Fists of the White Lotus/Review

Fists of the White Lotus is essentially a sequel to the well-loved kung fu movie, Executioners from Shaolin. We have to use the word sequel loosely here as the movie doesn't necessarily pick up from the prequel. It ends with the villain of the movie Pai Mei getting defeated, here, the movie starts with a slight retcon as to how he was beaten and by who. It's slightly complicated, and it is better to view this movie as a standalone with no association with the original.

As the movie starts, it has two friends, with different fighting styles, namely tiger and crane kung fu, combining to defeat Pai Mei. Which if you have seen Executioners of Shaolin is slightly confusing as that is a multi-generational revenge story that ends when the son of a martial arts master killed by Pai Mei, finally gets revenge for his father's defeat.

After the release of the Crane master (King Chu Lee) Biao from prison, he gets ambushed on his way home. It turns out the Pai Mei from the last movie had a twin? / or is it a senior? (This part gets confusing due to the retcon). Humiliated and feeling insulted by that defeat, his school has decided to take revenge.

As Hung (Gordon Liu) and Biao are celebrating with the latter's wife and sister, the school ambushes the four yet again, this time with Pai Mei arriving to finish Biao and his sister in the process. Hung has no choice but to go into hiding with Biao's pregnant wife to seek revenge later.

What Fists of the White Lotus manages to do effectively is to take the premise of the first movie and turn it into something that does not feel derivative. At the center of both films, you have men who do not heed the advice of the woman in their lives. In the first movie, you had a guy who had met his doom for not heeding his wife by combining his tiger style with her crane style. In the second, though Gordon does try to learn her form, he ends up charging at Pei Mei too soon against her advice only to get resoundingly trashed by him again. Both movies also have the hero ultimately defeating Pai Mei by learning a new fighting style through a manual (funny when that is almost always the case in a martial arts movie) to defeat the big bad.

The movie essentially splits into three fights between Gordon Liu and [[Lo Lieh] as Pai Mei and the training sequences in between that serve as a highlight reel. It is mostly in line with some of the great traditional kung fu movies where training sequences are the real highlights—even more than the actual fight scenes. Here they are among the very best as far as kung fu training sequences are concerned. The best of the lot would be Gordon learning the feminine version of kung fu from his Sister-in-law Mei (Kara Wai).

It is just amusing to see Gordon trying to adapt to do this version. In the beginning, we do get a glimpse of it during the ambush scene when the ladies managed to fight Pai Mei's gang. You can see it is elegant but not highly effective on its own, a point Pai Mei stresses during the second fight. It is entertaining to watch, and we see a female kung fu master truly taking a student under her wing for a change. It might not be the first time this has happened in Kung Fu cinema, but it is a noteworthy scene among old school Kung fu training montages.

Lo Lieh, who also doubles as the director, usually portrays the villain and a highly effective one at that as you do get an impression that the hero is in genuine trouble going up against him. Ironic, as the movie that he is most famous for, King Boxer, he plays the epitome of the virtuous hero. He is pretty good here in a role he had already perfected in Executioners of Shaolin, albeit as a twin brother? (It's still a bit confusing given the retcon).

Fists of the White Lotus might not be his best-known martial arts movie, but Gordon Liu looks like he is having loads of fun with it. Especially during the training scenes where he is adapting to the effeminate style. Kara Wai is also remarkable as Gordon's sister in law turned mentor. Her fight scenes though few also are pretty elegant and almost balletic. Lau Kar-Leung, director of some of the beloved kung fu classics like the 36th chamber trilogy and Drunken Master II, is behind the choreography of the movie. It is hardly a surprise that the fight scenes are pretty good while not lacking in entertainment value.

I think placing Fists of the White Lotus as a sequel to Executioners of Shaolin is doing the former a disservice. It may not be the best kung fu movie out there and even the best film of the cast and crew associated with it, but it does stand on its own as a fun kung fu movie.