The Final Master (2015) by Xu Haofeng

Director: Xu Haofeng
Year: 2015
Country: China
Alternate Titles: Shi Fu
Genre: Kung-Fu/Martial Arts

Plot:
Desperate to open a new studio, a martial arts master yearns to introduce Wing Chun, a relatively new martial arts style, into Chinese territories. When told by the Grandmaster that such a practice is not allowed, he and his wife find a way of getting around the circumstances by signing a protegee and selecting him to be his pupil. After setting up their training, he comes to learn the final part of the program in a series of competitions against other martial arts schools in the city and sets out to accomplish his mission, to follow through with his plans.

Review:

On the whole, this was quite a problematic entry. The main issue here is Haofeng's direction. He shows absolutely no sense of tempo or pacing in storytelling, causing this one to feel so dragged out and dull that it can come off as boring. Matters unfold in the most excruciatingly slow manner possible, with scenes that go on forever without really saying much. Due to the reserved nature of the material, very few scenes here actually manage to effectively put forth what the film's point is actually about. Nothing is told here about what the city's laws about beating the other dojos mean, and more telling is that, rather than set up the need for continuous fighting, the film features plenty of dialog scenes between everyone. The pacing just causes the film to feel boring. In addition, some of his choices here are somewhat questionable. The incidental music used for the scenes of them wandering around town is too modern and quirky to compliment the scenes of everyday life in 1930s China while focusing on useless side tangents that eat up running time rather than flesh out the characters.

As well, matters aren't helped by the martial arts conflicts. Keeping the combatants to realistic levels in terms of hand-to-hand combat and weaponry only limits the performers to a grounded form of combat that looks realistic yet never goes to the fantastic. The fighting, especially with it being limited to competition means, causes the performers to look like actors in a choreographed play more than anything. Ending nearly every series of strikes with stylized posing doesn't seem useful for a major, life-saving battle, and here it really stands out due to the brevity of it all. For such a long-winded film, the actual fights don't last all that long, so it draws focus to that particular aspect of the fights. This saps a lot of the energy from the action, which, considering these are supposedly against the best of the best, doesn't make for wholly thrilling contests. For those who prefer more fantastical athletic feats to be expressed, that's a big issue alongside their brevity.

There are a few problems here, but the film does have some virtues. Although the fighting is quite short and has some flaws about it, the choreography has some nice features about it. Following the choreography, there are plenty of rapid-fire hand-to-hand strikes featured throughout here, which are all made to look even more effective through editing. The sense of poetry established here in trying to make martial arts seem like a dramatic art form, ties in nicely with the desire to utilize the chosen style. That becomes most apparent in the final fight with the various masters in the city streets and back alleys. This is where the movie really comes into its own with some energy and enthusiasm as this one really picks up with a multitude of opponents and weaponry. However, it's too little too late for this one.

Overview: **/5
On the whole, there's not a whole lot to really go on here. While the film looks nice overall, it's just way too dull and features so little martial arts action that those looking for continuous, high-energy fighting will be let down considerably by the film, and really isn't a mandatory watch on any scale.

This review was originally published on Asian Movie Pulse and is gratefully reprinted with their cooperation.