KUNG FU KILLER – The Review

A martial arts instructor (Donny Yen) convicted of killing someone in a duel is released from prison by a tough as nails woman Police Lt. (Charlie Yeung) in order to help catch a serial killer, who is targeting master martial arts fighters.

A very simple setup leads to a multi themed action movie that is both old school kung fu and a post modern Valentine to the kind of action films that used to dominate Hong Kong film studios like Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest.

KUNG FU KILLER is a fight filled action movie, and as you would expect the fight scenes are excellent, Donny Yen is probably the best martial arts actor in Hong Kong right now. It is also a police procedural with the Hong Kong police doing all the forensics and lead tracking and high tech surveillance we are now used to from Hollywood, European and Asian crime films. And it is also a serial killer film, which seems to be modeled on David Fincher’s Seven.

A handicapped fighter Baoqiang-Wang is targeting, fighting, and killing with his bare hands seven martial arts masters based on seven levels of fighting technique and skill. His motivation? His young wife died of cancer (actually he kills her himself rather than let her suffer) and carries her ashes in an urn. He also makes metal talisman’s of a swallow (while listening to classic Chinese Opera on a battered cassette player, very old school!) which he leaves on each bludgeoned, choked, stabbed and broken body.

What are his victim’s connections to his wife’s death? I don’t know, unless I missed something this guy just wants to prove he is the best and that “martial arts is for killing!” a phrase he repeats like a mantra. You can’t help but sympathize with his victims, they are going about their business before each fight, not bothering anybody, but give it their best shot and still end up another corpse in the medical examiner’s office.

Donny Yen’s character also has a girl friend (Bing Bai) on the outside who gets drawn into the wave of fighting, is close to mortally wounded and gives Donny Yen even more reason to end it. As you would expect the fight scenes are terrific, each one meant to top the last and they all seem to reference older Hong Kong action films. One fight scene even takes place on the set of a martial arts movie where the victim is a martial arts master who is reduced to being a stunt man in movies !?

There also seems to be a connection with a martial arts school which closed years ago, as is usual with Hong Kong and Chinese films in general I think some information is missing in the subtitles. No big deal, when we get to the inevitable final showdown the tension level is incredible as the two masters duke it out right in the middle of Hong Kong’s Container Road, while heavily loaded semi trucks whizz by them on all sides. At one point they even fight underneath the moving trucks, which never slow down, somehow without being run over and mangled! One truck loses a full load of bamboo poles making for handy weapons. Again as expected anything and everything are used as weapons, one victim is dispatched by a box cutter!

And most touching, when the action finally subsides, Donny Yen gets to stay out of prison and is told his girl will be alright KUNG FU KILLER becomes a lovely Valentine to anybody and everybody who ever acted in a Hong Kong action movie. We get quick shots and the names of the many actors, writers, directors and even producers who did cameos throughout the film, if you’re a fan of these movies or have read any of the many books written about Hong Kong films, you will recognize many of these names and faces. During these wonderful credits traditional Chinese music plays on the soundtrack and the camera sometimes lingers on posters for old school action movies. Proving that even if some actors like Chow Yun Fat, Jet Li and Jackie Chan move on to Hollywood, Hong Kong action films, like a Hong Kong action hero, will never die, always to be reborn, like the fabulous Phoenix, rising again and again.

KUNG FU KILLER plays in St. Louis midnights this Friday and Saturday (May 29th and 30th) only at Landmark’s The Tivoli Theater. The Facebook invite for the screenings can be found HERE