L'Irrésistible

If you are like me, a Jackie Chan fanboy, then you will love this movie.

It has been sitting on my shelf for a while now and I have only chosen other movies to watch in my spare time due to the shockingly low rating it has received here.

What a fool I was. this movie is just as good as the likes of Snake and Crane or Shaolin Wooden Men and is only slightly less entertaining than the great Fearless Hyena.

Ignore the reviews that rate this film so low. They are obviously written by the small unfortunate portion of Jackie's fanbase that consider the Rush Hour trilogy as his biggest achievement.

If you consider yourself a true Jackie Chan fan, you will not be disappointed with this film.

A sacred manual of the Seven Fist technique is stolen from the legendary Shaolin temple, and the only style good enough to conquer it, the Five Fists, has long since vanished. Thankfully a meteor hits the temple walls, unearthing the spirits of the Five Fists style, who summarily teach their deadly animal kung fu to lazy student Jackie Chan, so that maybe he can help when the Seven Fist thief strike again. What makes this Lo Wei adventure so endearing is the shoddy special effects – with Star Wars released the year before, Spiritual Kung Fu plainly outlines how behind the times HK was in their effects department (the meteor is a sparkler on a piece of string), and the flame-haired, hula-skirt wearing superimposed ghosts do retain a certain charm despite the cheapness.

Okay, so it's basically a crappy chopsocky movie. There are perhaps hints of Jackie Chan's unparalleled skill and comic brilliance, but not a whole lot more. The action is pretty run of the mill for the period. However, the dubbing in this film makes it pretty entertaining at points, my favorite part being the interaction between Jackie and the the young woman, who is the first girl his character has ever seen. After flirting with her, he tries to show off some of the 5-style fist he's been learning from the white-faced ballerina ghosts (that's a whole other story, but also pretty amusing). Jackie goes into a stance, and the following dialogue ensues: Girl(coy): "What's that?" Jackie(smug): "Oh, you wouldn't know that. That's the famous crane style." Girl(bitchy): "Really? Well, you look like a teapot. Pouring tea!" Jackie(indignant): "You insult my style?! I'll show you!"

They fight, and she defeats him. After consulting with the ballerina ghosts, Jackie waits for a rematch:

Jackie(sly): "I've been waiting for you all morning." Girl(chipper): "Why? To get beat?" Jackie(confident): "I won't get beat. But you will."

He then proceeds to mop the floor with her; poking her in the head with his crane beak/fist, he goads, "A teapot? Is that right?!"

If you found that at all funny, then maybe it's worth checking out. For some reason I thought it was amusing. But you'd better be a pretty serious Jackie Chan fan, 'cause there isn't much else there.

this one is a weird, weird flick. funny at times, exciting at times, scary at times(not a lot though), but mostly just weird. it invloves jackie learning a lost style of kung fu from some red haired, tutu wearing ghosts. at some time in the movie, he even takes a leak (urinates, to make myself clearer) on them! like i said, very weird.

This movie (which really should have "Spiritual Kung Fu" listed as an alternate title) may be mostly for those who specifically like kung fu movies, but if you're one of those then this is a classic. While it forebodes the comedic action of later Chan movies, it is actually much more serious, and Jackie's part may be the biggest part, but it is almost matched by several other characters, so the emphasis doesn't lie so squarely on the lead character as it usually does in Chan's movies.

If you're a kung fu movie fan, don't listen to the negative comments posted here. This is one cool movie with lots of cool weirdness, and definitely some very cool fights. At one point, Jackie, who's still considered a novice, has to fight the 18 top students, and he licks every one of them in a long and impressive fight scene. This movie is definitely worth your while.

My rating: 8 out of 10.