In the wake of Jackie Chan's success in "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow" and "Drunken Master" came movies like this one. But while it prominently features three kung-fu styles (drunken style, monkey style, and snake style) popularized by Chan in his breakthrough films, "Snake in the Monkey's Shadow" does not adhere to the comedy kung-fu formula. There's some clowning, but it's kept to a minimum--and it ends abruptly as the tone of the film becomes deadly serious halfway through. John Chang stars as Lung, a hapless young man who works at a fish shop. When he arrives late at the home of the wealthy Yan family with a delivery of fish, he is humiliated by Mr. Yan's sons. A drunken-style sifu takes pity on Lung and soon he is the teacher's prize pupil--but Lung gets cocky, beating up Mr. Yan's sons and dishonoring his teacher. In retaliation, Yan sends a couple of hired killers (Wilson Tong and Charlie Chan), both experts in the snake style, after Lung's sifu. The sifu and all of his students--except for Lung--are murdered. Seriously wounded, Lung takes refuge with his friend, a master of the monkey style. Unfortunately, the hired killers are after Lung's friend, too, because he bested one of them in a fight three years earlier. After the villains kill the monkey stylist, Lung trains rigorously for revenge, developing a new technique by combining the drunken and monkey styles. (For the record, there is a real drunken monkey form! Dr. Leung Ting has even authored an instructional book on it.) The final fight is sensational and, at its conclusion, delightfully brutal. In my book, "Snake in the Monkey's Shadow" outshines the Jackie Chan films from which it is derived because it isn't just for laughs. Chan has some dazzling moves, but the comedy wears thin pretty quickly. Like all the best kung-fu films, "...Monkey's Shadow" is full of tragedy and righteous rage. And great fighting!
