An awesome movie

manystyles

This film is more then a Kung-Fu flick. Its the only good African-American inspired martial arts movie I have ever seen (Sorry Jim Kelly, its true).

The plot is a standard Kung-Fu movie style.

Student seeks final knowledge or skill so must quest for a new teacher, student has good friends that need his help and family problems, a brother he cannot relate to and a life that walks against the grain of the place he is from (in this case, NYC of all places) and his family (they own a pizza shop, yes that is part of the comedy of the movie, an African-American family that owns and operates a pizzeria) , student encounters bad guy and bad guy's equally evil cohorts, student falls in love with woman, she is in danger. She gets in trouble, so does his family, He sets out to saves his love interest.

Kung Fu fighting ensues.

However, it is the crossover elements of the movie that really pull it all together. The break dancing/Hip-Hop element of the film REALLY works. Its done amazingly well. The Hip-Hop doesn't seem tacked on and it actually fits into the plot of the movie. The younger brother (and the central "Hip-Hop" character) played by Leo O'Brien does shine as the flub for his older brother's straight man routine. You gotta remember that this film was made during the peak of the early Hip-Hop era (think, right around the time Beat Street was made) and as a result the dancing, music, style and attitude still comes off as fresh and not watered down or overdone like it is today. The love interest (Vanity) is the host of a "Soul Train" like show, and the elements of the plot tie nicely into the hip-hop/80's pop music theme of the whole film.

Sure, the bad guys are comical and over the top, but that's what I expect from a Kung Fu movie. Think of this film as a blending of the serious Bruce Lee themes of justice and revenge with the Jackie Chan/Stepeh Chow over the top comedy approach. Its probably one of the myriad of movies Tarantino watched to put together Kill Bill, and probably the reason he went for a hip-hop inspired soundtrack to the film.

I won't give away the ending, but I will say this, its worth the 12 dollars you'll spend on the DVD. Of all the movies in my collection, this is the one most people pick up, read the back and say "lets watch this". A good lazy evening movie.

score 9/10

manystyles 17 March 2006

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1317460/