Fong Sai Yuk I

Rating:
Summary: Jet Li's top five
Review: "Fong Sai Yuk 1 & 2" are both filled with Jet Li's most impressive wire-work and kung-fu performances. Unbelievable wire scenes are heightened beyond the sky by Jet Li's graceful and yet powerful kick-[butt] kung-fu.

Sound, choreography, and acting are superb. As usual, Jet Li always manages to stun his audience with a smashing performance filled with passion and unbelievable kung-fu moves. The plot is touching to any audience, for in the first "Fong Sai Yuk", Jet Li fights for his father, and in the second, he fights for his mother. Shockingly creative fight scenes that will blow your mind.

BTW, the sequel "Fong Sai Yuk II" is a must-buy, for Chiu Mun Chuk (can't spell his name) and Jet Li dual at the end to hit the "top kung-fu scenes" list.

Rating:
Summary: xiao fang fang is the best
Review: "Fong Sai Yuk" is one of my new favorite Kung-fu flicks. It has all of the elements necessary for the genre (Great fighting, charming hero, winsome heroine, secret societies, justice, cross-dressing mother who seduces the mother of her sons bride-to-be). It's all here, and the whole package is put together with style.

As an additional element, "Fong Sai Yuk" is hilarious. (Intentionally hilarious, to boot. Sometimes Kung-fu films are funny for the wrong reason, but the translation is good and the comedy works here.) There is some very funny slapstick and mistaken-identity humor. I was cracking up.

If you like Hong Kong Kung-fu, your collection is not complete until you have seen "Fong Sai Yuk." It is really good.

Rating:
Summary: Work hard and practice Kung-fu
Review: "Fong Sai Yuk" is one of my new favorite Kung-fu flicks. It has all of the elements necessary for the genre (Great fighting, charming hero, winsome heroine, secret societies, justice, cross-dressing mother who seduces the mother of her sons bride-to-be). It's all here, and the whole package is put together with style.

As an additional element, "Fong Sai Yuk" is hilarious. (Intentionally hilarious, to boot. Sometimes Kung-fu films are funny for the wrong reason, but the translation is good and the comedy works here.) There is some very funny slapstick and mistaken-identity humor. I was cracking up.

If you like Hong Kong Kung-fu, your collection is not complete until you have seen "Fong Sai Yuk." It is really good.

Rating:
Summary: Must see movie
Review: Fong Sai Yuk I&II were the first 2 HK movies I saw, though an accident of video recording meant that I had to wait at least a year to see the beginning of Pt I and the end of Pt II. Even in incomplete form, the two films were enough to make me an instant fan of HK Cinema (after years of disappointment with the Hollywood fare I'd been exposed to). I think they're possibly the best introduction to the territory's movie industry there could be... if you don't love Fong Sai Yuk, chances are Hong Kong Cinema is not the cinema for you. It's a rare example of everything coming together, if not perfectly then at least very well.

The solid script from Jeff Lau is the anchor without which the movie would not have succeeded. In typical Jeff Lau style it bounces all over the place, from stupid comedy to high (melo)drama via a little romance and the obligatory gender confusions, and of course leading into the incredibly imaginitive action sequences choreographed by director Corey Yuen and former opera brother Yuen Tak.

The production values for the movie are very high, if not quite as slick as the Once Upon A Time In China movies they clearly aspire to emulating. Ann Hui is credited as Production Designer here, a rare role for the critically adored director. The cinematography from Jingle Ma is top notch, framing the luscious sets and costumes and the action very well. The soundtrack from James Wong (with regular partner Romeo Diaz) seems a little too close to his score for OUATIC in places, but mostly does a commendable job.

Jet Li has said that Fong Sai Yuk is the character that most closely resembles his real personality from all those he's played. From the small time I've spent in Jet's company I'm not sure his self-image is entirely accurate, but he's probably in a better position to judge than me Certainly Fong Sai Yuk is a very likeable chap the way Jet plays him, and you can tell Jet was 100% into the character and the project. Despite this, the show is unequivocally stolen by Josephine Siao Fong-Fong as Fong Sai Yuk's kung fu fighting mother. She plays her character to perfection, showing a fantastic knack for comedy which I'm not sure she ever got to display in her roles when she was "in her prime" and also kicking ass in . Sibelle Hu also steals a fair amount of screen as the mother of Fong Sai Yuk's love interest (the beautiful Michelle Reis), and wife of semi-villain Tiger Lui (Chan Chung-Yung?), who also shines with an affably overstated performance. Of all the cast, Fong Sai Yuk's father (Paul Chu Kong?) is probably the only one whose performance is rather weak and forgettable. Main villain Chiu Man Cheuk is conspicuously far more charismatic and convincing than in any other movie he's been in apart from The Blade.

Fong Sai Yuk could be described as a light-hearted riff on the wire-fu wave launched by Once Upon A Time In China. Certainly humour is brought to the front here whilst the politics is pushed quite far to the back. Hong Kong humour can be an acquired taste, and the jokes sometimes fall flat in Fong Sai Yuk. Jeff Lau's jokes are generally a bit hit or miss, but he aims so wide that it's not surprising. There are some genuinely funny moments though.

When it comes down to it, the action scenes are what really got me hooked when I saw the movies though. Since Tsui Hark raised the bar several notches above anything people had imagined possible for fight scenes when he made Once Upon A Time In China, the Hong Kong choreographers had been engaged in a battle to see who could produce the most inventive and outlandish action scenes. The best of the bunch tended to be in Jet Li's movies, and the fights in Fong Sai Yuk are fine examples of HK creativity. Purists will no doubt cry that the fight scenes rely too heavily on wires, editing and stunt doubles, but I'm sure that Bruce Lee's statement about missing all that heavenly glory applies here. Grandly conceived if not flawlessly executed, the fights in Fong Sai Yuk were especially impressive to these innocent eyes that had never seen action Hong Kong style before. "How the? What the? Did they just?" etc etc. I wish they'd spent just a little bit more time tightening up the camera angles and hiding the obvious doubles better, but I can't fault them for ambition. I think the movie won the "best action" award that year, which is pretty impressive for a HK movie made in 1993, the year the new wave style reached its peak.

Fong Sai Yuk is definitely a movie that has a special place in many fans hearts, even though it does have too many mis-fired jokes and rough edges to be called a true masterpiece. Still a must see for any fan of Hong Kong cinema though, a wonderfully representative example of what makes it so special and unique ....

Rating:
Summary: One of Jet Li's Best
Review: Fong Sai Yuk is supposedly an actual historical figure whose legendary and formidable martial arts skills he evidently learned from his loving and devoted mother (we should have all had such a mother). Typcially, the film has little to do with the actual historical figure, but in the end it doesn't really matter, because while not often mentioned in many top ten lists, this film is probably one of the better kick flicks ever made. With Jet Li in an unusally comic role that he fills very well and tied together with a healthy mix of great fights and entertaining characters, this film all by itself easily beats out the entire "Once Upon a Time in China" series. The plot is a little muddled, but the film can be divided in two halves; the first half focuses around Li and his mother, wonderfully played by Josephine Siao while the second half takes a grim turn when Li's father is revealed to be a member of the anti-Manchu (the foreign rulling dynasty) sect called the Red Lotus Society. Consequently, a Manchu official (Vincent Zhao) becomes Li's nemesis when he arrests Li's father and proceeds to have him executed, an action which Li resolves to stop leading to the final climatic fight. Other noteworthy events in the film are Li's fight with Sibelle Hu whose martial arts abilities are probably more than a match for Michelle Yeoh's any day of the week (no offence Michelle) and Josephine Siao as Li's mother, who, as it was pointed out elsewhere, steals the show. Some people might find the waiting time between fights a little long but for once these interludes are actually filled with some entertaining comedic situations that Li and Siao both adroitly perform. The four main fights in the film are wonderfully done and are of a lengthy duration and mix wire and wushu in an enjoyable balance. If you like martial arts films, the chances are very good that you'll like this one. However, one thing should be mentioned that may be a strike against this film for many people; near the beginning of the film, Li's mother is beaten by her husband after he receieves several complaints about her. You don't actually see the beating being administered, but in the next scene her face is black and blue; While the whole scenario is played off comedically, I imagine some people would probably and understandably find that kind of scenario objectionable.

Rating:
Summary: Off The Hook!
Review: If you are a die hard action fan like myself you'll love Fong Sai Yuk, Jet Li is incredible in this movie. It is a must have in your Martial Arts Movie Collection.

Rating:
Summary: Jet Li is way better than Bruce Lee
Review: If you are looking for a breathtaking fast paced martial arts movie this is it. Also the fights locations are mindbogeling: ON and OVER the heads of some bystanders, on a burning rope, on some thin bamboo sticks lying over a water pool and BETWEEN a wooden platform and the earth 2 feet under it. And don't miss the fight between Fong Sai Yuks mother and his mother in law on top of a wooden tower.

Rating:
Summary: xiao fang fang is the best
Review: She prtrays the mother perfectly, and jet he's been a fav scince I was five. I just got the vcd and it is great! I don't know if the is the contonese version but I would just like to say that the mandarin translation is terrible, I really must get the cantonese version.

Oh yeah one more thing for westerners, if you don't like the beating part, remember that it was common during that time and even now we still get caned (the kids) but its not that bad and at least we have some discipline in our lives, its not like the cane is very formidable or anything, so there was nothing wrong in the husband "caning" the wife, besides, she was a martial arts specialist, it was nesscary displine!

Rating:
Summary: Another Jet Li Great!
Review: This is another one of Jet Li's masterpieces(which he has so many of) and has some very origional fight scenes throughout.Chiu Man-Chiuek is a great bad guy in the movie and you'll never get board of the FEI-HUNG vs.FEI-HUNG matchups.While many people will say this is the best of the series I would have to say the escond is the superior one,but this is an excellent start to lead you through the bad boy sequel.Get them both if you can,these two movies can just about account for all 6 OUATIC movies combined,but are much harder to find.

Rating:
Summary: Jet Li is a beast.
Review: This is definatly my favouraite Jet Li movie and maybe my favouratie all time movie ! Amazing stunts make the movie.. and it also manages to be quite humerous as well.
A DEFINATE buy. Get it now !