The JCE/EMG moviemaking machine, responsible for the abysmal Twins Effect II and Protege de la Rose Noire, rumbles on with another polished, yet juvenile action comedy featuring their favorite stars. House of Fury is the second solo directorial effort from Stephen Fung, but is more notable for having Yuen Wo-ping and his team attached as action directors for the film’s many martial arts fights.

Co-written by Fung, House of Fury is an unimaginative and sickly sweet film about a squabbling brother (Stephen Fung) and Abercrombie-shirt wearing sister (Gillian Chung) trained in martial arts, who must come to the aid of their secret agent dad (Anthony Wong) after he’s kidnapped by a revenge-seeking villain (Michael Wong). Along the way, the pair overcomes their sibling rivalry that often causes kung fu fights to break out in their home, they engage in numerous wire-assisted battles with mute thugs, and everyone learns the value of family.

I’d say I was disappointed with this film if I didn’t already know what to expect from its makers. Its pure bubblegum action, light romance and comedy and the flavor is all gone. There isn’t an ounce of creativity in the warm and fuzzy story, which is geared for young teens. The acting is poor. Everyone is basically playing themselves, except for Michael Chan, who is probably the least-threatening villain I’ve ever seen, and that’s not because his character is in a wheelchair.

There are a lot of fight scenes, with decent, yet unremarkable moves performed by the stars. It’s near impossible for Yuen Wo-ping and his team to create outright bad action. But under Fung’s direction, it becomes increasingly dull and unreal. There is a tiresome Bruce Lee rip-off performed by Wong. Fung and Chung repeatedly tangle with Josie Ho and several other nondescript thugs in fights that present some cool moves, but serve no real purpose. American martial artist Jake Strickland actually provides the most interesting element of the action. He performs some very impressive stick handling that Yuen integrates into the film quite well. His role as basically the main adversary for Fung to go against is silly though. The rest of the action becomes increasingly unreal, especially when veteran actor and non-martial artist Wu Ma is digitalized and begins bounding over rooftops like a cartoon character. The wirework repeatedly gets out of hand, particularly in scenes where Gillian Chung spends a lot of her time in a fight dangling sideways with both feet in the air.

House of Fury is exceedingly mediocre kids stuff in every regard and offers little substance of any kind, although this meets the standards of current trends. It gets by on its slick looks and the popularity of its lead stars. Seeing as how much of Hollywood and Hong Kong make these two aspects the driving force of their creative output with regard to action films, no doubt less discriminating viewers accustomed to such product will be reasonably entertained.

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