Siu nin a Fu (2003) User Reviews

Insipid Romance but Decent Action

[NIXFLIX-DOT-COM · 5/10 · 18 December 2003]

If you can slush through the first 40 minutes of STAR RUNNER, which features one of the most contrived and inexplicable romance in movie history, then the film is worthwhile. The fights range from decent to good, and the final brawl is impressive. The female lead is very beautiful, but her character is also the weakest element of the film. Whenever the character is onscreen, the cliches come hard and fast, and you'll be hard-pressed to survive it all.

Summation: Nothing original, but decent if you can survive the silly and unbelievable romance angle that incredibly takes up the film's entire first half.

5 out of 10

great action, weird film-making

[makatang_elepante · 5/10 · 21 December 2005]

if i wasn't totally ravished by mr. wu and his charming korean counterpart, i would have never have forgiven daniel lee for this careless, unbelievable spectacle of love and action mishmash. this film had so much potential, they were lucky to get very endearing actors, but something went terribly wrong during production. either they were not reviewing the takes that the cameraman made (blairwitch project was much more steady compared to this), and the scriptwriter seemed to have written this overnight, after he has partied and drank enough alcohol. so many elements are thrown in, there is even a comatosed grandfather involved. flashbacks of his lovelife as a soldier with a nurse keep on coming, as if it is a reference to the romance Bond has made with this korean teacher...i needed to consult a psychologist to actually understand what went on with these two. the fight scenes were unbelievable and i commend wu for his outstanding performance...but i couldn't help feeling sorry for all those months that he dedicated to train and to learn the skill -- it was all captured in a rather weird type of film. the filmmakers can't decide if it was an action-drama film, an artistic film, a pop film or a docu-reality type. truly, i would love it if this film would be remade and given enough love to make it rise to its full potential. my love still goes out to wu for such an endearing performance.

The trailer is misleading... not a bad movie but...

[destroyerwod · 6/10 · 4 February 2011]

You watch the trailer, you are expecting a "bloodsport" movie. But thing is its all about the romance between the teacher and Bond, and to be honest i didn't click much with that. I don't mind the hero having a romance in a martial arts movie, but not making it stand for 40 min of the movie... even more maybe.

The competition have a small place and except the main character fights, most of the rest is fast-forwarded and you don't see much of the other competitor beside the principals...

Anyway lets just say with more action, less romance, the story would have be good enough to make a nice movie, but i can't give it more than 6 here....

Failes on almost everything

[tirkkanen · 3/10 · 28 November 2007]

This is a stereotype plot. A young fighter tries to enter a competition when he is not ready and is not selected to represent his fighting school. This leads to separation from the fighting school and naturally he finds a strange new master to teach him to fight.

The fights are not of high standards. They are way too "simple" in a way that 1+1 is simple to every adult. The fighter has trained and enters the ring, but does not do what he trained and gets an ass kicking. The coach yells do this and do that with no success. And after some more of this ridiculous beating he suddenly does what he is told and hits his opponent once. This results in a turning point in the fight, although our hero has been taking a beating of his life up until that point. Think about the Rocky movies and you'll have a good point of reference of how much beating he really takes. The fights are also shot poorly.

There final thing that screws this film up is the stupid romance. Cheesy music and awkward moments are not what I call entertainment.

These guys really could have made some quality entertainment, but the director wasn't up to the task. Or the other crew in my opinion. Maybe they had a small budget, I don't know, but what matters in the end is that this movie is bad and deserves the rating of 3 out of 10.

Weak direction but great casting

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 30 April 2020]

STAR RUNNER is a MMA drama from Hong Kong, let down by insipid direction from Daniel Lee, one of my least favourite directors working during the period. Somehow I think this guy's films have dated even more than those made twenty years previously. This one plays out as a slow-moving and sappy relationship drama for the most part, as boy band reject lookalike Vanness Wu insipidly romances his Korean teacher (Kim Hyun-joo, much better than the material). Later, Wu joins a MMA tournament and finds himself battling muscular opponent Andy On, but Lee's direction here consists of shlocky editing and wiggling the zoom button on his camera repeatedly. It's a truly awful approach to movie-making. What keeps you watching here are the endless cameos from older stars, and Lee's love for the Shaw Brothers studio in particular shines through. David Chiang plays the comatose grandfather, also appearing in flashback; Ti Lung is shoehorned in as a wing chun trainer; Ken Lo is the trainer on the opposite side; Chin Kar Lok plays a fighter ally of Wu's; Gordon Liu is the gym owner; Alfred Cheung another teacher at the school. Billy Chow was listed too but I must have missed him.

Cheesy, but still watchable

[Agent10 · 6/10 · 7 October 2004]

The premise is rather familiar: down on his luck fighter digs deep within along with the help of some quirky coaches to fight in an international kick boxing tournament. It's nothing we haven't seen before, but then again, it is always in the details.

Star Runner in the grandest sense is a very typical movie, but the allure of Hong Kong and the fight sequences are still pretty solid. Throw in the ravishing Bond, and you get a pretty watchable movie. Overall, this film probably needed some better actors and some fine tuning in regards to the script, but at least it was still decent to view.

Love & Fight are mixed together.

[newtonattraction · 7/10 · 28 November 2003]

An against-all-odds love story of a young man who is to become the boxing champion and his Korean language teacher. This is the prequel for `A Fighter's Blues'. The plot isn't original.

This is how it's done

[okhsutan · 9/10 · 12 April 2005]

This is a movie for teenagers. If they make more like it please let me know because I couldn't find anything today, I'll keep looking tomorrow. (THIS PART BECAUSE I HAD TO MAKE THIS LONGER??) (ok I started watching it several months ago and just finished it, maybe because I didn't want to read the subs or I've seen too many movies that start this way or better. The movie makes no apologies and neither does Daniel Lee. Again, if anyone knows more movies like this please let me know.) (OK I HAVE TO WRITE MORE STILL) (...maybe Siskel and Ebert made a mistake when they added the thumbs-up-thumbs-down parts to the reviews when people asked 'should i see it or not??' I think it was a really bad idea because reading more about the movie that you don't know you wanna see or not is a good exercise in academia and all people who watch movies should read really long reviews before...hand)

One of my Fav Martial Arts Movies !

[super_suny · 9/10 · 9 March 2011]

Omg this is probably one of my favorite martial arts films of all time !!!!!!! this film stars Vanness Wu ( who is a famous singer in China, sooo even though this guy is not obviously the best actor or martial artist, you can tell that he try's really hard, and trained really hard in the martial arts for this film, and it shows), also the great Andy On is in this film, and he rips it (his awesome in this film !!!) ! added bonus, the legendary Ti Lung is in this film! Ti Lung !

One thing that really sets this kung fu film apart from most other kung fu films is you really really care and have emotional connections with the characters. I really fell in love with Vanness's character, and Andy On's character as well (you want them both to win, you can't tell who to root for ) . this film is sooo emotionally touching, and i think the fight scenes are bloody Giga awesome. Another thing i mucho love about this film, is that this film has a billion montages, like there are montages within montages ! me and my friends just love to joke about the excessive montages in this film, i love montages, and i think this film has some of the best montages ever.

sooo ughh watch this film, some people don't like this film for some reason, don't listen to them, this film ripping mucho rocks super rocking awesome film !

Wing Chun

[harry_tk_yung · 16 April 2004]

There isn't a lot to be said about the movie other than some good fighting scenes and a Korean actress who, while not truly beautiful in the eye of this beholder, does possess certain charm. More interesting is the reasonably good tackling of the Wing Chun martial art style, including authentic scenes of workout at the Wing Chun wooden dummies. Ti Lung (family name, given name) who plays the Wing Chun master, however, did not learn his martial arts from Yip Man (ditto, dittto) (1893 – 1972), the grand master who founded the Hong Kong branch of Wing Chun, and was also Bruce Lee's teacher during the latter's early martial art days. (Those interested in having more details can check out the website www.cebridge.com.au/Ipman/). In founding of his Intercepting Fist style, Lee had much inspiration from his earlier Wing Chun training.