02-14-2010, 06:18 PM
This premiered at Cannes in 2008. Sammo Hung plays an aging wushu coach. There are 6 wushu champ kids trying to make it to sports college. It's filmed in the north, and almost catches the harsness of a Chinese wushu school, but it cleans everything up for PRC consumption. There's a stupid subplot - or maybe it's the main plot - about child kidnappers. It's never clear what they intend to do with the kids or why the cops can't catch them when they know where their lair is, or why more people are upset when kids are kidnapped in broad daylight, but it gives Sammo a good excuse to show everyone who's boss with that fat front kick of his. Sammo's still got it. This film is one of those could-have-beens. My mind was reeling with alternative story arcs and ways to make this film better with what they had. But it went the direction of a rather insipid PRC formula flick. It showcased wushu well.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse