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Starring
:
Ng
Kun Lung
Wilson
Tong
Fong
Hak On
Chan
Hui Man
Angela
Mao
Philip
Ko
Action
:
Wilson
Tong
Producer
:
Lee
Ching
Director
:
Wilson
Tong
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SNAKE
DEADLY ACT (1980)
Reviewed
by Andrew Saroch
Kwok
(Ng Kun Lung) prides himself on his upright character and his
desire to fight against any villains in the town. However,
Kwok is simply not good enough to live up to his beliefs and
finds himself beaten regularly by those he encounters. During
one such encounter, the young pretender is saved from a severe
bruising by an expert Snake Fist fighter (Fong Hak On) who
then appears a second time during a fight with a casino boss
(Chan Hui Man). After saving him again, Kwok begs the stranger
to accept him as a student and teach him this deadly style.
Agreeing to the request, the master takes this new charge
under his wing and slowly turns him into an expert fighter.
With his faith now fully centred on his master, Kwok is told a
shocking secret about his father. Added to this is the
discovery that his master is far from righteous too and both
men are in fact very familiar to one another. In a final
showdown, the Snake Fist expert faces his student's father
with the confused Kwok stuck in the middle.
There's
ways to make the usual master/student storyline interesting
and even refreshing. Sammo Hung's masterpiece 'Prodigal
Son' and classics like 'Drunken
Master', 'Magnificent
Butcher' and 'Knockabout'
all succeed in achieving this. Sadly, 'Snake Deadly Act' is
too prosaic to escape its over-familiar plot; director Wilson
Tong films the proceedings in a way that is easy to telegraph,
but also lacking in energy. Therefore, every cliched scene
lacks a real spark and is instead welded together
mechanically. It's also significant that Ng Kun Lung - a
real kung fu master - lacks the charisma and presence of
Jackie, Sammo or Biao. These bad points do not make 'Snake
Deadly Act' a complete waste of time though; with an
accomplished cast of this nature on hand, it would be almost
impossible not to make something that is at least
entertaining. Whereas Ng Kun Lung struggles with his acting
range, he is an accomplished martial artist who looks powerful
in the film's later fights. There's also a few enjoyable
performances by some of the genre's best loved faces; even in
a mere cameo, Angela Mao is assured, showing all of her years
of screen experience.
'Snake
Deadly Act' is a typical example of a good, but not great
independent kung fu flick. The end twists that open up a world
of possibilities are very poorly handled and the opportunities
to develop the characters are never taken. This means that
'Snake Deadly Act' never achieves what it could so easily have
done.
Rating:
 
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