The Master Strikes (1980)

Here's my next Casanova Wong review for what has to be his most bizarre acting performance he's ever given. He plays an escort who is hired by Yen Shi-Kwan to deliver a jade artifact to his home. Funny thing is when Casanova arrives at his home Yen is already there which kind of makes hiring him completely pointless but hey far be it for me to question the logic of the movie's villain. It's soon discovered that the artifact is missing and Wong is forced to sign over his entire estate as compensation.

As a result he goes completely insane and spends his days in a tea house beating up anyone foolish enough to talk to him. Two gambling hustlers played by Chin Siu-Tung and Meng Yuen-Man decide to help him in return for some money and "hilarity" ensues, very painful and very unfunny "hilarity" at that.

You'll have to excuse the poor quality of the video as it's the only one I could find

Right away I have to say this is probably the most annoying kung fu film I've ever watched. Everyone and I mean everyone talks over each other in the dialogue scenes for the majority of the time, especially when Ching and Meng are on screen. I highly recommend hitting the fast forward button on these scenes as you'll not be missing anything important. Then again, fast forwarding is something a lot of us are used to when watching these movies.

As I mentioned before Wong gives a really bizarre performance, using the character's insanity to pull silly faces and act like a complete cartoon lunatic. It's great to see him as the hero but good lord is he irritating in this. His co-stars fair no better Ching and Meng crank up the goof factor right up to eleven and it's immensely satisfying when Wong beats them up in many of the fight scenes they have.

As for our dastardly villain in Yen Shi-Kwan, well, he's his usual shifty self. In fact, he's so shifty that he goes to great lengths to kill anyone who deals with him, even those he personally hires to take out the heroes. It seems he's so desperate to cover his tracks he's probably kill his own grand mother if she caught him doing something wrong. Though he handles himself well in the action scenes and even gets to throw down with Eddy Ko who plays a man out to get revenge on him. Quite why he's so determined to do so is never made very clear but it's always a treat to see Eddy in action, especially against Yen.

It goes without saying that the action is the only reason to tune into this one. Ching Siu-Tung handles the choreography and it's interesting to see his style before he went all wire-fu later. Everybody and I mean everybody gets to really show off in this. Casanova Wong delivers on what has to be some of the best fight scenes he's ever recorded and given the films he's been involved like The Iron Fisted Monk and Warriors Two that says a lot.

Still, all that great action is almost derailed when the film's plot decides to shift onto Wong's co-stars. While they try and think of a way to help him out they meet Beggar Su, the popular fictional character who appeared in films like Drunken Master and King of Beggars. Here he is played by Max Lee. This is where it gets really irritating as we have to bare witness to some painfully unfunny comedy antics and it almost ruins the momentum the film had going up to this point.

Fortunately just as you're about to bash your head in from the sheer stupidity of it all we shift back to Wong's story. Sadly it doesn't last long as we end up baring witness to a over long sequence set in a brothel. What should have been a very short scene ends up going on for far too long, there's a little bit of action but I think you may forgive yourself skipping it as it's not very long and not to the standard the rest of the movies had set.

So I think I'll move back to the action as I think talking more about the story and the acting will cause me to throw my computer out the window and that would just be silly. Unlike Method Man, Casanova Wong actually goes beyond the call of duty and is able to seriously go all out in what has to be a stunning finale fight sequence. Ching Siu-Tung seems to have been a much stronger and much more creative action director when dealing with traditional kung fu films. As much as I enjoy his later work this has to be one of best films he has ever done.

Pleasantly surprised is a word I would use to describe this particular film. Surprised in just how good the action is but also surprised in just how bad everything else is. Would I recommend it? oh, absolutely but it might be worth keeping the fast forward and mute buttons handy so you don't have to subject yourself to the horrendous attempts at comedy.

Method Man A.K.A The Avenging Boxer (1979)

After witnessing the murder of his father at the hands of Casanova Wong, Peter Chen joins an acrobat troupe in hopes of improving his fighting skills and being able to avenge his father's death. The story is about as unoriginal as you can get but Method Man is another on a massive list of martial arts films that's heavy on the action and light on the story. It was also the film responsible for giving the well known rapper his stage name.

Musical connections aside, I was very much looking forward to watching this as Method Man is held in high regard among many kung fu film enthusiasts and have watched the film I can understand why some may think that but I must be very honest and say that this isn't a film that delivers on it's hype. 

The acting is run of the mill, so don't go in expecting some great acting among the great kicking. Lead actor Peter Chen comes off as yet another Jackie Chan wannabe. Which is unsurprising as any and all film producers  at the time were looking for another star in an attempt to dethrone Chan as the then King of Kung Fu Comedy. Chen proves confident enough and shows a little charisma and good comedic timing but it wasn't anything audience hadn't already seen by this point.

Casanova Wong plays the villain and what I find strange about Wong is that he's too friendly looking to be the bad guy. Guys like Hwang Jang Lee ,Wang In-Sik and many others all had that shifty look about them that just screamed "Look at me, I'm evil" at the audience but Casanova's looks don't lend themselves well enough to be the antagonist. His martial arts skills are absolutely brilliant beyond a shadow of a doubt but it just seems  he made a more convincing hero in movies.

Luckily it seems the filmmakers realized this and let his feet do the talking in the fight scenes he appears in. However this is where my main criticism of the film comes about.

The majority of the action, while competently choreographed is extremely pedestrian when compared to a lot of films of this era. The film had two incredibly talented people in Chen and Wong but for the majority of the run time, choreographer Wong Gwok-Chue doesn't fully tap into it. He tries to be varied as possible and I'll have to at least give him credit for trying.

One nicely done sequence involves Chen balancing on some table legs while his opponent tries to knock him down but the action leading up to it runs the danger of you becoming bored with the film. One thing has to be said though, it's a shame Chen never appeared in more high profile movies of this era. Had he been able to work with someone like Sammo Hung or Yuen Woo-Ping he could have easily become a big enough star in his own right but instead he's consigned to films like this.

However, despite my unenthusiastic reaction I was surprised just how good the action became in the last half hour of the film. So much so it was if someone had taken over the action directing duties. The choreography improves dramatically and becomes a lot more intense, harder, there's a more satisfying pace to them that it's hard to believe they were put together by the same man who had done the rather dull and uninspired fighting that had taken place earlier.

In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if someone else had done them as Hong Kong films are notorious for it's many personalities working in the industry doing uncredited work. The finale is absolutely worth putting yourself through the rest of the film and it delivers on what should have been the standard for the rest of the film. Both Wong and Chen get to really cut loose against each other and the stunt work, coupled with it's warehouse environment invokes the finale of Jackie Chan's Dragon Lord.

Method Man isn't the high impact classic that fans make it out to be but I would definitely recommend it to those who've yet to see it, especially fans of Casanova Wong as they'll be more then satisfied with what he gets to do in this one. See you next time, folks. Keep checking back as I'll be reviewing another Casanova Wong film The Master Strikes!