Siu Hu and Siu Fu are two brothers (both played by Yip Fei Yang) who have chosen different paths in life and choose varying ways of achieving their goals. Siu Fu - the older of the two - is a notorious bandit who robs local merchants and double-crosses his own gang. Siu Hu is far less malicious and, due to his poor kung-fu skills, is sent away to Shaolin by his older brother for training. However, Siu Hu is more interested in an easy life and shurks away from the hard life that Shaolin offers. After hatching an ingenious plot to beat the Shaolin Wooden Men - to infest them with woodworm and render them useless - Siu Hu manages to leave the monk lifestyle behind and enter the big wide world. Following this trickster is a Shaolin monk (John Liu) who is given the task of bringing back the charlatan. While in the outside world, Siu Hu is constantly mistaken for his older brother who is being hunted down after a robbery. Unfortunately Siu Hu finds himself chased by Siu Fu's former partner (Hwang Jang-Lee) and a gang of greedy bandits. Throughout his misadventures, Siu Hu manages to convince all around him that he is a kung fu master and even adopts a pupil (Yuen Yat Chor) along the way. It isn't long, however, before the various people chasing him catch up with him and he finally has the chance to re-team with his older brother.

'The Instant Kung Fu Man' could almost be described as two different films fused together: the first 'film' focusing on Siu Fu's actions and the former ally seeking revenge for the double-cross he was on the receiving end of; the second concentrates on Siu Hu's escapades and the unusual episodes that help him achieve the name 'Instant Kung Fu Man'. This mixture of the two naturally makes for awkward entertainment with the viewer getting lost in this very episodic film. The comic antics of Siu Hu are reasonable enough and do bring into them some interesting characters and scenarios. However, after getting a brief taste of John Liu and Hwang Jang Lee early on in the storyline, the concentration drifts endlessly and the viewer is constantly waiting for the two stars to come back. Sadly, the pair have very little to do until the last twenty minutes when they finally have their moment to shine. Yip Fei Yang is a fairly watchable action actor, but as the onus is on the unskilled character, the fight action suffers as a result. Any production that brings together a cast of this nature is worth watching, but the fact of the matter is that this isn't as good as it should have been. Liu and Hwang are always good to watch - the question is whether you have the patience to wait for their appearances.

PICTURE: Full screen. Clearly a very poor VHS print used for this DVD. Full of scratches and blemishes on the film along with a very grainy look to any of the night-time scenes. Watchable, but well below average.

SOUND: English Dubbed (good dubbing for fans - familiar voices used).

REVIEW:
Humor and exciting martial arts prove themselves to be a winning combination despite a meandering tale of mistaken identity that features some of the genre's best talent.

Yeh Fei Tang works overtime by playing twin brothers, one a ruthless kung fu expert and the other an unskilled, yet clever conman named Shao Hu. Its the latter brother that proves the more interesting. Touches of Yuen Woo Ping's (IRON MONKEY) whimsical influence can be seem in the choreography as Hu beats termite-infested wooden men to pieces with glee. In another scene, Hu hides a large circular magnet in his monk's hat for the sole purpose of snagging opponents' weapons. By the end of the fight, Hu has half a dozen weapons dangling from his back. The film nearly turns into a slapstick parody on the level of Wong Jing's work in CITY HUNTER and LAST HERO IN CHINA.

Plentiful martial arts greatness comes in the forms of legendary leg fighters Hwang Jang Lee and John Liu. Both actors appeared in numerous films opposite each other and their spectacular sparring is a joy to watch. Their characters may have little to say but their actions speak volumes. The first and longest encounter takes place near the end. It gives both men a chance to show their strengths. Hwang is the speedball with a whip-like kick that lashes out in the blink of an eye. Liu favors his right leg and while slower, appears nimble enough to use his leg as a third arm. With the exception of Yeh, whose martial arts performance while playing Shao Tu was uninspiring, the remaining fights are played more for laughs which balances the film nicely.

An honorable mention must go to the folks who chose the music for the film. Along with those trademark dubbed lines comes a soundtrack that should provide at least a few moments of trivial entertainment as you try to guess where that tune was sampled from. Likewise, there is nothing like hearing a rendition of Old Dixie playing during an all out kung fu brawl.

Without a doubt, fans of Hwang Jang Lee and superkickers in general should be lining up to get their hands on The Instant Kung Fu Man. In addition, the budding choreography of Yuen Woo Ping along with a few guffaws thrown in will perk the interest of kung fu / comedy aficionados.

AUDIO/VIDEO:
The audio for the film is presented in a mono platform. As such, all of the aural information is channeled solely through the center speaker. The English-dubbed dialogue is easily understood. The video for the film is of very poor quality. The colors are faded, the image is very soft and there are far too many scratches and fleckings within the images to note. At the start of the feature the normal warning banners are brought up however, they appear to suffer from tracking difficulties usually found on VHS. Once the image is corrected a very poor menu screen is posted which echoes the poorly drawn caricatures from the artwork on the DVD Amaray case.

EXTRAS:
The extras identify a trailer for the feature in the disc however, the only trailer available is a very marred and for lack of a better term-"chewed up" trailer for a Jackie Chan movie. The trailer itself is in Chinese with English subs. The English subs are pretty garbled which makes understanding the point of the trailer a bit difficult to discern. No elements of any film are presented rather, Chan performing various forms of martial arts in period costumes.

CONCLUSION:
The Instant Kung-Fu man is a run-of-the-mill martial arts film from the 1980’s complete with all the wonderful kicking sounds and "whooshing" sounds we’ve come to love! This is not the best martial arts film of its kind but it is fairly fun and enjoyable all the same. Rent it and see what you think!