The Master (1980)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Excellent adaptation.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

By 1980, the entire genre of Chinese martial arts movies--which, in my estimation, had always benefited from its rough-edged quality--was being formalized into something comparable to American soap operas or even Italian Mannerist painting. Better production values are fine, but not when the end result is a film so slick and shiny that it's painful to look at. In technical terms, "The Master" (which aired on cable TV in the mid-1980s as "Three Evil Masters") is a product of its time, but has enough heart to work. Yuen Tak convincingly portrays a bullied, low-ranking student at an unethical kung-fu school who gives refuge to an injured martial arts master (Chen Kuan-tai, who's always worth watching). Chen was wounded in a fight with three bandits who have been terrorizing the countryside, and in exchange for food and shelter he teaches Yuen some valuable moves. Gradually, Yuen becomes a better fighter and must singlehandedly confront the bandits--led by fearsome, white-haired Wang Lung-wei--when they decide to take over the kung-fu school. Terrific fight choreography by Hsu Hsia, and a maddeningly catchy opening theme (which plays beautifully over Chen Kuan-tai's first brawl with the villains) by Eddie Wang. Seven and a half stars.

THE MASTER gets off to a great start, with Jin Tianyun (Chen Kuan Tai) being attacked in a tea house. The fight scene is great, with a little twist of its own: Jin thinks he's up against three opponents- The Three Devils-, but he's nearly fatally wounded by a fourth attacker- the owner of the tea house himself. Jin escapes by diving through a window- with the treacherous owner's knife still in him. Meanwhile, Gao (Yuen) is being mercilessly bullied at "The Decent School of Martial Arts." Gao gets reprimanded when he fights back and his suffering is compounded. When he returns home that night, Jin arrives, nearly dead, and Gao takes him in. As Jin secretly recovers (Gao would be in even deeper **** if Jin's presence were known), Gao discovers that Jin had once beaten Gao's master, Shi. Jin muses that he'll live to be 90. "How can a blind man see the future?" Gao wonders. To get money to buy medicine to help Jin, Gao goes undercover in a brothel and steals it. He is "outed" and beats a hasty retreat. When Jin has recovered enough, he confronts the pretentious Shi, but is injured again. When he flees Shi's school, he's ambushed once again by The Three Devils and killed. The 3 then decimate Shi's school and take up permanent residence. Gao becomes a waiter in a tea house. There is plenty of solid action throughout THE MASTER and it's beautifully choreographed and shot. The one and only flaw is a single reverse-action shot that stands out in my mind because it's the ONLY real flaw in the entire film. That's why I rate it a solid ten.

THE MASTER (1980) was made at Shaw Bros., but displays a look and feel much closer to the indie kung fu films of 1980 than it does to other Shaw martial arts films of the time such as Chang Cheh's Five Venoms spectacles. It has a few Shaw trademarks, including some large sets and several dependable Shaw character actors, but its story is simpler and less wide-ranging, with an emphasis on training, and the main cast is much smaller, with only five major characters participating in the important fight scenes. It packs a lot of fighting (staged by Hsu Hsia) into a concise structure that serves as a showcase for the considerable talents of young Yuen Tak (billed as Yuan Te), one of Jackie Chan's classmates at the Peking Opera school in Hong Kong that spawned so many kung fu movie greats.Yuen plays Gao Jian, a hapless student being taught at a school run by a vain, not-so-skilled teacher (Lin Ho Nien). One night he encounters a wounded kung fu master, Jin Tianyun (Chen Kuan Tai), a legendary warrior fleeing from a fight in which he was stabbed in a sneak attack and now has to hide from his pursuers, the Three Devils. Gao tends to Master Jin and hides him in his shack and, in return, Master Jin teaches Gao some essential kung fu. After a tragic turn of events, Gao goes off for a year to practice and then comes back to find his teacher's school taken over by the Three Devils, who are seeking to create a haven for other outlaws. This leads to a series of exciting final bouts between Gao and each of the Devils, the leader of whom is played by the great Wang Lung Wei.Yuen Tak was the ever-patient fiancé in the delightful AMBITIOUS KUNG FU GIRL (also reviewed on this site), the first film in which he fully registered with me. I found his performance here quite a revelation. He incorporates a lot of acrobatics into his moves and certainly compares well with all the other young stars playing eager, put-upon kung fu students at the same time in non-Shaw films (e.g. Meng Fei, Lee Yi Min, Meng Yuan Man, Cliff Lok, etc.). Yuen went on to become a prominent fight choreographer in Hong Kong and even in Hollywood, where he worked on "Martial Law" and Jet Li's THE ONE.Kung fu great Chen Kuan Tai (THE BOXER FROM SHANTUNG) has a relatively small part. He's got a great fight scene at the beginning, but its impact is diminished by the decision to keep freezing the frame all through it in order to show the credits. Candy Wen Hsueh-erh, the only female in the film, plays the daughter of Gao's teacher, but she doesn't get much to do.Overall, it was a pleasant surprise to find a Shaw Bros. kung fu film I hadn't seen before that was so direct, straightforward and free of the studio's usual frills.

THE MASTER is a very entertaining kung fu comedy from the last days of the Shaw Brothers. After the success of Drunken Master and Snake in the eagle shadow, the studio release this one, showing the great capacities of Chen Kuan Tai as "the master". The humor is a bit irritating but there are some good gags and the action is fast-paced. Kung fu choregraphies are good, like in the Jackie Chan movies of this era. This movies is not a masterpiece but it's really fun to watch: the plot is simple, there is a slightly erotic sequence, some violence and plenty of fights. If you like shaw brothers movies that go straight in your face like Monkey Kung Fu or Crippled Avenger, you will surly like this one! Worth catching for all kung fu fan, like the other Tony Liu movies, especially the crazy Holy Flame of the Martial World.