Martial Club

Martial club is at the top, cream-of-the-crop, when it comes to Shaw Brothers films. From Lion dancing and Kung Fu competition with acrobats and amazing balancing skills, to bickering rivalry between two martial art schools led by famous masters. A young Wong Fei-Hung honing his martial art skills and growing to become a legend faces off with a respectful northern Master to resolve a quarrel between the two schools. This kung fu film has it all, leading to an action-packed fight sequence in a peaking opera theater and the final fight in a secluded narrow alleyway, where the two masters not only display amazing kung fu skills, but learn about honor, integrity, and respect as martial artists. There's a reason this is a Shaw Brothers classic.

This is a very low stakes martial arts movie. They usually feature stories with life or death stakes, but here, the characters don't often feel like they're in danger. It's a different kind of story and tone in that regard, and it's entirely subjective, but the martial arts movies with a little more danger do tend to get my heart pumping more than the ones that aren't so concerned with people fighting to the death. Call me bloodthirsty and/or shallow, but it's just something I've found from watching classic martial arts movies.

That's not to say Martial Club is bad at all, not to say I didn't get any enjoyment out of it. The fights are still well-choreographed (even if the stakes mean they're not quite as exciting), and I always like seeing Gordon Liu in a lead role like this, because he's got a very likeable presence on screen.

But while I can recognise the story as being at the very least not bad, I also just wasn't feeling super into this. But hey, it contains decent fights and a serviceable plot, and for those who enjoy martial arts movies regardless of the severity of the stakes, I think there's a lot to like about Martial Club.

This movie is why we have kung fu movie fans. It stands as an excellent example of genre. First we have the fights. Lui Chia Liang is such a master of fight direction I believe he could put my grandmother on stage and choreograph an entertaining fight with her beating up Bruce Lee and it would be believable. The fights here are masterpieces. Gordon against Lung Wei Wang in the alley was a classic. Gordon and Kara and Lung Wei Wang can all both act and demonstrate real skills. The spirit of martial arts is also respected. Chivalry and respect is emphasised. Lung Wei Wang does not portray his usual one dimensional bad guy but respects the rules. All the technicalities aside it's just a fun film to watch.

This is a small wonder from the canon of Liu Chia Liang. The martial arts are absolutely excellent and the only reason that this isn't as well known as 36th Chamber or Dirty Ho is the story. The film is about three kung fu schools in Guangdong and the efforts of the "evil" school to disrupt and discredit the two "good" schools. A lot of yelling and fighting goes on but no-one is killed. The film is lighthearted with little of the seriousness of 36th Chamber or other films. Also, the film sort of stops with out much of a resolution.

The director appears at the beginning to give the audience a little lesson about the etiquette of Lion Dancing. The rest of the film he spends behind the camera directing some of the most chaotic fight scenes I've seen. The scene in the theater is unbelievable at times. There is so much going on it's hard to focus. Liu Chia Hui, Kara Hui and Wang Lung Wei dominate the film with their martial skills. Usually playing a villain, Wang Lung Wei is great as a northern Chinese Kung Fu master who is being used by the bad kung fu school. His intensity is unusual among his cohorts at the Shaw Bros. studios. It shows that he was an actual kung fu master outside the movie set.

A slow start with a lion dance is the only real problem. After that, it's a great kung fu film. The final dual in an alley is an absolute classic.

The fight scenes between Liu (student) & Wang (instructor) are just plain beautiful, especially at the end. This is the only movie I know of where Wang Lung Wei could be considered a "good guy".