Martial Arts Master Wong Fei Hung
AKA Great Hero from China
12/11/00
Review
Format: Dubbed VHS
Stars: Chin Kar Lok, Lam Ching Ying

Fei Hung (Chin Kar Lok) tries to stop an opium import from the British. In the meantime, a Japanese man (Lam Ching Ying), who sought to kill Wong Kei Ying, now deceased, goes after Fei Hung in search of a worthy opponent.

Oh no another opium movie. Oh no another Fei Hung movie. Oh no another evil Japanese. Oh no another British crusade. Well, it's not that bad actually. Though the plot is entirely unoriginal, Chin Kar Lok and Lam Ching Ying save it with their talents. Chin Kar Lok is like a damned frog the entire movie, doing acrobatics as though they're part of how he walks or something. Lam Ching Ying has a sword, but as always, his presence just lights up the screen whenever he has anything to do with anything. Plus, the fights are good and numerous, while not too rediculous either.

In the beginning Fei Hung beats up some guys in a gambling parlor. Some odd choreography kind of like in Heroes Among Heroes, without the undercranking. Chin Kar Lok is so impressive with how he can just hop all over the place with kicks and handsprings and flips and airtracks. Sometimes I felt as though he may have had a double, but other times he would do something flawlessly and turn around and there he was. He's also impressive in the next scene where he's attacked by some guy with a sword. Let me also remind you that it's well filmed too, even with closeups. Well edited with few cuts, sometimes too few like when the guy jumped into the table and Chin did a jumping kick nearby afterwords, cameraman's fault really.




Lam Ching Ying makes his dynamo appearance at Kei Ying's altar. I don't think he was doing his own stuff though because the double covered his face pretty well. The choreographer wanted to use wires in this scene too so they blurred the wire on the film which looks aweful. They did that in Black Sheep Affair too. He does some training too, again with wires. Later he has a sword fight with a nobody and again uses wires and a double.



Fei Hung breaks into the opium parlor and beats up everyone! More of Chin Kar Lok's fast kicking and punching, going from man to man with good camera angles and longer than today's stardard cuts. There's on part where he does a jumping reverse left heel kick, standing reverse heel kick, and immediately goes with a right toe kick by totally stopping his body from its original turning momentum.



Fei Hung goes to the British embassy and is attacked by soldiers with guns who miss, escapes, and fights against eight men with umbrellas lined with blades. Kar Lok fights them with an umbrella. This scene is not only extremely fun to watch, but it's filmed well, plus the choreography beats Once Upon a Time in China's (sorry Jet Li fans) with more acrobatics and just cool elements. You might notice also that the buildings are pretty modern looking in the background.



If you know me well, you know that I hate endings with weapons. This one has Kar Lok with an umbrella against Ching Ying with a sword, and I really like it. Why? Because it's very diverse, fun, long, and it ends well. The two of them go all over the place and even though there's some wirework, it's short and usually only takes them upward. Not to mention the doubles again, but I'm not too troubled by it. There's a part where they go into the air, come down, and after slashing away up there, a bunch of dead birds drop onto the ground all cut up. Good stuff.



For some reason, I feel that this is what Once Upon a Time in China 1 should have been. It's far more fun, Fei Hung reminds me of the one in Drunken Master 2 full of vigor and innocence, and though I like Jet Li, Chin Kar Lok just does more in this. Choreographer's doing? Probably. Jet would have done it just as well. Some of the earlier fights could have used some tune ups though, like better punches and perhaps losing the double (?). Lam Ching Ying's fights were rather bland too and he would have been better off using his hands, but the role for him was effective. Overall about 3 really good fights, the one in the beginning was ok. I liked it.

4/5

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