As the aging Emperor’s health begins to fail, court intrigue ensues as Shaolin monks hiding within the palace devise a plan to keep corrupt officials from manipulating the chosen successor by taking the 4th Prince, whose only ambition is to serve his countrymen and training him in kung fu (Ti Lung) while eliminating anyone who poses a threat. Two rebels opposed to the current rule choose to assist 4th Prince in becoming the next Emperor.

Royal infighting is the order of the day in Kung Fu Emperor, a cheaply produced independent film where Ti Lung struggles to do his country right by becoming the next Emperor, leaving the audience to fathom the many of the film’s disjointed scenes.

The premise is a challenging one from a (Western) moral standpoint and muddled to boot. The Emperor is advanced in age and dying. He has fourteen sons, and while you might expect the eldest to automatically be considered the successor, that’s not the case here. Its actually the last brother whom the Emperor has secretly chosen. That would be all fine and dandy except for the fact that a corrupt official played by the great Chan Sing plans to manipulate the 14th brother who is weak in character. What then can civic-minded citizens do except support the only son who actually cares about the well being of the people? Several Shaolin monks who are hidden in a secret chamber within the walls of the Emperor’s palace secretly train 4th Brother in kung fu while he plays the fool in public. In an example of confused scripting, 4th Brother is at one point told he must kill off his brothers who would stand in his way while Chan Sing is actually the one who is manipulating events to cause the brothers to fight one another.

After a series of semi-humorous scenes where 4th Brother wanders about town as a commoner and even ends up in jail, he is poisoned by Chan’s men and receives aid from several unlikely fighters who oppose his father’s rule. Two of them (including super kicker Dorian Tan) help him to defeat Chan and his men while the majority of royal brothers who support 4th Brother’s ascension join in the fight.

With Ti Lung and Dorian Tan on tap as the stars, you can rightly expect some decent kung fu action which the film delivers, but the meandering story is a befuddled mess. Several compelling elements are present such as Ti Lung’s idealism being tested by the corruption around him. The scene where one of his brothers turns against him is an effective example and also instigates a great fight. A potentially dramatic aspect of the plot is wasted with the strong Shaolin influence on Ti. The head monk seems to have had nefarious motives of his own, which if true would have really challenged Ti’s character to emerge as the country’s leader based on his own high ideals. Instead, he seems to be more of a pawn of the people than a champion for them.

Some of the scenes just don’t make a lot of sense. The film opens with black-clad fighters crawling around on a beam in the ceiling of the Emperor’s throne room as goofy-looking spikes descend. Later, we learn this is all an attempt to get to the Emperor’s will which is easily accessed by leaping up to retrieve a picture in which it resides. That and several other scenes seem to be a conscious effort to replicate the type of action you would expect to see in a Chang Cheh film, but they are poorly executed.

When viewed in full, Kung Fu Emperor communicates that the filmmakers put little effort into their work. Most of the fight choreography and camera work is adequate, but the cheap sets and a sloppy script undermine any of the film’s assets. If not for the welcome match up between screen legends Ti Lung and Chan Sing, this film would be little more than a royal pain to watch.

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