Director: Xu Haofeng, Xu Junfeng
Year: 2023
Country: China
Alternate Titles: Men qian bao di
Genre: Kung-Fu/Martial Arts
Plot:
On the verge of losing their school, a martial arts academy sets up a demonstration between his son and a top pupil to choose the new leader of their students and ends with the pupil winning handily. Forced into taking a bank job due to the loss, the political tensions between his outsider status and the lack of respect martial arts carries in the community leave him with a desire to return to the school and reclaim his rightful place in his father’s studio. With the chaos of the situation meaning that rival thugs have come into a massive battle for control of the town leaving everyone to rely on their skillset to stop everything and restore order.
Review:
Overall, this ended up being a fairly solid and enjoyable outing. Among the better features of this one is a rather strong storyline offering up the kind of constant action needed for this kind of story. The main idea of the central battle being set up by the initial propel of the face-off is a way to determine a true leader for the school but also to help get the son out of the whole martial arts business and into a more respectable person with the job at the bank that gives everybody a chance but highlights what the no one really wants. From the racism that emerges from his nationality while working there to the differing techniques that are used to keep the population in check which features a slew of betrayals regarding which side they align with as the fight for control takes over. This helps to move the film along quite nicely despite all manner of characters appearing with a slew of impressive visual tricks added into the proceedings to make for a fun setup.
That brings about an immediately fun series of action scenes throughout here with the participants living this quite a lot to like. There is no shortage of high-flying, hard-hitting scenes here starting with the initial duel in the snow at the beginning that sets everything up being the starting point for the first half of this one that allows for some fun choreography to showcase their opposing skillset quite effectively. Other scenes throughout here carry this along as the brawling that the students endure to take control of the streets, the various tests of endurance fighting others to improve his skills, or the final battle to regain the respect of those who preside over these matters. There might be a few too many characters here that bring about some extended storylines we don’t need as much as the traditional story about honor and redemption that normally takes place here, but that’s the main issue to be had with this one.
Overview: ****/5
A massively fun and likable martial arts drama, this one comes off far better than expected and gives a lot of solid aspects that hold it up over some minor drawbacks. Those who are fine with the approach taken here or enjoy this kind of martial arts fare will have a lot to like with this one while most others out there should heed caution with this one.
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