Kung Pow: Enter the Fist (2002)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Steve Oedekerk

Writer (WGA):

Steve Oedekerk (written by)

Release Date:

25 January 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy

Plot:

Kung Pow: Enter the Fist is a movie within a movie, created to spoof the martial arts genre. Writer/director...

Plot Keywords:

Kung Fu | Martial Arts | Spoof | Chosen One | Martial Arts Gymnastics

Cast

Steve Oedekerk	...	Chosen One / Dubbed Voices
Fei Lung	...	Master Pain (Betty) (archive footage)
Leo Lee	...	Young Master Pain (archive footage)
Ling Ling Tse	...	Ling (archive footage)
Lin Yan	...	Dying Ling
Chia Yung Liu	...	Wimp Lo (archive footage) (as Lau Kar Wing)
Hui Lou Chen	...	Master Tang (archive footage)
Chi Ma	...	Master Doe (archive footage)
Jennifer Tung	...	Whoa
Lo Ming	...	Father
Peggy Lu	...	Mother
Tad Horino	...	Chew Fat Lip
Tori Tran	...	Peasant Woman
Simon Rhee	...	Young Master Pain's Henchman
Joon B. Kim	...	Henchman #2

Also Known As:

Kung Pow! Enter the Fist (USA) (video box title)
The Dubbed Action Movie: Enter the Fist (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for comic violence, crude and sexual humor.

Runtime:

81 min | Japan:82 min

Country:

USA | Hong Kong

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #38378) | South Korea:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Finland:K-15 | Singapore:NC-16 (DVD rating) | Spain:13 | UK:12 | Singapore:PG (original rating) | Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

With exception of the character Whoa, Steve Oedekerk did all of the other character's dubbed voices.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Wimp Lo first challenges the Chosen One, the background can be seen through his digital form.

Quotes:

Master Tang: [singing] Oh, Taco Bell, Taco Bell, product placement with Taco Bell. Enchirito...
Students: [joining in singing] Nacho, Burrito...

Movie Connections:

Spoofs The Matrix (1999)

Soundtrack:

The Chosen One

Thought provoking and tense drama...

Only kidding :) Kung Pow is in a league of its own in terms of calibre. It's a slapstick 'chop socky' martial arts comedy full of silliness and ridiculous dialogue. Its vehicle is that it uses old footage of kung fu films such as Enter the Dragan and overlays its modern content onto them. Plus add intentionally bad dubbing and you have a movie which never for a second tries to be subtle, ingenious, or intelligent.

Kung Pow is absolutely, 100% absurdity and it uses this to its fullest extent.

The plot, if that's what you'd call it, is a mocking of just about every martial arts classic which has a 'wrong fella decides to wreak revenge on the nasty sorts who ruined his life' style story.

Steve Oedekerk is 'The Chosen One' whose mission it is to get revenge on the bad folk in as amusing a way as he possibly can. Master Pain is his nemesis and the bad man directly responsible for the unspeakable acts against his family.

The rest of the movie is purposefully disjointed and has no continuity half the time, but a masterclass in editing is not the point of this exercise. This is simply ridiculous fun, and assuming you switch off your brain completely and wreck any remaining braincells, you will be quite entertained.

As for how funny it is, well, that's quite subjective. Many of the gags are clearly forced and milked (No pun intended (You'll understand that one if you see it)) for all they're worth. However, many *do* work and provide belly laughs. Sure, you'll not have tears rolling down your cheeks but if you're willing to stoop to the dumb level the movie demands of you, you *will* be at least amused.

One thing the movie makes particularly good use of is special effects, with some more than decent CG animation complimenting a number of scenes. Aside from this, the technical merits of the movie are pretty decent, in that the interpolation of old footage and new footage is actually rather seamless and you'll not spot it a lot of the time, except where you're supposed to.

As The Chosen One, Oedekerk seems to have a great time. It's a daft movie, so he indulges in stupidity as a matter of cause, and it works reasonably well. It's always easier to enjoy a film if it appears the actors are enjoying making it.

Overall, leave your brain at the door and do not expect high brow laughs or Jackie Chan style action and you'll probably get something out of this.