Spiritual Kung Fu

Okay, so it's basically a crappy chopsocky movie. There are perhaps hints of Jackie Chan's unparalleled skill and comic brilliance, but not a whole lot more. The action is pretty run of the mill for the period. However, the dubbing in this film makes it pretty entertaining at points, my favorite part being the interaction between Jackie and the the young woman, who is the first girl his character has ever seen. After flirting with her, he tries to show off some of the 5-style fist he's been learning from the white-faced ballerina ghosts (that's a whole other story, but also pretty amusing). Jackie goes into a stance, and the following dialogue ensues: Girl(coy): "What's that?" Jackie(smug): "Oh, you wouldn't know that. That's the famous crane style." Girl(bitchy): "Really? Well, you look like a teapot. Pouring tea!" Jackie(indignant): "You insult my style?! I'll show you!"

They fight, and she defeats him. After consulting with the ballerina ghosts, Jackie waits for a rematch:

Jackie(sly): "I've been waiting for you all morning." Girl(chipper): "Why? To get beat?" Jackie(confident): "I won't get beat. But you will."

He then proceeds to mop the floor with her; poking her in the head with his crane beak/fist, he goads, "A teapot? Is that right?!"

If you found that at all funny, then maybe it's worth checking out. For some reason I thought it was amusing. But you'd better be a pretty serious Jackie Chan fan, 'cause there isn't much else there.

this one is a weird, weird flick. funny at times, exciting at times, scary at times(not a lot though), but mostly just weird. it invloves jackie learning a lost style of kung fu from some red haired, tutu wearing ghosts. at some time in the movie, he even takes a leak (urinates, to make myself clearer) on them! like i said, very weird.

Slightly better than Half a Loaf of Kung Fu, the first half of the movie is a good funny movie. The second half is barely comedic with super poor action happening quite frequently. Jackie's training with the ghosts is decent though. There's a great comedic bit with a giant pen and the movie does have a couple of really good scene transitions. Check this movie out for the comedy.

Lo Wei, the director of this rubbishy kung-fu comedy, as usual never let Jackie Chan shine properly in this slow-paced story about some ghosts that teach

Chan ‘Five Fists' kung-fu, for he is in search of a stolen book containing the means of learning Seven Fists kung-fu.

Dreadful dubbing, awful special effects (mind you, this was Hong Kong with very limited budgets - something that HK fans are undoubtedly used to), not all that funny, and just plain dull. Not even the intricate fight scenes are worth looking at, and even these are a bit tiresome. Costumes - what were those ghosts

wearing?!

And of course there's the diabolical dubbing. Distributors should learn that the original language makes it a lot easier to appreciate even a bad movie, but it still wouldn't save this...

I picked this film up on DVD for a couple of bucks at Wal-Mart, so I wasn't really expecting a great film. Spiritual Kung Fu met these expectations. Bad dubbing, bad special effects, and the goofy clown/mime/rag doll/ghosts detracted from the film.

What made the film bearable was the good kung fu and the casting of James Tien as the bad guy. There's also a twist at the end that is only hinted at once during the film, so it comes as quite a surprise.

If you want a great film to make you think, watch something else. If you want a goofy chopsocky Jackie Chan movie to waste a couple of hours, (and have no deep-seated fear of clowns) check Spiritual Kung Fu out.

• Lex