Opium and the Kung Fu Master

[paimeifist]

Opium and the Kung Fu Master

 

I’d been wanting to see this for a long time, but never really sought it out due to seeing so-so reviews for it. Funny, I ordered a Funimation 3-pack for it back when it was released, but ended up getting the other 3-Pack they released instead.

 

Good: The story is pretty engaging, and touches on a unique theme for the genre with drug addiction. This makes for a dark feel as we see addiction affecting peoples lives both directly and indirectly. The entire cast does a good job, especially Ti Lung as the lead and Chen Kuan Tai as the antagonist. The fighting features some nice weapons work and is more grounded than Tong Gaiis other two directorial efforts. This movie generally has a more down-to-Earth feel than Shaolin Prince and Shaolin Intruders, which both feature more fantastical elements. This doesn’t make it “better”, but it was a welcome surprise for me. 

 

Bad: While we see how drug addiction hurt supporting characters and unnamed townsfolk, the movie just glossed over Ti Lung’s character’s own struggle with it. It didn’t seem like he was struggling with addiction til it was a problem…. You see him smoking a few times, then a bunch of bad stuff happens and his addiction is said to be the cause…. This is an issue as it is central to the plot. I would have enjoyed a bit more run time for this movie so it could have showed his fall a bit more, to me this would have made the narrative have the emotional punch intended. 

 

TLDR:

Excellent film, it feels quite different and is at least as good as Tong Gaiis other two directorial efforts. Unique themes for the classic fu genre, a solid story, and good weapons work make this one a winner in my book. The plot was a bit rushed, and kept it from being what it could have been.

Edited August 5, 2021 by paimeifist

[Iron_Leopard]

I remember liking this one a lot. Great sets and costumes. Also had that "we are near the end of an era" feel like other Shaw films around this time.

Does feel like this was less interested in a character study of Lungs characters descent into drug addiction and more about the fights and set peices. 

[Chu Liu Hsiang]

Some more emphasis on the actual struggle with addiction can be seen in THE DRUG ADDICT, also starring Ti Lung, directed by David Chiang. 

[sym8]

I loved this movie,my only complaint was some of the fight scenes went a little extreme on the undercranking.

[ShawAngela]

31 minutes ago, sym8 said:

I loved this movie,my only complaint was some of the fight scenes went a little extreme on the undercranking.

I don't know what is undercranking, but when I watched the Funimation release years ago, there were some scenes that looked like they were in fast and even very fast motion !

[DrNgor]

11 minutes ago, ShawAngela said:

I don't know what is undercranking, but when I watched the Funimation release years ago, there were some scenes that looked like they were in fast and even very fast motion !

"Undercranking" is synonymous with "speeding up".  I think the idea is that in older movie cameras, you would turn the crank slower, and thus it would record less frames in the time it would take to execute some action. When those fewer frames were played back at a normal rate, it would give the impression that the actors are moving faster than they really were.

Edited August 6, 2021 by DrNgor

[HeavenSword]

Good movie. It’s hard for me to watch Chen Kuan Tai as a villain in this one for some reason though .