The Buddhist Fist
Review
Format: Dubbed VHS
Stars: Yuen Shun I, Tsui Siu Ming, others

I found this movie at Hollywood Video under new releases (surprisingly), and it had a new fancy box and even said that it was "directed by Yuen Woo Ping, action director of THE MATRIX", and I had Twin Warriors (Tai Chi Master) in my hands already, so I dumped that wire-fu crap for this, and it's a good thing too.

The plot is about revenge, secrecy, treason, and theft, all surrounding the jade Buddha wanted so badly by someone. Ah Siung (Shun I) and a monk are trained from childhood in the Buddhist fist, and use it to enact this story.



Alright forget the plot. It's not important. The action in this is first rate, all the way. I don't think there's a single fight that doesn't fascinate. Fighting with chopsticks, chessboards, swords, staffs, chess pieces (!!!), and fortune sticks (!!!!) while in a small box (!!!!!), and LOTS of hand to hand combat (actually most of it is hand to hand). What I learned from all this is that 1. Yuen Hsin Yee looked young at one point (and actually pretty slick too), and 2. Yuen Hsin Yee is AMAZING! His ability to use his hands and legs TOGETHER at one time is awesome, every time. He even did a little of it in Drunken Wu Tang (Taoism Drunkard), but here he's got it in full bloom, and he seems to be in his prime, probably mid 20's. He's incredibly fast, even for 2 beat fighting (which isn't always the case here, actually it isn't really 2 beat fighting), and I don't think anyone, besides the other guy who I don't know, he plays the monk, can do the Buddhist Fist as well or at least make it look as cool.



In the beginning, the two of them are training, and do some picture perfect solos and even do some sparring that looks equally as impressive. They fight a few more times later on, mostly training, and at the end they finish it off. But before I get into that, I'll just mention the other fights. It looks like Sam Seed, but it isn't, but some fat guy inside a temple fights an invader trying to take the jade Buddha, and the fat guy (who has a double, obviously, with the hair-over-the-face technique used for Sam Seed in Drunken Master), well, anyways his double does some great acrobatics where he constantly rolls around some wooden poles that resemble parallel bars. Another fight is where Shun I fights a pissy guy in the barber shop, and because of the abundance of props like chairs and everything, Shun I shows very good interaction with the environment and even wields a razor for a while. All of this is done in good comedy too, where the other guy is mad that Shun I shaved off HALF of his moustache, and doesn't want the other half to be shaved off because he's worked so hard for it. Very funny.



Actually, the whole movie was full of laughs unless it was supposed to be serious. If Shun I was just doing some Buddhist Fist in practice, I couldn't help but laugh at some of the things he did, which, though amazing, were pretty goofy looking. Yet, they added to the style so well that I wanna look more into it myself.



The fight that I thought was the last fight didn't impress me as much as the rest of the film because the enemy had a big sword, which was a little boring (though impressive compared to many other movies, I'm referring to this one movie). But it wasn't the last fight. So he fights the master of the Buddhist fist, and this fight was awesome, except the master was a little slower than the young Shun I, I expected it to be the finale, but he was the wrong guy, and he has to fight the monk. Ah, this is obviously the finale because no other person is left to fight, and the monk is the perfect opponent. Well, it was the last fight, all 8 or 10 minutes of it. The entire thing was amazing. Buddha Sleeping, Drunken Buddha, Curious Buddha (?!?!), Goddess Fist, Buddha Fist, Buddhist Palm, Buddha is Dead (!!!!), god there must have been 20 styles!! It was incredible. Lots and LOTS of acrobatics, and the monk does a style, Becomming the Buddha, where he basically climbs all over Shun I, and it's very cool, although the only part where some wirework was used, though not rediculously as in other Yuen Ping movies. The two of them worked so well together that it looks like a martial arts ballet, like it should in a movie if good choreography is to be achieved. They moved fast enough to make it look realistic, yet precise enough to let the audience KNOW that they WERE doing martial arts, and in this case, The Buddhist Fist.



Rating: 10/10 - This should be seen by anyone who likes Martial Arts. It's almost overwhelming by the last fight, and it's perfectly finished, yet the master mentioned Coming To Buddha, where the fighter uses his weight to wear the opponent down by leaning against him. I didn't see this mentioned anywhere else, but I thought I saw it used. This was the one thing they left out, everything else was excellent.



UPDATE 10/9 - Rating System Change

5/5 - An EXCELLENT example of how the old school fighters could still look good in these fast paced days.

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