As I watch this movie, the narrative is carried by the view point of a young girl, which in fact reminded me of Hong Kong romance films. The girl's narrative gives a self-reflexive philosophical commentary about life, growing up, etc. Huh? What is that doing in a martial arts movie, was my first reaction. At the end, I was still unconvinced that it added anything to the story.

Chiu Man-Cheuk is the best part of the movie. He is a great wu shu performer, but also a decent actor, showing more nuances of emotion than Jet Li or Yeun Biao. His presence on the screen displays stylistic violence but not outright brutality. That role is reserved for the villain, Hung Yan Yab, who also does a great job. I only wish there had been more fights between the two.

One discordant note is again the layering of the romantic story on top of the classic revenge plot. Maybe it was saying something deep, but it escaped me. Should I blame the film, or myself?

The action is much more "raw" than most martial arts films, with blood splattering that looks quite real. (not that I would really know) The training sequence, using only one arm, was rather interesting. It would have been fun to see more of it, but the plot wanted to move on. Another discordant note was the weapon used by the bad guy. It was very cool looking, but really, it just looked too advanced for the period of the story. You'll see what I mean when you get to the scene.

What really caused me to drop a rating on this film is the main love interest, who provides the narrative. She is quite simply a poor actress. (is she some popular pop singer?) In too many scenes, it looked like she wanted to laugh when she should have cried. And almost everyone screams out their lines. Maybe they had more hearing problems in those days?

Right after watching this one, I also watch "The Blade" (Tsui Hark/Wing Zhao) which attempted a -deconstruction of the tried and true kung fu flick. You can see my review on that. My personal feeling is that "Cat Vs. Rat" is a more successful "de-construction" than "The Blade".

Yes, as a kung fu comedy, it works. I was never fully convinced of Alexander Fu-Sheng's comedic talents, until I watch this. With his funny facial expressions, he really pulls off the laughs. However, watching the film, I felt that it was making fun of past classics in a gentle way, that also paid homage. For example, take the classic revenge plot where a young man gets beaten, learns from a teacher, and comes back for revenge. In "Cat Vs. Rat", Fu-Sheng tries to beat his teacher, fails and then to salve his pride gets revenge on another rival, turning the convention on its head. Also, the fights revolve around, not murder, but family prestige. Watching Fu-Sheng's fat mother fling kung fu moves while pleading for victory serves to correctly trivialize the simplistic violence of pay back kung fu films. Another point is that the rival students can never truly best each other. As Fu-Sheng learns techniques to beat his rival, his rival Adam Cheng learns techniques to beat him. This endless cycle of violence is humorously pointing to the brutal avenge father/mother/brother/sister cycle of violence of traditional kung fu films.

There is another great scene, a la "Mission: Impossible", where Fu-Sheng must dangle from a rope, and steal the emperor's jade seal. The comic potential is realized to great effect, Fusheng getting entangled in the emperor's amorous embrace, while the guards keep rushing in and consistently miss all the signs of an intruder.

With Sifu Leung directing, it goes without saying that the action is done very well. Some of the scenes reminded me of "Legendary Weapons Of China", matching different weapons against each other. Another plus is the scenery and props. Did they break the budget on this? I thought it was more elaborate than "Disciples Of The 36th Chamber" or "Legendary Weapons Of China". The scenery even plays a vital role in the final battle.

The cast all seem to have a great time playing up their roles. I think you will too.

I read that Gordon Liu considered this his preferred sequel to "Shaolin Master Killer". You know what, I agree with him. "Return of Master Killer" is fun, with excellent fight scenes, but this movie just seems more in the spirit of "Master Killer". Why?

First, the Ching villain is more clever, more formidable, and thus more worthy of a comeuppance. Second, the fight choreography is truly excellent, really good. What made it especially fun is to see is the rivalry between the sword of wu-tang vs boxing of Shaolin. Gordon Liu did the right thing to spice things up with the school rivalry. I knew the contrast between wu-tang and Shaolin would be great just from the opening sequence. The difference between the training practices of wu-tang vs Shaolin was also fun to see.

Finally, the resolution was better than most fu flix. It was not the typical case of I killed everyone else, so now I rule the martial world, etc.

Just get it, you'll have a blast.