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 I fucking like this movie. I'd call it average Woo Ping (ie better than most stuff out there). I'll say that the undercranked action scenes are a little too... well, undercranked. The guy that plays Wong Fei Hong is quite competent as a martial artist, though not particularly a standout as an actor. Donnie Yen as Beggar So does well, whether he's biting a girl's hand or throwing fried duck carcasses at homeless people. As with many a learn-a-new-fighting-style-to-defeat-the-baddie film, Beggar So learns the secrets of the drunken style in about three minutes. Drunken Boxing must truly be the Pop-Tart of the Kung Fu world. So the action is okay, but here's the kicker: the plot's not so bad either. Holy shit.

The different character's motivations go a layer or two deeper than your average Kung Fu flick. The bad guys in this movie are almost secondary to the main plot conflict, which is between two good guys. The classic wise mentor/brash young student plot device is present here, but set up a little differently. Yen plays a sort of freelance hero, and though well-intentioned, he manages to interfere with Wong Fei Hong's plans. Mixed in with this plot is an American-educated woman fighting for women's rights, a rather well-done bit on opium addiction, a widower who'se being stalked by his bucktoothed sister-in-law, the Fire Lotus Gang, and a rare portrayal of an official who isn't a dickhead. Throw in the big fat dude with the mohawk and a badass Korean guy with a badass pilgrim hat and you've got yourself one badass-confusing movie.

Shawn's not as into this movie as I am. I heartily recommend it. Well, maybe not "heartily". Not that I don't like it, because I think you can tell that I do, I guess it's just that I can't think of too many things I do "heartily", so I'm not sure why I pulled out that word. "Gregariously", maybe. Or perhaps "robustly". Or perhaps I should do a few more rough drafts before I post these reviews. Ah, no one reads em anyway. - Tom, April 2002

MONKS?: No. No monks.

NO-SHADOW KICK? Yes. One good ol' fashioned one, plus a backwards one. Damn!

BEST MOVE: Wong Fei Hong lighting his own hand on fire. Fucking nut.

BIG PLOT TWIST NO ONE SAW COMING: When the extremely unattractive sister-in-law loses her buckteeth, it turns out THAT SHE'S ACTUALLY EXTREMELY ATTRACTIVE.

WORTH OWNING? Yeah. What the hell does Shawn know?

SEE ALSO: ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA series, IRON MONKEY, TRAINSPOTTING

READER'S COMMENTS:

Actually, I do own it. I like the part where the crazy dude with the beard goes flying across the room in a flat spin and bounces off a tabletop. And the crazy women with the blades in their pigtails. And the super fat kick-ass bass drum solo. And the good guy pitted against good guy stuff interests me too. A little bit L.A. Confidential. A little bit Othello. Not bad.

-Shawn, No-Shadow Kick - April 1, 02

Hey, Glad to see you like heroes among heroes, me too. Why hasn't the guy who played Wong Fei Hong (Wong yuk) done any other films!? Donnie's done loads of other movies but this guy doesn't seem to have done any!!! If you've seen this guy in any other movies please let me know! Have you seen The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk starring Jet Li? If you haven't then it's probably the only film in the world with better action than Heroes among Heroes. But that's just me opinion. Thanks!

- Adam Cemal May 25, 02

Doesn't Fong Sai Yuk have some stupid name now? Like The Enforcer or The BeeKeeper or The Vibrator or some single-manly-word shit title like that? That type of movie title where it could be a Van Damme movie from last year or a Tom Berenger action thriller from 1987? I keep meaning to make a list cross-referencing the new American titles with the originals. Isn't New Legend of Shaolin called like Raise the Red Lantern now or something? Thank God Iron Monkey stayed Iron Monkey, even if they did change No-Shadow Kick to Shadow Kick.

Fuckers!

- Tom, No-Shadow Kick -May 26, 02

I think they renamed Fong Sai Yuk as The Legend (of Fong Sai Yuk). Also, New Legend of Shaolin is now called Red Dragon which is confused a lot with that Hannibal Lecter movie. Stupid movie re-titlers.

- Musashi Miyamoto, july 10, 2002

This film was actually a great relief to me as I stupidly got into a situation where I had to buy every single Donnie Yen film existence ... This has been a source of great pain in my life and has even forced me to venture into the murky world of Cat 3... (So weird as Donnie just carries on doing his straight man role despite all the t & a around him...) For every good one - Drunken Tai Chi, Iron Monkey, Wing Chun there are a handful of really bad one's ... Satan Returns, Ballistic Kiss, Holy Virgin vs The Evil Dead... I gotta stop buying em. Liked this one though.

- Mary

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