| The Kung Fu Instructor (1979) |
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| Director: | Sun Chung |
| Writers: | Ni Kuang |
| Starring: | Ti Lung, Wang Yu, Ku Feng, and Wang Lung Wei |
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The Plot: The Kung Fu Instructor opens with an argument over a literal line within the street of a small town. On one side there is the Zhou clan, and on the other there is the Meng. It seems that whatever started this war between these two factions has been allowed to escalate for a long period of time. Things have become so serious that the Meng have taken to severing limbs off of any person who steps over to their side of the street. As you can maybe guess, the Meng clan have become quite brutal with this war. This evil clan eventually decides that they need an outsider to come in and properly train their troops so that they may finally destroy the Zhou. Wang Yang (Ti Lung), it turns out, is just the sort of master that the Meng clan seek. He is so honest and loyal that the Meng see him as being easy to manipulate. Even more valuable is the fact that Wang Yang is the sort of teacher who holds nothing back from his students. He teaches every aspect of his martial art – and he keeps no secrets. When the Meng set Yang up, and fool many into thinking that he is a killer, the instructor feels honored to be taken in by the Meng clan. As he begins to teach their troops, however, he finds out about their evil ways. When he meets a young Zhau student (played by Wang Yu) who is bullied and nearly killed by the Meng clan, he discovers that he may be teaching his art to the wrong people. |
| The Review |
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High and low camera angles are used to full effect within The Kung Fu Instructor. Chung Sung grabbed a great deal of coverage with his films, and by doing this he gave a relatively larger scope and depth of realism to his movies. The differences between some other martial arts films and what is happening here might be subtle, but when you start paying attention to the nuances – it becomes obvious how different Chung was. This was, afterall, the glory day of the Shaw studio, and budgets were much more outlandish. His work here is visually different, but he still manages to sell the finished product as a highly capable action-fest. Featuring a kinetic energy that is reminiscent of Lau Kar Leung, Sun Chung’s The Kung Fu Instructor starts off strong and steadily becomes more and more action oriented as the film moves along. Some of the choreography provided by Tang Chia is astounding, and the training sequences that take place towards the conclusion of the film are also worth mentioning for their excellence.
| The Conclusion |
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