This is another in the line of kung-fu films by writer/director/actor Stephen Chow Chow stars as Sing, a kung-fu master turned pauper who spends his life just trying to get by and attempting to get people to pay for kung-fu lessons from him. He firsts meets Mui(Zhao Wei), a shy pastry chef who uses her command of martial arts to make sweet cakes. Then, after a fight in which Sing displays his considerable mastery of the "steel leg" discipline, he meets the legendary "Golden Leg"(Man Tat Ng), a washed up former football star who was to convinced to miss a vital penalty which ruined his career. He suggests that Sing applies his talents to the game of football. Sing then rounds up the other of his shaolin brothers and forms a team to enter a prestigious tournament with a prize of $1 million. There they come up against numerous weird and wacky teams, including the mysterious "Team Moustache" They beat all opponents and start to live the life of famous football players. But they face their biggest challenge yet in the final, the nefarious "Team Evil", a steroid induced team led by Hung (Yin Tse), the man who told Golden Leg to miss the shot all those years ago. A great battle ensues and both teams are tested to the limit as we find out which will triumph evil or kung-fu?
• Includes both the English dubbed 'International' version (87 mins) and the original Cantonese 'Extended' version (112 mins)! • 'Making Of' documentary • Outtakes • 'Special Effects' featurette • Guide to the Shaolin moves!
This film is quintessential Chow from start to finish. If you have watched any of his other films(Kung Fu Hustle, King of Beggars etc.) then you will know what to expect and you should definitely enjoy this film. If you have not yet seen any of his films then I would suggest watching Kung Fu Hustle as this will ease you more gently into the twisted martial arts comedy world of Stephen Chow.
This is one of the few original ideas that I have seen in martial arts films recently with its unique mix of kung-fu and surreal humour put together with the unique concept and vision of those working on the film.
All performances in this film are reasonable with Chow's charisma in the character Sing stealing most of the scenes. One of the key aspects of the film is the stunts and special effects as this is part of what makes Chow's films unique. They do not disappoint. Some martial arts films use wire work and computer graphics just to enhance the abilities of the characters but still try to maintain a sense of realism. In this film there is no sense of realism and it is essentially a live action comic. This is no bad thing as a lot of the stunts etc. are used to great effect.
I would suggest watching the Cantonese version if possible as it has an extra 25 minutes of film which nobody should miss
The extras, although far from comprehensive, will keep most happy with the "Making of" documentary and the featurette giving an interesting insight into how the film was made. The guide to the Shaolin moves extra was very funny but far to short. I would have liked to have seen a few more special feature such as deleted scenes and more featurettes but maybe a 2 disc edition containing these will be brought out at a later date. Until then, buy this DVD and cherish it as it is one of the best martial arts films around today.
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Production Year: 1981 - Martial Arts - Director: Kenji Misumi, Robert Houston - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Kayo Matsuo, Minoru Ohki, Akiji Kobayashi, Shin Kishida, Masahiro Tomikawa, Tomisaburo Wakayama
Production Year: 1990 - Martial Arts - Director: Jackie Chan - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Jackie Chan, Carol Cheng, Eva Cobo
Production Year: 2002 - Martial Arts - Director: Yimou Zhang - Original Language: Mandarin - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Jet Li, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Maggie Cheung, Ziyi Zhang
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