Les Griffes d'acier

This film is amazing. The choreography work by Yuen Woo Ping is simply breath taking. Gnong Kau Chai as Legate Officer Lui in my view steals the film as possibly the best bad guy ever. His maniacal laughter and dialogue is but one of many good things in this film, another of which is Jet Li's gracious and best performance as Wong Fei Hung. Tak-Hing Kwan who for so many films had played the same character could feel as if he has successfully passed on his mantle to Li. The comic aspects of the film elevate this from Li's other films as Wong Fei Hung. The use of Wong's theme song ("Under the General's Orders") is my favourite thing about the film, especially when used by the hookers whose brothel is nest to Po Chee Lam (Wong Fei Hung's martial arts school). In a year in which Li made Fong Sai Yuk 1 and 2, Tai Chi Master. If Jet Li was a fine wine people would say 1993 was en excellent year.

The movie over all was good besides the fact you had to read. It was lacking something it had fei-hong as a sort of priest. It didn't have him as one who would easily get into trouble. his drunken style lack any of his original forms for instance no miss or angel Ho, he use tiger and crane. Not what SEED taught him.

Refreshing Chinese style humour, new to me, worth dozens of predictable Hollywood "blockbusters", because this is something we don' see everyday. I'm ignorant about kung-fu movies, but happy to see something new. I read a review that criticised the ending. That is very strange because at the end the good fighting scenes and the refreshing absurdities are married.

Compared with recent Jackie Chan movies, the makers of this movie seem to have some pride. The choreography is artistic and both the added music and the music that comes with the plot work well. I don't think the producers said "Let's make another Jet Li movie."

Review: I quite enjoyed this funny authentic movie about a monk whose investigating the mysterious disappearance of girls in his village. With the help of some of the people in his Kung Fu class and a brothel owner, don't ask, they find out that there is much more going on in there village then they expected. For a person that doesn't like subtitles, I actually didn't mind reading the well put together script which was witty and full of twists and turns. It's not very often that you see Buddha monks living next to a brothel in a authentic oriental movie and the different characters made the film funny and a joy to watch. Once again, the flying fighting scenes spoil the action, but after watching a few Jet Li movies, I'm kind of getting use to it now. Enjoyable!

Round-Up: One of the things that made me laugh in this film was when they were fighting and naming the styles that they were using. It really reminded me of the old Kung Fu movies that I used to watch when I was young. I didn't get the point of the corrupt police officer who kept on laughing all of the time or why they were feeding people a deaf drug but maybe I missed some of the plot whilst reading the subtitles. Anyway, it's definitely worth a watch if your into movies in this genre.

Budget: N/A Worldwide Gross: HK$18million

I recommend this movie to people who are into their Jet Li movies about a Buddha monk whose investigating the mysterious disappearance of girls in his village. 6/10

My introduction to kung fu movies was Jet Li's "Fong Sai Yuk", which blew me away, and I'm happy to say that "The Last Hero In China" is every bit as great as the former. Lots of good jokes (incl. bad guys with infectious fits of hysterical laughter), lots of impressive fighting - even if it's wire-aided -, lots of enjoyable acting, and an uproarious climactic fight scene at the end; rooster vs. centipede!

The story, starring the legendary kung fu doctor, Wong Fei-Hung, is an old-fashioned romp which is perfectly suited to Jet Li's acting talent and charisma. The rooster costume he dons at the end, and the fighting style he invents, are hilariously entertaining, and he pulls it off with flying colors. This is the sort of thing Jet Li does best.

8 out of 10.