Sandong yeojamuljangsu

While 7 Star Grand Mantis is a very colourful, and often entertaining kung-fu flick from South Korea, it still lacks a little something that stops it from being a classic. With involvement from Godfrey Ho and Tomas Tang on the Hong Kong side, you could be forgiven for expecting the worst, but ultimately the film is a corny, kung-fu comedy that reminds its viewers of the late 70's and early 80's Hong Kong classics such as Half A Loaf Of Kung Fu, Dirty Tiger & Crazy Frog, and more...

Starring Benny Tsui (who looks surprisingly like Elton Chong), as the leading man, the 7 Star Grand Mantis is as cliched as it gets with a silly student and long-haired master, a plot of revenge, an evil ass kicking bad-guy, and a female friend with some great moves. Its nothing new, and certainly doesn't highlight much of the titles kung-fu style, but the film has a wacky charm about it, is shot pretty well, and has a bevy of decently choreographed fight scenes performed with some great moves. South Korean actor and martial artist, Eagle Han, plays Benny's silver haired master with a sense of humour, and some fantastic moves. Han has always proved to be a great mover and actor, with films under his belt such as Jackie Chan's brilliant Dragon Fist and epic Fearless Hyena, as well as a host of other South Korean and Hong Kong collaborations.

The soundtrack for 7 Grand Star Mantis is nicked from any number of HK kung-fu classics and often tricks you in to thinking you're watching something better - but honestly, it's not that bad. If you can handle zany slapstick and cartoon humour, you'll enjoy it, with a hilarious riff of the bronzemen, and plenty of fun cockiness from Benny Tsui - similar to Jackie's early roles - or even that of Dean Shek.

The fights are handled by South Korean choreographer Kim Yeong Gil who provides some pretty fun fight scenes. Actress Song Jeong A impresses with her moves, but really, Eagle Han steals the show with some incredible kicks and kung-fu. Of course, Benny Tsui saves the best of what he has for closer to the end, with a great fight in drag and the 20 minute finale giving us a fantastic showdown against the evil villain and his gang - including a fire hose gag using their mouths. Insane but funny!

Overall: Far from disappointing, 7 Star Grand Mantis is a fast paced kung-fu comedy that entertains!

it's not that bad, I just stuck it in the video expecting to just turn it off after a brief view of the tape and I was captivated by it. One stupid thing would come after another, the fighting is only just passable I admit, but the zany comedy helps it out. The fact the English dubbing was very bad didn't matter, at least the character's voices were well defined. The film has quite a strong female character which is nice. The plot is quite simply but goes along at a good pace. I ended up watching the entire movie and was glad I did. I would recommend this film to fans of Hong Kong comedy/kung-fu cinema but don't expect to much from it. 7 Star Grand Mantis gets *******/10 from me. :)

This is probably the most awful kung fu comedy I've seen yet. There is very little fighting in it, and even at the end, when you think there's gonna be a decent fight, it ends up descending into idiotic, practically unwatchable "comedy".

All in all, this movie is just terrible. People regularly break out in hysterical laughter for hardly any reason, and many characters are insufferably caricatured. The movie warrants nothing more than a "2" rating, and the only thing keeping it from a "1" is the very few decent kung fu scenes.

My best recommendation is that you avoid this movie, unless you distinctly like really bad kung fu movies. And let me assure you that this one is not bad in "the good way", either; it's strictly bad in the bad way. Enter at your own time-wasting peril!

Oh, come on, folks - don't take this film so seriously! The basic intent of the film is 'the Three Stooges meet Bruce Lee in a Chinese Resteraunt.' It's another weird Korean hybrid of chop socky and slap-stick starring 'Elton Chong,' kung fu's answer to Jerry Lewis, as re-edited and re-released by the Lai Bros. If you don't know what that means, this is as good an introduction as any, If you do know, then you'll have already decided whether to see the film or not.

AS a slap-stick chop-socky, it's actually not that bad. Some of the comedy is gimmicky, but certainly no more so than that of the Three Stooges, whose influence is clearly in evidence here. The fight scenes are nothing special, but there not really below par for the genre.

The film also benefits from a remarkable female lead. The actress is exceptionally beautiful, and she plays a character smart, independent, and a good fighter, of course.

As for Chong - like Jerry Lewis, he's an acquired taste. But I've always found him appealing in a goofy way.

Don't expect much - certainly don't expect any mantis style kung fu, "7 star" (whatever that means) or otherwise. But with the best of Chong films, this can be a lot of fun in the right frame of mind.

Hey, my mom liked him (but she liked Jerry Lewis, too).