The Magnificent Butcher/Review

Though based on real-life characters, some liberties have been taken in telling a story about one of the students trained by legendary chinese hero, Wong Fei Hung. Then again, plenty of liberties have been taken in a whole lot of films based on Wong Fei Hung, as well. In this tale, Fei Hung's most famous and mischievous student, Butcher Wing (Sammo Hung) gets in a predicament with a rival school called the "Five Dragons" which is led by Master Ko (Lee Hoi San), an expert in the cosmic palm technique. After a lie is made up by one of Ko's friends saying that Wing ambushed him and badmouthed the Five Dragons school, Ko gets ticked off and pays Wong Fei Hung (Kawn Tak Hing) a visit. Ko and Wong Fei Hung battle it out in a kung fu caligraphy(!) match with Wong Fei Hung emerging as the victor. But Ko warns Fei Hung about the trouble Wing has caused to the school and warns him that if Wing messes up once more, there will be hell to pay.

A few new characters show up in town and cross paths. One is a drunken hermit (Fan Mei Sheng) and the other is Wing's long-lost brother, the equally chubby, Sai-kwong (Kam Chiang) who is joined by his wife (Qiqi Chen). While on the search for his bother, Sai-Kwong runs into Master Ko's son, Tai-Hoi (Fung Hark-On) Tai-Hoi fakes that he knows who Wing is and where he resides. He's only getting involved just so he can make the moves on Sai-Kwong's wife (Which he eventually does) And this isn't the only time the sneaky Tai-Hoi has stolen someone else's girl. This sicko has already had in mind of already abducting his dad's god-daughter, Lan (JoJo Chan) Believe me, this is one nasty villian. Once the brothers are finally reunited, a murder that Tai-Hoi has committed is now pinned on Butcher Wing. This is the last straw as far as Ko is concerned and invades Wong Fei Hung's school for blood. In one of the most breathtaking kung fu battles I've ever seen, a four-way duel occurs between the students of Fei Hung and the Five Dragons. The Fei Hung school wins, but Ko has the last word by wounding Wing with his deadly palm technique. It's no surprise that the drunk hermit is a martial arts expert who succeeds in healing Wing and now decides to teach him the Hung Fist in order to defend himself. Though Wing still holds no grudge against Master Ko, Tai-Hoi still has a few dirty tricks up his sleeve which causes another agonizing death for the key principles. FINALLY, Butcher Wing can not take no more and is pumped up for some massive revenge! Of course, this revenge will result in a final duel with Master Ko. Let's see if Wing learns some Iron Fist to go with his Hung Fist...

As you can see, this is quite an eventful movie. Just about every character is put to great use and he/she doesn't feel wasted. Though fans would probably like to see more of Kwan Tak Hing as Wong Fei-Hung (He only appears at the beginning and ending) it was necessary to have the father-figure out of the story so that Wing and his students could handle things are on their own. And as expected from Sammo Hung/Yuen Woo Ping product of this time, there's quite a bit of broad comedy thrown in. Mostly involving the whino character (In a role that was prepared for Woo Ping's dad to play, Simon Yuen. But who had just passed prior to the beginning of filming) the comedic tone though soon vanishes once the tragic aspect of the movie approaches and we're into good ol' dazzling, kung fu mayhem for the remainder of the picture. All handled,choreographed,and shot as best as it could be. Lastly, a special recommendation award goes to veteran baddie character-actor, Fung Hark-On for delivering one of the most slimey performances as one of the most evil characters you'll ever seen in a martial arts film.

Even though I'm still not clear on who had the most say on the making of this movie between the two credited directors, Sammo and Yuen. In the end, it doesn't matter because this collaborative effort was responsible for one of the best kung fu films that was ever made.

Reviewed by Laydback