My Schoolmate the Barbarian

I just finished watching this film, and I must say that this is one of the wittiest, films I've seen in a long time. It's a satire on Form 5 schools, (which is almost like juvenille schools) in Hong Kong. Many over the top fights, with some special effects in the mix, bullies, graffiti, all the sterotypical aspects of a "ghetto" school environment.

Main characters Stephen Fung, Nicholas Tse, and Joey Yung, give believable performances as the smart, the barbarian, and the annoying. The kung-fu fight scenes were done particularly well, since many of the actors had very little kung-fu training. Very slapstick, and is not to be taken too seriously, this film will keep your attention, if you are looking for a lighthearted fun time.

For those who are into video games, they will find it slightly more amusing near the end of the film.

Highly recommended.

When I heard news of this film, I so wanted to see it. After all, since seeing Gen-X Cops, I became fans of Nicholas Tse and Stephen Fung. This is their first action project together since GXC. And it is well worth seeing.

Take Stephen Fung's nerd who ends up at the worst high school in Hong Kong by accident and take Nicholas Tse's former King of Fighters at the high school, mix it up with a storyline about friendship, challenges, and kidnapping and spice it up with some power packed martial arts & wire stunts, and you have this entertaining action film.

What amazed me the most is that Stephen, Nicholas, Joey Yung, and Samuel Pang all performed their own stunts in the film. The courage this new generation of actors can do. If you can, get your hands on this film!!!

The story concerns Edward(Stephen Fung), a high flying scholar who after being expelled from his school because of an incident involving a window ledge and his ex-girlfriend, is enrolled into one of the worst schools in Hong Kong after a mix up in communication by his mother.

While there he meets Fung, a young girl who has had a crush on Ed for a long time, he soon discovers that Students often settle their disputes using their fists rather then talking, he then finds out to his horror that the teachers do nothing to prevent this.

Then in his first class he meets Stone(Nicholas Tse), who is the former "King Of The Idividual Fight" who had disappeared inexplicably for nine moths before returning to school

Upon his return he found out that another student, named Mantis, had taken up his crown as "King of The Individual Fight"

Soon Ed lands in big trouble with Mantis, so he asks Stone to help him.

This movie was just brilliant, it had a really cool manga comic vibe to it, very reminiscent of Volcano High(Another great movie)

The plot has some good surprises, which actually has a little room for some character development.

The characters are quite memorable,the way they are portrayed adds the the comic book feel.

From the over baring father of the female lead to the over enthusiastic best friend of the female, to the annoying talkative croney of the villain each character adds in some way or another to the over all enjoyment of the film.

The fight scenes, directed by Chin Siu Tung of Hero fame, proves again why he's one of the best in the business, with rapid editing, good wire work and nice tight close ups of certain moves, it gives the movie a unique quality and again adds to the comic book feel.

One stand out performance came from Nicholas Tse, who comes off as the reluctant hero who must help out those who desperately need even though he does not want to get involved.

I recommend this to anyone who like really fun comic book style action movies and doesn't mind having to be bombarded with goofy behaviour, I also strongly recommend you check this out if you've seen Volcano High and liked as this is right up your alley.

I saw the trailer for this movie when I rented Butterfly Sword with Michelle Yeoh and it instantly caught my eye. The premise was kind of interesting and very "video game-ish" and the fight scenes looked brutal and original. Essentially I was expecting a movie filled with fights and little else. Well, I didn't get what I expected, but instead was rewarded with a highly entertaining movie with few flaws.

The one thing you have to keep in mind with this movie is that it's not meant to be taken seriously. Yes, the fights are brutal and the movie does take on a more serious tone near the end, but when you have such over the top, almost cartoony characters, such as Mantis, Phoenix, and Big Dog, not to mention Phoenix's father, you definitely have a movie meant to be a parody and satire of similar films. It works very well on this level as well. Even with subtitles I was laughing constantly at scenes that were supposed to be funny and the buddy relationship these students had was believable and was actually quite interesting.

Furthermore, the Hong Kong setting helped it avoid a lot of clichés and seen-it-before aspects of Hollywood movies done in ghetto schools... and there were a lot of them in the mid 90's. It's a nice change of pace from a school full of African-American thugs and preggo Hispanic women. It doesn't even really focus on the school or teachers at all, it's just meant as a back drop, and perhaps an excuse for the fights and the relationships between the main characters.

The actual fights, there's roughly about 5 of them aren't really kung fu extravaganzas. The fights in the school take place on a bunch of desks, put together to act as a ring, along with 4 suspiciously close together and low "killer" fans spinning ultra fast only inches above the combatants. The stunts and choreography they do with this setting are extremely clever and entertaining, and the brutal representation of elbows, knees, and fists hitting faces is perfect. Those expecting some Jet Li, Jackie Chan, or Donnie Yen quality kung fu fights look elsewhere, but the street fight mentality and brilliant use of the sets makes for some great action.

I should also mention that the directing is fantastic. There's a lot of wide and far shots, with interesting angles and movements in almost every scene. This easily could have been filmed as a standard movie but instead it's filmed in a highly original way with many unexpected shots given the premise.

Overall this is a great movie. It may be too silly for some, or not have enough fights for others, or it might be too "video-game-ish" for most people, but these things didn't bother me at all. The fights that are there are entertaining; the relationship's between the characters are interesting; the directing is great; the sets give the movie a certain visual flair; and lastly, the comedy is actually funny.

"My Schoolmate the Barbarian" is a buddy flick that pairs Nic Tse as the poor tough guy with the heart of gold, and Stephen Fung as the rich nerd who discovers inner strength. They teach each other how to maim opponents and pass Bible exams. Joey Yung is added to the mix for comic relief, playing a ridiculous teeny bopper in a juvy school. A strange mixture of the brutal and the slapstick, with no sex other than an absurdly demure kiss. Stephen Pang livens up the action when it begins to flag in his role as Mantis, human kung fu insect. None of it makes much sense, and this is certainly not a film that one would boast about seeing. However, it is a relaxing entertainment after a long week.