Jie zi zhan shi (1991)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

David Lai

Writers:

Che Wei Chan (writer)
Sau Pung Lui (writer)

Release Date:

10 September 1992 (Germany)

Genre:

Action | Comedy

Plot:

Dreamy young Yu-Shu who draws comics of imaginary martial arts heroes is put to a test when he rescues...

Plot Keywords:

Kung Fu | Martial Arts | Comic Book

Cast

Kar Lok Chin	...	Yu Shu
Chia-Liang Liu	...	Master Lo
Jung Yuen	...	Sunny the Scorpion
May Lo Mei-Mei	...	Mei
Jean Pol	...	Bull
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Frankie Chin	...	Jean Pol
Victor Hon	...	Wang
Yuk-Ting Lau		(as Tiffany Lau Yuk-Ting)
Fung Woo	...	Uncle Chai
Shun-Yee Yuen	...	Inspector Hua
Tak Yuen	...	Henchman

Also Known As:

Kit ji jin si (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)
Operation Scorpio (Hong Kong: English title)
Scorpion King (International: English title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for martial arts violence.

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Germany:16 | USA:PG-13

Company:

Golden Harvest Company

Trivia:

'Yuen Jung' does not use his hands at all during fighting, only his legs.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Mou man tai 2 (2002)

Superbly entertaining kung fu blow-out

Hong Kong, the 1920s. A young man from poor beginnings dreams of being a hero, and spends most of his time training and learning about kung fu and bodybuilding, much against his father's will. He helps a servant girl escape from a ruthless businessman, whose goons then come after them, and terrorizes the young man's uncle's noodle restaurant. The uncle turns out to be an old, reformed Triad assassin, who now helps the young guy become proficient in martial arts. It's all-out Karate Kid style with "wash the wok" instead of "wax on, wax off". The kung fu villain is the ruthless businessman's son, who has a trademark scorpion style that looks cool although it is quite silly and surely completely unrealistic.

But the story, which develops over time, has an epic feel, good characterization, great kung fu and is generally very entertaining. The young hero is very sympathetic and provides a good protagonist to root for. The romance dimension remains undeveloped, though, which is a bit disappointing. Otherwise a great movie.

My rating: 8 out of 10.