Leofwine_draca Review of Part One: KUNG FU KILLER is a TV movie that seeks to win viewers by re-teaming two stars of Tarantino's KILL BILL films, David Carradine and Daryl Hannah. The result is a mostly unsuccessful little feature that lacks excitement or intrigue, happy instead to follow well-worn plot routes instead of carving out new territory.The biggest flaw with this film is the pacing. The film's frankly boring, a little action here and there not doing anything to change that. The film is book-ended by a couple of half-decent, large scale battles – owing much to the graphic climax of Stallone's RAMBO in terms of editing and choreography – but throughout the middle section, little occurs. David Carradine is playing pretty much the same character as he did in his television series KUNG FU, but he's a lot older here. Watching a guy in his 70s fight is not exactly something I enjoy doing, but Carradine acquits himself well and shows he's still got it. Sure, he's doubled on occasion, but I found his fight scenes more convincing than those in a recent Steven Seagal movie, for instance. The supporting cast don't make much of an impact, and Daryl Hannah, doing her own singing in the role of a, well, singer, is frankly terrible.KUNG FU KILLER's biggest strength is that it was actually filmed in China, so a lot of the scenery and locations are authentic. Sadly, these do little to distract from the ho-hum storyline. This was originally conceived of as a two-part miniseries, and a sequel, KUNG FU KILLER 2, follows the same characters in a new story. To add insult to injury, the version I saw was the heavily-edited children's version, which omits ALL of the graphic violence and bloodshed. This is another good reason for me not to like it.Review of Part Two: KUNG FU KILLER 2 is the second part of a miniseries that was broken down into two separate feature films for television release. The first in the series was a middling period martial arts would-be epic that had plenty of wasted potential; much the same can be said of the sequel. As the story kicked in I realised I was enjoying this a lot more than the first movie. There's a stronger storyline, even if it does follow the basic 'journey' template meted out by countless kung fu flicks of old, but it has incident, character, and extremely attractive surroundings. Added to that, the fight choreography seems slightly better and less choppy, too.Sadly, things fall apart in a big way at around the halfway mark, so much so that the film grinds to a halt and only lifts slightly for a lacklustre climax. There are heroes, villains, and some characters mid-way between the two, but by this time we can't really care about what's going on as the director has long before lost us. All of the first film's lead actors reprise their roles to middling effect, and of the new cast members, only Anya makes an impression as a layered villainess; she's great in the part.There isn't much of note here. Carradine hangs around and is surprisingly decent in the acting stakes, but he does little. Daryl Hannah is a complete waste of space, again. There are one or two genuinely decent fights, one or two bizarre interludes (such as the bits where the party fall foul of some killer courtesans and angry lepers), some lesbian undertones, and a muddled, gloomy ending. It's not absolutely awful, and the money's up on screen, but as with the first film, this could have been so much more.

rhythm-9 It's good to see Carradine at his very best. The story is great and there is just enough violence (and when is violence not a part of the martial arts?) I love stories of old china and this one is great. It's also nice to see Carradine and Hannah together again after Kill Bill. The action shots are better than a lot of other martial arts films.It looks like the director new his martial arts. I recognize the moves in the action, which gives it authenticity. There are millions of martial arts fans around the world starving for more of these types of quality films.Carradine may be getting older but he plays his part well.

tvroller This rocks! Can't believe Spike went all the way to China to do one of its movies. Most of their stuff is lame but this looks like a real movie. Not a big Fan of Darryl Hannah but she did okay. Carradine was good, looked pretty strong. The Chinese girls were HOT. The story was solid but the best part was the action. Some of the fighting was insane and bloody so I got my moneys worth. Spike usually plays buckets of these old martial art movies but its good to see they're making them now. I'm just wondering what's the deal with the two movies. Was this supposed to be a series or something? If it is then maybe I'll watch it. My only complaint is they didn't show more of the hot girls.

cinemaobsessed Excellent. Only someone who is a fan of the genre would understand what the filmmakers wanted to achieve. C'mon, it's supposed to be dark and violent.Shanghai, 1935, get it? It's smart blend of action and film noir with fantastic tips of the hat to classic films like Five Fingers of Death. The opening is perhaps one of the most staggering (and yes, violent) in recent memory, and, like the the ending, trulyepic. This director pulled out all the stops and he shows an effortless mastery of action and emotion. Carradine's performance is dark, nuanced, his fighting is ruthless. Now that's not to say it isn't flawed in some ways as most films are when they take these kinds of chances, but kudos to some really bold film-making. My advice to the naysayers is to grow a pair, bone up on this genre and appreciate good film-making.