Fang Shi Yu

The most notable feature of this movie is the spectacular scenery and costuming. This is one of the few Kung fu movies where the majority of the cast wears the pigtail, which made for some interesting observations as well as and interesting weapons related finale. The mother in the movie was pretty enough and young enough to be a sister and was better looking than the 'girl friend' of the plot. Lots of fight scenes but none that were spectacular in my mind.

Typical of the genre is the unusual and strange training method. Some of the expected 'flying' and some less than normal weapons work. I liked seeing some of the more 'normal' aspects of everyday life. The sets/scenery really are a cut above normal and the cinematography is really above average.

Yang-Ming Tsai's The Prodigal Boxer is one of the earlier iterations mythologising the legendary Chinese pugilist Fong Sai Yuk. This generously bulging man satchel of thunderously exciting, exhilaratingly choreographed chop socky is bursting at the very seams with magnetic Martial arts madness!!!! Highly prized among the vintage Kung Fu cognoscenti, the compelling story, fine cast, high voltaged, blisteringly bellicose fight craft and a rousing climax shall, perhaps, make a fan of you too!!! Typhoon Thunder kicker Yasuaki Kurata is on bone-breakingly brutalist form, and I enjoyed Fei Meng's powerhouse performance as the savage, single-mindedly revenging son. Prodigal Boxer is a bona fide combat classic, excitingly replete with audacious firecracker Foley, and some truly triumphant, ribcage wrecking, body rupturing battles!!!!

On the outside, KUNG FU - THE PUNCH OF DEATH is simply another in a long line of '70s period 'fu flicks. The storyline is completely unremarkable, telling the impossibly overdone tale of a guy seeking revenge for the death of his father, and the characterisation is virtually nil. The action sequences in themselves are passable, with a nice adult edge to them – no overblown comedy here, just guys absolutely beating the heck out of each other and nearly dying in the process. I enjoyed watching them, even if they lack the technical proficiency of a Jackie Chan flick.

No, the most interesting thing about this film is the direction, which is a cut above the standard. Chai Yang-Min is master of the roving camera and he always seems to frame his scenes in unusual, interesting ways. I enjoyed the visual impact of this film a LOT, and it made a nice difference to the usual set-up (choppy editing, static camera midway back, etc.). The quality of the acting is also worth noting – Meng Fei excels as the young, bratty hero and you can really get a sense of his newfound maturity come the climax. Yasuaki Kurata (MILLIONAIRE'S EXPRESS) makes an excellent foe and you never doubt his toughness for a second.

The film is flawed but I was in a forgiving mood. The storyline seems to expire after an hour or so, and there's about twenty minutes of padding which really didn't need to be here – I would have preferred a non-padded 70 minuter rather than a padded 90 minute offering. Still, the climax is typically good, complete with impalements and weapon play, and this is a fine example of an average kung fu film.

THE PRODIGAL BOXER is yet another entry in the series of films on legendary Chinese hero Fong Sai Yuk (usually referred to as Fong Si Yu), although it wasn't produced by Shaw Bros., the source of several films in the 1970s featuring Fu Sheng as Fong, nor does it get into the Shaolin Temple phase of Fong's life.

Here the character of 'Fong Su Yi' (as pronounced by the English voice cast) is young, callow, and reckless and instigates a dispute with a corrupt rival martial school that results in his father's death and his and his mother's exile. When Fong (Meng Fei) goes after the rivals, Iron Fist Tan (Yasuaki Kurata) and his brother (Wang Ching), he is so badly beaten that it takes months to recuperate under the watchful care of his mother and a young girl he'd helped out. His mother puts him through rigorous training and an herbal bath that will make him invulnerable (no mention is made of the weak point--his rectum!--that figures in so many other films about Fong). Eventually he is able to take on Iron Fist and his brother.

The film is very well mounted and shot on lavish studio sets and sprawling locations. The tape available offers a beautiful widescreen print in all its letter-boxed glory. The action is quite good and the voice dubbing above average. The film pays a good deal more attention to cinematic technique than most kung fu films and offers unusual camera angles and several subjective point-of-view scenes, including a nightmare sequence experienced by Fong. There are also far more reflective moments than usual for the genre. The actresses playing Fong's mother and girlfriend are attractive but not conventionally pretty in the usual Hong Kong fashion. They have more character and display a more authentic look and give the movie a strong emotional undercurrent. The original Chinese music score is retained for the English-dubbed version.

While there are good fight scenes throughout, they usually wind up with the hero getting beaten. In the final bout with the Iron Fist brothers, Fong beats the two villains far too easily in a conclusion that's not as satisfying as this otherwise exciting film deserves. Even so, this is an above-average kung fu film available in an excellent-quality copy.

So for this movie I've seen it at least a few times and if I'm honest yes this is more of a movie I watch solely for the fights and rocky like story about overcoming great odds in the face of certain death and suffering. However, the acting and what strings the plot together is so bad it's funny sometimes. Some of the scenes make no sense like randomly breaking into fights for no apparent reason and the badly dubbed English and also some of the acting and scenes are so cheesy. However if I may say one thing the plot is genuinely engrossing at times. With everything else improved this could be an underrated gem. One part that still sticks with me after watching it over and over is how the character deals with defeat. No details to avoid spoilers, but when it showed the character's pain and what lead to his situation he was in I felt genuinely angry and sad at once even knowing what was next. I believe it's as good as a movie of its kind can get because some other movies of this type fail to even get close to being interesting at the end of the day or the overall plot is very bad. Everything in general isn't very bad, but these issues I mention earlier keep this movie from being a 3.5 to 4 star movie the kind that makes it into a collection of some of the best. Still recommended if you can get back some of the other nonsense.