American-born Quoc Bao Tran, with a background in Martial Arts action-editing, made his writing/directing feature debut on this good-natured, if rueful Kung Fu comedy. Modestly released to even more modest sampling, he’s put out nothing since. A shame as half of the film has a lot of fun following three one-time Kung Fu prodigies who reunite after 15 years for the funeral of their beloved former master. All three nearing some sort of mid-life crisis, all three sure they’re still unbeatable, if a bit rusty from age, disuse or injury. A workout or two should bring it all back. Yes? Making fast enemies out of later students now claiming the late master’s legacy, they’re easily goaded into challenge matches only to find clean fights, won or lost, can turn enemies into comrades. And if these formal grudge matches can’t fix all life problems, flexing the old disciplines still has lessons for them. Heard this one before?* But as long as Quoc Bao Tran holds to ‘buddy’ tropes & character comedy, the cast is able to make something out of this ‘curate’s egg’ of a film. First-among-equals Alain Uy as a divorced dad trying too hard to cover all bases a particular pleasure. But the script keeps slipping in moral uplift, kidding-on-the-square fortune cookie aphorisms and nods toward the power of positive thinking. And we’re not even mentioning a final climax against a deadly legacy usurper/villain who’ll be defeated if one of our former prodigies can only ‘feel the force’ once more.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *Not seen here, but is this what COBRA KAI/’18 - ‘25 manages better?
No comments:
Post a Comment