An undisputed Shaw Bros. classic, King Boxer, along with Enter the Dragon, helped spark the kung-fu craze in the US. The plot is simple, an evil martial arts school wants to destroy its rival, and will stop at nothing to achieve that goal, and it is up to a young disciple to learn the "Iron Palm" technique and bring down the bad guys. King Boxer features every kind of fight you can imagine, and graphic violence up the wazoo. Eyeballs are plucked out, heads lopped off, hands crushed, and all other kinds of delightful displays of gruesome shenanigans. The fights are plentiful, the good guys charming, the bad guys sinister (the main villain has the required evil mustache), and there are even samurai! There are also double and triple and quadruple crosses, a love triangle, and a bit of melodrama. Shot in colorful 'Scope, King Boxer is an impressive looking film that still retains every bit of excitement it had when it first came out. It is the quintessential kung-fu myth, and its place in popular culture is forever assured. For myself, much of the appeal here lies in the film's mythical quality, its larger-than-life storytelling, and its sheer sense of good fun. And there is something great about actually being able to see the action onscreen, as opposed to today's action movies that relish in shaky camera movements, quick cutting, and blurry visuals. Rarely do we see contemporary action films that have such a grasp of all the various elements holding it together. There is something very magical about this one. Plus, for those of you who have only seen Kill Bill, this is where Tarantino got the "wee-ooh" sound effect from.
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