The Master Strikes (1980)

The Master Strikes was another film attempting to capitalize on Jackie Chan’s success with kung fu comedies. And failed badly. Female director Kao Pao Shu made other watchable kung fu flicks and this was watchable—just barely.

Chen runs what appears to be a one-man escort service. He’s hired by Lung to transport an expensive jade horse. When he arrives with the sealed box at the destination, the horse is missing. He has to sell everything he owns to pay back Lung. Meanwhile two con artists are running scams on people at a casino until Meg Lam throws them out. Chen goes mad from losing his business and picks fights with nearly everyone. When the con artists hear Chen’s story they tell him he has been scammed. Realizing this Lung fellow is a wealthy crook they determine to hunt him down and steal his loot using Chen as their kung fu muscle.

This movie was a major disappointment. Casanova Wong had fast kicks, but his acting as the mad Chen was awful. The two con artists were played by Meng Yuen Man and Tony Ching Siu Tung. These two were not known for being main characters. Ching Siu Tung worked as a martial arts director far more than as an actor. Meng only performed in around 20 films, usually in small roles. Yen Shi Kwan as the Big Bad, was the more talented of the actors and a strong kung fu artist but didn’t have much to do. Eddy Ko showed up in his “mom hair” wig to fight a few times. Max Lee in a Drunken Master bad gray wig had a small part as Beggar So to train the con artists in “Leap Frog” style.

The fight choreography by Ching Siu Tung was creative enough when it wasn’t over cranked, there just wasn’t enough of it. The fists and kicks obviously missed by a mile/km. Casanova, Meng, and Ching were all acrobatic flipping and bouncing around which was entertaining. Normally, the grand finale fight runs around 20 minutes. This finale lasted barely 10. There are some kung fu flicks where the fights make up for the lack of story or acting ability. Such was not the case for The Master Strikes. I’m not a huge fan of kung fu comedies, and usually try not to ding my scores for them too much, but this one was painfully bad, boring, and lacking in enough exciting fights. Sorry, Kao Pao Shu, you know I support you girl as the only (kung fu) female director at the time TMS was made, this one just didn’t make the grade.

3 September 2025

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