Kung Fu Jungle

Old school style narrative for contemporary times.

A physically challenged man who could be an inspiration to anyone (if he was not the bad guy) over comes his uneven legs to become a super strong Kung fu master with the goal of killing seven of the greatest masters of their styles.

The legendary action movie star, Donne Yen plays a prisoner released from jail to find him and stop his killing spree.

The movie is a who's who in Hong Kong action cinema with cameos from some of the biggest and best in the business like Raymond Chow, who was the only one I really recognized by face to go oh wow! (Some of these cameos are from action stars who date back to the 1960s, so they don't look the same)

It's a real modern take on a classic style of Kung fu storytelling, with the Kung fu killer going from land to land village to village to find the masters and kill them, but now the village is the urban jungle of china.

One of my favorite scenes is when the kung fu killer goes up against the master swords man, who is an action hero faking his blade skills on camera. Possible the best example in the movie of how contemporary the village has become.

Everybody's Kung fu fighting, but it's also a cool police drama about hunting one the most interesting serial killers in cinema history. The Don does it again!!

Granted, they had me at Donnie Yen, but then they gave me incredible production values, a fairly competent storyline, and met the action/fight-sequence quality of the first two IPman's.

This was ranked 6.4 this morning, 6.5 this afternoon, and could be headed higher.

It deserves it. It's a freakin' blast!

The final fight is as good as the alleyway in Killzone, and a clear lack of the all-too-present drama silliness found in many of these HK action flicks. Some of the serious stuff is handled quite well.

Albeit the fight scenes are still gloriously over-the-top(not sure what some were expecting reading some negative reviews - i mean isn't that wHY you rent a kung fu flick? Geesh).

The "filler" is solid, decently acted fare that keeps at an even pace and keeps the audiences interested in the fate of its lead characters. If u want realism go rent "the gunman" and be bored to death with a more basic plot, realism, and seasoned actors. It will fry your brain and send u back to the redbox faster than "Get Hard". Or have fun watching a mindless, unrealistic kung fu flick - which flies by like an F-16, and is a 90-minute adrenaline rush.

Highly recommend this! 65/100

I will be purchasing this. You should know where u stand before u hit play. If u enjoyed "true Legend", the "police stories", "supercop" or SPL:Killzone.. Or any modern kung fu flick.. You will love this!

"Kung Fu Killer" (aka "Yi ge ren de wu lin") is one of the absolute better Donnie Yen movies in years. I had very little expectations to the movie when I sat to watch it, expecting it to be little more than just another tough-guy-beating-up-all-the-bad-guys movies that Donnie Yen usually tends to make. However, I was more than genuinely and pleasantly surprised at the outcome of "Kung Fu Killer".

What makes "Kung Fu Killer" a good movie is a combination of several things, which include the action, the martial arts, the story, the acting, the setting and the atmosphere of the entire movie. I was really enjoying this movie from start to end. As with all Donnie Yen movies, then the martial arts and action sequences are tight, precise and well-choreographed and equally so executed. And I am a sucker for Hong Kong movies, so of course it was a treat to be back on the gritty streets midst worn-down old and sparkly new buildings at the heart of South-East Asia.

Donnie Yen does deliver his usual perfect set of fighting and action skills here in this movie, and he is joined alongside by Baoqiang Wang, whom I don't think I have noticed before. But wow, this guy was also quite amazing, and definitely a name to keep an eye on. There was a good feeling of brutality and honest, hard-hitting fighting throughout the entire movie, without excessive use of Wire Fu. Charlie Yeung also did add a good element to the movie with her acting talent.

The story is about an imprisoned martial arts instructor whom is given a deal to work with the Hong Kong police in order to find and stop a particularly brutal serial killer who is targeting the best of the best of martial artists.

The characters in the movie were a bit square, yes. And by square I mean that they were generic and as you would expect from a movie of this type. Nothing grandiose here or nothing innovative in terms of character building. But that is still alright, because they are enjoyable and well portrayed by the cast hired for the various roles and characters.

It should be said that director Teddy Chan does follow a strict how-to-make-an-action-thriller by the book. And that is one of the downsides to the movie, because it does give it a bit too much of a predictability to it.

If you enjoy Hong Kong cinema, then "Kung Fu Killer" is a definite must watch movie, especially in the latter years. I was quite surprised with how good the movie was, and am pleased to say that Donnie Yen is definitely back in top form. I am rating "Kung Fu Killer" a solid eight out of ten stars.

KUNG FU KILLER - aka KUNG FU JUNGLE - is the latest slice of martial arts madness from Donnie Yen, here playing a tough-as-nails convict who's released by the police in order to track down a serial killer who's been making it his business to kill Hong Kong's top martial arts fighters. What we have is a slim police procedural plot enlivened by tons of hard-hitting and well-choreographed kung fu fights.

What you see is what you get, and there's little to disappoint here. The production values make for a glossy, high-spirited production, and there's also plenty of the human drama you'd expect from the storyline. Donnie Yen always plays himself, really; whether he's a cop or a criminal, he's always the good-natured, good-moral hero who you're rooting for throughout. Charlie Yeung's female detective provides a good opponent for him to butt heads with though.

Really, though, the plot is just an excuse for the action, and it's plentiful indeed. Most of it consists of one-to-one bouts, although there's time for a riotous interlude inside a prison. All of it builds up to an extended finale in which Yen and the sneering villain beat seven shades of hell out of each other for what seems like an enternity, and it's all very entertaining, although not quite up there with the best of this genre (aka FLASH POINT and KILL ZONE).

Very fun to watch specially if you like Kung Fu martial arts flicks. KungFu style and moves used here are very surprisingly jaw dropping stunts. It may look bit unrealistic but just for the fun and imagination that Kung Fu is a whole lot on a different level of fighting style you will definitely love it.

If there's one thing I am missing on this movie is more challenging and long rival fights than easy to the top final match. Other rivals deserves something more too.

Anyway but still this is really a good one from Donnie yen. A must watch.