Ching Siu Tung is a master fight choreographer - my personal favorite. He kicked off his amazing directorial career with Duel to the Death, continued through the 1990's with The Chinese Ghost Story trilogy and the Swordsman films (he co-directed these), and took his career to the ultimate pinnacle when he choreographed the amazing action sequences in Zhang Yimou's Hero - what I consider to be the pinnacle of action choreography. While working closely with Tsui Hark and John Woo, Siu Tung honed his skills and perfected the art of wire fu, turning martial arts and action films into high flying, jumping, diving, spinning, falling, slashing, and visually stunning displays of ballet-like violence where swordsmen, gunmen, demon and human alike could take to the air at the drop of a bullet casing.

Monkey Kung Fu is one of Siu Tung's earliest films both as action director and in a rare on screen starring role. The pleasure of seeing the man himself perform on camera is a real treasure for any fan of old school martial arts action. Combining the comedic impact of Jackie Chan, the prop-assisted antics of Yuen Wo Ping, and the precision timing of Lau Kar Leung, Siu Tung proved in Monkey Kung Fu that he was a force to be reckoned with. Although the narrative is practically non-existent, as it serves only to string together the frenetic action sequences, the film is highly entertaining.

Like so many other kung fu films before it, Monkey Kung Fu's narrative chronicles the search for an all powerful kung fu manuscript. Legend goes that the Gibbon Fist, or Monkey Fist style, is based off of the movements performed by monkeys witnessed by an old kung fu master while imprisoned. While locked away in his cell, the master observed through his barred-window the monkeys living in a tree in near proximity. The master mimicked the moves of the monkeys and developed the monkey style of kung fu. While in prison with the Gibbon Fist master, Wei Chun is given half of a map-like talisman detailing where to find the lost Gibbon Fist manuscript.

Wei Chun discovers that another prisoner, played by Hou Chao-Sheng, possesses the second half of the talisman and so together they escape capture, set out to find the Gibbon Fist manuscript, and with each other's help they each learn a set of moves from the manual during a brief but highly entertaining training sequence. Perhaps the most famous of all the Gibbon Fist styles is the Drunken Monkey style. I mean come on, who doesn't like to see a kung fu master getting drunk off his ass while at the same time kicking ass? Well, in Monkey Kung Fu there are plenty of examples of this awesome style as Hou Chao-Sheng performs some of the coolest drunken moves this side of Jackie Chan in Drunken Master.

My only complaint with Monkey Kung Fu may seem like a sacrilegious one to kung fu films, but here it is: there is too much action. Yeah, that's right, you heard me - there are too many fight scenes. By the end of the last fight I was actually ready for it to be over, as my brain had experienced a massive overload of awesome kung fu choreography. There were times when I thought the film seemed more like a calling card for Siu Tung's skill as an action director/performer than an actual film with a concrete narrative. But, as it stands, Monkey Kung Fu still comes highly recommended even if it is only viewed in short bursts to quench your thirst for amazing action.

The really great thing about all of these classic Shaw Brothers films being released and remastered by Celestial is the amount of history contained within. Film fans like you and me love to learn more about our favorite filmmakers and see more of their work. For many years, these older kung fu classics were not available and we fans had only the newer films to devour and love. As much as I love Ching Siu Tung's modern masterpieces, I often wondered just how he became such a great choreographer and I often wondered if he himself possessed any real skill as a performer. After watching Monkey Kung Fu, I now understand why he is such a skilled action director - like Yuen Wo Ping, and the entire Yuen clan, Ching Siu Tung possesses real talent in front of the camera, talent that translates into amazingly creative choreography. He moves with the grace and fluidity of a real master and thus he lends a sense of authenticity to his work behind the camera.

Monkey Kung Fu is a dang fun film, but more importantly while watching it we get to witness the start of a genre-defining career. Although he may not be as well known as Yuen Wo Ping, Ching Siu Tung has had just as much of an impact on genre cinema. Without him we would not have The Killer, The Swordsman II, A Chinese Ghost Story or Hero. Every single one of these films added to the action-film canon and helped to shape the genre films that came after. Monkey Kung Fu is not only a film that is highly entertaining, but it also sheds light on a young performer set to take the action genre by storm and continuously raise the bar for years to come.