Chinese Boxer, The

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3.5/5The Film

Jimmy Wang Yu plays a noble Kung Fu student named Lei Ming. One day, a gang of vicious Japanese Karate punks burt onto the scene and kill everyone at his school except for him. Everyone is dead, even his teacher. This inspires Lei Ming to master the art of the iron palm technique and avenge every body elses death by taking down the Japanese devils and making them pay. One by one, he tracks them down and squares off against his enemies until it’s time for the ultimate showdown.

One of the first big stars of the Shaw Brothers martial arts films, Jimmy Wang Yu has a fantastic screen presence and that sort of cool charm and charisma that always makes for a good leading man. Sure, maybe his martial arts skills were a little below some of his contemporaries and yeah, okay, a lot of his movies relied more on gimicks than really good fight choreography but Wang Yu had one thing working in his favor that a lot of his other fellow big screen kung fu masters lacked – passion.

Despite the fact that Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan would have almost certainly kicked the snot of him in seconds flat, Wang Yu convinces you that he is the man by really and truly meaning it. When he speaks, you listen and you pay attention because of his enthusiasm for what he’s doing up there on your television or local theater screen.

While the plot doesn’t really stray into anything resembling new territory, let’s face it – the Chinese martial arts students versus the sinister Japanese angle has been played out more than a couple of times – The Chinese Boxer sets itself apart thanks to a great cast consisting of Wang Yu, Lo Lieh (who plays the big bad rapist Japanese bad guy leader), and even a cameo from Yuen Wo-Ping. It also has a very dusty, dirty feel to it and it looks to have been influenced by the Spaghetti Westerns coming out of Italy a few years earlier. Wang Yu is a hero out for revenge and if you changed his clothes and gave him a smoke and some stubble, he wouldn’t look out of place with a hat on wandering into a one horse town awaiting a shoot out.

While far gorier films would emerge out of Hong Kong (Cheng Cheh’s films come immediately to mind), The Chinese Boxer still has an obvious vicious streak running throughout. Wang Yu pulls off an eye gouge or two (similar to one of Sonny Chiba’s preferred methods of dealing with his enemies) and puts his fist through a couple of chest cavities during his travels as well. While it isn’t as over the top as later Wang Yu directorial efforts like his most famous film, Master Of The Flying Guillotine, it’s still got enough crazed kung fu action to make this one very much worth your time.

4/5Video

2.5/5Audio

The Mandarin Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mix is odd. Celestial has obviously remixed the sound and they’ve done a very strange job on this release. While the dialogue, sound effects, and background music are all mixed and balanced properly, there are some very obviously inserted sound effects present in the mix that sound, well, bad. It also sounds like Celestial has messed with the soundtrack as well, and has added some synthesized music that really feels very out of place in the film. So while the clarity of the track is fine, the quality of it is definitely questionable, which is a shame, as it really does mar what would otherwise be a very nice DVD. Optional subtitles are included in Chinese and in English.

2/5Extras

3/5Overall

The Chinese Boxer is a great ‘old school’ martial arts film. Jimmy Wang Yu holds his own and does a great job in this one, and Celestials DVD looks fantastic. It’s a shame about the tinkering with the sound on this disc, but the DVD is still definitely worth owning.

Film Rating		DVD Rating
Director:	Jimmy Wang Yu	Film:
Writer:	Jimmy Wang Yu	Video:
Released:	1970	Audio:
Cast:	Jimmy Wang Yu, Lo Lieh, Wang Ping, Chao Hsiung, Cheng Lei	Extras:
		Overall: