venoms5
12-20-2007, 07:40 AM
KID FROM KWANGTUNG 1982 Act. ****/ Blood **/ Movie***1/2
***SPOILERS AHEAD***
Wong Yu (He Jia Yu), Hwang Jang Lee (Luo Yi Hu), Chiang Kam(Wu De Zhi), Kuan Feng (Master He), Yen Shi Kwan(Zhang Li Yi), Yuen Tak (De Bao), Yang Pan Pan (Xiao Wei), Ku Kuan Chun (Master Wen)
Directed by Hsu Hsia
Formidable Qing officer Luo Yi Hu seeks out the remnants of the Ming patriots to eliminate any threat of an uprising. Meanwhile, two martial arts schools vie for respectability and the two young sons of the school leaders constantly try to outdo one another. These two ultimately get mixed up with the last remaining pupils of the Qing Lian Clan who have a secret enmity with Luo Yi Hu and prepare for a final showdown with the deadly Manchu killer but Luo is one step ahead of them culminating in a violent finale set inside an old temple.
Fast and furious Shaw Brothers production featuring the awesome Hwang Jang Lee and his devastating array of kicks. One of two completed movies he did for the studio, he was working on a third and for unknown reasons, left the production resulting in the film being shelved. Hwang is easily the best thing about this movie and his wildly exotic kicks get much mileage out the films running time most especially the final 35 minutes. His first appearance is startling showing up 33 minutes in carrying a cat wearing lots of jewelry. He tears into some guys with his lethal kicks while cradling the animal in his arms. His four subordinates take care of the other combatants. This is truly Hwang's showcase and quite possibly his best movie in terms of the variety of kicks on display.
In so many of his movies he only gets to fight once or twice. The good news for Hwang Jang Lee fans is that he gets to fight at least six or more times. The bad news is that like nearly every other film he's been in, the heroes are forced to use ridiculous gimmicks to defeat him. Hwang is so intimidating and such a brutal force onscreen, no one else can compare with him so I guess this was called for as Wong Yu is clearly no match for him nor really anyone else for that matter. His charisma supersedes any other performer I've ever seen him share the screen with and this includes Jackie Chan. Here, the gimmick that brings about Hwang's downfall are burning incense sticks taken from the memorial of the dead heroes killed by Luo throughout the film.
During the first hour, the film follows pretty much any and all of the indy kung fu movie formulas. Numerous interconnecting scenes that have nothing to do with the main plot nor do anything to further said plot. There's even a vampire/corpse herding scene as well as a wholly silly "lion dance" involving Wong Yu dressed up in a chicken suit and his opponents dressed in an elaborate centipede outfit replete with sound effects to match. A similar scene was re-enacted for the Wong Jing-Jet Li flick THE LAST HERO IN CHINA (1993). There's fights sprinkled throughout the first hour but the film itself doesn't come to life until the last 35 minutes where the seriousness finally kicks in resulting in some damn fine pieces of choreography with Hwang dominating most of these.
Wong Yu is impressive in his fight scenes but again, never comes off as if he could be a serious threat to Hwang's character. In fact, it takes four fighters to take him out at the end! Wong was a popular actor at the time but was never considered famous by Asian moviegoers at least not in the same company as say Gordon Liu, Fu Sheng or Chen Kuan Tai. Hsu Hsia puts Wong to the test here and this is one of his best displays as a hero despite all the comic shenanigans of the films first hour.
Yang Pan Pan also shows off some of the skills she got to briefly flaunt in LION VS LION (1980). Her kicks are also impressive especially her front-to-reverse back kick.
Kuan Feng, one of my favorites, is also a gifted kicker and practitioner but sadly, he doesn't get to show off too much and his fight with Hwang Jang Lee is fairly quick. In some of Kuan's movies, he often reminds me of HJL, especially in MONKEY KUNG FU (1979), TEN TIGERS OF KWANGTUNG (1978-80) and the otherwise lackluster THE FIGHTING FOOL (1979) and COWARD BASTARD (1980). Kuan could mix it up with the best of them though and it's a shame he didn't get enough meatier roles preferably as a villain.
Yen Shi Kwan gets to show off some skills as well as the heroic master of the Chin Na style, a shaolin style specializing in joint locks and pressure points. Yen is really impressive and I've seen him playing lackeys in past Shaw movies but nothing like his performance here.
Director Hsu Hsia was a bright spot in the Shaw stable and proved himself a capable director and choreographer pulling off some interesting films which may not always be great pieces of cinema, but the fight sequences will most always be the main points of interest. Hsu uses a novel twist during the training sequence towards the end in which the film splits into two frames. The left frame reveals a medium shot of the two practitioners while the right frame details a close up while Chinese characters describe the maneuver onscreen.
I have a book on Chin Na and this style is broken up into Fundamentals and Advanced with many of the strikes designed to disable and even kill but yet these particular strikes take considerable time to master and not the short time span seen in the film.
All in all, a nice indy clone from Shaw Brothers who by this time had ceased being innovators and had begun copying the competition. Most definitely highly recommended for HJL fans, the first hour provides some fights but comedy rules this section of the movie with the main action not coming until the final 35 minutes.
***SPOILERS AHEAD***
Wong Yu (He Jia Yu), Hwang Jang Lee (Luo Yi Hu), Chiang Kam(Wu De Zhi), Kuan Feng (Master He), Yen Shi Kwan(Zhang Li Yi), Yuen Tak (De Bao), Yang Pan Pan (Xiao Wei), Ku Kuan Chun (Master Wen)
Directed by Hsu Hsia
Formidable Qing officer Luo Yi Hu seeks out the remnants of the Ming patriots to eliminate any threat of an uprising. Meanwhile, two martial arts schools vie for respectability and the two young sons of the school leaders constantly try to outdo one another. These two ultimately get mixed up with the last remaining pupils of the Qing Lian Clan who have a secret enmity with Luo Yi Hu and prepare for a final showdown with the deadly Manchu killer but Luo is one step ahead of them culminating in a violent finale set inside an old temple.
Fast and furious Shaw Brothers production featuring the awesome Hwang Jang Lee and his devastating array of kicks. One of two completed movies he did for the studio, he was working on a third and for unknown reasons, left the production resulting in the film being shelved. Hwang is easily the best thing about this movie and his wildly exotic kicks get much mileage out the films running time most especially the final 35 minutes. His first appearance is startling showing up 33 minutes in carrying a cat wearing lots of jewelry. He tears into some guys with his lethal kicks while cradling the animal in his arms. His four subordinates take care of the other combatants. This is truly Hwang's showcase and quite possibly his best movie in terms of the variety of kicks on display.
In so many of his movies he only gets to fight once or twice. The good news for Hwang Jang Lee fans is that he gets to fight at least six or more times. The bad news is that like nearly every other film he's been in, the heroes are forced to use ridiculous gimmicks to defeat him. Hwang is so intimidating and such a brutal force onscreen, no one else can compare with him so I guess this was called for as Wong Yu is clearly no match for him nor really anyone else for that matter. His charisma supersedes any other performer I've ever seen him share the screen with and this includes Jackie Chan. Here, the gimmick that brings about Hwang's downfall are burning incense sticks taken from the memorial of the dead heroes killed by Luo throughout the film.
During the first hour, the film follows pretty much any and all of the indy kung fu movie formulas. Numerous interconnecting scenes that have nothing to do with the main plot nor do anything to further said plot. There's even a vampire/corpse herding scene as well as a wholly silly "lion dance" involving Wong Yu dressed up in a chicken suit and his opponents dressed in an elaborate centipede outfit replete with sound effects to match. A similar scene was re-enacted for the Wong Jing-Jet Li flick THE LAST HERO IN CHINA (1993). There's fights sprinkled throughout the first hour but the film itself doesn't come to life until the last 35 minutes where the seriousness finally kicks in resulting in some damn fine pieces of choreography with Hwang dominating most of these.
Wong Yu is impressive in his fight scenes but again, never comes off as if he could be a serious threat to Hwang's character. In fact, it takes four fighters to take him out at the end! Wong was a popular actor at the time but was never considered famous by Asian moviegoers at least not in the same company as say Gordon Liu, Fu Sheng or Chen Kuan Tai. Hsu Hsia puts Wong to the test here and this is one of his best displays as a hero despite all the comic shenanigans of the films first hour.
Yang Pan Pan also shows off some of the skills she got to briefly flaunt in LION VS LION (1980). Her kicks are also impressive especially her front-to-reverse back kick.
Kuan Feng, one of my favorites, is also a gifted kicker and practitioner but sadly, he doesn't get to show off too much and his fight with Hwang Jang Lee is fairly quick. In some of Kuan's movies, he often reminds me of HJL, especially in MONKEY KUNG FU (1979), TEN TIGERS OF KWANGTUNG (1978-80) and the otherwise lackluster THE FIGHTING FOOL (1979) and COWARD BASTARD (1980). Kuan could mix it up with the best of them though and it's a shame he didn't get enough meatier roles preferably as a villain.
Yen Shi Kwan gets to show off some skills as well as the heroic master of the Chin Na style, a shaolin style specializing in joint locks and pressure points. Yen is really impressive and I've seen him playing lackeys in past Shaw movies but nothing like his performance here.
Director Hsu Hsia was a bright spot in the Shaw stable and proved himself a capable director and choreographer pulling off some interesting films which may not always be great pieces of cinema, but the fight sequences will most always be the main points of interest. Hsu uses a novel twist during the training sequence towards the end in which the film splits into two frames. The left frame reveals a medium shot of the two practitioners while the right frame details a close up while Chinese characters describe the maneuver onscreen.
I have a book on Chin Na and this style is broken up into Fundamentals and Advanced with many of the strikes designed to disable and even kill but yet these particular strikes take considerable time to master and not the short time span seen in the film.
All in all, a nice indy clone from Shaw Brothers who by this time had ceased being innovators and had begun copying the competition. Most definitely highly recommended for HJL fans, the first hour provides some fights but comedy rules this section of the movie with the main action not coming until the final 35 minutes.