REVIEW:
Stephen Tung Wai is in good company starring in this zany comedy that features great scenes of Sammo Hung in action.

The story begins when two martial arts masters and brothers defeat Chin Fung (Phillip Ko) and soon fall in to a feud over whose kung fu style is better. They open seperate schools. One day a wealthy patron with two sons sends one to each school to learn. But, it turns out that the patron is actually Chin Fung's brother and the "sons" are his spies. While this is going on, an ambitious young man who calls himself "Kung Fu" Ching (Stephen Tung Wai) decides to join both schools without the other knowing. Both masters eventually find out and throw him out of their schools. Ching ends up studying with Fei Jai (Sammo Hung), a wine seller who teaches him to use the best of various styles of kung fu. This training comes in handy when Chin Fung and his brother finally decides to get revenge on Ching's squabbling masters.

The Incredible Kung Fu Master boasts a large pool of talent among cast and crew that helps to keep this film entertaining, although they don't push any boundaries. Stephen Tung Wai, who has gone on to greater acclaim as an action director of such films as The Blade (1995) and Hero (2002) sparkles with plenty of charm and dexterity. While not directing choreography this time around, Sammo Hung turns his attention solely to his role as Tung Wai's third teacher. He portrays his usual wacky persona from this era, but its interesting to see him spouting martial arts philosophy that Bruce Lee would have approved of. In essence, he tells Tung Wai to combine the best aspects from various martial arts styles. Appropriately, his analogy compares his love of different foods with different styles.

As should be expected, the training sequences are superior to the average classic kung fu scenes from the '70's. Tung Wai really shows off his incredible flexibility. But, while his frame and dexterity might resemble that of Yuen Biao who assisted in the choreography, Tung Wai doesn't display much in the way of acrobatics. A great scene involving Tung Wai's troubled attempt to reach his dinner on the opposite side of an oil-slicked platform becomes a matter of pride after Sammo tells him to eat like a dog if all he can do crawl like one.

The story and characters maintain a light-hearted tone, despite a few killings and none of the villains are spared ridicule. This feeling is maintained in the action as well. And while it creates consistency, there seems to be little effort at innovation. With the film's star power and choreography led by Leung Kar Yan and Lam Ching Ying, anyone expecting an outstanding film will be sadly disappointed. The Incredible Kung Fu Master is average stuff on Sammo's quality scale, but that means its still an enjoyable effort overall.

Many viewers' first memories of Tung Wei are seeing him as a callow youth being instructed by Bruce Lee in the opening scenes of 'Enter The Dragon'. Then some recognise him now as a highly respected and much in-demand action choreographer who has played a part in numerous recent Hong Kong blockbusters. 'Incredible Kung-Fu Master' offers a pleasant surprise to viewers: the sight of Tung Wei in the leading role of a kung-fu comedy, showing off his very impressive skills.

'Kung-Fu Ching' (Tung Wei) is so-called because of his love of kung-fu even though he is far from proficent at it and relies on the few scraps he manages to pick up from his two friends. After persuading his friends to put in a positive word with their respective fathers, Ching is given the opportunity of learning kung-fu properly. However, the two schools he has joined are bitterly opposed ever since a beaten Mongol fighter managed to turn them against each other. When they discover that Ching is a member of the other's school, the young student is expelled from both schools. Fortunately, Ching meets a newcomer to town known as Fatty (Sammo - who else?) who sees kung-fu in a far more cosmopolitan way and compares it all to his other great love, food. Fatty agrees to teach Ching his amalgamtion of various kung-fu styles and gradually - after painful training routines - the younster develops into a formidable fighter. These new skills are quickly needed when the Mongol fighter returns swearing vengeance on the two warring masters who once defeated him and anyone else who gets in his way.

When awards for originality are handed out, 'Incredible Kung-Fu Master' will feature near the very bottom of the list; the oft-told tale of revenge and master/disciple relationships is once again recycled in this independent feature. Having said this, the film still stands as a good solid kung-fu comedy with an excellent lead performance from Tung Wei and fine back-up from the typically impressive Sammo Hung. The comedy in the film is very broad and even invades the fight scenes with the finale being a prime example of this. Therefore, it's soon apparent that nothing in this film is to be taken too seriously and even the conventions of hero v. villain are to be ridiculed. 'Incredible Kung-Fu Master' is certainly not among the best kung-fu films ever made, but there is enough enjoyable action to make the viewing experience seem worthwhile.