Now available from 88 Films
In this Shaw Brothers martial arts comedy, two students must put aside their issues with each other to team up to protected themselves and their school as well as getting revenge for the killing of their teacher.
Written by Keith Li and directed by Hsia Hsu, this action comedy has great martial arts sequences, fantastic fights, and stunt choreography that should make any action or martial arts film fan’s day. The writing here is a bit predictable, but the way it is brought to the screen is well done showing an understanding of not just the fights but also the characters, their plight, and what the viewers want to see. The film itself is one that will greatly appeal to its target audience (you know who you are at this point) and will annoy the living daylights out of some audiences, leaving very few nonplussed. Overall, it’s a film that martial arts fans should love if they have not seen it yet and should love to revisit if they have.
The cast of Kid from Kwangtung is led by Wong Yu who we recently reviewed in The Shadow Boxing and Chiang Kam as the two students who must take revenge while saving themselves. The two of them are fun to watch, entertain effortlessly, and make the film one to watch and rewatch. Coming in for a smaller part are Hwang Jang-li, Pan Pan Yeung, Hoi-San Kwan, and a bunch of familiar faces for those who watch a lot of martial art films form the 1970s and 1980s. The cast here is fun and connected to their material, doing the most out of their parts, and entertaining the viewers with their acting and antics.
The film here has some good cinematography, fitting the Shaw Brothers style quite well, and bringing the film to viewers in a great, clear manner, letting them viewer the fights. The editing also works well here and avoids the more modern pitfalls of over-editing thus allowing the viewer to really see what is going and helping make the most of the cast’s skills.
Decently entertaining with fun and exciting martial arts sequences and fights, the story is engaging, and the comedy works. The dubbing on this release is a classic but it is a bit off which will be an issue for some, but the newly translated, fresh English subtitles should help most folks not notice any dubbing issues. For those who are more musically connected, a grating note or metallic sound can be heard here and there, and it is a pain when it shows up. That being said, the sound quality overall is decent and this new 1080p presentation is looking crisp and beautiful. In terms of extras, this is a bit barebones, but the presentation quality makes up for it.
