If you're looking for excellent action choreography and not a whole lot else, you've come to the right place! Legendary director/choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping's first directorial effort since 1996 is a dazzling display of over-the-top martial arts coupled with all the narrative cohesion of a choose-your-own-adventure book.
It's essentially two films awkwardly sewn together -- the first is a typical Kung Fu premise we all know and love from the 80s: hero is betrayed; hero gets beaten up; hero trains to improve his skills; hero kills all enemies. In this case, Su Can seeks to avenge the murder of his father by his traitorous adopted brother (Yuan), who has mastered a supernatural technique whereby he is able to store venom from all kinds of nasty creatures in his body, then transfer it to his enemies through open palm strikes (huh??). As if that weren't enough, the first half really ratchets up the bizarre by having Su's trainer be the "God of Wushu" who is always accompanied by a cackling, long-bearded sage (Gordon Liu in an excellent cameo). Did I mention that these two only exist in Su's imagination? Yeah. Michelle Yeoh plays a supporting, but ultimately useless role as a brilliant healer who purges the venom from Su's body after his first battle with his nefarious ex-friend. She leaves the film as suddenly and inexplicably as she entered. Anyway, the way-too-long training section ultimately culminates in a pretty anti-climactic and effortless battle with Yuan, ending with his death as well as the death of Su's wife (and Yuan's sister) Ying.
That's the end, right? No, apparently not. Time lapse several years and Su and his son (who never seems to age over the film's several-year time span) are living as beggars on the street in now-colonized China. This second half is so appallingly contrived that I won't even go into it. The lowest point is the awful David Carradine's cameo as a Russian trainer who mysteriously speaks English with an American accent (hmm...)
Anyway, if you're looking for mindless (and I do mean MINDLESS) entertainment and A+ action choreography, this is the film for you. The choreography itself is a bit more "realistic" than some of Yuen-Woo Ping's recent efforts (Matrix, Crouching Tiger, etc.) with minimal flying, but maximal fake blood and tumbling through walls.
It's essentially two films awkwardly sewn together -- the first is a typical Kung Fu premise we all know and love from the 80s: hero is betrayed; hero gets beaten up; hero trains to improve his skills; hero kills all enemies. In this case, Su Can seeks to avenge the murder of his father by his traitorous adopted brother (Yuan), who has mastered a supernatural technique whereby he is able to store venom from all kinds of nasty creatures in his body, then transfer it to his enemies through open palm strikes (huh??). As if that weren't enough, the first half really ratchets up the bizarre by having Su's trainer be the "God of Wushu" who is always accompanied by a cackling, long-bearded sage (Gordon Liu in an excellent cameo). Did I mention that these two only exist in Su's imagination? Yeah. Michelle Yeoh plays a supporting, but ultimately useless role as a brilliant healer who purges the venom from Su's body after his first battle with his nefarious ex-friend. She leaves the film as suddenly and inexplicably as she entered. Anyway, the way-too-long training section ultimately culminates in a pretty anti-climactic and effortless battle with Yuan, ending with his death as well as the death of Su's wife (and Yuan's sister) Ying.
That's the end, right? No, apparently not. Time lapse several years and Su and his son (who never seems to age over the film's several-year time span) are living as beggars on the street in now-colonized China. This second half is so appallingly contrived that I won't even go into it. The lowest point is the awful David Carradine's cameo as a Russian trainer who mysteriously speaks English with an American accent (hmm...)
Anyway, if you're looking for mindless (and I do mean MINDLESS) entertainment and A+ action choreography, this is the film for you. The choreography itself is a bit more "realistic" than some of Yuen-Woo Ping's recent efforts (Matrix, Crouching Tiger, etc.) with minimal flying, but maximal fake blood and tumbling through walls.