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The Kung Fu Cult Master
AKA: The Evil Cult
Chingmy Yau and Jet Li
AKA: The Kung Fu Colt Master
AKA: Kung Fu Master
AKA: Lord of the Wu Tang
Year: 1993
Director: Wong Jing
Action: Sammo Hung Kam-Bo
Cast: Jet Li Lian-Jie, Cheung Man, Chingmy Yau Suk-Ching, Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, Francis Ng Chun-Yu, Gigi Lai Chi, Ngai Sing, Richard Ng Yil-Hon, Leung Ka-Yan, Tin Kai-Man
The Skinny: Uneven kung-fu epic is also a lightning-paced swordplay extravaganza that should entertain through sheer spectacle.
Review
by Kozo:
     An overly confusing plot weighs down this Wong Jing flying kung-fu extravaganza, which was based on Jin Yong's novel "Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre" (Yi Tian Tu Long Ji). Here we go: there’s a huge hullabaloo about two swords that everyone wants to find, because ownership means you’ll be master of the world of martial arts. Two factions arise from the competition for the swords. One is a group composed of all your famous martial arts clans, i.e. Shaolin, Wu Tang, and all those guys. On the other end is the Ming Sect, sometimes called the Evil Sect, which is led by weird fellows like Green Bat and Gold Lion. 
     Things get weird when two young lovers from opposing factions (Francis Ng and Cheung Man) sire a young child, Chang Mo-Kei, who eventually becomes a pawn of these warring sects. His parents commit suicide to protect the location of Gold Lion, who has one of the fabled swords in his possession. Chang Mo-Kei grows up to be Jet Li, but he’s a total wuss because he was struck with the “Jinx Palm,” which makes practicing martial arts impossible. 
     Mo-Kei is ousted by jealous schoolmate Ngai Sing, and finds himself at the mercy of a wacky monk who teaches him the “Solar Stance,” which heals his wound and makes him invulnerable. Mo-Kei sets out to stop the insanity - especially after he discovers that the whole sect vs. sect war is a clever plan formulated by the government to reduce the power of the martial arts clans. And if that's not enough plot for you, I left out a bunch of stuff. 
     Only Wong Jing could take a Jin Yong story and turn it into crass entertainment, meaning bad jokes and toilet humor. Luckily, the over-the-top fight sequences from Sammo Hung are amazing. Sure, it all makes next to no sense, but the spectacle is almost peerless. The female leads give surprising performances. Chingmy Yau is quite appealing as the good girl and Cheung Man is quite effective as the femme fatale. Sadly, many of the films plot points are never revealed. It seems that the film was intended as the first of a two-parter - but this film was a financial flop, so a sequel was never made. Regardless, enjoy it for what it is: fast, furious, frenetic, and fundamentally forgettable. (Kozo 1995)
Availability: DVD (Hong Kong)
Region 0 NTSC
Mei Ah Laser
16x9 Anamorphic Widescreen
Cantonese and Mandarin Language Tracks
Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1
Removable English and Chinese Subtitles

image courtesy of Mei Ah Laser Disc Co., Ltd.

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