Kung Fu League (2018)

An insult to such legendary figures.

This was truly an exciting announcement; the idea of a genuine kung fu film with legitimate martial arts actors playing iconic roles; Vincent Zhao as Wong Fei Hung, Andy On as Huo Yuen Jia, Danny Chan as Chen Zhen and Dennis To as Ip Man also throw in Bruce Liang as an antagonist and have famed action choreographer Tony Leung Siu Hung handle the fight scenes, it should have been the ultimate kung fu film. Ignoring that Jeffrey Lau is the director, who has a resume of some mildly engaging comedies (and a slew of truly awful films), even he can not make a dud of a film considering the heft of talents involved. It sounded like a dream come true.

Yet we are delivered a truly horrific piece of romantic comedy and not the kung fu film that was promised by marketing, the trailers (which in all honesty was pretty bad) and the suggestive title. Sure there is some fight scenes involved but they are so poorly put together it begs the question of how it came to be. Matters made worse is that Vincent Zhao, Andy On, Danny Chan and Dennis To are not even the leads or the main focus of the film instead they are second fiddle to the main crux of the story which is comic book geek Fei Ying Xiong played by Mayday boyband member Ashin whose is vying for his love interest.

Comic book artist introvert Fei Ying Xiong (Ashin) is madly in love with Bao’er (Madina Mehmet) a female colleague at his office but he faces tough competition from Zhang Peng (Steven Zhang) who happens to be a bully and the CEO’s son. Feeling inadequate to compete he enlists the help of his comic heroes Wong Fei Hung (Vincent Zhao), Huo Yuen Jia (Andy On), Chen Zhen (Danny Chan) and Ip Man (Dennis To), miraculously they come to life and with some persuasion they become mentors to Ying Xiong, teaching him the ways of kung fu. A fight tournament is staged by Peng but there is an ulterior motive at play and as the final reveal is made, Ying Xiong has to pull up the courage to save the love of his life.

The yawn inducing synopsis is as bad as it sounds pulling every cliché and stereotypes into play and adding nothing of creativity. Throw in a subplot about Aunt Thirteen cheating on Wong Fei Hung and you have got a product that attempts to eschew expectations in the wrong way. Borrowing from films such as Kung Fu Kingdom (2008) – kung fu masters training a young protege, Kung Fu Hustle (2004) – a gifted individual with untapped potential, Iceman 3D (2014) – time travelling heroes and even Dead or Alive (2006) (Corey Yuen version based on the Konami computer game not the Japanese film) – a device to catalogue every martial arts move. In fact the approach is not to dissimilar to the Jet Li’s comedy Badges of Fury (2013) which by no means is a quality film but at least the lead actor Wen Zhang made the film endearing, the same cannot be said about Ashin who posses little likeable qualities, often moaning and complaining about life's unfairness.

Production design is also a little to be desired with bland looking sets and a stupid looking armour that the main protagonist wears during the finale. With the final bout taking place in a sparse underground lair.

It is a painful slog to get through and out right plain insulting for it to be marketed as a “Kung Fu” film with promotional material giving Zhao, On, Chan and To top billing but it is not the film that we believe it to be. Bruce Liang of Kung Fu Hustle fame plays Qiao Shan-Hu which is such a random character and it could have been completely exorcised without affecting the thinly veiled plot. The romantic thread which acts as the crux of the film is so painfully undercooked and predictable with no attempts to justify everyones affection for Bao’er.

Vincent Zhao comfortably reprises his most iconic role, sporting a collective demeanor but also throwing himself in the buffoonery with gusto, Danny Chan does what he has been doing all these years riffing Bruce Lee, Andy On is sadly under-utilised and fails to command the authority as Huo Yuan Jia master to Danny Chan’s Chen Zhen and lastly Dennis To is comfortable as Ip Man but has little else to do. Poor old Bruce Liang is not given much to do and appears randomly as a top ranking henchman to CEO boss and then disappears.

Handling the fight scenes is veteran choreographer Tony Leung Siu Lung whose credits include the criminally underrated Angel (1987) starring Moon Lee, Ip Man (2008), The Legend is Born: Ip Man (2010) and The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake (2011) to name a few. Leung usually implements old school traditional forms mixed with intricate choreography which is now sadly absent from the martial arts cinema scene, so there was high expectations especially considering the wealth of martial arts talents at his disposal. Sadly that is not the case fight scenes employ such basic maneuvers and uninspired choreography with an over abundance of wire fu. Those hoping for any type of confrontation between the legendary characters will have to keep waiting for it never happens in this film except for a very brief scuffle between Wong Fei Hung and Chen Zhen that fails to excite. Vincent Zhao is given the biggest on screen fighting and his showdown with Bruce Liang should have been a highlight but the choreography on displayed is so mundane and the drama surrounding the scene is so generic it makes the proceeding very uninteresting. The grand finale gathers all the major characters together to fend off the big bad guy, the fight itself is pathetic with the villain employing a power suit that can read and replicate the heroes movements and grants super human strength. Andy On and Dennis To do not even get to demonstrate any fighting prowess with in the film, with To being played for laughs and his twist at the end is predictable, where as On has the special ability to move at super speeds allowing for him to just blur past and take out opponents. Danny Chan reprises in his role at emulating Bruce Lee and gets to do the usual kick, punch and scream but nothing to elevate it from being been there done that.

Comedy is the order of the day and it fails to even elicit any genuine funny moments with many juvenile humour and a seriously misguided homophobic joke thrown in. If the jokes were tasteful one can forgive the huge disrespect afford to these legendary figures and characters but because of the massive disservice and poor handling it can feel very insulting, especially to those who have been accustomed to these characters.

Jeffrey Lau once again demonstrate a lack of coherency and throws in everything he can think of hoping for something to stick. This is probably one of the worst films to come out of Hong Kong / China and should be avoided at all cost.

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