Jimbo
09-29-2007, 12:10 PM
I had to get this one because it's named as a Shaw production (2003) and of course, by Lau Kar-Leung. Lau is amazing. His movements are as quick and lively as he was 25-30 years ago. Also surprising is Chi Kuan-Chun as the villain; he really doesn't seem to have aged since his Chang Cheh days, and if anything, seems larger and more imposing now, and in great shape. I think Chi was 52 or so when it was filmed, and Lau was about 68 or 69. I think this is the first KF movie I've seen where the villain is a Hung Gar fighter.
That said, IMO the movie suffered from too much silly comedy that does not seem to work too well. One of the characters is obsessed with drawing monkeys for a monkey-style book, and some scenes with him are very similar to the Chin Kar-Lok character is Operation Scorpio. I like Wu Jing, but neither his character nor the artist or the monkey-style girl seem to stand out in this film. It was really the old-school guys (Lau, Chi, and of course, Gordon Liu) who carry the film and make it worth watching. The comedy and storyline are an attempt to re-create the really old kung fu comedy era, but in a new film it seems strange and very out of place, at times even embarrassing, and certainly not up to Lau's Shaw classics from the golden era. I would really have liked something a little more serious, and maybe centered around the Hung style. I also missed the old Shaw Brothers sound effects.
One little surprise is the opening credits scene, with the stars performing kung fu fighting and forms in colored studio lighting, reminiscent of the old-school movies.
I'm not sure how well this movie did overseas, but I hope Lau still has a few more films left in him.
That said, IMO the movie suffered from too much silly comedy that does not seem to work too well. One of the characters is obsessed with drawing monkeys for a monkey-style book, and some scenes with him are very similar to the Chin Kar-Lok character is Operation Scorpio. I like Wu Jing, but neither his character nor the artist or the monkey-style girl seem to stand out in this film. It was really the old-school guys (Lau, Chi, and of course, Gordon Liu) who carry the film and make it worth watching. The comedy and storyline are an attempt to re-create the really old kung fu comedy era, but in a new film it seems strange and very out of place, at times even embarrassing, and certainly not up to Lau's Shaw classics from the golden era. I would really have liked something a little more serious, and maybe centered around the Hung style. I also missed the old Shaw Brothers sound effects.
One little surprise is the opening credits scene, with the stars performing kung fu fighting and forms in colored studio lighting, reminiscent of the old-school movies.
I'm not sure how well this movie did overseas, but I hope Lau still has a few more films left in him.