Kunfu Killer (2014)
Director: Teddy ChanWriters: Teddy Chan (original story), Ho Leung Lau (original story), and Tin Shu Mak
Cast: Donnie Yen (Hahou Mo), Charlie Yeung (Detective Luk Yeun-Sum), Baoqiang Wang (Fung Yu-Sau), Bing Bai (Sinn Ying), Deep Ng (Tai Yue), Alex Fong (Chief inspector Lam), Kang Yu (Wong Chit), and Xing Yu as Tam King-Yiu.
"This film is dedicated to all the people who love martial arts movies throughout the globe."
The film begins with Hahou Mo (Donnie Yen) turning himself in to the Hong Kong police, he had just murdered a man, his body shakes and is in some kind of trauma.
Interstate is blocked, lights flashing everywhere, the Hong Kong police had arrived on scene, a flipped over vehicle, a body sprawled out. Not to far away, Detective Luk Yeun-Sum has arrived, she establishes where the actual murder occurred, looking at the scene she notices a few things but she will not relay any information until the whole crime scene has been looked over, the detective does not want to miss any clues in the crime scene.
Prison seems fitting for a guy who had killed, he will atone for all his sins no matter what the costs. The prison TV comes to life, as the news of a murder is flashed before him. Hahou Mo (Donnie Yen) takes notice, he approaches the guard and asks to see Detective Luk Yeun-Sum (Charlie Yeung). The guard dismisses him and tells Hahou Mo (Donnie Yen) to go back to his cell, and that he would need a very good reason to speak to her. Hahou Mo starts a very big fight with the prison muscle, every movement, punch, kick, his connections are strong, he delivers a flurry of punches and kick which catches the attentions of the guards, afterwards Hahou Mo is apprehended.
Detective Luk Yeun-Sum finaly found something, a calling card, a unique piece, some sort of a weapon, a clue, Later, the crime scene is cleaned up, all evidence of the crash, murder is erased. The detective gets a call from her inspector, a lead to the case. A man in prison has information anout the murders.
The prisoner Hahou Mo tells the detective how he would help, he could serve as a consultant, he knows the way the killer thinks. The methods the killer is using are all in his hands and feet, he kills them because he knows the victims history well, sometime in their life they studied martial arts, and became masters. The killer will kill again, and whatever method he uses will be delivered to his victims. The person who is formally challenging the targets, is killing them afterwards, the only thing that could stop the chain of murders is me. Hahou mo knows who the next victims are, these people are all martial arts related, sometime in their life, they have trained and became a master, and now those very people are in need of help
Rant: the way the film starts off catches you off guard a bit, for example, when Hahou Mo (Donnie Yen) is first introduced, he is bloodied, and full of regret. He turns himself in, because he had murdered someone. The acting is done well, it's a different spin, you don't get that cheese factor that comes along with all those older Kung Fu films. With that being said, martial arts movies has so many different interpretations, a true example of this would be Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). The story, is beautifully choreographed, the fight scenes make the film whole. Kung Fu Killer is the same, you could see the action, while understanding the many sequences that are delivered from scene to scene.
The acting was really good, the film is subtitled, if your not a true fan of subtitles, then try and get the dubbed version. Get ready to read, while the action is delivered hard and fast. Martial arts films that are subtitled and not dubbed can be a bit difficult, especially the speed of the text on screen, you might miss somethings that may be important to the film, with that being said, subtitles to me deliver the story well, dubbed stories kill the film, it destroys the quality and integrity of the film, because the natural voices are not conveyed as good as the true actors are. The biggest issue would be in that department. The voice actors need to convey the emotion better, because if it doesn't the film will not be taken seriously, and in my opinion, the film loses in the end, and it will pay in the box office.
Final thoughts on the film, Kunfu Killer. Your getting a beautiful crafted film, yes most of it is in the action, but the story does not fall short, it delivers in every way. The film is probably one of the best martial arts film I've seen in a long time, it has it's moments to shine, and it did. The sword fight scenes were done well, it managed to embrace the essence of martial arts films.
There are three methods of martial arts movie making techniques that i will go over with you guys, these methods are mine, simply put, a great way to understand the filmmakers line without pulling your hair.
- Smooth sequences: basically the way the film is shot, the scenes must be fluid, not choppy editing between scenes.
- Believable scenes: this method is simple, if you have a scene on a moving truck, make sure it makes sense. How the protagonist got to that point in the scene, will he or she survive the ordeal. Those situations are important in a true action film.
- Story formatting: make sure the story goes along with your fight scene, because if they don't, it will cause the viewer to pull his or her hair out. How many times in action films do we see the good guy jump off the building or whatever, and somehow get into a fight that doesn't make any sense. Why? not just have your hero go into a bar, and start a random fight. The scenes must make sense, for example. The protagonists is giving chase to the villain, he notices a citizen getting beat up, the hero is chasing the bad guy on foot, but now must make a decision, he or she can't be at to locations at once, so he decides to help the guy getting beat up. The scene here makes sense, the hero chooses to help an innocent, and the bad guy gets away. How many times does the hero save the the guy getting beat, and captures the villain at the same time.
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