|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The
Master |
|
|
| |
|
review | notes | availability | |
Yuen Wah and Jet Li |
|
|
AKA: |
Wong
Fei-Hong '92 |
|
|
Year: |
1992 |
|
|
Director: |
Tsui
Hark |
|
|
Action: |
Yuen
Wah |
|
|
Cast: |
Jet Li Lian-Jie, Yuen
Wah, Jerry Trimble, Crystal Kwok
Kam-Yan,
Billy Blanks, To Wai-Woo, Lam Ping-Hong |
|
|
The
Skinny: |
If
this is why Jet Li decided to stop working with Tsui Hark,
then I must heartily support his decision. Probably the worst
Jet Li (and even Tsui Hark) production. |
|
|
Review
by Kozo: |
Jet Li's most ill-advised project, this modern take on Wong
Fei-Hong substitutes San Francisco for Canton and bad stuff
for everything else. Li is a student of master Yuen Wah, who
runs a herbal medicine shop in San Francisco called Po Chi
Lam (Just like Wong Fei-Hong, get it?). Jet arrives in the
US to visit his master, but runs into trouble. It seems that
some of his master's American students want to use their new
kung-fu skills for personal gain. To teach them their place,
Jet does the obvious: he beats them up soundly.
Aside from the world-class boring
plotline, the movie wastes just about every other resource
it has. The fighting itself is decent, but the acting is terrible,
the script shoddy, and the technical gaffes near-unforgiveable.
In one dolly zoom, the camera zooms back to reveal...the dolly
track! Furthermore the character depictions are obscenely
ill-advised, and the comedy is just plain annoying. Why Jet
Li and Tsui Hark chose to do this film after all their fine
Hong Kong work is a mystery that cannot be easily explained.
(Kozo 1999) |
|
|
Notes: |
•
Like many other films of its ilk, the Miramax/Dimension/Disney
consortium has purchased the North American rights to The
Master. Surprisingly, the film title has been left unchanged
and is still The Master. Normally the mention of Disney
purchasing a Hong Kong film gets a full round of boos, but
in the case of The Master, they're welcome to have
it.
• For a full report on any cuts and changes made to the
US version of this film, as well as other Asian films purchased
by Disney/Miramax, visit the Web
Alliance for the Respectful Treatment of Asian Cinema. |
|
|
Availability: |
DVD
(Hong Kong)
Region 0 NTSC
Universe Laser
Full Screen
Cantonese and Mandarin Language Tracks
Dolby Digital 5.1
Removable English and Chinese Subtitles |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
image courtesy
of Universe Laser & Video Co., Ltd.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| LoveHKFilm.com
Copyright ©2002-2008 Ross Chen |
|
|
