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Cast:
Joel
Otero
Young Choi
Kee
Joe Incognoli
Jr.,
Vishnu
Kenya Peterson
Eric
Jacobus
Gavin
Merrick
Director:
Jeff Centauri
Michael Su
Adrian Sotomayor
Darren Biggs
Declan Mulvey
The Stunt People
Anthony Alba
Kwoon
Score:
 
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EVERYONE
IS KUNG FU FIGHTING
AKA:
Everyone Is Kung-Fu Fighting
Year:
2004 Reviewer: Phil
Mills
It
has to be said that this is one of the most unorthodox reviews
placed on the site as it isn't Asian or even a complete movie
for that matter, but the subject material and quality seen in
'Everyone Is Kung Fu Fighting' make it a worthwhile mention
for fans of Martial Arts cinema. Basically, what we have here
is a collection of 9 short amateur Martial Arts orientated
features that are clearly inspired by Hong Kong cinema.
Obviously I will have to skip any kind of summary as the
majority of them actually encompass very little story but
sufficed to say, they all concentrate on including numerous
fight sequences and home made stunts.
On
the whole I have nothing but praise for the efforts of all
involved here but a couple of the shorts on display really
stand out. 'Gung Fu' is the first of these and is a
humorous take on Sammo Hung's character in 'Martial Law'.
Utilising a very similar looking actor to Sammo, it's littered
with a lot of his trademark kicks and punches along with a
couple of entertaining stunts that all add-up to a very
impressive homage to the big man. In a similar vein, you
also have the amusing 'Crouching Waiter, Hidden Chef' that,
whilst not as impressive in the action department, is played
successfully for laughs with very Jackie Chan-esque moments.
Credit must also go to 'Kung Fu II: Turbo legends' and
'Teamwork 2', both of which show real signs of talent from all
involved and offer up some dazzling amateur martial artistry.
However, the prize winner here has to be 'Prison Warz' that
really took my breath away thanks to the outstanding bootwork
and acrobatics. Set in a moodily lit warehouse, we see a
group of prisoners battling it out using several different
styles of martial arts that contain some superb combinations.
It's not perfect yet or up to some of the highest standards
but the man responsible deserves to go far and if Hollywood
producers are on the lookout for new talent then they have
found him here.
It's
not really fair for me to be too critical of the ones that I
didn't favour but there is a noticeable dip in quality once we
get to third or fourth movie. The under-par 'Dare' looks
to be shot on a much lower grade film and favours the MTV
style of quick cut editing which just seems to make the action
confusing rather than entertaining. 'Cradle 2 The Kind'
and 'Kaela' also felt a little stale to me as, despite the
obvious talent of the leads (and attractiveness where Kaela is
concerned), it lacks the polish or originality to make them
worthy of a second watch. Similarly, 'Kwoon' suffers
with the same problems although it's obvious that this one has
been made more for laughs. However, in amongst all these
action-fests, the fights on offer did seem extremely slow and
dull, so it just didn't grab in ways that the others did.
Obviously
this is an unusual review so to compare this score to other
films on the site would be unfair but in terms of effort it
deserves 4 stars. Considering the budgets they all had
to work with and lack of professional assistance, this is a
very entertaining watch with some fight choreography that puts
the people working in Hollywood to shame. I guess if
it's good old fashioned 80s action you really want, then you
have to turn to the fans to reproduce it.
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