King Boxer

Rating:
Summary: Kickboxer takes Revenge
Review: This film is both a bit different, and nothing new.

The first ten minutes consist of shots in and around some sort of Thai festival with elephants. There's a glaring lack of dialog, which makes the opening of the film tedious. But, as soon as the visiting King Boxer meets up with his lovely young cousin (?), things begin to pick up.

They tour the city, and then King Boxer asks to see some Thai Boxing. She takes him to see a friend of her's, a pro kickboxer as he prepares for a match. Bad guys try to get the upright young boxer to throw the match, but he refuses. Naturally, this leads to a fight after the match, in which King Boxer lends a hand. Becoming fast friends, the two martial artists train together, and King Boxer teaches the kickboxer his special kung fu techniques.

Meanwhile, back in China, a bad Japanese businessman who is an expert in Karate and Judo, hears all about the famous King Boxer and decides to test him. He and his men beat up King Boxer's students and insult the Gym. When King Boxer returns, butt is soon kicked. But the bad guy is sneaky, and uses King Boxer's honorable beliefs against him. In the end, the kickboxer helps take revenge with his friend's special kung fu strikes.

There's a great fight between King Boxer and his foe's minions in the bad guy's lair. The last fight was also different, showcasing Kickboxing vs. Karate. In most kung fu movies, you never see someone in a non-Chinese or Western-looking boxing stance, and it was interesting to see the two styles pitted against each other.

It looks like most of the Thailand stuff was all shot on location, which does not mesh very well with the more traditional kung fu movie setting back in China, all shot on sets. Also, the image is slightly distorted on the ends, similar to the effect from the old Dimension 150 process (you can see the slight distortion effect in "Patton"), but even more so here. It only becomes noticable when the camera pans or shifts, and creates a strange "bend" to the edges of the image. I'd say it was the cameras used, not the print or transfer. And as a bonus, the film is presented in it's natural widescreen format (in fact, the DVDs in the "Shaolin Boxer Collection" that I've bought so far are all in glorious widescreen).

Overall, this was not the best kung fu film I've seen, but it certainly has merit. And there are plenty of fights showcasing three martial arts styles (kung fu, katate/judo, and kickboxing), well worth sitting through or fast-forwarding through the first six minutes with the Thai elephant festival.