assassin is the film by which English speaking audiences first saw the series, and it is pretty entertaining in its own right.

Shogun Assassin 2: Lightning Swords of Death is the English dubbed version of Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades, though the onscreen title is presented as Lone Wolf With a Child : Baby Cart On To The Hades (sic). This stilted English title is actually difficult to read because it is cut off on the left and right sides of the screen. Although presented in widescreen the DVD from AnimEigo does not use the original aspect ratio, a situation that creates problems for onscreen compositions throughout the film.

Rogue Pictures, a genre division of Focus Features, has picked up the American rights to Jet Li's latest hit, Fearless. The film, which dominated the box offices of Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia when it opened last weekend, is the story of martial arts legend Huo Yuanjia and his "triumph...in his personal and physical battles to become the most famous Chinese fighter around the turn of the 20th century."

Working against the film's potential success in the US, however, are a couple of obstacles. First of all, Rogue's track record is awful. Of the nine films (including Unleashed, which also starred Li) they have distributed to this point, only one - Shaun of the Dead - has been successful. Though I respect them a ton for picking up Orgazmo, it's hard to call it (or, for example, Seed of Chucky and Trippin', both of which Rogue also released) a good movie. Another potential stumbling block is the fact that so few Americans are familiar with Huo Yuanjia that his story could prove to be a hard sell. On the other hand, the film looks exciting, and Li has a solid base of followers. In addition, the rumor that this will be his last martial arts role may make that base even bigger than it already is.

Rogue plans to have Fearless in theaters, well, some time between now and 2007. We'll try to keep you posted.