Kung Fu Master

Rating:
Summary: Donnie's great, but this one was LONG...
Review: Donnie Yen fan here. Love him. Think he's the best. I'm talking about the video version here, not the DVD. Classic storyline, but the movie goes on and on. The fight scenese are pretty, but hard for me to follow, the action was sped up to the point of being too fast. I wish that the HK audience would be less into that stuff, and more into what's really important-- good kung fu. Good kung fu can be just as exhilarating at realistic speeds, and we could appreciate the skill of the principals better. A little speed up I can take, this one seemed TOO FAST for me.

The story went on and on. Yes, the characters evolved and struggled and grew. But it was just Donnie's character going through one iteration after another of the same lesson-- I must learn to see more of the big picture, I must not let my rage take over my actions. Still, as expected, his heart is in the right place, and that ultimately helps him to develop his kung fu to overcome all else.

Oh, I didn't mind necessarily. Seeing Donnie Yen is what I get and watch these movies for. The movies that burn me are the ones where you get cameras zooming in on Donnie's SHOULDER the entire fight scene. What's the point of that? This one at least provided some good scenes and good action, with good camerawork for much of it.

A lot of pole work in this movie. It seems to be Donnie's favorite weapon throughout many movies-- pole or spear. He's wonderful with it. It's not really my expertise, but I know enough about it to appreciate the difficulty and his skill. Still, I wish we could see more movies from him where it's more realistic speed, hand-to-hand, endless grunts and shouts, as they exchange blows and counterblows across rooms, up and down stairs, like in the old B-Hong Kong kung fu movies I watched at midnight on TV as a kid.

Still, I've seen worse from Donnie. This was a solid film as far as HK kung fu movies go. Legend of the Wolf, for example, where I got very acquainted with Donnie's left shoulder during fight scenes, and was left dumbfounded by the lack of even a simplistic plot. But that's another review.

Rating:
Summary: Donnie's great, but this one was LONG...
Review: Donnie Yen fan here. Love him. Think he's the best. I'm talking about the video version here, not the DVD. Classic storyline, but the movie goes on and on. The fight scenese are pretty, but hard for me to follow, the action was sped up to the point of being too fast. I wish that the HK audience would be less into that stuff, and more into what's really important-- good kung fu. Good kung fu can be just as exhilarating at realistic speeds, and we could appreciate the skill of the principals better. A little speed up I can take, this one seemed TOO FAST for me.

The story went on and on. Yes, the characters evolved and struggled and grew. But it was just Donnie's character going through one iteration after another of the same lesson-- I must learn to see more of the big picture, I must not let my rage take over my actions. Still, as expected, his heart is in the right place, and that ultimately helps him to develop his kung fu to overcome all else.

Oh, I didn't mind necessarily. Seeing Donnie Yen is what I get and watch these movies for. The movies that burn me are the ones where you get cameras zooming in on Donnie's SHOULDER the entire fight scene. What's the point of that? This one at least provided some good scenes and good action, with good camerawork for much of it.

A lot of pole work in this movie. It seems to be Donnie's favorite weapon throughout many movies-- pole or spear. He's wonderful with it. It's not really my expertise, but I know enough about it to appreciate the difficulty and his skill. Still, I wish we could see more movies from him where it's more realistic speed, hand-to-hand, endless grunts and shouts, as they exchange blows and counterblows across rooms, up and down stairs, like in the old B-Hong Kong kung fu movies I watched at midnight on TV as a kid.

Still, I've seen worse from Donnie. This was a solid film as far as HK kung fu movies go. Legend of the Wolf, for example, where I got very acquainted with Donnie's left shoulder during fight scenes, and was left dumbfounded by the lack of even a simplistic plot. But that's another review.

Rating:
Summary: CRAP
Review: First i have to admit that i only watched about 20 min of this 3 hour film so i cant really give an acurate portrayal of the film except that from what i watched it sucked a [...] load.

Just so you know what i like i started my Kung Fu craze with the Bruce Lee collection. I watched Return of the Dragon and from that movie on almost 99% of the movies that i bought were kung fu movies. The other movies i own are Lord of The Rings extended, Gladiator, Last Samauri and my all time favorite BRAVEHEART which in my opinion is the best movie ever.(i own a lot more besides that)

So I love Once upon a time with China, CTHD, Hero, House of Flying daggers, Kiss of the draggon, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Donnie Yen, Drunken Master 1 & 2, All the good kung fu flicks. Bruce Lee is definatley one of the origonal best. Akira kurusawa and Zatoichi films are also great movies i enjoy.

But when i started watching this film i couldnt get past the lack of filter the director used. It feels like your watching a soap opera, and the action was way to incredibly accelerated.
I couldnt imagine watching all 3 hours. The acting was incredibly cheesy even for Kung Fu flicks.

I dont understand how the other reviewers could give this 4 and 5 stars. Because of them I went out and bought this film. Worst thing i ever did. I sold the movie to a used movie store, they didnt know what they were getting.

All i can say is that save yourself the effort of getting rid of this DVD and dont buy it. Heck i wouldnt even rent it, if you could. Buy Once upon a time in china 1 & 2.
or another good kung fu movie.


Rating:
Summary: Shaolin...
Review: Here's an answer to the question, "Where's the missing Shaolin footage?" It's not in this film, it's in another film recently released called "Revenge of the Kung Fu Master". It starts where this DVD left off and takes you through another gripping epic just as long as this one. The acting is just as good and it contains some of the main characters from this DVD. I don't see it on Amazon yet, so I can't write a review, but I can tell you it's just as good if not better than the first. You see Donnie and other characters advance further in their martial arts skill. My only complaint is sped-up fight scenes. Thankfully they didn't resort to mass wire-fu in this series. The acting makes up for any shortcomings and this second DVD comes with original language and English subtitles. I picked my copy of the second DVD up at the local chain store (the one with the yellow tag as their emblem).

Rating:
Summary: Shaolin...
Review: Here's an answer to the question, "Where's the missing Shaolin footage?" It's not in this film, it's in another film recently released called "Revenge of the Kung Fu Master". It starts where this DVD left off and takes you through another gripping epic just as long as this one. The acting is just as good and it contains some of the main characters from this DVD. I don't see it on Amazon yet, so I can't write a review, but I can tell you it's just as good if not better than the first. You see Donnie and other characters advance further in their martial arts skill. My only complaint is sped-up fight scenes. Thankfully they didn't resort to mass wire-fu in this series. The acting makes up for any shortcomings and this second DVD comes with original language and English subtitles. I picked my copy of the second DVD up at the local chain store (the one with the yellow tag as their emblem).

Rating:
Summary: I really good tv serie from Hong Kong
Review: I'm vietnamese/chinese and I grow up watching TV series from Hong Kong TVB and ATV since the early 80's. The Kung-Fu Master (known as Hung Hei-kwun in HK) is in my opinion, one of the best kung-fu tv serie made by ATV. This TV series was made in '94. This version has been cut down to only 4 DVDs of 2 hours each. The original version is almost twice as long. Usually, I hate when they cut out things simply because they think it doesn't work with the western culture. But for that tv series, I actually prefer the cut version because they have only removed the long and boring parts that wasn't well made and drag down the story.

Remember, this is a TV series (ex: Buffy the Vampire) not a theatrical movie so it was made with a low budget. Still, the serie has some great characters, a good storyline with many great fighting scenes. The biggest flaws is that a lot of fight scenes has been speed up too much, it doesn't look good and doesn't make any sense. The english subtitles is very well made. I really hope more HK TV series will be release over here so that my friends can also enjoy them with english subtitles. Especially TVB series like "The Condor Heroes Trilogy, Demi-God Semi-Devils '96 .

Rating:
Summary: kung fu master
Review: kung fu master is good action but the story is yet finish may be kung fu master part two very good action

Rating:
Summary: TV KUNG FU series part 1 pretty good!
Review: Kung Fu Master is part one, The Revenge Of the Kung Fu Master is part two of this series. The kung fu action/story is great, and you have choice of watching dubbed or subtitled. DVD also has extras with interviews with the director etc. The Revenge of The Kung Fu master is more entertaining, however lacks the dubbed version and does not include mandarin as an option. Part one is the tale of an underground resistance lead by the red dragon against a government that is absurdly evil. Fight scenes are not bad (a little sped up in some scenes and lots of wires), though not as good as the New Legend of Shaolin (same characters in jet li movie), however I have a preference to Jet Li's style to Donnie Yen. Although it's a matter of taste because they are both awesome.

Rating:
Summary: Keep in mind that it's a TV Series
Review: The last reviewer mentioned that the flick bombed because of the quality and all that. I would just like to bring to his attention that this is not a film, it is a TV action series which obviously doesn't have the financial backing a regular movie has. Considering the before mentioned explanation, it is my opinion that this is great entertainment. I cant't wait for Revenge of The Kung Fu MAster to arrive by mail.

Rating:
Summary: Great Flick But probably only part 1
Review: This is a great film though yes there is probably more to this TV series. If you look at the special features like the "making of" part it does show some characters not in this installment. It also shows the 3 main characters training at a Shaolin Temple. You know the typical carrying water running errands thingy. So yes there is most likely more to the TV series which got me looking to see if the rest was being tooled for a DVD release I even went to the Tai Seng website but nothing yet. As far as this installment goes it is excellent. I would not have tried to search out for the rest of it if it was not. Good characters but the box description I agree is bad. But for 200 minutes worth of quality Kung Fu this can't be beat. Warning it does go into wire mode in some scences but as a whole the fight scenes are great even though a bit far fetched when it comes to some ariels and I liked all the characters. A great find for martial arts fans and especially for Donnie Yen fans. To me he is definately up there and is compareable to Jackie Chan, and Jet Li when it comes to fight scences also see Iron Monkey a true martial arts classic.