|
|
|
|
|
|
Kung-Fu Master
Continuing from their release of Empire of Assassins earlier in 2010, Lions Gate's DVD Kung-Fu Master is another re-titling and edit of the Mainland television series Legend of Shaolin Kung Fu. As with Empire of Assassins, this DVD is drawn from the series' second season, Thirteen Cudgel Monks, and, with a similar emphasis on average fight sequences strung together with a series of haphazard, almost random exposition scenes, the results are again less than stellar. What exactly the plot of Kung-Fu Master is, I couldn't tell you. It involves a monk named Tan Zong (Yuen Biao) going after the emperor Wang Shichong ("Beardy" Leung Kar-Yan, billed here under his English name of Bryan). Along the way, Tan picks up a motley group of compatriots. And that's about it. The story scenes in this instance are nothing more than small bridges to get the viewer on to the next action scene.
And while there are plenty of portrayals of fisticuffs helmed by Yuen Bun with Yuen Biao as the center of the action, it all feels more than a bit underwhelming. There's not egregiously wrong going on here, but nothing all that exciting, either. If you're not a major Yuen Biao fan, you're not really going to find much of interest here, as the wire-heavy fight scenes don't exactly break the mold when it comes to the onscreen portrayal of martial arts. Kung-Fu Master is the sort of release that's perfect for late-night post-bar basic cable viewing. It offers up just enough excitement that you're not going to be totally bored by the proceedings, especially if you have a couple of adult beverages percolating in your bloodstream. But in no way is this anything worth going out of your way to check out. Even though it cost me nothing to view this as it came from the magic known as a Netflix queue, I still felt a bit cheated at the end, because it felt like I watched something of ninety minutes that offered up absolutely nothing of substance, leaving more of a faint memory rather than a lasting impression. RATING: 5 |
