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 | intentionally bad | stylized violence | comic violence | 

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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

The scene in which Chosen One is talking to Mu-Shu Fasa was filmed in Steve Oedekerk's backyard with a digital video camera. A lamp was used for light and a hairdryer was used for wind.

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Goofs

When the Chosen One talks to his friends while they're wounded in the field, he has a tattoo saying "Mouth" with an arrow on his right cheek. The tattoo is given to him by an old man in a deleted torture scene, and can't be seen in any other scenes in the film.

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Quotes

Master Betty: [the Council appears out of the air] That's right! The Evil Council are *aliens*!
Chosen One: [speaker comes out of Council ship and plays French music] They're French.
Master Betty: Ha, ha! Stinky pits and all, baby!

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Crazy Credits

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

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Alternate Versions

The DVD shows several deleted/alternate scenes. Among these are:

• A musical number by Chosen One
• The Evil Betty singing a song based on his "owl and bungee cord" joke
• The Evil Betty searching for two characters hidden within a bell
• A sequence where after being captured in the tiny net, Chosen One is taken back to Betty's lair and tortured by an old master. The torture includes being given a tattoo on his face of the word "Mouth" and an arrow pointing to his mouth. Chosen manages to escape in a battle sequence where he performs kung fu with his only free appendage (his arms and legs are bound and he is male so figure it out). After his escape he is comforted by the mono-breasted Whoa, who magically removes the tattoo.
• All of the new footage was shot with the actors saying nonsense lines (often discussions of pies and pastries), then re-dubbed with the final dialogue so that what is heard would never match lip movements. The DVD contains the option to view the entire movie with this original audio track.

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Connections

References The Poseidon Adventure (1972)

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Soundtracks

The Morning After
Written by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn
Performed by Frankie
Produced by Martin Blasick
Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

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.