Sunday, July 04, 2004
Shaolin Popey 2: Messy Temple
The next movie was quite a change of pace! Also a comedy, but this time more of a crazy kungfu temple parody with lots of low-brow humor. In the end, this one was fun, but a bit harder for me to get into. The problem with parodies is that it doesn't work as well if you haven't seen what it is parodying. As time goes on, I've started seeing more HK films, but my knowledge is still pretty limited compared to Japanese movies, especially considering HK's rich heritage of movies.
Some highlights were Man-Tat Ng, who I previously saw as the coach in Shaolin Soccer, and one of my favorite characters from that movie. The guy playing the master of the temple was funny as well. There was also a quick appearance by Michelle Yeoh.
Seemed a bit plodding in the beginning, with one of the kids falling in and out of love very quickly, but again I'm sure I'm missing tons of references. Things started to get more surreal later on, and Ng's character becoming a movie stuntman to raise money was hilarious.
Also, there was a parody of the original Drunken Master movie near the end, which I've actually seen, so that was funny, especially since it was a kid that was drunk and Ng calling out his different techniques like the master in the original movie. They even had the exact same music and one of the bad guys had a mustache just like Thunder Foot (the villian of Drunken Master).
There was also an action-packed battle with a crazy undead character which reminded me of something out of the Executioners (sequel to the Heroic Trio).
All in all a very oddball movie that I'll need to revisit after I get the chance to see more of the classics. I'm thinking this is also a movie that might work well on repeated viewings with a bunch of friends. Like the thing with the lobster (which I won't describe here) was just so odd that I wasn't laughing at the time, but I have to say I'm kind of cracking up while shaking my head now that I think back...
Some highlights were Man-Tat Ng, who I previously saw as the coach in Shaolin Soccer, and one of my favorite characters from that movie. The guy playing the master of the temple was funny as well. There was also a quick appearance by Michelle Yeoh.
Seemed a bit plodding in the beginning, with one of the kids falling in and out of love very quickly, but again I'm sure I'm missing tons of references. Things started to get more surreal later on, and Ng's character becoming a movie stuntman to raise money was hilarious.
Also, there was a parody of the original Drunken Master movie near the end, which I've actually seen, so that was funny, especially since it was a kid that was drunk and Ng calling out his different techniques like the master in the original movie. They even had the exact same music and one of the bad guys had a mustache just like Thunder Foot (the villian of Drunken Master).
There was also an action-packed battle with a crazy undead character which reminded me of something out of the Executioners (sequel to the Heroic Trio).
All in all a very oddball movie that I'll need to revisit after I get the chance to see more of the classics. I'm thinking this is also a movie that might work well on repeated viewings with a bunch of friends. Like the thing with the lobster (which I won't describe here) was just so odd that I wasn't laughing at the time, but I have to say I'm kind of cracking up while shaking my head now that I think back...
