Customer Reviews

The Buddhist Fist

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a wonderful, classic Yuen Wo Ping movie. It even stars Yuen Shun Yi, the star of Yuen Wo Ping's original sequel to Jackie's "Drunken Master", the amazing "Dance of the Drunk Mantis". There is one, very large downside to this though, regardless of the accompanying info Tai Seng printed to describe this disc, THERE ARE NO ENGLISH SUBTITLES! Please buyers beware! I first learned this at a wonderful website that includes a synopsis of DVD quality for nearly every version of every Hong Kong DVD you could imagine. Please visit here before buying your next Hong Kong DVD. You will find that some Hong Kong DVDs are of excellent quality, but you will also find that some are of either bad quality, or are misadvertised. "The Buddhist Fist", although a wonderful movie, is unfortunately a prime example of the latter.

Another great movie from the Yuen clan.This one has Tsui Siu Ming(who also co-directed) and Yuen Shun Yee(A.K.A. Yuen Hsin Yee) as two orphan friends who were trained in martial arts since they were very young.After being together for a long time,Shun Yee has to leave and work in a near by town.Siu Ming on the other hand stays at the monastery and is framed for rape and murder by a greedy shop owner(Li Hai Sheng),and forced to steal a giant jade buddha.When Shun Yee's stepfather overhears Siu Ming and the shop owner talking,he's caught and tortured by Siu Ming.When Shun Yee returns to the country,he goes on a search for his stepfather,eventually finding that the villian is his best friend,which leads to the final confrontation of friend vs. friend.This movie came out in 1980 at a time when the Yuen clan's choreography seemed to get better with each movie.A lot of familiar faces in this movie.Yuen Siu Tin,Yuen Cheung Yan,Yuen Chun Yeung,and Yuen Yat Chor all have cameo roles.It's too bad that Yuen Shun Yee wasn't a bigger star on screen.He was definately great as a villian in films such as Drunken Tai-Chi,Dreadnaught,and the Miracle Fighter films.But he also proved himself as a good guy in this film as well as Dance of the Drunk Mantis.He shows up every now and then in films and he still does a lot of choreography work.The last thing I saw him in was Iron Monkey as the righteous manchu soldier.

THIS MOVIE FEATURES SOME OF THE MOST ORIGINAL AND ELECTRIFYING KUNG-FU STYLES IN THE BUSINESS. IF YOU LIKE THE ORIGINAL STYLE KUNG FU MOVIES THIS IS NO DOUBT ONE YOU HAVE TO HAVE.

The Buddhist Fist traces the lives of two friends, one of whom is a Buddhist monk. Unwittingly, the monk is framed and must resort to misdeeds to keep from being blackmailed. His misdeeds put him at odds with his lifelong friend (the same actor who played the villian, White Tiger, in Dreadnaught), and ultimately into a final match of "good vs. evil." Lots of well choregraphed action.

Note, however, two irritating features of the DVD: (a) for the first half of the film, there is a bothersome, vertical, hairline bar on the left side of the screen; (b) despite providing 5.1 Chinese audio, there are no English subtitles! Too bad, since I prefer the original language audio, whenever possible. Chalk it up to another, Tai Seng careless oversight. In fact, I'd rather get the original Hong Kong release of this film in light of Tai Seng's frequent editing foibles.

5 stars for the production. Deduct 1 star for the careless transfer.

This movie has some of the best martial arts action ever filmed. Some reviewers don't think much of the plot but I think it's excellent. Can be watched over and over and over. The hero of the movie is one of the old school greats but usually he plays the evil bad guy. He does a great job as the good hearted hero in this one. His form is great and he is supposed to be the diligent fighter of the two main characters. However, the co-star monk fighter, WOW!, you have to see his style!! Perfect form, yet totally relaxed... He makes your spine tingle he is so good. This movie is never dull at any moment, always exciting and interesting. Great acting, great characters, very inspiring. An added bonus is the super old school Master that guards the temple... I have seen him in a few other movies... he is just plain spectacular. His footwork is among the finest I have ever seen. Even if you just want to be inspired or learn some new moves this movie is worth the price but, you get so much more than that. This is one of the best of all time and even though newer movies are produced better with better effects, etc., this movie is just plain fun plus is chock full of the best fight scenes ever put on film.

Now this is old-school. A fun, imaginitive film with really good fights. The humor is mild, which is a plus. The funniest thing in this flick is how Yuen Shun Yi's hair-cut frequently oscillates length and style.

Two orphans are raised by monks, go their separate ways, and are later reunited by tragedy. There are little twists, but that's pretty much the story. But as you know, story is not (usually) why we watch kung fu. Care to calculate a guess? That's right, the fights. The choreography here is a nice stepping-stone between "7 Grand Masters", where the fights are lengthier and more acrobatic, and "The Prodigal Son", where they are faster and more precise.

Presentation here is inconsistent, as the film quality fluctuates a little, but mostly it's very good, and widescreen. This is another gem that I'm sorry I didn't see sooner. I wanted to watch it again as soon as it was over. You've seen better films in every individual aspect that this one has to offer, but it's still collectively great. I even liked Simon Yuen in this.

1980. aka: Secret of the Buddhist Fist

The plot and characters may take a back seat to the fighting but, my god, what action scenes ! They reminded me alot of "Iron Monkey" and "Matrix" and for good reason since the same guy choreographed the fight scenes in all three. I honestly have no idea how they pulled it off ; the moves are absoulutley supernatural , even when you take into consideration the minimal special effects. Really, I'm shocked its not more well known. You'll be hard-pressed to find a Martial art film that comes close to this firey gem.

It's funny how they always advertise everything that Yuen Woo Ping is attached to with the slogan "from acclaimed director/choreographer of The Matrix, Crouching Tiger, and Kill Bill." Really it's the Kung Fu gems he released in the early days like this that should be referred to as his best work! Hot on the heels of a string of big hit movies (Snake In The Eagles Shadow, Drunken Master, Magnificient Butcher) Yuen dropped this semi-forgettable (when compared to the previous group especially) but entertaining film. The story here is nothing new (although it does provide a nice mystery twist albeit a rather obvious one) and puts our central character (and master of The Buddhist Fist) on a quest to find his father who has gone missing. Along the way he meets the usual assortment of friends and foes (sporting Yuen trademarks like hairy moles and buck teeth!)with plenty of great old-fashioned (hardly any wire work) Kung Fu mixed in. The only real complaint I have with the film is the hunchback character... he was just way too over the top for me personally. Beyond that there is no reason any self-respecting martial arts fan shouldn't see this as they truly don't make them like this anymore. The DVD is about what you would expect from Tai Seng, with their usual "remastered transfer" looking almost like a Kalidascope at times (the final fight changes colors basically from shot to shot)and bonus features that consist of a Yuen Woo Ping filmography and some trailers (including an amusing trailer for Wing Chun that starts with an announcer saying "Watch out Jean-Claude... Move over Arnold..."?!).

Whenever you see "Yuen Woo Ping" (the director of this film) on ANY kung Fu movie, you should buy it without thinking too much. He is one of the best Kung Fu movie directors. I enjou all of his Fung Fu movies. Yuen's family's Kung Fu fighting style is quite unique and worth watching. This film will not disappoint you. Buy it now and enjoy the great Kung Fu fighting techniques. Another his best film worth watching is the "Secret Master" (story about Chinese legend Ho Yen Ka).

Let me list you some names of actors I spotted in this-Peter Chan(plays like the same exact charcter in Prodigal Son, The Legend, and Deadful Melody), Lee Hoi San(36th Chamber, Goose Boxer), Simon Yuen(Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, Drunken Master), Dai Sai-aan(rightly nicknamed "little big eye", he's in everything and has amazing Chinese opera skills), Ho Pak-kwong(great character actor from Killer Wears White-aka Shadow Ninja), Fan Mei sheng(one of the best character actors ever, fay guy from Jackie chan's the Young Master), Cheung Yan Yuen(guy who plays a taoist master in ALL of Woo ping's movies but doesn't in this one), and then the vampire like guy with the hunchback you will also recognze from all of Woo Ping's stuff. And then just like the great film Dance of the Drunken Mantis, Shun-Yi Yuen(Chief Fox in Iron Monkey) plays the hero.

I have to say that the kung fu in this flick is absolutely dazzling. Even with Chief Fox as the hero, he is able to perform pretty well. The final fight I would call anythign but spectacular but since it is from the great Woo Ping, expect a ton of acrobatics and just beautifal choreography in general. The story is entertaining and the end left me dissatisfied but the amazing footwork and hand to hand gives it the 4/5 stars.

This dvd from Tai Seng has an English, Mandarin, and a Chinese soundtrack, BUT IT DOES NOT HAVE ANY SUBTITLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Shame on you tai seng, you also did this with the movie "The Victim".

Picture quality could have been better as it is very washed out and has a white bar on the left side of the screen for about the first 20 minutes. But it is nicely widescreened and I genereally don't ask for more than that.