To give us some respite from the videogame reviews dominating this #MeleeMay, i’ve figured we could check out some old fashion cinematic melee action, as in some old ass kung fu flick from Hong Kong. Which doesn’t narrow it down at all, so why not review a movie a lot of people most likely have seen… but also not actually, factually seen first hand?
I’m not talking about parroting opinions from a film Twitter account, i’m talking about Tiger & Crane Fists (also known as Savage Killers) , whom american and international audiences will have some familarity with, even if they don’t think so, because its the film used by Kung Pow – Enter The Fist and given a comedy dub job, because it was the early 2000’s, and – among other things that didn’t age well at all – parody/spoof movies actually made some sense to exist and come out in theathers, after taking off big in the 70s and 80s with the various Mel Brooks films, the Police Academy franchise, and continuining through the 90s with the Naked Gun series.
And then absolutely nothing else after.
But then again, who cares, we are not reviewing Kung Pow, we’re reviewing Tiger & Crane Fists/ Savage Killers, the source of the Kung Pow stock footage, yes, but an actual movie of its own before Odenkirk did his thing, which happens to directed by Jimmy Wang Yu, better known for The Chinese Boxer, One Armed Swordman, Return Of The Chinese Boxer, Masters Of The Flying Guillotine, and many others, as he was and is a legendary 70s martial arts actor, the biggest name in the business before Bruce Lee arrived, and the fight coreography is from another legend, Lau Kar-wing, who has starred, directed and has been the martial arts coreographer for so many kung fu films from the 1970 to the 2000s, from He Has Nothing But Kung Fu, The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin, many kung fu comedies with Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan, etc.
The plot is actually pretty typical, focusing on two rival martial arts school, the Tiger and the Crane style schools, whom have been separated from each other for many years, yet still couldn’t determine which was the superior one, both putting their rivalry aside to defeat the villain, Lung Ti Chu, a lackey for Japanese occupational forces that’s proving to be nearly invincible.
It’s pretty typical “non-sense” for the time and genre, with the usual serving of background peasants doing bugger all, some romantic subplot, and inevitably sick and coughing sifu, etc.
funnily enough nor for those coming from Kung Pow, Oedenkirk didn’t actually have to cut up and change much from the original film, because there’s some really goofy hilarious shit already happening, especially the villain impervious to even multiple nut shots/groin kicks, he’s gotta the Nuke Dukem famed “balls of steel” for real!
Jesting aside, it’s actually not a bad movie, the plot it’s easy to follow, pretty typical, so there’s definitely no getting confused on the motivations and so on, the choreography is quite good, the fights satisfying enough, and it’s quite entertaining.
Oddly, its biggest “sin” is that it’s not great either, it’s typical to the point of being stereotypical, the characters are so n so, the plot nothing we haven’t seen before dozens if not hundred of times, and aside from some very goofy moments and scenes, Tiger & Crane Fists it’s just a decent entry in the genre that otherwise just kinda blends in.
It’s a decent kung fu flick but it’s historical relevance as the source for the “Godfrey Ho” style treatment that morphed the material into Kung Pow is the actual reason it’s been cited, remembered and discussed about by most of the english speaking film community, even by people that have a passing interest in the genre but are not uber aficionados or experts of this genre (which i am not).
Regardless, it’s still worth checking out, even if it’s the more tame/less interesting of Jimmy Wan Yung’s filmography, there’s fun to be had, especially if you’re more familiar with Kung Pow, but also because it’s an entertaining kung fu flick in its own right.
Wise Cafe (International) 