Another quintessential bad movie sub genre is the chopsaki kung-fu flick genre. I've seen a lot of chopsaki flicks. But I don't think I have ever seen one as genuinely bad as The Buddhist Fist. It was one of those movies that I felt, at least for a time, was the worst I have ever seen. For sure it is the worst chopsaki flick I have ever seen. Every other movie of this kind has at least some kind of redeeming quality... Good one liners, good martial arts, good screenplay, SOMETHING. The Buddhist Fist is so astoundingly bad that there is simply nothing purposefully good about it. Instead, the movie is of worth on terms of hilarity only. The plot is incoherent and almost completely nonexistent, but you get the feeling if it did exist to a bigger extent, it would be severely really stupid. It has something to do with two brothers who were both trained in martial arts, or something, that end up being enemies in the end. One of the movies best moments involves the lead actor killing his brother in the end, after which his master simply pats his shoulder and says, rather quaintly I might add after absolutely nothing is revealed or any higher ground is reached in the plot, "Now you understand." I don't feel bad about spoiling this, because it will make your eyes widen when you watch it even if you know it's coming. Embarrassingly horrible moments like this are not few. The plot progresses with little to no rhyme or reason. The director is Yuen Wo Ping, who did the choreography for the Matrix. By those standards, I was expecting something at least half decent when I first bought this, but in fact, the choreography is absolutely horrible with obviously rhythmic and calculated, and completely stupid, "martial arts." One of the catch lines was that this is also a humorous movie. That's true. But only because of how much it embarrasses itself. The original dialog probably wasn't even close to funny in it's native tongue, let alone when dubbed poorly. The camera quality is deplorable on numerous occasions, the characters aren't likable... You know what, I'm going to stop there. This is an astoundingly horrible movie that only reveals more faults every time you watch it. Essential martial arts film.
November 4, 2008 |  | Beautiful kung fu, ok everything else |  |
This movie is one of my favorite martial arts movies of all time.
The acting and story is ok, but the kung fu is excellent.
The form of the monk/brother of the main character is precise, and his
style is creative and beautiful to watch. Don't get hung up on
the other stuff and pay attention to what really on display here:
exquisite movement.
August 29, 2008I watched it once and of course I have a always watch twice rule before I make judgements on a movie(unless it completely sucked). After watching it twice I'd say its worth watching. But I wouldnt put this in the classic category. What I like most is the final fight where the young monk does that special buddhist style. Thats probably the most interesting style I've seen in a movie thusfar.
This movies has some interesting fights too. But I'm just going off my gut feeling here that this doesnt feel like a classic to me. Out of 4 movies I bought last week from amazon, I can say this was the best one. It wasnt as good as everyone told me though(like the other 3 movies I bought). It couldve been much better. Anyway if your a kung fu fan its definitely worth a watch just to see that last fighting style. But you wont want to keep it around long.
August 14, 2008amazon is awesome I got free supersaver with my order and even though it took another 3-4 days it was worth it
June 18, 2008My father was into Kung Fu movies so i grew up watching many of them. It wasn't until recently i decided to start my own collection and this was one of my first choices. I love the story, choreography and the humor in this film. A definate must have for your Kung Fu library.
January 26, 2008More reviews at Amazon.com ...
Daily Birthdays
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