Gato vs. Rato

A kung-fu comedy featuring Alexander Fu Sheng as an impulse control deficient kung fu master who fights with his training brother, played by Adam Cheng, who lives directly across the street. The two constantly quarrel over who is the better martial artist, goaded on by their families and henchmen. That's the way the film opens and keeps going for a while as the two go to their elderly teacher for a secret technique to defeat the other.

Eventually Liu Chia Hui shows up playing the emperor traveling incognito for some reason. This is one of his rare roles not playing a Shaolin monk and he doesn't get to do much kung fu at all. When he does it's played for laughs, so if you are expecting to see his usual spectacular martial arts, forget it.

An uneven plot line plus some very broad humor makes this not as enjoyable as some of the other Liu Chia Liang directed films from the Shaw Bros. studios. As usual for his films most of the martial arts are incredible. The actors all do a good job. Alexander Fu Sheng (or his stunt double) does an incredible sword catch / flip to a wide leg split that I had to rewind and see over and over. The final, extended fight with the "Rat Gang" (don't ask) in it's lair didn't work for me but it was watchable.

Liu Chia Liang (Lau Kar-Leung) was one of the greatest ever fight chorographers for film in the entire world, working for over 20 incredible years at Shaw Brothers Studios as an action director ( & acting from 1953).

Most of his early work was for Chang Cheh, usually in collaboration with Tang Chia (Tong Kai) , in 1976 he began directing his own films at Shaws (co-directing (1973) Breakout from Oppression earlier).

He directs with great style, features suburb fight action & training scenes and often has a more uplifting perspective than Chang Cheh's opera of bloodshed. His Shaw Brothers films were massive hits in Asia & many became 'cult classic' in Europe/UK & the USA, well known to fans of the genre,

Cat vs Rat was always a more obscure title (until the Celestial releases from 2003). I had a shoddy VHS of it with unreadable subtitles and never rated it much when I first watched it. After watching a new HD version recently I can now verify that it is a really terrible film.... & possibly one of the directors worst.

It's full of LAME comedy, tired old tricks we've all grown bored with performed with cringeworthy melodrama and pantomime gurning for the audience. Even younger children will be bored with its slapstick & goofing about, it just isn't interesting & the characters are all naff cartoon cliches.

However, many films after 1978 in HK are marred with inappropriate or unnecessary 'comedy' like this one (while some are still actually hilarious & inventive) and the action scenes can often compensate & transcend such irritations.... tho not in this case... The fight choreography is over-stated , laborious, and often daft. Many of the moves are predictable. It all so staged & stagey it lacks any real dynamics.

Shaw Brothers films are most often lavish affairs, & this is another very colourful film with outlandish costumes- to the point of garishness.

Despite the strong cast & talents involved this film really is a stinker.

If the comedy bits of Legendary Weapons & My Young Auntie could be 'grating' then this takes that to another level of annoyance. Unlike those two films this one doesn't have the action necessary to compensate for it- it's basically an indulgent waste of time and paycheck project for the director and his pals.