The Mystery of Chess Boxing

I heard about this movie because of the famous rap group The Wu-Tang Clan. So i checked it out on youtube. And man is it fast!!!! When i say say fast, I mean it is difficult to keep up with a technique that is so complex. There are excellent fight scenes, especially at the ending! The acting isn't so terrific, but since this is real genuine kung-fu that very few practice, it doesn't matter. The storyline is decent, but you don't always need a storyline for old fashioned fun. Funny haircuts, funny English dubbing, intensely good scenes. It would make an excellent remake.

Plus, it's not overly violent either. Kids tend to watch kung-fu movies regardless of the violence level. So this would also fall into parental approval.

THE MYSTERY OF CHESS BOXING isn't a very remarkable kung fu movie although I guess others found it more so, with this film and its characters particularly inspiring members of the Wu Tang Clan over in the US. It was directed by the prolific Taiwanese director Joseph Kuo, previously of THE BLAZING TEMPLE and THE 18 BRONZEMEN, and like those movies it feels a little cheap and slapdash in places.

However, THE MYSTERY OF CHESS BOXING does have some good elements, it's just that overall it turns out to be rather average. The storyline is very typical, about a master killer known as the Ghost Face Killer (his name is more interesting than he is) who goes around killing various martial arts masters in the countryside. As usual, the upstanding son of one of the dead men swears revenge, but first he must train.

Training takes up most of this film's plot and it's quite unusual. Firstly the kid, Ah Pao, is kicked out of the kung fu school and must go on the road. The best part of the film is when he teams up with Siu Tin Yuen (aka Simon Yuen, famous for his 'Beggar So' character in DRUNKEN MASTER) for the usual shenanigans involving food and drink. This doesn't last long, and Ah Pao instead ends up at the home of a chess expert who teaches him chess boxing.

Sadly, the chess boxing stuff is never as interesting as it sounds, as it only really adds unusual names for the moves rather than providing a new way of fighting. As such, the eventual end fight feels underwhelming despite everything. The cast are okay and there are some fine little training sequences involved here, but THE MYSTERY OF CHESS BOXING isn't a film to particularly remember.

Supposedly dead, embittered former official, The Ghost Face Killer has returned and seeking revenge on those martial arts masters than once opposed him – his name is infamous and his Five Elements fighting style is deadly. Meanwhile, young Ah Pao joins a martial arts school in order to become a great fighter in order to take revenge on the man who killed his father. He gets very good quickly but timing is everything and his arrival at the school in relation to the return of the Ghost Face Killer sees him suspected of being connected and thus put out of the school. He falls under the tutelage of an elderly chess master in the town while all the time the focus of his vengeance kills his way closer and closer.

Is there any point in me pretending to be a scholar of 1970's martial arts movies or should I just admit now that, like many others, came to this because of the Wu-Tang Clan's many references to it (amongst other films)? Well although I do enjoy martial arts films, this one in particular came to me because of the Wu Tang track and of course name of one of their members. This did not suggest a perfect quality to me though and I was fairly open to what I would find. The film opens with its main selling point – Ghost Face Killer battling and defeating a former master in combat. These scenes are scattered across the film while at the same time Ah Pao continues his transformation from cheerful young man to skilled pupil under the guidance of the Chess Master. It is a narrative structure that anyone familiar with the genre will already have seen before but it does work for several reasons here.

Overwhelmingly it works because the martial arts action is impressive – in particular the fights involving Ghost Face Killer. They all have an impressive fluidity to them that is physically impressive and engaging. In each fight there isn't really a "money shot" that will make you gasp, but rather just a consistent quality that makes them fun. They are also well shot with good externals locations and a lot fewer edits than those used to the modern rapid edits made in some action movies to cover up the actors only be able to do one small movement at a time, with the real fighting happening in the editing suit. Of course the film also has all the standards of this genre of the period in the rather corny voice-over from the US market, the slightly overdone performances from some of the cast, fabulous facial hair and that distinctive zooming camera-work. While to some all this may date and/or limit the film, to many viewers it will be part of the appeal and not only be accepted but also embraced as part of what they love.

Talking of the performances, it is probably quite unfair to say that some are overdone because actually everyone is pretty good. Mark Long sticks in the mind most with his distinctively named villain. His facial hair and booming laugh make him engaging. Jack Long's Chess Master is typically subdued and wise in his turn and works well with Yi-min Li. Of these three all are physically impressive in their fight scenes together and separately. There are a few weaker turns of course but nobody that stands out as being such particularly. This all leaves an enjoyably action packed martial arts movie. The many fight sequences are well done and impressive (and filmed so you can actually see them) and, while the plot is basic on paper, the film moves along at a good pace and engages without too much trouble.

NINJA CHECKMATE (1979) is better known as THE MYSTERY OF CHESS BOXING, a more appropriate title given the absence of any actual ninjas from the film. Produced and directed by Taiwanese-based master kung fu filmmaker Joseph Kuo, CHECKMATE ranks with the best of his work (BORN INVINCIBLE, 7 GRANDMASTERS) in telling a simple concise story and peopling it with some of the best fighting stars at Kuo's disposal. Lee Yi Min stars along with Kuo regulars Jack Long (aka Lung Sai Gar) and Mark Long (aka Lung Kwan Wu), while the venerable Simon Yuen (DRUNKEN MASTER) makes an appearance as well. Mark Long plays the feared "Ghost-Faced Killer," a name later appropriated by the rap group, Wu Tang Clan, as part of their ongoing homage to classic kung fu films.

Lee Yi Min (SEVEN COMMANDMENTS OF KUNG FU) plays an eager young student seeking masters who will teach him enough kung fu to enable him to get revenge against the killer of his father. Lee has an amiable quality and ready smile and his character here is willing to withstand humiliation from senior students at the start of his training in order to gain access to the teachers who can help him. In addition to fighting skills, he brings acrobatic and gymnastic skills to the role and his transformation from eager novice to skilled fighter is believably portrayed.

Lee's first real teacher is the cook at the school where he apprentices. Played by Simon Yuen, the cook shows how food preparation leads to development of strength and agility. Lee's next teacher is Jack Long, a chess master who insists on teaching Lee the fundamentals of Chinese chess before embarking on actual kung fu training. Lee is slow to catch on to the significance of this strategy but it eventually serves him in good stead in the final battle. Jack Long has a young daughter, played by Jeannie Chang, who helps persuade him to take Lee as his student.

Mark Long's Ghost-Faced Killer is an embittered ex-official who travels the Chinese countryside using his Five Elements kung fu to challenge and kill assorted retired kung fu masters who had once opposed him. The film is punctuated with several of these superbly-staged confrontations and tension is built up as the killer sets his sights on the chess master and seeks his whereabouts. The stage is eventually set for a final battle between Ghost-Faced Killer and the chess master and his prize student.

The fights are frequent and interspersed with a steady stream of clever and often humorous training sequences. Five Elements Kung Fu is a fascinating concept and involves strategies voiced in such phrases as "earth absorbs water" and "gold cuts wood." The two Longs were both top-notch kung fu performers and are always thrilling to watch, as is the underrated Lee Yi Min.

The film is aided considerably by excellent cinematography and use of small, well-appointed sets and outdoor locations in the Taiwanese countryside. In addition, the lovely and evocative original Chinese music score is retained on the English-dubbed soundtrack. This film was very popular among kung fu fans in New York when it played at theaters on 42nd Street during the heyday of the kung fu genre some 20-odd years ago. Its current availability on VHS and DVD ensures its rediscovery by legions of enthusiastic new fans in the years ahead.

Ninja Checkmate, or The Mystery of Chessboxing, is a little gem of late 70ties kung-fu. Lee Yi Min plays the young man how is very good at dodging swords and taking beatings on his search for a kung-fu teacher that will enable him to get revenged over the Ghost-Faced Killah, the kung-fu master who killed his father. The Ghost-Faced Killah, played by Mark Long, runs havoc across the land, searching out and challenging a string of kung-fu masters, overwhelming them with his superior five elements style in many amazing fights throughout the film. These fights are creatively choreographed and extremly entertaining, and break up the film in a very nice way, so there is always something fun going on. The problem otherwise is that the first half of the film containing Lee Yi Min is fairly irritating because of his senior students who continously hound him. There are two very good scenes though, one when he meets the cook who will become his first teacher, played by Siu Tien Yuen, father of Yuen Woo Ping, and a scene in which he juggles ricebowls thrown at him from every where. Lee Yi Min gets kicked out of school, but meets up with the kung-fu and chess master played by Jack Long, a kung-fu master in hiding from the Ghost-Faced Killah, who agrees to teach Min the five elements and combines them with the art of chessboxing so Min can help him fight the Ghost-Faced Killah. The big finale, where Ghost-Faced Killah first fights Jack Long, then Lee Yi Min and finally both of them, is long, elaborate and most of all, great fun. Despite some bad editing and strange clips, and the everpresent at times irritating humour of these type of films, this is a very entertaining kung-fu film, and one of the best of that time. Clearly a pearl for everybody interested in the pure elegance of kung-fu!