The folks out at Lions Gate sent me off a copy of Kung Fu Master to review, and I was definitely looking forward to this as I’d seen a lot of great action movies–especially kung fu movies–come out of Lions Gate. They’d handled quite a bit of other martial arts fare–the MME series, War, and plenty of others–so watching them tackle one like Kung Fu Master left me fairly certain that Lions Gate would be on safe, steady footing.Kung Fu Master follows Tan Zong, one of the greatest kung fu experts on the face of the Earth in the midst of what looks like feudal China. He’s just been offered a new job, as the drillmaster of the Grand Commandant. But since Tan Zong is a Buddhist, he’s not too interested in making ultrapowerful soldiers, so he intends to refuse the Grand Commandant’s offer. The Grand Commandant, meanwhile, isn’t the type to take no for an answer, and as such, he plans a warm welcome for Tan Zong. Thus, in order to refuse the Grand Commandant’s offer honorably, he’ll have to fight his way through a swarm of attackers to reach his goal and defeat a host of villainous kung fu masters to protect his people.
This movie takes excellent advantage of the greatest parts of the kung-fu action movie–the incredible fight scenes and masterful choreography. But where it lets down somewhat is in the plot. See, this movie is great as far as action goes–it’s a constant, almost endless, string of fight scenes, each bigger and more outlandish than the last. Tan Zong will take on concubines with knives, guys with harps, pit traps, spike traps (in one amazing scene he’ll tackle five guys with umbrellas), but what he won’t do a really great job of is advancing the plot. I really don’t know a whole lot behind the why of Tan Zong is chopping and kicking and smashing his way through a horde of enemies until at least a third of the way through the movie. That’s playing things just a bit too close to the vest for comfort.
So basically, how you feel about this is going to be largely dependent on your personal preferences in terms of what you want out of your movies. If you want a good story, you’re going to be disappointed here. But if you like a lot of fists and feet flying, then this is going to be a huge pile of joy for you.
There will even be a pile of unintentional laughs here, and loads of great opportunities to mock it mercilessly if you’re a fan of Mystery Science Theater fodder.
Thus, the Screenhead Ten Scale gives Kung Fu Master, a great dose of action and even a little comedy a seven out of ten. Sure, it’s a little low budget in places, and low class in others, and the story is pretty weak, but the overall experience will still be fun.
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