Review: Kung Pow

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Posted by JonKatz on Sunday January 27, 2002 @04:45AM from the enter-the-mess-of-a-movie dept.

Well, some of you warned me, and you were right. Kung Pow - Enter the Fist had a great premise and the trailers were tantalizing. Steve Oedekerk borrowed from Woody Allen's What's Up Tiger Lily? to make a Kung Fu spoof patched together from a little known 1976 karate film Tiger and Crane Fists. But the result is anything but funny. Spoilage warning: plot discussed, not ending.

This one should have worked. Oedekerk, writer and director of this mediocrity, is also the star. He uses digital film-editing techniques to insert himself into the older film as the new hero, a creative idea that in better hands could really have been funny.

The Chosen One saw his family killed by the evil Master Pain/Betty and was raised by rodents. He finds his way to Master Tang, then falls in love with Tang's daughter Ling, who speaks in a perpetual whine. The stop-action overdubs and hesitations are funny at first, but then are just headache-inducing. There are a few inspired moments -- I personally loved the karate brawl with the dairy cow -- but the movie derails as he comes closer and closer to his confrontation with Master Pain.

Don't be fooled by the trailers. Every funny scene is in them. There are few movies I can't sit through, but this one was a struggle. It really isn't worth much more discussion, and my best advice would be to skip it altogether.

9 of 211 comments (clear)

I agree, skip it by frostgiant · 2002-01-27 04:48 · Score: 4, Funny

I saw this movie and... yuck!
I guess I should've known... The previews said "From the director of Ace Ventura 2". I don't know if you've ever seen Ace Ventura 2 or not, but let's just say it sucked.

Go see "A Beautiful Mind" if you haven't already, it is much, much better.
A real review by Papa+Legba · 2002-01-27 05:02 · Score: 5, Funny

"Not worth stealing. Two cds better used to rip John Tesh MP3s and archiving them for eternity"

---Internet piracy council

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Papa Legba come and open the gate
ya but.. by AA0 · 2002-01-27 05:19 · Score: 3, Funny

this guys too hard a critic. I mean, he'd probably give Booty Call 2 a bad review.
Re:I thought it had one shot value by mizhi · 2002-01-27 05:31 · Score: 1, Funny

Even worse than Battlefield Earth?

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Below my current threshhold by Anonymous Coward · 2002-01-27 06:01 · Score: 2, Funny

I'm sorry, can anyone tell me what Katz said in his review? I got one of those
This review is beneath your current threshhold...
messages when I tried to read it.
Wrong title in America by _ganja_ · 2002-01-27 07:07 · Score: 4, Funny

Apprently Donald Rumsfeld wants the name of the movie changed to "Kung illegal combatants".

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Re:OT: Maybe by Grandpa+Jive · 2002-01-27 07:20 · Score: 2, Funny

"Lets see... Barney's film is full of touching emotion... but man getting hit in the groin by a football has a a man getting hit in the groin by a football."

-Homer Simpson
Re:I thought it had one shot value by RevAaron · 2002-01-27 07:49 · Score: 3, Funny

Shut up, you filfthy man-animal!

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Re:I thought it had one shot value by nick_burns · 2002-01-27 08:28 · Score: 2, Funny

Was I the only one who saw Freddy Got Fingered in theaters?