REVIEW:
As one of only a handful of films directed by Shaw Brothers veteran actor Lee Chiu, Cantonen Iron Kung Fu manages to hold its own thanks to its lead, Leung Kar Yan, yet fails to stand out among the dozens of excellent titles which also came out in 1979.

Leung Kar Yan plays Ah Tung, a coolie who ends up in a brawl with Ah Yu (Lee Chiu) over a misunderstanding. The two become friends but their relationship is cut short when Ah Yu accepts a challenge to fight with several men under the leadership of a ruthless criminal named Black Eagle (Phillip Ko) who are attempting to bully the townsfolk. He's killed and Ah Tung vows to get revenge despite his kung fu not being good enough. Mr. Lin Tao Hoi, a local business owner and part-time martial arts master begins training Ah Tung. But, before he can get his revenge Black Eagle targets Mr. Lin and even several of Ah Tung's other friends, who end up killed. The only other man capable of stopping Black Eagle is a fighter named Chen Shun (Wong Chung) who has tracked this villain from Northern China over the span of six years. Posing as a coolie, he bides his time until he meets Ah Tung. The two dispose of Black Eagle's henchmen and eventually face the master himself.

The plot is as conventional as the genre gets and indistinguishable from so many kung fu films of the period. The pacing is a tad uneven as the story meanders about with haphazard encounters by opposing fighters while Tung keeps showing up too late to help his friends as they're killed off. Technically, the film's highlight is the outdoor settings which are amplified by decent cinematography and lighting. The director employs several exaggerated angles, usually from the ground looking up which didn't become common until the New Wave era in Hong Kong several years later. There are also a few nice SteadiCam shots that traces the action. Otherwise, the choreography and directorial approach is pretty standard.

Watching this film, I was struck by how impressive Leung Kar Yan performs his martial arts. He's not a martial artist, although he did receive some film studio training. This is probably one of the more intensive workouts he's had in a lead role and he really knocks out the moves. He also manages to gratuitously show off his lean physique on more than one occasion. What's the deal with tearing your opponent's shirt off anyway? He's particularly interesting early on while he's in goofball mode. As the film grows darker and the body count rises, his "desperate for revenge" mode is less convincing. It doesn't help much that too much time is spent on training sequences that become repetitive. I will say that one exercise was quite memorable. Like a marionette, Leung has multiple ropes tied to his arms and legs and attached to the ends of bamboo trees. In an early example of the BowFlex training method, he bends the poles down to increase his strength.

As mentioned earlier, Cantonen Iron Kung Fu, which refers to Leung's Iron Bridge kung fu style is pretty conventional. Why then, did Lee Chiu have Phillip Ko die in such an unconventional way? Reminiscent of the CGI X-ray shot of Jet Li breaking limbs in Romeo Must Die (2000), Leung gets Ko upside down and snaps both of his legs. Lee actually inserts shots of leg bones snapping in two which surprised me. Then Leung gives him a hearty whack in the groin, bends his legs back like a wishbone, drives his head into the ground, and finally kicks his entire body into the air which promptly freeze-frames!? This last scene is indicative of the sort of unevenly used cartoon violence which permeated many films of the era. In the best examples, the films are outrageously funny and in the worst, you feel like the filmmakers didn't know which direction to take their projects. In the case of Cantonen Iron Kung Fu I'd say Lee Chiu should have put more of this kind of wackiness in his film to give it shot of originality.