Kung Pow! Enter the Fist is a 2002 comedy film, that parodies Hong Kong action cinema. Starring Steve Oedekerk, it uses and manipulates footage from the 1976 Hong Kong martial arts movie Tiger and Crane Fist (a.k.a. Savage Killers), along with new footage shot by Oedekerk, to create an original, unrelated plot.
Plot
The movie opens in a small 18th-century Chinese village, when the Chosen One is only an infant. His family worries about an unspecified problem he has, and consider taking him to see the abbot. As his family cradles and adores him, a man with 2 "pyramid spikes" on his chest and an iron-hand-chain weapon shows up. His henchmen call him Master Pain as he proceeds to murder the Chosen One's entire family before approaching his cradle. The baby and he then engage in a complex martial arts sequence in which the infantile Chosen One manages to escape as Master Pain proceeds to burn his house down.
The Chosen One eventually grows to adulthood and, after wandering the wilderness for many years with his faithful dog by his side. He seeks special training from Master Tang, an ill and off-beat sifu. The Chosen One begins training at the dojo, displaying incredible feats of strength and willpower such as exploding one-foot blocks of wood with his finger, and performing push-ups by blowing onto the ground.
He eventually comes in contact with the man who burned his house down for a final showdown.
There is then a "preview" of the "next episode" of the story, in which Ling learns how to fly, the Chosen One's nipples are electrocuted, Godzilla's foot stomps down, the Evil Council circles around the Eiffel Tower, The Chosen One presses his nipple as a button, and Moon Yoo returns with an entire barnyard of sidekicks.
Cast
Original actors
- Jimmy Wang Yu - "The Chosen One" (replaced by Oedekerk)
- Hui Lou Chen - "Master Tang"
- Chia Yung Liu - "Wimp Lo"
- Fei Lung - "Master Pain (Betty)"
- Ling Ling Tse - "Ling"
Voiced-over characters
In many scenes Jimmy Wang Yu, the lead actor in Tiger and Crane Fist, was replaced by Oedekerk via post-production chroma key techniques. Oedekerk also redubbed all of the original cast's voices himself, inventing a different silly voice for every character. The only exception is the character of "Whoa", who was voiced by her portrayer, Jennifer Tung and Stephen Dolnik.
DVD special features
- Deleted scenes
- Alternative audio dub scenes
- Directors commentary
- Alternate audio tracks, including the "What they are really saying" track, which includes the original Chinese and the speech Oedekerk uses to parody the bad dubbing in old kung-fu movies. Another notable audio choice is Book on Tape where all the lines are read by a calm British narrator.
- Alternate ending featuring Betty in a speedo singing the Kung Pow theme song.
- 3 "Fox 11" (KTTV) commercial promos
- Making of featurette
- Theatrical trailer
- A live ostrich
- Tonguey featurette
- A Panicked Thumb (a small scene, approx. 4 seconds, taken from Thumb Wars in which a 'thumb' runs out and yells "We've been hit!")
- An Easter egg: Footage of The Chosen One flicking Moo Nieu's udder
- An Easter egg: Footage of Chosen One doing a penis dance.
- German subtitles
Reception
Kung Pow! Enter the Fist was not well received by critics, holding a 12% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[1]
Despite negative review from critics, the film has gained a cult following since its release.
Sequel
At the end of the movie, a trailer was put in. However, the "trailer" is mostly made up of parts from deleted scenes.
Kung Pow 2: Tongue of Fury is set to be the sequel. The Internet Movie Database says it is due for release sometime in 2010 and is currently listed as "in production." In 2002, Oederkerk stated he is currently looking through hundreds of Hong Kong films for dynamic characters and scenes to help create this sequel. He stated that he is considering piecing together scenes and clips from several Hong Kong films.[2]
See also
Other films have been created from footage from one or more previous films, adding redubbed dialog, new images, or both. Examples include:
Similarly, A Man Called... Rainbo (1990) was created from footage and outtakes of an existing film, combined with new footage and redubbed audio, then edited into a new plot.
References
External links
