007½ : Rien n'est impossible

Impossible Kid, The (1982)

** (out of 4)

This is the film you get when you mix James Bond, The Pink Panther, exploitation, kung fu and a 2 foot 9 midget. This spoof on Bond features midget Weng Weng as Secret Agent 00 who gets in the middle of a terrorist group trying to bribe rich businessmen. The story here really doesn't matter. What does matter is that you've got a midget playing a ladies man Secret Agent who isn't afraid to use some kung fu to kick ass. As you can tell, this film from the Phillippines isn't to be taken too seriously and if you go in with a tongue and cheek attitude then you're bound to get a few laughs. The fight scenes are so incredibly ridiculous but they work because there's a midget involved. Seeing these beautiful women fall over the dude also manages to get some laughs. The film, technically speaking, is pretty bad but then again, this wasn't meant to challenge Citizen Kane. The score also rips off that of Bond and the Panther.

There's bad guy balls need punching and Weng Weng, a man who is smaller than my six year old son, is just the guy we need. He's an interpol agent in a tiny white suit that the chicks all dig, and he's out to smash a gang of bad guys who are extorting money from a bunch of businessmen.

There's not much going on story wise but basically we want to see Weng Weng kicks everybody's arse (or balls, if we're being honest here) while girls swoon over him. He gets into various scrapes, gets locked in cages, hides in suitcases etc etc. There's some boobs, and a nice shoot out near the end when Weng Weng gets a hold of a machine gun, so nothing to worry about there.

What I did notice was the high amount of 'bad guy laughing' in the final third of the film, but that's to be expected. Not much to say about this one but it's available on Mill Creek's 50 Martial Arts Classics box set, which also includes the great Ninja Death series (which holds the record for the amount of times I've rewound a film because I couldn't believe what I was seeing). It's probably on YouTube too

The Impossible Kid is the sequel to For Your Height Only, the first Filipino James Bond spoof starring the one and only dwarf action star extraordinaire, Weng Weng. Sadly, despite the end credits promising a third instalment entitled License Expired, that film was never made and so The Impossible Kid is the final entry in this most bizarre series. It carries on in exactly the same vein as its predecessor with Weng Weng playing a secret agent who not only easily defeats foes three times his size with martial arts skills but who is also irresistible to women. It's naturally a completely ludicrous set-up which is played out as if it might be the most normal scenario to ever unfold.

Weng Weng is Agent 00, who is an Interpol agent who is out to bring down some bad guys. I can't remember the storyline, it was forgettable. What makes this one worth viewing is Weng Weng. The film may well be exploiting his stature pretty obviously but never be in any doubt this little guy is a serious action actor. He engages is some seriously dangerous looking stunt work, one of which involves him being lowered on a shaky bit of rope down from the roof of a high building. One false move and it would be bye-bye Weng Weng that's for sure. He is a tough little cookie. With his pudding bowl haircut and disco suit he makes for a memorable central character that is for sure. In this film, he even gets to travel around on a mini motorbike, which seemed to have about as much power as a garden lawnmower, yet on which he manages to jump over a ravine while travelling at perhaps two miles an hour.

This is one of the many Filipino genre films that were made during the period. Like all the others it's a cheap production. Everything is pretty basic and it wouldn't be very good at all if it didn't have its star actor to focus on. It does have to be said though that, similar its predecessor, the novelty does wear off a bit after a while. Weng Weng is game throughout but the action does get a bit samey. But, on account of its great central actor, this one can only get positive points.

Some movies are so bad, it is worth watching them once. The list of flaws is enormous. Even one musical theme is a travesty of Mancini Pink Panther. This comes from 1982 and looks like the Sixties. It makes Jackie Chan look like James Bond.

(1982) The Impossible Kid DUBBED ACTION ADVENTURE/ COMEDY

Starring "Weng-Weng" the 2' 9" (0.84 m) size midget portraying as Interpol agent for Manila, double 0 similar to OO7 but without the gadgets, but is strong enough to beat up people who're twice his size and at least a hundred fifty pounds heavier than him is almost beyond ridiculous, unless he were to possess some kind of power or hard rigorous training I am unaware about. Anyways, this is one of a few movies that used him playing the same role according to imdb this is the third. The only reason I checked him out, basically because of an old Jimmy Kimmel talk show clip making me to become curious what the heck this is and initially thought it was amusing at the beginning, seeing him using his little baby-like hands beating up and killing people (by using a small gun) twice his size, but it becomes very tiring as it drags, since it's obvious that everything is adapted for Weng Weng's convenient dwarf-like size. The plot involves terrorists blackmailing the city, somewhere around the Philippines for a huge sum of money oblivious that it involves some of it's own high paying top magistrate's, Double 0 is assigned to the case and labelled as their best agent to investigate as opposed to any moderate size man. You are either laughing at him or with him.

It may not be fair to judge this movie by just watching the third without seeing the other two movies, but it is what I am giving it for the time being, for one of the advantages of submitting reviews on here is that viewers have the opportunity to change it whenever s/he want at any given time. The other two movies are called "Agent 00" and then "Y'Ur Height Only" or "For Y' Ur Height Only" both released in 1981.