- Director : Cheng Si Yu
- Actors : Du Yu Hang-Dennis To, Gao Xue-mei, Yang Yong-feng, Li Ruo Xi, Zhuang Han
- Subtitles: : English
- Language : English (DTS 5.1)
- Studio : Well Go Usa
- MPAA rating : NR (Not Rated)
- Country of Origin : USA
- Number of discs : 1
- Media Format : NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
- Run time : 1 hour and 15 minutes
- Release date : January 31, 2023
At just 75-minutes long, The Grandmaster of
Kung Fu barely feels like a feature-length movie, despite fitting in plenty
of the tropes associated with the martial arts movie. It simply moves at a
brisk pace, only really slowing down the plot to savor the fight sequences, understanding
that this the likely reason most enjoy the action sub-genre. By leaning on
well-worn tropes, The Grandmaster of Kung Fu is able to rely on the audience’s
awareness of the familiar structure, focusing instead on the fun stuff.
Set near the end
of the Qing Dynasty, the film follows protagonist and hero Huo Yuan Jia (Dennis
To Yue Hong), a martial artist who is initially shunned by his peers before proving
his value by standing up to fight in a match with the Japanese army who have occupied
the area. As is often the case, the Japanese make for an easy enemy. It also
brings back the longstanding tradition in martial arts film, groups arguing
their fighting style is better than another. This leads to an inevitable showdown,
which is exciting enough to forgive how poorly developed much of the story is.
The
Grandmaster of Kung Fu is serviceable. It isn’t mind-blowingly good, nor is
it unbearably bad. It reminded me of multiple better films, but I wasn’t bored
watching it. This may not be stellar praise, but if you are a fan of martial
arts films and in need of something to watch, there are much worse options. While
there are some sub-plots and significant relationships, the whole point is just
to get to the fight scenes. And The Grandmaster of Kung Fu does these
pretty well. If only slightly over-edited, the fight choreography is clever and
skillfully executed.
The Blu-ray
release only has the high-definition presentation to offer, with no special
features beyond a trailer. The film itself looks and sounds great. It may be a smaller
film, but it has the look of a larger budget release, perhaps because of the truncated
length.
Entertainment Value:
8/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 6/10
Historical
Significance: 2/10
Special Features: 0/10
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