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踢館 (1979)
The Challenger


Reviewed by: dandan
Date: 07/20/2009
Summary: i've to clear the bad one for public...

yu kit (david chiang) is an opportunist, who takes people's money and is not afraid to give out a beating if they are reluctant to part with it. and, when he runs into chan hung (norman chu) - a man on a mission to find the man who raped his wife - he sees another chance to make money, as chan hung travels around to different kung fu schools, challenging their masters in the hope that he will find his revenge...

now, distilled into a couple of sentences, this sounds like a pretty serious film. it isn't. it is, in essence, an action comedy, even if it does have norman chu's righteous quest for revenge at its centre. david chiang's character spends most of the film being a mildly annoying pest, who uses his martial arts skills to cheat and profit. the latter being something else he does when he meets norman chu's character; there's even a slightly distasteful, although amusing, silent film styled sequence where yu kit hypothesises about the roots of chan hung's quest for justice. hmm...

still, despite some hit and miss comedy and a couple of slower sections, the film keeps you entertained with a string of interesting and enjoyable martial arts sequences; one-to-one, one-to-many and two-to many, mixing styles and weapons as it goes. david chiang isn't as watchable as in other roles, but norman chu rarely lets you down and he's the real star here.

reasonable...


Reviewed by: Sydneyguy
Date: 04/28/2008
Summary: Average

i saw a english dubbed version and DAvid Chiang plays a money hunger trouble maker who gets involced with Norman Chu, as he has lots of money!!

The others have already talked about the plot.I found the action average, and the little mute comical re inactment, i wasnt sure to either laugh or think what is going on here!!

I found David Chiangs character rather annoying and the others dont have to do much acting.

Nothing special there

Reviewer Score: 5

Reviewed by: STSH
Date: 12/27/2005
Summary: Enjoyable

The bad news is that this film has a few dead spots and runs too long. That said, most of the film is entertaining, the fights are of good quality, and the cinematography, music and choreography are uniformly excellent. The fight scene with the poles and hoops was especially well done.

The question must be asked, though. Who in their right mind would open a restaurant in historical times ? It seems like an open invitation for every punch drunk fu master to come on in and wreck the place ......

Reviewer Score: 7

Reviewed by: mpongpun
Date: 08/03/2004

Norman Chu plays this “challenger” named Chin Chan Hung, who goes around all the gung fu schools challenging its Head Master to not close them down, but as we find, to find the guy who raped his wife. Can you see the logic here? Anyways, Chin Chan Hung’s plan seems to work. The guy (Phillip Ko) who raped his wife is feeling the heat, so he gets a money mongering layabout (David Chiang) to help him set up Chin Chan Hung in a deadly trap. The layabout decides to turn against the hand that feeds him by siding with Chin when he realizes that his best interests are to be with him. Good flick that has dashes of stupid comedy. The end fight was pretty good and overall, I’d say this flick is not a bad way to waste your time.