Jackie Chan, Spiritual Kung Fu Review

         
          I recently watched the 1978 Hong Kong film Spiritual Kung Fu, directed by Lo Wei.  Jackie Chan stars as the protagonist of this action film.  Interestingly enough, Jackie Chan starred in another comedy-action film in 1978 as well called, Drunken Master.  Drunken Master was extremely popular in the box office while Spiritual Kung Fu on the other hand, did not come close to Drunken Master’s $6, 763,793.  There were many similarities between the two films but there were also a few subtle differences that may have led to the better receiving of Drunken Master.

          In Spiritual Kung Fu, Jackie Chan plays Yi Lang, a cheeky, young student of kung fu at a Shaolin Temple where he is constantly getting into mischief.  One evening, a mysterious thief steals the Seven Deadly Fists manual from the temple and gives it to Luk, whose father had the book stolen for Luk so that he might reclaim their family’s honor and become the next master of martial arts.  We learn from the elders of the temple that the only way to counter the Seven Deadly Fists is the Essence of the Five Fists which was lost centuries ago.  Unsuspecting Yi comes across five ghosts in a temple one day only to discover the hidden manual of the Five Fists.  Yi convinces the ghosts to teach him the Five Fists style (Dragon, Snake, Tiger, Crane, and Leopard), which is probably the most comedic part of the movie.  Meanwhile, a visiting Wudan master is found murdered on the Shaolin grounds and an innocent monk is blamed.  In the end, the murder mystery unravels through Yi’s final battle and defeat of Luk.

          When I first read the title and saw the opening scene set on temple grounds, I immediately thought this film was going to be deep, religiously spiritual, and quite the opposite of Drunken Master’s comic relief.  I turned out to be completely wrong.  Though the film is a lot less comedic than Drunken Master, it still had elements of comedy mixed with the impressive martial arts action of the movie.  Besides that, the spiritual part of the title referred to the ghost masters that help train Yi in the Essence of the Five Fists.  The ghosts themselves were meant to be a funny aspect in the movie because as they are introduced into the plot, they are playing, teasing, and fooling around with Yi before he gets them to agree to be his masters.  Not only are the ghosts jumping around, laughing, and playing tricks but they also look a little ridiculous too.  They have stark white skin, bodysuits, and tutus plus bright red hair that would make Ariel from The Little Mermaid look bland.  Also, the funky music that accompanies the five ghosts whenever they are on screen is very techno sounding which I found very contrasting to the rest of the film.  Though Spiritual Kung Fu seems to lack a lot of the comedy features that Drunken Master has, there is still some humor in Jackie Chan’s facial expressions, remarks, and his interactions with the ghosts.

          Another difference between the two films was the surprise twist ending in Spiritual Kung Fu.  Drunken Master was definitely more of an action-comedy film with lots of fighting accompanied by Jackie Chan’s snarky humor.  This film however, not only had the action of martial arts and Jackie Chan’s famous wit, but it also included elements of mystery. During the movie you suspect different people of being the killer and by the end, it turns out to be the one person who you thought couldn’t possibly have been the culprit.  There were also clues throughout the film that suddenly make sense when the murderer is revealed.  In my opinion, it adds a little extra something to the film and makes it even more exciting since you do not expect it.  It’s a unique combination of Scooby-doo, Bruce Lee, and Ghost Busters.

          There were a lot more similarities between Drunken Master and Spiritual Kung Fu than there were differences.  The first similarity I’ll address is the fact that Jackie Chan’s character, Yi, has an almost identical role to Chan’s Drunken Master character, Wong Fei-hung.  In the beginning, both are mischievous but comical youths who have some growing up to do.  They achieve this maturity though learning a specific, special style of marital arts that is long-forgotten or rare and use the lessons they learn along the way to help them defeat their final opponent in a fight which they win and the movie ends there.  Also, their masters who teach these unique styles are very unique themselves, almost bizarre in fact.

          During both films, there is one fight scene with an underestimated woman who fights Jackie Chan’s characters and he loses in both instances.  I thought this was an interesting parallel because in both films, Chan’s characters are being taught a lesson that is important to his overall learning experience: respect and to never underestimate your opponent.  In Drunken Master, Wong Fei-hung challenges a woman, who we later find out to be his aunt, to a duel and he embarrasses himself with his loss.  In Spiritual Kung Fu, Yi challenges the beautiful daughter of the murdered Wudan master and she not only beats him but insults his style, telling him that he looks like a teapot pouring tea.  Yi then goes back to his masters where he reenacts the fight for them and they explain what he did wrong.  I think both instances present women as strong, competent and generally underestimated by men.

          In Drunken Master, Wong Fei-hung is taught the Eight Drunken Immortals and there is a sequence of him in the film performing each drunkard’s style.  Very similarly, Yi is taught the Essence of the Five Fists, which he also demonstrates in a sequence in the film.  Technically, both characters are learning from some scripture or manual on top of that.  Also, both Yi and Wong both fight their ultimate opponent two times.  The first fight they lose but the second fight is the last fight in which they win.  Both of these points tie in with another correlating aspect of both films.  In the final fight scene of Drunken Master, Wong seems to recite every drunkard as he uses the style against his ultimate opponent in the second fight.  Parallel to that, in Spiritual Kung Fu, as Yi takes on Luk and later on his father, he says the name of each one of the five fists styles that he has learned.  I think this was meant to both summarize what was learned by his characters in the movies while also clarifying to the audience when he is using each style in the end because they are all important.  I know that if I was told to watch the movie and figure out the difference between each style, I would be unable to.  Both movies have a happy ending in which justice is served and Jackie Chan’s character has grown as a person and as a fighter.

          Since there are so many similarities between Drunken Master and Spiritual Kung Fu, perhaps that is why one was more popular than the other.  Drunken Master was released first and Spiritual Kung Fu followed it a little later that year.  It is conceivable that the public had just seen Drunken Master and so another film so similar so soon might have given Spiritual Kung Fu the short end of the stick.  Personally, I enjoyed both films equally and I think it was a timing issue.  If Lo Wei had waited another year to release the film, Hong Kong might have produced different results in the box office and in reviews.