Wong Fei-hung (Gordon Liu) finds himself stuck in the middle of a bitter rivalry among kung fu schools where the appearance of a Northerner could tip the balance. Fei-hung teams up with his lady friend Wang Juying (Kara Hui) to sort it out.
Martial Club is a pure, unfiltered example of the quintessential classic kung fu movie, and a reasonably entertaining one too. Genre master Lau Kar-leung directs his favorite protégés with Kill Bill’s Gordon Liu in the lead as folk hero Wong Fei-hung in a reworking/sequel of one of Lau’s earlier films Challenge of the Masters. Several outstanding action scenes mark an otherwise average entry from Lau and Shaw Brothers studios. Keep in mind that Lau’s work at this time was anything but average in a broader sense.
Like many of Lau’s movies, Martial Club seeks to inform even as it entertains, all while staying well within the unique realm of the Chinese pugilist. Lau’s thorough knowledge of kung fu technique and history has allowed him to draw on this to set the standard for the kung fu genre. In this case, etiquette between martial arts schools and the trouble that results from breaking it takes center stage.
Gordon Liu takes on the role of Wong Fei-hung for the second time after Challenge of the Masters, and several years after Jackie Chan comically redefined the image of Wong Fei-hung in Drunken Master. For local audiences at the time, no introduction was required so the movie kicks in as if if were simply a continuation of the long-running Wong Fei Hung serial that Lau began his film career with. The story might as well have picked up right where Challenge of the Masters ends. The prime concern among Fei-hung and his fellow kung fu students is training for lion dance exhibitions, advancing their kung fu and maintaining “face” despite a case of vanity and the efforts of spoil sports at a rival school to make them look bad. This results in the usual mix of misunderstandings, arrogance and flaring tempers that fuel the bulk of the action.
Sad to say, but the bits of comedy here are some of Lau’s worst and rely too much on forced caricatures and tandem line delivery, rather than the inventive verbal and physical nonsense that made films like Mad Monkey Kung Fu and Disciples of the 36th Chamber so much fun. The middle section of the film suffers the most in scenes where Gordon Liu and Robert Mak clown around with so-so kung fu action mixed in. The other half of the movie, however, contains scenes that border on the deliciously insane.
The opening scene has one of the craziest, Buzby Berkeley-like lion dance displays ever shot. In the tight confines of a studio set (witness the shadows on the sky-painted walls), a three-layer cake of kung fu students stacked on top of each other winding their way through a throng of cheering onlookers with two lion dancers, the head on top and the tail suspended in air by a pole, performing their routine. Chances are, your local kung fu school won’t be attempting anything quite so ambitious come next Chinese New Year.
Happily, Gordon Liu and Kara Hui spar on several occasions and as any fan knows, these two are always a treat to watch. Admittedly, this reviewer favors the lovely lady, but it’s not for lack of quality kung fu execution on Liu’s part.
The film hits a frenzied peak when Liu and Hui are locked with their peers in a Chinese opera theater by a rival school and forced to fight their way out. Lau’s mastery of complex action choreography with large numbers of stuntmen comes into play. Mad Monkey Kung Fu star Hsiao Ho lightly rolls and hops over heads of a sandwiched crowd, all the fighters storm the stage for a backstage tango with the opera performers, and they practically bring the house down.
All well and good, but it’s the match up of Gordon Liu and Johnny Wang that really makes Martial Club worth watching. Wang plays a leg fighter from the famous Jin Wu school in Northern China who comes to the south in hopes of exchanging kung fu technique among friends. Instead, he finds a crafty master is trying to pit him against the area schools including Fei-hung’s school. This puts him in the difficult situation of trying to figure out who the righteous boxers are, with nothing but bad information and his own nose for sniffing out true skill. Well, if anyone possesses that, it’s Fei-hung and the two end up smoothing out everyone’s differences by staging a friendly match. In the increasingly narrow confines of a back alley, Liu and Wang tangle in a fantastic display of form and intensity that defies description. Jackie Chan famously displayed his endurance in performing the horse stance in Drunken Master, but Gordon Liu puts it into vivid practice in his fight with Wang and also with Guk Fung who plays his father. The only prominent actor in attendance who sadly doesn’t get in on the action is Wilson Tong, a very competent screen fighter and choreographer who is stuck with playing a stodgy kung fu master.
Martial Club is basically a highlight film where viewers will most likely be drawn to a few great kung fu scenes, while likely wishing to skim over the filler. This unevenness is not common with Lau’s films, but it is a reminder that even among the best of the best, there is room for improvement.
by Mark Pollard
