I bought this movie for 88 cents Canadian, which is insanely cheap. It was definitely worth the money and then a little more. This movie is quite funny at times. Occasionally it's funny on purpose and occasionally it's funny by accident. The plot is just an excuse for Jackie Chan to learn the five fists technique for the inevitable show down with the seemingly invincible 7 fist technique villain who wants to become clan leader. Most of the action for the first 40 minutes or so is non-existent. Instead, we're left with bits of physical comedy, including a rather long scene when Jackie first meats the ghosts. Most of that scene is actually funny in a really goofy, weird, stupid kind of way. Once that scene is done with we're left with some above average fight scenes.
Chan has two fight scenes with the daughter of the leader of the Wu Tang clan and they're both entertaining due in part to the ridiculous dialog's. We also got to see some mildly entertaining scenes with the villain beating up other clan leaders. The real keeper here and what pretty much made this movie worth the 88 cents alone is when Jackie fights a whole load of shaolin monks at once. He begins fighting with a staff and then eventually tonfa's (I think that's what they're called). This whole scene is quite long and just keeps getting better; really great stuff. Jackie then has two fight scenes at the end. One is with the villain and it is well done due to the five different animal styles Chan amusingly implements. The other is with the Villain's father, which is mostly devoid of Kung Fu and starts with the physical comedy again.
I should also mention the awful dubbing and really weird synth music that sounds like a mix between 70's porno, traditional Chinese, and 80's sci-fi synth. If those ballerina ghosts weren't weird enough the music certainly was. The special effects are also awful. Someone already mentioned the fire cracker on the stick. Honestly, what can you expect? It was laughable and it actually made the movie more enjoyable. I laughed the most at the fire cracker and you probably will too. The plot is run of the mill and is just an excuse for fights.
Lastly I'll mention that the version I have is kind of weird in that half the time it appears that the top and side portions of the film are missing. I say that because routinely stuff was happening in the scene just off to the side that I should have been able to see and you really notice it during the fights where one guy is half off-camera and half on-camera. I don't think that was done on purpose. The quality of the video is awful too, but that's to be expected... however, the sound effects are better than most during this time period.
All in all if you can find this for as cheap as I did, or perhaps for a little more it's definitely worth owning if you're a Jackie Chan or a Kung Fu fan in general. There are 4 quality fights (for the time/budget) and depending on what kind of sense of humor you have, you'll probably find the movie reasonable funny as well.
Chan has two fight scenes with the daughter of the leader of the Wu Tang clan and they're both entertaining due in part to the ridiculous dialog's. We also got to see some mildly entertaining scenes with the villain beating up other clan leaders. The real keeper here and what pretty much made this movie worth the 88 cents alone is when Jackie fights a whole load of shaolin monks at once. He begins fighting with a staff and then eventually tonfa's (I think that's what they're called). This whole scene is quite long and just keeps getting better; really great stuff. Jackie then has two fight scenes at the end. One is with the villain and it is well done due to the five different animal styles Chan amusingly implements. The other is with the Villain's father, which is mostly devoid of Kung Fu and starts with the physical comedy again.
I should also mention the awful dubbing and really weird synth music that sounds like a mix between 70's porno, traditional Chinese, and 80's sci-fi synth. If those ballerina ghosts weren't weird enough the music certainly was. The special effects are also awful. Someone already mentioned the fire cracker on the stick. Honestly, what can you expect? It was laughable and it actually made the movie more enjoyable. I laughed the most at the fire cracker and you probably will too. The plot is run of the mill and is just an excuse for fights.
Lastly I'll mention that the version I have is kind of weird in that half the time it appears that the top and side portions of the film are missing. I say that because routinely stuff was happening in the scene just off to the side that I should have been able to see and you really notice it during the fights where one guy is half off-camera and half on-camera. I don't think that was done on purpose. The quality of the video is awful too, but that's to be expected... however, the sound effects are better than most during this time period.
All in all if you can find this for as cheap as I did, or perhaps for a little more it's definitely worth owning if you're a Jackie Chan or a Kung Fu fan in general. There are 4 quality fights (for the time/budget) and depending on what kind of sense of humor you have, you'll probably find the movie reasonable funny as well.