Kung Pow: Enter the Fist (2002)

A rough-around-the-edges martial arts master seeks revenge for his parent's death.

Director:

Steve Oedekerk

Writer:

Steve Oedekerk

Stars:

Steve Oedekerk, Fei Lung, Leo Lee

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Steve Oedekerk	...	Chosen One
Fei Lung	...	Master Pain (Betty) (archive footage) (as Lung Fai)
Leo Lee	...	Young Master Pain
Ling-Ling Hsieh	...	Ling (archive footage) (as Tse Ling Ling)
Lin Yan	...	Dying Ling (as Yan Lin)
Chia Yung Liu	...	Wimp Lo (archive footage) (as Lau Kar Wing)
Hui Lou Chen	...	Master Tang (archive footage) (as Chen Hui Lou)
Chi Ma	...	Master Doe (archive footage) (as Ma Chi)
Jennifer Tung	...	Whoa
Escobar Tongue	...	Tonguey (credit only)
Ming Lo	...	Father
Peggy Lu	...	Mother
Tad Horino	...	Chew Fat Lip
Tori Tran	...	Peasant Woman
Simon Rhee	...	Young Master Pain's Henchman

Storyline

Kung Pow: Enter the Fist is a movie within a movie, created to spoof the martial arts genre. Writer/director Steve Oedekerk uses contemporary characters and splices them into a 1970s kung-fu film, weaving the new and old together. As the main character, The Chosen One, Oedekerk sets off to avenge the deaths of his parents at the hands of kung-fu legend Master Pain. Along the way, he encounters some strange characters, one of which is a cow trained in the martial arts.

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Plot Keywords:

kung fu | chosen one | martial arts | intentionally bad | hero | 

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Taglines:

Une Parodie Au Pays Du Kung Fu.

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Genres:

Action | Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for comic violence, crude and sexual humor

Details

Country:

USA Hong Kong Taiwan

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 January 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Kung Pow! Enter the Fist

Filming Locations:

Fox Baja Studios, Rosarito, Baja California Norte, Mexico

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,017,474, 27 January 2002, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$16,033,556, 14 April 2002

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox, O Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox Animation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

81 min 87 min (extended edition)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

As Mu-Shu Fasa disappears, he says, "This is CNN..." James Earl Jones is the voice that says this famous line on the CNN television channel, as well as the voice of Mufasa in The Lion King (1994) (of which Mu-Shu Fasa is an obvious parody).

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Goofs

When the infant Chosen One is rolling down a hill, his shoe falls off. In the next shot, he has both of them on again. Shortly thereafter, he loses the same shoe a second time (exact same footage), and then both of them reappear on his feet. Some other segments are shown 3 or 4 times.

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Quotes

Student: [the students are hanging upside down] We are both ventriloquists but now we're upside down. I swing a bit more.
Student: I swing a bit less

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Crazy Credits

The character of "Tonguey" is credited to "Escobar Tongue."

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Alternate Versions

A DVD feature is a computer generated version of the cow-fight which was done before they filmed the scene. It has a few changes...

• Chosen One is knocked down by the Cow. He gets up only to step into cow poo. The Cow laughs until Chosen One kicks him, which leaves a brown foot mark.
• The cow does a summersault off a tree.
• When Chosen One drains the Cow of milk, the Cow remains it's normal weight because...
• The Cow attempts to take out Chosen One from behind, but he kicks the Cow in the udders.

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Connections

Spoofs The Mummy Returns (2001)

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Soundtracks

Les Aliens
Written by Robert Folk and Steve Oedekerk
Performed by Nanou

User Reviews

Utter nonsense that does produce some sporadic laughs if you are in the mood

As a baby, the Chosen One had his family attacked and murdered by evil Master Pain, with only his martial arts skills saving him. Undefeated but broken, the Chosen One is raised by various rats and things in the valley and, as an adult he finds himself under constant attack from those that would seek to do the job they failed to do when he was a baby. Seeking help from the Master Tang's Crane school to hone his style and make him stronger, the countdown is on till a showdown between Master Pain and the Chosen One.

In case the title leaves you with any doubt that this is going to be a silly film, the opening scene features a terrible CGI baby fighting with a ninja master. This silly approach continues throughout and the entire thing is one big nonsense from start to finish. Mixing modern footage that is dubbed and excerpts from Hu He Shuang Xing, the approach is very simple but does produce some silly laughs. Too much of it is too puerile to appeal to a mass audience (that cow fight was just stupid and unfunny) but at times it is very funny just because it is so off the wall and has lots of lines that are unexpected.

The "cast" is naturally dominated by Oedekerk doing silly voices but it works surprisingly well. He is hardly Oscar Wilde but if you buy into the humour then he will do it for you. God help you if you don't want silly comedy though, because there isn't much else to be had in this film. Overall then nonsense – utter nonsense; but if you are in the mood for it, it does produce some good, if sporadic, laughs.