Director: Jian Yong
Guo
Notable Cast: Mou Li,
Zhi Hui Chen, Hao Ran Sun
The second of the two HBO Asia original films, Master of the Shadowless Kick: Wong Kei-Ying
is of the same ilk as its predecessor Master
of the Drunken Fist: Beggar So, but with a slightly different approach.
Like the other film of this duel set, Wong
Kei-Ying is based on a classic Chinese folk hero in a modern retelling of a
classic tale. It features a low budget with some generally melodramatic
made-for-TV executions that may rub viewers the wrong way. If you have
reservations with that or have no interest in traditional martial arts cinema,
then this one might be a skip. For me, Wong
Kei-Ying actually shows improvement over Beggar So by trimming a lot of the fat and focusing down a bit more
on a more dynamic narrative – even if that narrative remains decently
predictable by kung fu flick standards. It’s one of those films that will
mostly interest kung fu fans, but for that niche it remains entertaining enough
for the watch even if it is hardly the best version of this character that has
been put to film.
