Shaw Brothers makes me believe I can pull off things that I really can't. I tried fighting with a hand fan once, and let me just say that it is damn hard to look righteous when you're holding a hand fan. I won't even go into when I leapt into a street brawl armed with nothing but the rolled-up latest issue of Good Housekeeping. MAD MONKEY KUNG FU, a 1979 infusion of martial arts virtuosity, leads you to believe that fighting with a fan is manly work, but don't you do it. MAD MONKEY KUNG FU is one of the few films in which the legendary Liu Chia-Liang (a.k.a. Lau Kar-Leung) not only directs but also plays a co-leading role. And this time out, the master has chosen to demonstrate his Monkey Fist skills.
He and the gorgeous Kara Hui play a traveling brother-and-sister wushu stage act who falls afoul of the local kingpin Tuan (Lo Lieh). The crime lord covets the beautiful sister and so hatches a plot which frames Master Chen (Liu Chia-Liang) for an act of sexual misconduct. As punishment, Master Chen's hands are brutally bludgeoned and his sister whisked away to become the crime lord's mistress.
We catch up to our down-and-out protagonist five years later, and it's been dark times for the Monkey Fist expert. Chen is eking out a lean living by street performing with a trained monkey. And now he's got the local thugs to deal with, shaking him down, bullying him. And since his mangled hands won't allow him to practice kung fu, Chen pretty much just absorbs the abuse. Our second lead character comes in around this juncture, the orphaned street scamp Little Monkey (Hsiao Hou) who befriends the crippled street performer. Are you at all startled that Chen takes the mischievous Little Monkey under his wing, eventually begins to teach him the Monkey Fist technique?
The story itself is pretty formulaic, maybe darker in content by a smidge. It seethes with its revenge theme, yuks it up with its intentionally broad humor. (Can the swishy brothel administrator's jaw mole be any more colossal or hairy?) Except you don't tune in to this one for unsightly moles or the other obvious gags or even for the played-out plotline. Liu Chia-Liang, as ever, deserves mad props for striving to instill authentic martial arts in his films. The training sequences are off-the-chain stuff, and you actually start thinking that you, too, thru due diligence and ungodly hours of practice, can sleep on a length of rope (but you can't). The fight choreography is some of the most dazzling and intricate that I've ever eyeballed. Liu Chia-Liang is himself a martial arts master and he shows off his wares here. But he also allows his co-stars to strut their stuff. Kara Hui shines in one action set piece. But it's Hsiao Hou who makes your jaw drop. I'm not exactly sure why this guy hasn't become a bigger star. He surely has the mad kung fu skills. His fluid acrobatics are astounding and his Monkey style is friggin' awesome. There are two spectacular battles at the brothel in which he will blow your mind, especially his climactic showdown with Tuan, the dirtbag crime lord. When Tuan taunted the cripple's disciple - "Little Monkey, even if you were the Monkey King himself, you can't escape. Skin him alive!" - well, that was never gonna end well for the Big Bad. Despite its shortcomings, I must rate MAD MONKEY KUNG FU five out of five stars. The fight scenes are that badass.
This DVD is from the Dragon Dynasty library and, disappointingly, there are no bonus features. Something like this, I would've loved an audio commentary from someone like Hong Kong expert Bey Logan or, heck, even an avid and knowledgeable kung fu fan like RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan.
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Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 11, 2011
Excellent movie starring Legend Hsiao Hou and Lau Kar Leung but no special features or Bonus content
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 16, 2011Top reviews from other countries
Arch Stanton
Irrepressible nature
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 12, 2014
Saviola
One of the best all time Kung Fu Flicks!!!!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 14, 2015
karl greaves
They really know martial arts
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 20, 2015
