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Pretty standard plot, pretty standard cast, pretty standard quality. Understand there is nothing "special" about this film. And EVEN THEN the subtitles accompanying these films were in every conceivable language EXCEPT English! Which in turn meant that plots were optional for the dedicated Kung Fu or Wushu fan. The only way I am aware of was being fortunate enough to live in a cosmopolitan city with a substantial Asian population, which, generally, gave you access to theatres playing these films. When you do the math, you will find that, prior to Bruce Lee, there were very few avenues for westerners to discover the "kung fu" production line films being cranked out of Asia by companies like Shaw Brothers (and others). Another good Shaw Brothers film then, but it runs too long and is given too heavy a tone and as a result the film feels a bit too sluggish for its own good. I would have liked a bit more of an impacting final few fights but it was good stuff even if the longer running time tended to rob the film of energy between fights.
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On this front the film has a lot to recommend and the action looks and moves well. The rest of the cast tend to be a bit too sluggish and earnest which is a shame but doesn't extend to the action. By contrast I liked the minor turn by Shen Chan as he was smirking in his villainy. I liked Lo Lieh as a presence but he was guilty of this. It doesn't help that the performances often err on the side of being too earnest and come over a little stiff. It could easily have lost 1 or maybe 2 characters to make the plot a bit leaner and lose 20 minutes or more from the running time and it would have been a better film for it. The impact this has is to make the film longer and slower than it can bare, which is a real shame because when it has pace it moves well. While I wanted to like this aspect for doing more than the norm, the truth was that the film gives too much time to too many characters and tries to do too much with them in terms of their actions and changes of heart within the main plot. Within this very basic frame there are lots of characters coming and going and lots of complications. King Boxer (as the version I saw was called) sees promising young student Chi-Hao sent away to train under a new master in order that he may be able to win a martial arts tournament and thus prevent the local thugs from getting the power and prestige that would come were they to win it. I have been browsing through a few Shaw Brothers films from the 70's of late and decided it was time to watch the one that is credited with bringing these films to the American attention. Compared to the rest of the genre, KING BOXER is nothing new – but this trend-setting classic ushered in a new type of martial arts film and remains a hugely enjoyable outing to this day. Our hero ends up learning the 'iron palm' technique, signified by some hilarious siren-style music on the soundtrack that Tarantino lifted to memorable effect in KILL BILL, which leads to some strong showdowns against sinister Japanese fighters and huge numbers of unfortunate henchmen. The plentiful fight sequences are quite wonderful and sometimes extraordinarily violent for the era, with one or two literally eye-popping interludes that have to be seen to be believed. Tons of familiar faces, like Tien Feng and James Nam, make up the cast of bad guys. He plays the stock character – impetuous, fearless, hot-headed et all – but I found the screen alive whenever he was present. Lo Lieh, typically cast as the bad guy in these productions, is a breath of fresh air playing a hero for once. Still, these films are never about the plot and on a technical level this is top notch stuff – a strong cast with acting as well as fighting skills, great fight choreography and sumptuous filming that looks absolutely great on DVD. As kung fu films go, the plot is strictly per functionary, as we watch an escalating feud between rival kung fu schools that can end in only one way – death for most of the cast. This early Shaw Brothers outing (which features a plot that's very similar to the ones found in THE ONE-ARMED BOXER and THE Chinese BOXER) proved to be a hugely successful release for the studio and ended up sparking a trend that saw hundreds of imitations made over the next five years.