Review: By 1995, Jet Li and Tsui Hark had gone their separate ways, and the ‘Once Upon a Time In China’ series had been handed over to a new star and director. Wong Fei Hung was a real person and not a copyrighted fictional character, so Jet Li produced this movie himself, employing the inconstant talents of Wong Jing as director. While very different in tone to Tsui Hark’s vision, ‘Last Hero In China’ can be considered an unofficial addition to the OUATIC series of movies which succeeds in being very entertaining, despite it’s dishonourable intentions.

In the OUATIC movies, Wong Fei Hung (as a metaphor for China itself) has to adapt to the strange, alien ways of foreigners. In ‘Last Hero In China’, Wong Fei Hung (as a metaphor for the director himself) has to adapt to the strange, alien ways of women. Wong Fei Hung is portrayed as quite misogynistic, spouting such classic quotes as ‘They dress so little and are look bitchy’. Even Aunt Yee is absent from this interpretation of the legend, leaving a largely male cast to slow the plot down and wallow in boob gags, anti-gay humour, cross dressing, and fart jokes. Despite it’s low brow, broad humour, it’s usually quite funny, and one fart gag in particular is so obvious that you wonder why you haven’t seen it before.

So far, you are probably wondering how this movie qualifies as a Wong Fei Hung film. Well, all the series staples are present and correct. The action revolves around Po Chi Lam, where our hero spends his time tutoring his students, including Buck Tooth So (but no Butcher Lam, for some reason). There are loads of kung fu fights, a few lion dances, suspicious Europeans plotting to exploit the locals, and the classic Wong Fei Hung theme. What really clenches it is the inclusion of Jet Li himself, and he is on top form, guided by action choreography of Yuen Wo Ping, as long as you don’t mind wirework and under-cranking. Li performs Fei Hung’s signature moves, including the ‘No Shadow Kick’, and for the finale, goes into a glorious bout of Drunken Boxing, just like Jackie Chan’s portrayal of the hero in ‘Drunken Master’ (same action choreographer, you see). Infamously, he also goes into battle dressed as a big red chicken. It makes sense in the film. Nearly.

Worth considerable note is the presence of former Shaw Brothers star Gordon Liu as the maniacal head of an evil cult. Oddly, he looks older and porkier than in this year’s ‘Kill Bill’, who has a decent fight or two, and spends a lot of time flying around in a lotus shaped lantern throwing an iron claw at people (a supernatural power never explained).

‘Last Hero In China’ shouldn’t work, but somehow this rapid fire fun gun of a film manages to hit the target.. It’s slightly reminiscent of Jackie Chan’s ‘City Hunter’ because, like Chan, Jet Li teamed up with Wong Jing to play an established character, and make an extremely sexist and silly film which splits opinion down the middle. You are either going to love or hate ‘Last Hero In China’, but this reviewer loved it, even with it’s chicken costume on.

REVIEW:
Due to space constraints and rising rental costs, an admirer of Wong Fei Hung convinces him to relocate his kung fu school and clinic next to what turns out to be a brothel. While trying to shield his followers from immorality, Wong finds himself at odds with a new, corrupt police chief who is secretly helping a local group of monks to kidnap young women and sell them as slaves in Southern Asia. Wong finds himself investigating their temple after two martial arts masters, Tin Yin-er and her father discover the monks intentions. Despite an attempt to frame Wong for attacking the monks without just cause and poisoning him which leads to a temporary loss of hearing, Wong tries to stop the police chief who also part of the Boxer Rebellion from assassinating a foreign official.

Coming after the success of the first three films in the Once Upon a Time in China series, Jet Li was tapped by director and writer Wong Jing to play the role of the legendary folk hero Wong Fei Hung again. By pushing the props, outrageous action and humor beyond Tsui Hark's original vision for the character, Last Hero in China becomes a hugely entertaining, if even more improbable episode in the Wong Fei Hung franchise.

Wong Jing and Jet Li who would collaborate on the even more outrageous "Kung Fu Cult Master" the same year came together after Li had a fallout with Golden Harvest. The practice of creating an unofficial sequel to a film by a competing studio is not uncommon in Hong Kong and Wong gladly combined his own brand of wacky humor with Li's trademark role and ran wild with it.

In the film, Li plays his character straight while his goofball assistants cause all sorts of trouble. Although the humor veers towards slapstick which allows Fei Hung's drooling, bare-chested students to ogle prostitutes who break into song, the film does feature some incredible choreography from the peerless action director, Yuen Woo Ping. There is sort of a grab bag feel to the film which helps and hinders it. The manic opening sequence of young women running from the closing grasp of Gordon Liu (The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter) that includes a shot of one of them being ripped in half (sounds worse than it looks) sets the tone for a darker film that is at odds with the humor elements. Yet, Wong is consistent with his over-the-top hybrid style and it mostly works. Clearly, the standout scene is a duel between a giant centipede and Li dressed as a chicken. Yes, he's wearing a chicken suit. Of course, this is no team mascot here. He's sporting an iron beak and claws that Li uses to tear into the metal segments of the centipede. The whole scene is a terrific lampooning of the traditional lion dance that usually accompanies a Wong Fei Hung story.

Thanks to outstanding choreography and the creative humor of the director, Last Hero in China is more entertaining than it probably should be. Some of the jokes may be lost on viewers unfamiliar with either the Once Upon a Time in China series or Journey to the West. Even so, the sheer energy propels the viewer forward and with less confusion than found in Kung Fu Cult Master. And where else will you find the legendary kung fu star, Gordon Liu trade blows with Jet Li?

The choreography is imaginative, up to Yuen Woo Ping's usual high standard, and the use of wires is more restrained than in some of Jet Li's other movies. However there is liberal use of undercranking which does detract a little but this is only a minor complaint, the fight sequences give ample opportunity for Jet Li's natural talent to show through. Standout moments include a confrontation with the evil abbot (played by Gordon Liu) and the final showdown with the leader of the boxer association. This end fight is one of my favourites as Wong Fei Hung resorts to a frantic drunken style to win.

There's also great support from Leung Kar Yan as Wong Fei Hung's senior student. His role is mainly comedic but he does get some opportunity to get involved in the action. Another notable appearance is from Cheung Man as a kung fu street performer searching for her missing sister.

The movie also includes some of the most bizarre dragon dancing with Wong Fei Hung's team seriously challenged by centipede team. This becomes all the more strange when Wong takes on the centipede by himself using Rooster style kung fu...

The movie goes something like this: after losing his hospital/school Po Chi Lam to a greedy landlord, Wong moves in with a kindly businessman (Ng) who just happens to be Canton's "no. 1 pimp." Of course, all the girls (among them the lovely Anita Yuen) think Wong is dreamy and try to snare him. This kind of silliness goes on for some time until a group of "renegade pervert monks" begin to kidnap the girls, at which point Wong hops in to help and beats the hell out of the monks (who are led by Gordon Liu). The monks manage to fool the authorities into letting them go and then further humiliate Wong by beating him in a Lion Dance using a giant fire-breathing centipede. Disgraced (and for some reason, deaf) Wong heads out to a house in the country, where he meets up with a jobless man and his daughter (Chueng Man) who nurse him back to health. While at the house, he notices a rooster killing a centipede and realizes the way to defeat the monks. After heading off some corrupt government troops, Wong and his band head back to Canton, where they beat the hell out of the monks, the Boxers and the corrupt troops.

If you haven't seen this film before, then you may have heard about Jet Li dressing up as a rooster. Yes, he does do that, but it's really not all that bad. I was expecting him to be dressed up like Big Bird, but aside from an oversized helmet and some annoying clucking sounds, the scene isn't all that silly. It's actually pretty entertaining. In fact, the movie as a whole is quite good -- I had a better time with Last Hero in China than the last three OUATIC films. The fight sequences aren't stellar, but they definitely get the job done, especially the finale which has Wong adopting the "drunken fist" style (made popular by Jackie Chan's version of the Wong Fei-Hung story, Drunken Master). And the comedic bits (which include jabs at the characterization of Wong Fei-Hung present in the OUATIC movies) actually work for the most part. If you don't like Wong Jing's films and Yuen Woo-Ping's style of wire-fu, then Last Hero in China is a film you should stay away from. Otherwise, give it a try.