"The Prodigal Son"
Review
Stars: Yuen Biao, Lam Ching Ying, Frankie Chan, Sammo Hung
When I bought this vcd in Chinatown in SF, I was under the impression that it'd be just another 2 beat Wu Shu movie, with fights every 3 minutes that had no style and looked like Lo Wei had pissed all over them. However, being a devoted Yuen Biao fan, I bought it ($10), and watched it 3 times when I got home. Believe me, when a movie wins an HK Action Award, it's bound to be good. And a small note. There are no effects whatsoever in this movie. Just some slow-mo to show off some moves. No doubles. No wires. No undercranking, amazingly. Everyone must see.
Yuen Biao plays a sort of Prodigal Son in China, somewhere. He's almost a no-gooder: starts fights regularly, causes trouble, acts like the boss, etc. However, he's known among the villagers as the person who has never lost a street brawl, until he meets up with a woMan (Lam Ching Ying) at an opera house who uses some Wing Chun on Biao, resulting in his defeat. Biao learns later that his father had been paying the villagers to lose in fights against his son to ensure his ego and so forth. Lam Ching Ying, after becoming a man again, takes Biao as his student, and teaches him Wing Chun.
The settings in "The Prodigal Son" are great. All natural environments except for a few small houses and a town here and there greatly add to the visual pleasure of the movie. The musical score is not overdone, but is actually used pretty sparingly.
Acting from Biao, Lam, and Sammo is awesome. Sammo plays a small role as a teacher to Biao behind Lam's back and teaches Biao about long distance kung fu, which he finds useful in the end fight against Frankie Chan. Sammo, when introduced on screen, is doing some caligraphy, and is extremely funny. He plays the father of a chubby girl, and does a fine job. His facial expressions are Sammo. His movements are Sammo. His tone is Sammo. Everything about him is Sammo, and it's great. He gets to show off his splendor while doing calligraphy through various acrobatics and, well, more acrobatics. It's amazing to see such a huge person literally cling to the walls and bouce all over the place. Rolls, flips, and somersaults, all in a 2 or 3 minute block. It's a sight to behold, and it's funny too. Sammo is a father who is so involved in his daughter and calligraphy that he finds it hard to concentrate on other things. At one point, he licks the end of the brush, while it has paint on it, and he just continues. Absolutely hilarious. Even the people who don't enjoy slapstick I think would laugh at this stuff. In addition to that, Sammo and Lam are brothers who detest eachother. Lam, being his cool, witty self, plays the serious brother, while Sammo tries to show off to Biao to get him as a student. It's almost like a play or an opera.
I have not seen a single Wing Chun movie that impressed me more than this one. It's breathtaking. The training scenes are stupidly fast, BUT NOT UNDERCRANKED!! How can this be?!?! There's a point where Frankie Chan and Lam Ching Ying are battling it out outside a restaurant and at one point their punches are going faster than your eyes can handle. Frankie seems to be doing some kind of Eagle or Tiger (most likely Eagle) technique, flawlessly, while Lam sticks with Wing Chun, flawlessly. Both actors are phenominal. Raymond Chow really did a great job here, if he's the one who choreographed it. If not, then whoever did it, congrats! this fight lasts for a good 2 minutes, and it's literally flawless. I sit there sometimes watching that fight, trying to see what's going on, and it's all right there, but it's like playing the shell game, with 600 shells. Far too complicated, and that's what makes it such a great fight.
Then there's almost a small twist on martial arts somewhere in the beginning. A man with one arm (the other (right one) being broken) fights Frankie Chan, and it may sound silly, but I assure you it's cool looking. Not only are the moves enjoyable, but the camera angles are so dark and dramatic to set the mood of the characters, and it's highly effective so you can see what's to come.
The training sequence with Biao and Lam takes place on top of a little table (!!). Wing Chun, afterall, is a close combat technique. Although I don't know much about Wing Chun, I felt that both characters, from what I do know about the technique, exhibited a great deal of knowledge of how it works. There are a few moments where Biao and Lam use both hands and a leg at one time, like 2 defenses and 1 offense, or 1 defense and 2 offenses. Extremely complicated. Also, they go into the "penetrating the circle" practice, and it's done fast too, as you might guess.
And the last fight is something to watch repeatedly. Watch Frankie Chan the entire time once. Then watch Biao the entire time. Then watch where the hands contact. Then watch the entire bodies, then do it all over again. The fights in this movie are so fast and furious that they're really unmatched.
I give it a 10/10. This is a true landmark for any old fashioned martial arts movie.
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