Dian tang lang

This has got to be one of my favorite old school Hong Kong Kung Fu flicks. There are a lot of clichés in both the writing and the characters' mannerisms, but for someone who enjoys this genre of film those things are par for the course. On the other hand, there are a few things that make this film stand out. The protagonist style (mantis) is one that is already one of the weirdest (and most vicious) systems of Kung Fu in the martial arts world, and has been given an even weirder twist in this film. Secondly, the boy in this film is one of the stars and nearly steals the show; he has some impressive training sequences, does some impressive acrobatics (some of them wire assisted) and has at least one solid fight scene. The last thing that really makes this film stand out is the ending. The whole film up until the end is pretty happy-go-lucky and predictable, but the bizarre and brutal nature of the film's conclusion has caused it to stand out in my mind. For fans of the genre who don't mind a dark twist here and there this is a gem, but if you're easily shocked, please turn away.