Last Kung Fu Monk

When I purchased this 2010 Kung Fu action movie from Amazon, I had no idea what it was, nor did I know anyone on the cast list. But being a Kung Fu movie was more than enough to catch my interest. And the fact that it was about maybe £2 or £3 with shipping, then it wasn't a massive loss if the movie was not a great one.

And now I have managed to finally get around to watch it, and I can in all honesty say that this movie was nowhere near as good or entertaining as I had hoped for. Sure, I didn't have much expectations to begin with, but this movie still managed to disappoint. And why is that? Well, because of the storyline and the lack of proper acting talent throughout the movie.

The action in "Last Kung Fu Monk" was quite good, and there was a lot of it. And it should be said that Peng Zhang Li does have some impressive martial arts skills and manages to deliver a nice display of his talent. However, his martial arts could only carry the movie so far, because his acting was downright wooden and rigid.

I managed to get somewhere near 45 minutes into the movie before I had to give up out of sheer boredom. The lack of proper acting performances were really wearing and tearing at me, and it was ultimately this which made me give up on the movie. The fighting was good, but it was hardly nowhere near enough to keep the movie afloat.

If you enjoy movies where the main character is forced into fighting in underground fighting rings, then there far better movies available. "Last Kung Fu Monk" doesn't really offer anything which haven't been seen in countless other martial arts movies in the past.

I am rating "Last Kung Fu Monk" a mere three out of ten stars rating solely for the martial arts in the movie.

At the start of the movie in China as Shaolins are trained, everything is blue. I'm not quite sure what is going on. More recent scenes are mostly blue and make no sense to me. But the quality of acting in the China scenes is higher than in the United States.

So how will it all turn out? I'll bet you already know.

The fighting is excellent, and probably the main reason to watch. There is, however, some unnecessary blood, and some innocent people get seriously hurt or killed. I should mention that I saw the acclaimed "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" the day before I saw this, but I enjoyed this movie more.

Peng Zhang Li has a pleasant personality but shows little emotion unless he is fighting. As a teacher he is very serious but kind. You have to see the outtakes, though. There he smiles a lot and even laughs. Everyone seemed to be enjoying making this movie.

Kristen Dougherty is so sweet and attractive, I'd like to see more of her and was pleased she had a large role. That's not to say she's a talented actress, but she would make a good office worker. She and her co-star had one of my favorite bloopers at the end.

Michael seemed kind of spoiled but was pleasant enough. His scenes with his uncle entertained.

Cusamano is an acquired taste. He's not automatically likable.

If you like martial arts fights, this is pretty good. If you like relationships too, this movie has that. There are better movies for both.

The action choreography is pretty good. Not get out of here fantastic or exceptional or whatever, but it is more than solid. And I wanted to start with this, because when the movie starts (and you haven't read what it is about), you could be excused by thinking this is a documentary. It might have worked better as one actually.

But it isn't, it is a fictional story with actors who have issues with their lines and acting in general at times. Our main hero is good at what he does action wise, but when it comes to delivering lines, you might feel weird watching this happen ... If you skip to the action scenes, you'll be good and they are the only reason I rated this that "high" ...

This is a low budget Kung Fu flick...but it's really not that bad - I've seen much worse! This movie had the typical "good guy out to avenge his family and help others along the way" kind of story...not as good as others, better than some. Some of the acting was OK...others were pretty bad and some hilarious! The story wasn't going to win any awards, but was good enough to keep me interested. The punch/kick sound effects were reminiscent of the arcade game "Mortal Kombat" and bugged me a little...but the choreography and fight scenes were done very well and sated my ninja bone. Which brings me to one thing that really bugged me...the man who wrote, directed, choreographed, and starred in this movie (Peng Li) doesn't even get top billing or proper credit! I had to search for him and his name on this page! Really? Give the guy a break!

There are few movies that a film lover would rent without first taking into consideration the quality of the acting - Chinese martial arts films are certainly an exception to this rule. This film is a quintessential example of that caveat, turning what initially would be perceived as a poorly scripted, amateur attempt at entertainment into a rather enjoyable two hours of remarkably impressive fight sequences. Even after reading what the movie was about, I'm still not sure the plot ever actually permeates into a logical series of events. And I've seen better acting from college kids with a video camera pretending to have talent. But that's not the reason we choose to rent these kinds of flicks is it? We rent them to have a few hours viewing of ass kicking while enjoying a late night indulgence - and to this extent the movie achieves a most lovable form of quality. What the cast lacks in talent, they make up for in looks; the supporting actresses are gorgeous and the lead actor is in fine shape. The direction and editing is notably horrific. The choreography, on the other hand, is on par with most other movies of its genre. Last Monk of Kung Fu never lives up to the level that Ong Bak set (the plots have considerable correlation) but it does provide a great few hours of action and unintended laughs.