When reading the basic synopsis of the story, I didn’t expect much and was even hesitant to watch it: “Two bumbling pest exterminators cross paths with the enigmatic Lien, a Taoist guardian hunting an ancient Chinese jiangshi in Dublin Ireland. Together they set out to deal with this menace the only way they know how: extermination.” I mean, can you blame me?
In order to work, slapstick martial arts comedies need to have impeccable physical rhythm and real, visible stakes. Without precise timing, comic beats land flat and action loses momentum. Without clear physical consequences, genuinely impressive acrobatic skill, and original moves captured by reliable camerawork, the humor feels weightless and the fight scenes turn into mindless boring noise.
Let’s look at Kung Fu Deadly starting with the good and then the not-so-good and see if we can avoid turning into an evil jiangshi vampire by reading this.
Well for starters, I absolutely loved the special effects of the creatures. When Michael Tient turned into his vampire form, it was reminiscent of when the bad guy played by Peter Greene (may he rest in peace) in Jim Carrey’s ‘The Mask’ transformed with that excellent makeup/prosthetics and dark swirling thunder cloud above his head, awesome vocal special effects and pure sinister evil. I loved that movie as a kid so much! So huge kudos to the makeup team for a job well done here.
The martial arts was good, but it would have been soooooooo much more impressive if they did a few sequence shots (when a long take covers an entire scene without a single edit, filmmakers often call it a oner or sequence shot). That would have injected much needed intense realism and seamless immersion, and showcased incredible coordination between the camera operator, actors, and choreographers.
Think of Goodfellas (1990) containing Martin Scorsese’s iconic “Copacabana shot,” following Ray Liotta and Lorraine Bracco through a crowded nightclub in one seamless 3-minute camera movement. Unreal! Or perhaps more fitting, Shaun of the Dead (2004) where Shaun (Simon Pegg) stumbles out of his flat to walk to the corner shop for a Diet Coke and an Ice Cream, absolutely unaware of the zombie apocalypse unfolding around him. Something like that would have certainly raised the film up a peg or 3 in my book.
The story being set and filmed in Dublin Ireland brought a nice angle, pun intended. It was even more refreshingly funny that our Irish Dublin-dwelling heroes were one Asian and the other african-American in their ancestral lineage. I enjoyed their accents and it was a nice break from the usual strait-laced one-dimensional American characters we find in so many stories.
Speaking of the fighting Irish, I recently fell in love with ‘Power Ballad’ starring Paul Rudd, and that too was filmed in and around Dublin, yet that film even more fully embracing the nuances that come with Irish daily living.
Now let’s talk about the not-so-good:
I’m confused, is the evil our heroes are dealing with actual undead (zombies) or vampires? The description says Chinese jiangshi (an undead hopping vampire) but the name of the story is ‘kung fu deadly’ not ‘kung fu vampires or bloodsuckers for arguments sake. This makes one wonder if this story tried to do too many things, and in doing so, failed to deliver on its essence.
How is this film rated currently with a 7.8 on IMDb.com? That’s a bit of a head scratcher. I would not be so praising. Personally I had to think hard about what story from my illustrious library of martial arts movies I’ve watched mirrored this one, but did it better:
I reckon Kung Fu Hustle is the gold standard for slapstick martial arts movies, where the blueprint is “underdogs must gain martial arts mastery to defeat evil”. Kung Fu Hustle weaves Looney Tunes-style visual comedy with jaw-dropping action sequences, enthralling imagination, emotional payoff, and flawless comedic timing. I just didn’t find much of that here with Kung Fu Deadly.
Sure there were some “lol”-worthy quips, but when the heroine shuts up the evil vampire with a single move and then says “typical man, far too in-love with the sound of your own voice”, it got an eye-roll out to me instead of any laughter. There is far too strong an attack on good masculine men in popular culture these days, and this just felt like low-hanging unoriginal fruit.
I also found THIS story to be too predictable. For instance, they told us who the dang hero would be from the very first scene. They made no attempt to mask it or redirect or setup a plot twist. It told us what it would do, and then just did it willy nilly.
Overall I commend Fergal Costello (director) and the writing team (Markey and McDonald) for tackling this multi-faceted story and I leave them with 2 bites and a nibble.