The Bare Footed Kid: Viewer Comments

After his father dies, a poor young man sets out to find an old friend of his father's and hopes of a better life. He manages to find the man (Ti Lung) who is foreman at a dye factory and gives him a bed and a job. There are those in the village who do not want the factory to succeed and will stop at nothing to obtain the secrets that have made the business so profitable. Several attempts are made to buy the factory, but the owner (Maggie Cheung) isn’t interested despite hints of threats.

When something does go wrong the Kid administers his own kind of retribution which unfortunately doesn’t work out so well. Soon he is caught up in multiple schemes and must decide what is really important to him.

There is really only one thing wrong with "The Bare Footed Kid": the Bare Footed Kid, as played by Aaron Kwok. The only reason I rated "The Bare Footed Ki"d four stars was because of the fine efforts delivered by Ti Lung ("A Better Tomorrow" series, "Drunken Master 2") and Maggie Cheung ("Hero", with Jet Li, "The Iceman Cometh"), both veteran actors in a range of films including period pieces. They deliver excellent performances. However they needed a “kid fighter” and there was no one to be found, apparently, besides Aaron Kwok. Enter Liu Chia Liang who some how managed to create the illusion that Kwok could fight, and fight well. Not an easy task! It was surprising and a bit disappointing to see the use of so much wire-fu, but apparently that was the only way Liu Chia Liang could make it appear Kwok had a clue about martial arts, and was in good enough shape to carry it out. Fortunately it was enough to pass off Kwok without changing the plot.

I also didn’t like the serious use of wires with a fight with Ti Lung. Granted he wanted to show the Kid a whole lotta fighting skills in a very short period of time but it was just too much. Ti Lung was only around 46 when he was in this movie--plenty young enough to do almost all of his fighting without the wires.

But the ending is worth waiting for, courtesy of Liu Chia Liang! His reputation for amazing fight choreography and long fight sequences does not disappoint! Two nearly back-to-back fights is typical as is his use of unusual but deadly weapons. Without giving away the ending, I was disappointed in one aspect of the Kid’s choices. Viewers will just have to watch the movie to understand my reference.

I am not much of a wire fu fan, so I did not get a whole lot out of the film. As usual, Ti Lung played the noble upstanding charater, but I kept waiting for the moment when he would cut loose and wield some swords or a staff like back in the old days. It never happens, and his finale, although very intense, depended too much on wire fu for my taste. Granted he was/is older; but for me the anticpated joy was in seeing how good his skills were as an older man.

I think there are many people who would love this movie, and the passion and real skills of the young main character, but for what I was looking for, the movie did not do much for me.