Kung Fu Killer

Excellent. Only someone who is a fan of the genre would understand what the filmmakers wanted to achieve. C'mon, it's supposed to be dark and violent.Shanghai, 1935, get it? It's smart blend of action and film noir with fantastic tips of the hat to classic films like Five Fingers of Death. The opening is perhaps one of the most staggering (and yes, violent) in recent memory, and, like the the ending, trulyepic. This director pulled out all the stops and he shows an effortless mastery of action and emotion.

Carradine's performance is dark, nuanced, his fighting is ruthless. Now that's not to say it isn't flawed in some ways as most films are when they take these kinds of chances, but kudos to some really bold film-making. My advice to the naysayers is to grow a pair, bone up on this genre and appreciate good film-making.

This rocks! Can't believe Spike went all the way to China to do one of its movies. Most of their stuff is lame but this looks like a real movie. Not a big Fan of Darryl Hannah but she did okay. Carradine was good, looked pretty strong. The Chinese girls were HOT. The story was solid but the best part was the action. Some of the fighting was insane and bloody so I got my moneys worth. Spike usually plays buckets of these old martial art movies but its good to see they're making them now. I'm just wondering what's the deal with the two movies. Was this supposed to be a series or something? If it is then maybe I'll watch it. My only complaint is they didn't show more of the hot girls.

Well, the rigidly choreographed Kung Fu will not kill you, but the boredom of an insanely slow paced movie might.

It was with some reluctance that I sat down to watch the 2008 TV movie "Kung Fu Killer". The movie's title was the first hurdle to get past, then there was the fact of it having David Carradine as the main attraction. But still, the movie also had Daryl Hannah on the cast list, and it was a movie that I hadn't already seen, so I took a chance and watched "Kung Fu Killer".

Writers Jacqueline Feather, David Seidler and John Mandel didn't exactly manage to put together a particularly thrilling or interesting storyline here for the movie, and I must admit that as the movie went along at a unfathomably slow pace, I was gradually losing my interest in it, as nothing worthwhile or interesting happened.

The martial arts scenes in the movie were wooden and rigid, and they were choreographed and executed in a manner where it was painfully obvious that the performers were indeed following a strict choreograph here. The fight scenes lacked a natural flow and fluidity to it.

The acting performances in "Kung Fu Killer" were about as wooden and rigid as the martial arts scenes, so at least they matched one another. But in terms of providing proper entertainment, then the acting performances were severely hindered by a lack of interesting or proper storyline.

I assume that if you were a fan of the original "Kung Fu" TV series that starred David Carradine, then you will find some enjoyment here, as it apparently is the same character he portrays.

"Kung Fu Killer" was a movie that came and went without leaving much of a lasting impression on me, and this is certainly not a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time. Nor is it a movie that I would recommend you waste your time, money or effort on.

My rating of director Philip Spink's 2008 movie lands on a generous three out of ten stars.

"White Crane" (Kung Fu Killer) is to me classic David Carradine doing his legendary "Kung Fu" only he's older. If any of you remember his TV shows "Kung Fu" in the 70's and "Kung Fu: The Legend Continues" of the 90's in which Carradine fights in a majestic and powerful way and shares with you his words of wisdom then you should love this, if you have been brought up on the films of Jackie Chan and Jet Li where they jump around like they are on something hitting their opponents a dozen times without defeating them but some how winning in the end then you may not appreciate this style of Kung Fu movie. Daryl Hannah does a good job as a 1930s singer and looks the part and Osric Chau is excellent as a young Kung Fu student.

Kung Fu Killer did seem interesting concept-wise and for the two most well-known stars of the mini-series David Carradine and Daryl Hannah. Execution-wise, Kung Fu Killer is very lacking and could have been much better but it isn't a complete waste of time. The best things about it are the scenery, the production design and Carradine. The scenery is absolutely gorgeous and makes you wish you were there, the production design and costumes are equally handsome and give a real sense of time and place and Carradine plays his role with authority and dignity. Anya is very charismatic as well, and while not as memorable Osric Chau is above average as well. The same cannot be said for Hannah though, whose role is almost completely needless and she looks disconnected throughout, she has also looked much better than she does here. The choreography and violence is well-choreographed and exciting on the most part, but more finesse in the editing and less of a hard-to-take approach would have been welcome, parts did feel very unsubtle and too much. While the scenery and production look great, the photography is murky and the editing isn't always completely smooth. The music is not sluggish or forgettable as such, in fact there are some memorable parts and there is a sense of tempo, but it has an oft tendency of drowning out the dialogue and could have been toned down more. The dialogue isn't really all that much to write home about, a lot of it is corny and simplistic with need of more flow. Outside the concept and some of the action sequences the story isn't really all that engaging, it could have done with more tension and heart and it does have a dull and meandering feel to it. There are worse characters around, however more time could have been spent with getting to know them and relate to their situation, Carradine's is an exception, and then there are others who are pretty much irrelevant especially Daryl Hannah's(essentially a love interest and nothing more). All in all, there's definitely worse but a rather mediocre mini-series. 4/10 Bethany Cox