Kung Fu Traveler (2017) & Kung Fu Traveler 2 (2018)

[Drunken Monk]

I’m sure there used to be a thread on this but after searching, I couldn’t find it.

Anyway, I’m 40 minutes into this one and all I feel is pity for Tiger Chen. This film is an absolute dud. The first ten minutes should have warned me (honestly, one of the worst openings I’ve ever seen) but I decided to plow on. Bad move. The plot is laughable and the fights (what brief action there is) are awful. The filmmakers decided to go for this weird editing where they kind of jump cut in the middle of a move to later on in the same move. It’s hard to explain.

Needless to say, I’m turning it off. If someone makes it all the way through and can report that it gets better, that’s great, but from what I’ve seen so far, there’s a reason this hasn’t gotten a DVD release yet.

I hope Tiger Chen can get some respect when “Triple Threat” comes out because of he continues to make films like this, his star is going to fade REALLY quickly.

[slinky#1]

If they removed the kungfu from the title, would be better for this film. Agree with above pretty much. I did watch the whole thing ugh...

[ShaOW!linDude]

Oooooooookay. Good looking out, gents. Think I'll be watching something else.

[One Armed Boxer]

19 hours ago, Drunken Monk said:

If someone makes it all the way through and can report that it gets better, that’s great, but from what I’ve seen so far, there’s a reason this hasn’t gotten a DVD release yet.

This got a DVD release stateside last Tuesday by Cinedigm - http://cityonfire.com/tiger-chen-does-the-timecop-thing-in-kung-fu-traveler/

19 hours ago, Drunken Monk said:

I hope Tiger Chen can get some respect when “Triple Threat” comes out because of he continues to make films like this, his star is going to fade REALLY quickly.

Based on 'Man of Tai Chi' I'd say Tiger Chen has the charisma of a wet leaf, so I fully expect him to be the weak link in 'Triple Threat'.  As for his star fading quickly, well, I'd say you can't lose what you never had. 

 

[Drunken Monk]

20 minutes ago, One Armed Boxer said:

This got a DVD release stateside last Tuesday by Cinedigm - http://cityonfire.com/tiger-chen-does-the-timecop-thing-in-kung-fu-traveler/

Wow, I had no idea. Just goes to show how much I was following this one.

[ShaOW!linDude]

3 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said:

Based on 'Man of Tai Chi' I'd say Tiger Chen has the charisma of a wet leaf, so I fully expect him to be the weak link in 'Triple Threat'.  As for his star fading quickly, well, I'd say you can't lose what you never had. 

I've been meaning to rewatch that and mini-review it. I remember only finding 2 faults with it: the fight with Iko Uwais is nothing but a tease and the end fight with Keanu Reeves is wire-worked power hit festival. Other than that, the rest of the fight scenes were quite well done and it had a nice display of tai chi throughout the film.

But I agree. He's never even been a rising star of note to watch for. I hate that because the guy's got some chops. And I, too, expect him to the be weak link in Triple Threat.

[laagi]

Looks like this Tiger got his claws pulled Well I survived the movie... hardly.

It's a mess of different genres mixed into a very silly plot. There is some decent fights here and there but few and far between. I can't really recommend it to be honest. But I guess there's worse things to spend your time and money on, so if you got nothing else to do... Go for it

[whitesnake]

Just when you thought this topic was done - Kung Fu Traveler 2, the sequel! Yes, Cinedigm releases the DVD for Kung Fu Traveler 2 on July 10, 2018.  "Kung Fu Traveler 2 stars Tiger Chen and is directed by Xian Feng Zhang.  Southern Style Kung Fu was unsuccessful in defeating the invading enemy aliens. General Chen has no choice but to be go back in time again to the late Qing Dynasty to find the master of Northern Style Kung Fu and transfer his training back to the future. Unfortunately, the time travel causes Chen to lose his memory and he ends up working for the emperor Yuan Shikai and lost in time. Meanwhile in the future, the aliens army and strength grows by the day…"  Available for pre-order at https://www.rightstufanime.com/Kung-Fu-Traveler-2-DVD 

Cover -

 

The trailer to Kung Fu Traveler 2 was posted above by One Armed Boxer. 

Edited April 15, 2018 by whitesnake

[ShaOW!linDude]

In the future, Earth is under attack by aliens and only Southern Kung Fu serves as an effective counterattack and fighting style to defeat them. So a robot copy of the the leading general (TC) is sent back to 1885 to find a kung fu master, learn all of Southern Kung Fu, and then hide his memory chip away to be found in the future to assure the world victory over the invaders.

So there's a lot of sci-fi tropes borrowed for this film. Just the premise is sort of like the Terminator franchise. It actually holds out the hope of possibility for a good movie. Nope, not really. There are some massive plot holes to contend with here when dealing with time travel and its repercussions. But I can overlook all of that when the fu is solid. Nope, didn't get that either. The editing is all quick cuts that step all over themselves, and the action is all wire-enhanced with very little grounded choreography to speak of. One part of the finale is blatantly inspired by the segment from the finale of Wolverine: Origins where the villain teleports quickly while fighting TC and his female partner atop a wall a la the butchered Deadpool character taking on Wolverine and Sabertooth. And the special f/x are definitely straight off the SyFy channel.

This is just bad. And supposedly the first movie is better than its sequel. (Shudders.) Watched this on Tubi. I may ff through the 2nd one just to see if there is anything of worth action-wise, but I'm seriously doubting so. I should probably just watch Man of Tai Chi again.

[Super Ninja]

10 hours ago, ShaOW!linDude said:

In the future, Earth is under attack by aliens and only Southern Kung Fu serves as an effective counterattack and fighting style to defeat them. So a robot copy of the the leading general (TC) is sent back to 1885 to find a kung fu master, learn all of Southern Kung Fu, and then hide his memory chip away to be found in the future to assure the world victory over the invaders.

So there's a lot of sci-fi tropes borrowed for this film. Just the premise is sort of like the Terminator franchise. It actually holds out the hope of possibility for a good movie. Nope, not really. There are some massive plot holes to contend with here when dealing with time travel and its repercussions. But I can overlook all of that when the fu is solid. Nope, didn't get that either. The editing is all quick cuts that step all over themselves, and the action is all wire-enhanced with very little grounded choreography to speak of. One part of the finale is blatantly inspired by the segment from the finale of Wolverine: Origins where the villain teleports quickly while fighting TC and his female partner atop a wall a la the butchered Deadpool character taking on Wolverine and Sabertooth. And the special f/x are definitely straight off the SyFy channel.

This is just bad. And supposedly the first movie is better than its sequel. (Shudders.) Watched this on Tubi. I may ff through the 2nd one just to see if there is anything of worth action-wise, but I'm seriously doubting so. I should probably just watch Man of Tai Chi again.

I wouldn't bother, the sequel really is even worse. Hope Chen learned his lesson here.