A brilliant introduction to the martial art of Wing Chun .
Disadvantages:
Slow pace, predictable and very dated .
Recommend to potential buyers:
no
Full review
~~~~~~~~~ SYNOPSIS ~~~~~~~~~ The story involves a young banker called 'Hua' (Casanova Wong), who accidentally overheard a private conversation during a normal day at work. It was his work boss and the town's big 'Boss Mo' (Fong Hark On) who were discussing the assassination of the town's Mayor and for Boss Mo redeem his position to have control and to be the most powerful person in the region.
Hua befriended a what 'looks-like-he-knows-a-lot-but-unreliable' chubby pork dumpling seller called 'Fei Chun' (Sammo Hung). Hua informed his new friend that they must inform the Mayor of his grave danger before it's too late. When it came to crunch time, the Mayor did not believe in Hua and was consequently killed by Boss Mo's henchmen.
Now, it is Hua's turn to be in danger as Boss Mo realises that he knows too much about the big plan. As the innocents always get the worst part of the deal, Hua's mother was killed by the evil henchmen. Fei Chun decided the best thing to do is to get Hua away by hiding him with his Wing Chun master 'Master Tsang' (Leung Kar Yan).
Hua is eager to learn the martial arts in order to avenge his mother's death. Master Tsang is reluctant to teach Hua due to his reasons for learning, though with Fei Chun's persuasion, Master Tsang eventually gave in and decided to accept Hua as his pupil.
Hua was surprisingly up to the gruelling challenge. Condensing years of training into a couple of weeks, he has learned various positions, attack different pressure points and fighting with several weapons. When Hua has reached his legacy, Master Tsang was also murdered by Boss Mo. Hua, Fei Chun and Phoenix (Tsang's daughter) must untie together to seek their vengeance.~~~~~~~~ REVIEW ~~~~~~~~ Okay, so perhaps the film was made before I came into the world and it is not my cup of tea, but where there is Sammo Hung printed, I am willing to try anything.
The story is predictable as expected. It is the foundation to the majority of the kung fu genre - man seeks vengeance; man gets help and training; man get his revenge. But I guess with these films, it is the style and choreography of kung fu that should be the centre of attention.
Sammo Hung does not only stars in this film, but he also wrote, co-choreographed and directed it which is quite impressive as it is still the early stage of his career. This could be one of Sammo's best works as the choreography was so sophisticated; it is possibly difficult to mimic the movements. The direction and fight scenes are stunning and flawless.
Sammo once again, took the modest approach when it comes to character. He played the comical sidekick rather than taking the glory of being the best of the best character. I do feel that he did have a large amount of screen time and his moves are impressive as always.
It was clear within the film that Sammo Hung really wanted to highlight the style of Wing Chun to the audience. My reason for such judgement is based on vast amount of training we saw Hua has to go through. A lot of actually 'lessons' was filmed, where Master Tsang teaches Hua a movement with its history. This backfired for me, as I soon got bored of it.
Leung Kar Yan who played Master Tsang was fantastic as the wise master. He was assertive and with a strong inner presence without it being exaggerated. It is obvious why Leung Kar Yan was chosen to play Master Tsang over the older actors. He was able to convince the audience as a real Wing Chun master with real physical grace and agility.
Casanova Wong, who played Hua, doesn't seem to perform as much Wing Chun style compared to Leung Kar Yan. Instead, he's performance focused mainly on upper bodywork, with very strong kicks.
Fong Hak On whom played Boss Mo only shows off his fighting ability at the end of the film - save the best till last. His character did not quite fit in with the rest of the film, as his image looks more fantasy style.
On the thought of costumes, the make-up of the characters was horrendously bad. Though it was made in the 70s, all effects look bad in older films. Sammo decides to wear a stick on slaphead, but with a ponytail. Others wore stick on beards, moustaches, sideburns, and false teeth to set the characters.
To be fair, Warriors Twos has a lot of fight scene from beginning to end, though may not be the convention violent style. A lot of the movements did look painful and you would sympathise with the one who is on the receiving end of it.
Warriors Two is for all the lovers of classic kung fu styles, and especially for those that want an introduction to the era. In terms of the classic kung fu films, Warriors Two was said to be the better-polished production made in the 1970s. Many thoughts have been considered for the sets and mood.
Personally, it is not one that I enjoyed. It was too slow at times, with too much instruction about how to fight in Wing Chun style (I'm an expert now). I guess I can't appreciate it as I was born into something better. The storyline was predictable (as expected) and some of the acting was too cheesy. I am not sure where the borderline was - was it a comedy or a serious piece? The weird structuring of the two elements kept me confused as to what genre it was. Even Sammo can't save me from this one. I'm not sure how the title of the film came about, it there were three heroes fighting in the end.
~~~~~ INFO ~~~~~ Director = Sammo Hung Writing Credit = Sammo Hung Year = 1978 Duration = 88 minutes Language = Cantonese with Subtitles Cert = 18 Country = Hong Kong
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