Zhang bei

...and these words are NOT from a Jackie/Sammo fan. The point is that, for instance, Mr Jackie Chan is able to give us a perfect mixture of comedy and drama (well, not always of course) and here the young actor ("Student") can deliver neither comedy nor drama, at least he cannot do it properly (but mostly in a nauseating, even repulsive way). "Auntie" is very impressive as the movie starts but further on she gets more and more manipulative, becoming a kind of rag doll who gets in corny situations. Some parts of the flick are too prolonged, stupid and simply awful (like "the musketeers masquerade fight" - it's so bad that my urge was to shut the whole cinema down, or "the serenade dance" in front of "Auntie" - the Chinese actors were pathetic and it was painful to watch this dancing-singing schlock).

The story had sucked me in to watch this one and the beginning looked promising, but soon it all turned out to be a mediocre kung-fu flick of a dubious quality. The funny moments are very scanty and the fights (tons of them here, but... in vain) don't feel impressive to me (because the director failed to build up the story and the characters). It's very sad that the leading actress, being so beautiful and knowing how to kick some rear, falls flat because of poor direction and because her overacting colleague ("student") looks and sounds embarrassing. Besides, the main villain's character is very underdeveloped. What do we know about him apart from wanting to get the property and having a bunch of henchmen?

Just a 3 out of 10 for this third rate flick from the past (the IMDb rating here was absolutely misleading to me, and these Chinese actors ruined my evening when my plan had been to enjoy a kung-fu cinema of good quality). Thanks for attention.