Kung Fu Killer

Kung Fu Killer stars David Carradine as another 'Caine' type character from his beloved Kung Fu series.

The television movie is actually co-written by David Seidler who would go on to win an Oscar for Best Screenplay for his next film, The King's Speech.

Carradine plays a Caucasian monk called Crane in Shanghai who infiltrates the criminal underworld to find the killers of his spiritual female Grandmaster and thus gain his vengeance.

Carradine was rather long in the tooth for some of the martial arts scenes but he acquits himself well. He joins up in this film with his Kill Bill accomplice, Daryl Hannah who plays a nightclub singer and romantic interest. Hannah is rather wasted in the glamour role especially given how vicious and striking she was in Kill Bill.

Carradine has enough charisma to keep us the audience interested, after all we end up reminiscing about his Kung Fu series from our boyhood.

The television film has a few good set pieces, the plot is rather hokey and the film is rather pedestrian even dull in places.

Well, the rigidly choreographed Kung Fu will not kill you, but the boredom of an insanely slow paced movie might.

It was with some reluctance that I sat down to watch the 2008 TV movie "Kung Fu Killer". The movie's title was the first hurdle to get past, then there was the fact of it having David Carradine as the main attraction. But still, the movie also had Daryl Hannah on the cast list, and it was a movie that I hadn't already seen, so I took a chance and watched "Kung Fu Killer".

Writers Jacqueline Feather, David Seidler and John Mandel didn't exactly manage to put together a particularly thrilling or interesting storyline here for the movie, and I must admit that as the movie went along at a unfathomably slow pace, I was gradually losing my interest in it, as nothing worthwhile or interesting happened.

The martial arts scenes in the movie were wooden and rigid, and they were choreographed and executed in a manner where it was painfully obvious that the performers were indeed following a strict choreograph here. The fight scenes lacked a natural flow and fluidity to it.

The acting performances in "Kung Fu Killer" were about as wooden and rigid as the martial arts scenes, so at least they matched one another. But in terms of providing proper entertainment, then the acting performances were severely hindered by a lack of interesting or proper storyline.

I assume that if you were a fan of the original "Kung Fu" TV series that starred David Carradine, then you will find some enjoyment here, as it apparently is the same character he portrays.

"Kung Fu Killer" was a movie that came and went without leaving much of a lasting impression on me, and this is certainly not a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time. Nor is it a movie that I would recommend you waste your time, money or effort on.

My rating of director Philip Spink's 2008 movie lands on a generous three out of ten stars.

"White Crane" (Kung Fu Killer) is to me classic David Carradine doing his legendary "Kung Fu" only he's older. If any of you remember his TV shows "Kung Fu" in the 70's and "Kung Fu: The Legend Continues" of the 90's in which Carradine fights in a majestic and powerful way and shares with you his words of wisdom then you should love this, if you have been brought up on the films of Jackie Chan and Jet Li where they jump around like they are on something hitting their opponents a dozen times without defeating them but some how winning in the end then you may not appreciate this style of Kung Fu movie. Daryl Hannah does a good job as a 1930s singer and looks the part and Osric Chau is excellent as a young Kung Fu student.

It's good to see Carradine at his very best. The story is great and there is just enough violence (and when is violence not a part of the martial arts?) I love stories of old china and this one is great. It's also nice to see Carradine and Hannah together again after Kill Bill. The action shots are better than a lot of other martial arts films.

It looks like the director new his martial arts. I recognize the moves in the action, which gives it authenticity. There are millions of martial arts fans around the world starving for more of these types of quality films.

Carradine may be getting older but he plays his part well.

Kung Fu Killer did seem interesting concept-wise and for the two most well-known stars of the mini-series David Carradine and Daryl Hannah. Execution-wise, Kung Fu Killer is very lacking and could have been much better but it isn't a complete waste of time. The best things about it are the scenery, the production design and Carradine. The scenery is absolutely gorgeous and makes you wish you were there, the production design and costumes are equally handsome and give a real sense of time and place and Carradine plays his role with authority and dignity. Anya is very charismatic as well, and while not as memorable Osric Chau is above average as well. The same cannot be said for Hannah though, whose role is almost completely needless and she looks disconnected throughout, she has also looked much better than she does here. The choreography and violence is well-choreographed and exciting on the most part, but more finesse in the editing and less of a hard-to-take approach would have been welcome, parts did feel very unsubtle and too much. While the scenery and production look great, the photography is murky and the editing isn't always completely smooth. The music is not sluggish or forgettable as such, in fact there are some memorable parts and there is a sense of tempo, but it has an oft tendency of drowning out the dialogue and could have been toned down more. The dialogue isn't really all that much to write home about, a lot of it is corny and simplistic with need of more flow. Outside the concept and some of the action sequences the story isn't really all that engaging, it could have done with more tension and heart and it does have a dull and meandering feel to it. There are worse characters around, however more time could have been spent with getting to know them and relate to their situation, Carradine's is an exception, and then there are others who are pretty much irrelevant especially Daryl Hannah's(essentially a love interest and nothing more). All in all, there's definitely worse but a rather mediocre mini-series. 4/10 Bethany Cox