Kung Fu League 【功夫联盟】

[GeneChing]

This is dated but it just came to my attention. Kung Fu Big League? I hope they figure out a better title in English.

It's off JetLi.com, so it's Jet heavy even though he's not in this film.

Kung Fu Big League: A New Martial Arts Movie Starring Vincent Zhao, Andy On, Dennis To & Danny Chan
By Mike Leeder 6 months ago in Entertainment

Writer/director/producer Jeff Lau’s next project could catapult everyone involved into the ‘Kung Fu Big League‘, but there’s very little known about the project itself…

New Martial Arts Movie – Kung Fu Big League



Nearly 25 years after he stepped into Jet Li’s shoes to play the role of martial arts master Wong Fei-hong in Once Upon a Time in China 4 (a role he would reprise for Once Upon a Time in China 5 and the subsequent TV series which featured most of the movie franchise cast), Wushu maestro Vincent Zhao (Zhao Wen-zhao) reprises the role once again for Kung Fu Big League, the latest project by prolific writer/director/producer Jeff Lau.

Joining Zhao in the movie are Andy On (as Master Huo Yuan-jia the character portrayed by Jet Li in Fearless and Leung Kar-yen in Legend of a Fighter), Bruce Lee look-alike Danny Chan (who plays Chen Zhen from Fists of Fury and its various offshoots) and Dennis To (who reprises the role of Ip Man). He previously played in Ip Man: The Legend is Born which told of the younger days of the Wing Chun master. Now… the time line for these characters does work pretty well -and all of them except for Chen Zhen were real people – but let’s not get into how much older Huo Yuan-jia should be to Chen Zhen because Chen Zhen is fictional!

We’re not sure if this is some insane alt-universe serious martial arts movie or a Mo Lei Tau (nonsensical) action comedy, as Jeff Lau (Lau Chun-wai) has written, produced and directed such a diverse list of productions… including classic heroic bloodshed with Coolie Killer, Stephen Chow Mo Lei Tau madness with All for the Winner, Fist of Fury 1991, Kung Fu Hustle, stylish swordplay with Ashes of Time and its comedy equal The Eagle Shooting Heroes, Andy Lau’s classic Saviour of the Soul, Chow Yun-fatt’s Shaolin Temple outing Treasure Hunt, the criminally under-rated Mahjong Dragon which starred Vincent Zhao and Josephine Siao and so much more.

While we wait for more information let’s take a look back at the first time we were introduced to Vincent Zhao as Wong Fei-hong:

[GeneChing]

Kung Fu League is a slightly better title than Kung Fu Big League. So I'll change the title of this thread.

[GeneChing]

4 Chinese martial arts legends team up in ‘Kung Fu League’
SEPTEMBER 26, 2018 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIE NEWS, MOVIES
BY MUMTAJ BEGUM
PHOTOS BY RAM ENTERTAINMENT

Director Jeff Lau – best known for some of Stephen Chow’s hit flicks like All For The Winner, A Chinese Odyssey Part 1 and Part 2 – has cooked up what looks like another winner with Kung Fu League.

For this action-comedy, Lau has gathered four legendary martial art masters in one film. There is Chinese folk hero Wong Fei Hung (Vincent Zhao reprising his role from Once Upon A Time In China film and television series), Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man (Dennis To portrayed this character in the 2010 flick The Legend Is Born – Ip Man), fictional character Chen Zhen, first portrayed by Bruce Lee in Fist Of Fury (here played by Danny Chan Kwok Kwan) and Chinese martial artist Huo Yuan Jia (played by Andy On).

From the trailer, it seems like these four legends are somehow transported to the present day, where they team up to take down some bad guys. Four martial artists in one movie … who doesn’t want to see that?

Kung Fu League opens at cinemas nationwide on Nov 1.


“This is better than planking, I swear.”


Even martial artists need to watch cat videos to destress.


Strike this pose when you need to scratch your armpit in public …


… And this pose when you want to stretch your arms and legs.

No word on any U.S. distribution yet...

[GeneChing]

Enter to win KungFuMagazine.com's contest for Kung Fu League Blu-Ray™+DVD Combo! Contest ends 5:00 p.m. PST on 9/26/2019.

[GeneChing]

See our WINNERS: Kung Fu League Blu-Ray™+DVD Combo thread

For our current online sweepstakes contest, visit KungFuMagazine.com

[GeneChing]

Kung Fu rom-com farces are a total thing, sad to say, and this one very much tries to be in the wake of Shaolin Soccer & Kung Fu Hustle with the Mo Lei Tau. There's even a soccer training moment, THE BEAST (Leung Siu Lung who I just interviewed for From Bruce to the Beast and Beyond in our WINTER 2020 issue - didn't even know he was in this and was super delighted to see him) and the same qi-alignment-ex-machina conclusion. An aspiring comic book artist (Ashin who looks like a younger wimpy Daniel Wu) longs for the office hottie (the adorable Madina) and summons Wong Fei Hung, Ip Man, Huo Yunjia and Chen Zhen (Bruce) to help. It's absurd on so many levels, like a weird cameo from Jay Chou and Wong claiming he's not going to be the next Zhou Wenzhou (Zhou took over the role from Jet Li in the OUaTiC franchise and plays him in this film). The villain builds an Iron-man-esque suit to defeat all the Kung Fu masters. It did get one random good laugh out of me - a dumb slapstick moment. And it was relatively entertaining once I got past the sappy romance part (Madina is super adorable tho). There were a lot of in-jokes that required you to know a lot about the Kung Fu genre and who these heroes are cinematically. If you're deep into Kung Fu movies, you'll find some amusement here, but for the most part, it feels like a misfire to me. The premise is okay, and it has its moments, but not enough to endorse beyond for fans of the genre.