“Kung Fu League” is a film that I won’t dismiss, but I do feel that audiences shouldn’t watch this film with high expectations. Especially, since it’s a Jeffrey Lau film!
TITLE: Kung Fu League
FILM RELEASE: 2018
DURATION: 102 Minutes
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (16:9 widescreen), Mandarin DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo. Subtitles are in English
COMPANY: Well Go USA Entertainment
RATED: Not Rated
Release Date: September 17, 2019
Directed by Jeffrey Lau
Screenplay by Jianhong Huang
Music by Roc Chen
Starring:
Ashin as Fei Ying Xiong
Kwok-Kwan Chan as Chen Zhen
Jay Chou as not Jay Chou
Madina Memet as Bao’er
Andy On as Huo Yuan Jia
Yu-Hang To as Ip Man
Wenzhuo Zhao as Wong Fei-hung
When his manager prevents Fei Ying Xiong from getting the girl he loves, he summons the help from four legendary Kung Fu masters to learn the highest level of martial arts from the best in history and to defeat his enemies who stand in the way of the things he wants most.
Filmmkaer Jeffrey Lau will forever be known for his 1995 films “A Chinese Odyssey” (parts 1 and 2), “Chinese Odyssey 2002”, “A Chinese Odyssey: Part Three” (2016), the TV series “A Chinese Odyssey: Love You a Million Years” and films such as “Out of the Dark” (1995), “Second Time Around” (2002), “A Chinese Tall Story” (2005) and many more.
But while Lau has made numerous films, there is no doubt that his returns are primarily for “A Chinese Odyssey” films and if he does direct a film, it’s often featuring well-known stars. May it be Stephen Chow, Ekin Cheng, Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, Nicholas Tse, Yun-Fat Chow and many more!
In 2018, Lau returned with an action comedy starring singer Ashin, Kwok-Kwan Chan (known for his resemblance to Bruce Lee and often playing the character), Yu-Hang To (known for playing Ip Man roles due to his resemblance of Donnie Yen), actor Wenzhuo Zhao and actress Madina Memet.
The film revolves around Fei Ying Xiong (portrayed by Ashin), an artist who has created a story of four martial arts master coming being brought to the future. At the same time, Fei Ying Xiong hopes to win the attention of the woman he loves, Bao’er (portrayed by Madina Memet).
While he intends to wish her a happy birthday, his boss is also trying to woo Bao’er and things do go right for Fei Ying Xiong that he leaves his workplace in disgrace and he ends up crying, until his drawings come to life and not knowing that his wish of having the four martial artists come to his reality has come true.
The four martial artists happen to be Wong Fei-hung (portrayed by Wenzhuo Zhao), Ip Man (portrayed by Yu-Hang To), Chen Zhen (the character which Bruce Lee portrayed in “Fist of Fury” and portrayed in the film by Kwok-Kwan Chan) and Huo Yuanjia (portrayed by Andy On).
Now these four martial artists want to get back home to their time period but to do that, they must help Fei Ying Xiong accomplish his dream and help him get the girl.
But with Fei Ying Xiong’s shyness, because he doesn’t have money and his boss is trying to win over Bao’er,
Helping Fei Ying Xiong win the girl’s heart may be too difficult, but perhaps they can help him with the money by winning the World Martial Arts Championship.
VIDEO:
“Kung Fu League” is presented in 1080p High Definition (16:9 widescreen). Picture quality is very good! Close ups show great detail and I found no issues of banding or artifacts during my viewing of the film.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Kung Fu League” is presented in Mandarin DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo. The soundtrack features crystal clear dialogue and music, action sequences and crowd ambiance
Subtitles are in English.
SPECIAL FEATURES
“Kung Fu League” comes with no special features
Filmmaker Jeffrey Lau has been in the film business for so long and having watched decades of films made in Hong Kong and China, my feelings of “Kung Fu League”, made me feel that it was like a ’90s action comedy brought to today’s cinema. Trying to bring the same craziness, laughs and cheesy jokes but with today’s special effects.
In a way, it’s kind of the reason why I was entertained by the film but at the same time, knowing that this is not the usual Jeffrey Kau film that I’m accustomed to seeing in 2019 and knowing, it’s not his best work.
First, I will discuss what I liked about “Kung Fu League”. For one, it’s the bringing the martial artists from the past together in one film.
For one, many of us who grew up watching Hong Kong action films such as “Once Upon a Time in China” films starring Jet Li or the “Drunken Master” films starring Jackie Chan will know of Wong Fei-hung, he’s probably one of the most famous martial artists that many actors have played in films.
Of course, the next would be Ip Man, in which the past decade has been plentiful of “Ip Man” films.
While the martial artist Huo Yuanjia is well-known and was featured in the Bruce Lee film “Fist of Fury” and Jet Li’s “Fearless”, instead of using the name Bruce Lee, the character of Chen Zhen was a fictional character which Bruce Lee played on “Fist of Fury” as the student of Huo Yuanjia.
And for “Shaolin Soccer” and “The Legend of Bruce Lee” fans, to see Kwok-Kwan Chan reprise his role as Bruce Lee is always awesome!
Unfortunately, while having these characters in a film would sound cool, the storyline was not. There is too much over-reliance on special effects in the film that are just not executed well or just too over the top.
Sometimes certain scenes feel like they were tacked on and just didn’t flow well with the overall storyline.
While the storyline tries to incorporate so many things, may it be an action film, a drama/romance film, Jeffrey Lau tries to bring that craziness of Stephen Chow films (note: Lau was a producer of Chow’s “Shaolin Soccer”) from the past and execute it using today’s technology for today’s audiences, but where past Stephen Chow films succeed, it’s the storyline and its characters. Stephen Chow films, no matter how over-the-top they may be, how crazy scenes are or how much special effects are utilized, the execution is magnificent.
Unfortunately, “Kung Fu League” does come up short and it’s sad because I was pulling for a Jeffrey Lau comeback and to see him create more unique films outside of his “Chinese Odyssey” work.
But I’m not going to say I disliked the film, because I was entertained, as it made me nostalgic of crazy, yet entertaining ’90s HK films.
Overall, “Kung Fu League” is a film that I won’t dismiss, but I do feel that audiences shouldn’t watch this film with high expectations. Especially, since it’s a Jeffrey Lau film!
