A kung-fu comedy featuring Alexander Fu Sheng as an impulse control deficient kung fu master who fights with his training brother, played by Adam Cheng, who lives directly across the street. The two constantly quarrel over who is the better martial artist, goaded on by their families and henchmen. That's the way the film opens and keeps going for a while as the two go to their elderly teacher for a secret technique to defeat the other.
Eventually Liu Chia Hui shows up playing the emperor traveling incognito for some reason. This is one of his rare roles not playing a Shaolin monk and he doesn't get to do much kung fu at all. When he does it's played for laughs, so if you are expecting to see his usual spectacular martial arts, forget it.
An uneven plot line plus some very broad humor makes this not as enjoyable as some of the other Liu Chia Liang directed films from the Shaw Bros. studios. As usual for his films most of the martial arts are incredible. The actors all do a good job. Alexander Fu Sheng (or his stunt double) does an incredible sword catch / flip to a wide leg split that I had to rewind and see over and over. The final, extended fight with the "Rat Gang" (don't ask) in it's lair didn't work for me but it was watchable.
Eventually Liu Chia Hui shows up playing the emperor traveling incognito for some reason. This is one of his rare roles not playing a Shaolin monk and he doesn't get to do much kung fu at all. When he does it's played for laughs, so if you are expecting to see his usual spectacular martial arts, forget it.
An uneven plot line plus some very broad humor makes this not as enjoyable as some of the other Liu Chia Liang directed films from the Shaw Bros. studios. As usual for his films most of the martial arts are incredible. The actors all do a good job. Alexander Fu Sheng (or his stunt double) does an incredible sword catch / flip to a wide leg split that I had to rewind and see over and over. The final, extended fight with the "Rat Gang" (don't ask) in it's lair didn't work for me but it was watchable.