Ji qiao ren wu (1981) User Reviews

The best sub genre ever: Crippled Kung Fu

[As_Cold_As_Ice · 7/10 · 13 October 2007]

This is the third in the Crippled Masters series, but only the second I have seen. Being a huge fan of the original, Fighting Life didn't let me down.

The two main guys from Crippled Masters head into Taipei, seeking jobs. Weirdly, the movie totally discounts the original movie, with the two cripples being brothers rather then former enemies united against a main bad guy. But basically, it's hard work getting money and stuff like that.

There is a lot less kung fu in this, and quite a bit more drama. It was honestly a breath of fresh air, as another straight kung fu movie would have been frankly boring.

Some parts of this are also funny. Whenever there is a crowd, the most random things get yelled out, and a black guy gets hit in the face repeatedly, with a funny reaction. But then there's a little bit of corny "brothers stick together" scenes that annoy me.

Overall, it was a groovy movie, and I can't wait for Two Crippled Heroes to reach me.

7/10

Worth it for the novelty value alone

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 6 November 2016]

I knew of the existence of CRIPPLED MASTERS, a cult kung fu movie that I've never watched starring a couple of disabled fighters (one with no arms and one with no legs). I never realised until now that these guys made a whole trilogy of such films with FIGHTING LIFE being the third and final of the series. They also had a cameo in the hilarious RAIDERS OF WU TANG which I have seen and liked.

FIGHTING LIFE is a low budget Taiwanese martial arts film and when I say low budget I really mean it. There's a cheapness overload in the simple on-the-street locations and the lack of any real plot which sees the twosome going through various adventures and having run ins with some local gangsters.

Inevitably, the novelty factor of watching a couple of disabled guys fight, performing tricks that most able bodied people wouldn't be able to copy, and undergoing gruelling training regimes is entertaining in itself. Frank Shum and Jackie Conn are no actors but boy are they athletic and highly skilled, and all of their action scenes are quite fantastic. The highlight is a wacky tuk-tuk chase incorporating plenty of needed humour amid the low rent stunts and action. If it didn't have two preceding films then I'd say FIGHTING LIFE is a unique piece of film-making, but it's still something special whichever way you look at it.