Les 7 commandements du Kung Fu

A ruthless assassin (Chang Yi) adopts a new disciple (Lee Yi Min) from an old kung fu master. He teaches him the deadly Mantis Style in the hope that his new protégé will continue his killing for him.

An average Kung fu with some good fights, though it can be too lengthy and the comedy was forced, however it's still watchable, but it's not a standout. The idea of an assassin training a protege to be like him with his commandments of Kung fu is good, but it isn't as utilised properly, mainly because of its pedestrian direction.

This low-budget fight fest is distinguished by good performances by its two leads, Lee Yi Min and Chang Yi, both in parts they could do quite easily in their sleep but, fortunately for us, are wide awake here. Lee is an eager beaver kung fu student who works in a medicine shop by day and lives with an uncle who teaches him a rigorous form of kung fu involving lots of gymnastic rings. Chang Yi is a stern, hard-hearted, wandering kung fu master who gets wounded in a fight with an outlaw gang whose leader is played by reliable kung fu heavy Lung Fei. Lee comes to Chang's aid, making him a target of the gang, too, so Chang takes him along on his journey and teaches him the seven rules of kung fu as they fight and kill assorted pursuing bad guys. It's a set of pretty obvious "rules," such as "Be on your guard against ambush," "Always be ready for deception," and "Plan ahead before you move," concepts no doubt already familiar to Lee from all his other kung fu movies.

Eventually, Lee falls out with Chang after learning the dark truth about him. He takes his late father's kung fu manual and teaches himself "Seven Stars" kung to counteract Chang's Mantis style. In one clever scene he even builds man-size praying mantis models out of straw and bamboo to practice with in preparation for the final showdown.

The two actors are always fun to watch, although the production values here are not as good as we've seen in their other films (e.g. Lee's NINJA CHECKMATE and 7 GRANDMASTERS and Chang's EAGLE'S CLAW and CHALLENGE OF DEATH). For one thing, the cameraman is obsessed with the zoom lens, which means there are way too many huge closeups and we miss a lot of the fight scenes' widescreen imagery on the full-frame low-cost tapes/DVDS that are currently the only way to see this film in the U.S.

This film has a typical kung fu story but for those who truly enjoy old school kung fu films, and are a fans of them. They will truly appreciate this film, anyone who gives bad reviews about this film are just idiots.

After about 20 minutes of laxative jokes a story finally emerges. Li Yi-Min hits to road with Chang Yi and learns of the seven commandments. I wrote them down the first time I watched the movie but that was a waste of effort.

Overall this movie is only for the hard core fan with thumb on the fast forward button. There is nothing going on with the story in between the fights. The fights are all similar and do not tell a story. On the plus side the fights are good. Li Yi-Min has excellent acrobatic skills that add to his fighting. Chang Yi is an actor first, he came on the scene as a martial artist back in 1967 with "King Rat". Back then only the stunt men knew real martial arts. After over ten years Chang Yi has certainly practiced and attained quite a skill level.

I rate this as below average and suitable only for the hard core fan to watch once.

This is one of the best kung fu movies of all time and one of the best Yi-Min Li movies. It has everything a kung fu movie should have, a great story which has a twist, good acting, top fights and acrobatics. One on my best childhood movies and until now I give 10/10.