This Is Kung Fu (1987 Video) User Reviews

A very good introduction to kung fu styles in movies

[ewa-3 · 8/10 · 5 June 2005]

I agree completely with the Good Doctor's comments above, although I may have a different cut of this movie. The one I have--titled "Shaolin One" and released by Ground Zero has several minutes at the beginning of Jet Li essentially doing a martial arts recital. Many styles, fist, leg, weapons...it is widescreen and very sharp. Then the movie itself begins, full frame and not subtitled. The voice over is done by an announcer with a Commonwealth accent and fits the action very well.

All of that aside, any version of this movie will be an excellent outline of what Hong Kong martial arts movie fans see on the screen and is highly recommended.

excellent demonstrations of kung fu

[theGoodDoctor · 9/10 · 9 October 2002]

I bought this movie at the mall for $15 on a whim, and it's the best fifteen dollars I've spent in recent memory. It's a documentary, so there are no "you killed my brother..." style dramatics, but any lovers of terrible translations will be pleased to know that the DVD, at least, is barely intelligible. A sword kata is described as being "Water-proof and strange" and an elderly demonstrator is introduced by saying "This 80s man is naughty." It's not all camp, though, as the footage of kung fu (which is essentially the entire movie) is unbelievable. Authentic masters of various styles demonstrate every weapon and every animal style I've ever heard of. They do it with amazing skill, too. Much of this is one-person kata, but there is a handful of two-, three-, and four- man battles. Overall, this movie is good enough that I and people I know have watched it at least two dozen times, and hit the hilights twice that.