Leofwine_draca BUDDHA'S PALM is an eclectic fantasy epic that comes to us courtesy of the Shaw Brothers studio. Plot-wise, it has the complexity of a Chor Yuen martial world drama, yet the narrative structure is a mere backbone on which to hang an incessant stream of special effects footage. Anybody familiar with other Shaw efforts from this era like SHAOLIN PRINCE or BATTLE WIZARD, or indeed Tsui Hark's seminal ZU: WARRIORS FROM THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN, will know what to expect here.Derek Yee plays the hero of the piece, initially a scarred waiter before he picks up the titular technique, has a face lift, and becomes one of the world's martial arts masters. The story sees him interacting with various other famous figures from the martial world, all of whom have their own allegiances and styles, but trouble beckons when one vengeful old-timer decides to make his mark on the world by killing off his rivals.To be honest, I didn't have much idea of what was going on here, especially in the first half of the movie. Things do coalesce in the film's second half and it builds to a suitably impressive climax that acts as an effects showcase. The actors don't really get much of a look in, although Kara Hui is unmissable and Lo Lieh is a strong enough actor to make his character a real (and delightful) presence. Otherwise, it's all about the effects, from post-STAR WARS computer effects involving magical blasts and magic weapon duels to a life-size Chinese dragon (one of my favourite elements) and various character super-powers, with Shih Kien's extending foot a real highlight. BUDDHA'S PALM is the kind of film it's pretty difficult to describe; the best thing to do is just sit down and be blown away by it all.

Alison Young Chien-Fei Lung is a terrible fighter, until he stumbles upon Ku Han-Hun, the Flaming Cloud Devil, who takes him under his wing and teaches him the eight movements of Buddha's Palm, one of the most powerful martial arts in the world. But Ku is blind and so Chien-Fei sets out to find the one item that can cure him; in addition, he's looking for Ku's rivals from 20 years earlier, including Pi-Ku, Sun Pi-Ling, Heavenly Foot and Liu Piao-Piao, all of whom have secret weapons and skills of their own, not to mention convoluted relationships and shifting allegiances. Can Chien-Fei use his powers for good, or will he be destroyed by all these martial arts masters?I can't actually give a synopsis of this film, it's so completely wacky and ludicrous! It may help to know it's from the famous Shaw Brothers, whose martial arts films were so over the top that the only way to view them is to just forget about logic and go with the flow. This film is no exception - it's a wild mix of martial arts, "Star Wars" style light sabers, maniacal laughter and very strange special effects. Often one can tell if a character is a bad guy by his maniacal laugh, but most of the male characters in this film have maniacal laughs at one point or another, so that's no help. A lovely thing in these movies is that there are female martial arts masters as well as male, although for some reason the women are only allowed to learn four of the eight movements of Buddha's Palm, a restriction that is never explained. But there you have it, there's no point to expecting explanations (or logic or to some degree even continuity) with the Shaw Brothers, just go with the flow and enjoy it on its own very silly merits.

Chung Mo Towards the end of the Shaw film studio's days, they decided to pull out the stops and make their films as wild as possible. Full of gaudy lighting and crazy animated effects. Mainstay director Yuen Chor didn't do so well at this time as his films became studies in excess instead of entertainment. The Shaw's brought in some new directors and so Taylor Wong is here directing his second feature. The plot, if it can be called that, revolves around a jilted lover who falls from a cliff while being beaten by his girlfriend's husband to be. He is caught by Dameng, a sort of flying Dog Dragon, and brought to the Old Devil, a master of the Buddha Palm. Of course he learns the Palm and gets involved with the Old Devil's past. The Old Devil has a number of enemies.Where other Shaw films in this vein are rather stilted and old fashioned, this film is full of energy and inventive camera work. There are a number of camera moves that didn't become popular until the late 1990's. The lighting is frequently garish but done with some artistic restraint. The fight choreography is absolutely bizarre but it's well filmed and works because of it. Other films like this usually have lots of confusing movement that is only effective because it passes so quickly. Everything is very fake but that shouldn't dissuade you from enjoying it. There are two narrators who make comments from time to time. The narrator's comments make it clear that the film-makers didn't take any of this seriously.Probably one of the best films in this genre. Recommended.

Brian Camp BUDDHA'S PALM (1982) is a wild kung fu fantasy filled with elaborate special effects that deals with clan rivalries among extravagantly costumed groups with names like Dark Moon Clan, Ten Thousand Swords and Heavenly Fragrance Cult. It's filled with superheroic characters, including one named Flaming Cloud Devil, who've mastered various degrees of the Buddha's Palm technique, which gives them the power to emit energy blasts from their palms to ward off such super-powerful opponents as Foot Monster, whose foot grows huge and extends out from his body by several dozen yards in order to kick or stomp an adversary.Based on a popular Hong Kong comic book (which had been adapted before, as a series of films, in 1964), the film owes more than a little to Chor Yuen's alternate swordplay universe, as dramatized in such films as KILLER CLANS, THE MAGIC BLADE and CLANS OF INTRIGUE, as well as to earlier "wu xia" swordplay films of the 1960s (TWIN SWORDS, COME DRINK WITH ME). More importantly, it looks forward to the "wire fu" fantasy films of the 1990s (most notably THE MAGIC CRANE and KUNG FU CULT MASTER) and seems to have particularly influenced Tsui Hark, who made his first big splash a year after BUDDHA'S PALM with ZU WARRIORS OF THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN (1983), another magical swordplay epic filled with wire-fu and enhanced effects, but with more of a mystical flavor than this film.Directed by Taylor Wong, BUDDHA'S PALM does offer, in many ways, a more polished style of filmmaking than the Tsui Hark movies, which got by on a kind of raw, manic energy that carried the often crude effects on display. BUDDHA'S PALM was shot entirely on lavish Shaw Bros. studio sets and boasts a stunning array of attractive costumes and decorous period props. The camerawork is stunning and includes some moves that are quite ahead of their time. The special effects are generally achieved through optical lab work as opposed to the CGI which would be used today. The effects may call attention to themselves more, but they have a bold, graphic quality that befits their comic book origins. When the characters emit animated energy blasts (or energy rings) from their hands, they look exactly like comic book superheroes conjuring up astounding inner powers. The one effect that may give picky viewers pause is the man-sized flying dog-like reptile, Dameng, who is Flaming Cloud Devil's pet and helper. The creature is played by a man in a floppy suit who is onscreen in the frame in real time with the other actors. However, the character is much cuter this way and much more effective in eliciting believable reactions from the other actors than if they'd used more expensive, but more distancing, effects (e.g. stop-motion animation or animatronics). Overall, the style of effects chosen is much more appropriate to the high-pitched fantastic tone of the film than the CGI used in more recent comic book-based films such as THE STORM RIDERS (1998). The film boasts an extremely lively cast of kung fu players, topped by Derek Yee (DEATH DUEL), who stars as Long Jianfei, a hapless villager who attacks his former girlfriend's powerful fiance (Ku Kuan Chung) and is rescued from certain death by Buddha's Palm master Flaming Cloud Devil (Alex Man), who teaches him the eight strokes of the Buddha's Palm. There are five important women characters, all of whom participate fully in the action alongside the men. Kara Hui Ying Hung plays Yujuan, one of the two sisters who become Yee's companions for much of the action. (The other is played by Candy Yu.) Kara is well-known to kung fu fans for her fighting roles in such Lau Kar Leung-directed films as MAD MONKEY KUNG FU, MY YOUNG AUNTIE, LEGENDARY WEAPONS OF KUNG FU and INVINCIBLE POLE FIGHTER. She wants to learn Buddha's Palm also, but faces a "qi" ceiling when she is told by the "Sifu" (master), "Only four strokes for girls." Also on hand are two kung fu icons, Lo Lieh (FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH), as eccentric old master "Bi Gu of East Island," as he loudly announces, to great comic effect, every time he enters the scene, and Shih Kien (ENTER THE DRAGON), as Heavenly Foot (or "Foot Monster"), who leads the Ten Thousand Swords Clan and has the foot that can extend across a palace room.BUDDHA'S PALM moves at such a frantic pace that one can easily forget the lack of a clearly-defined plot. The narrative plays as if it started long before the movie opens and will continue long after it ends. There are at least eight major characters and the film has to keep them all in play while pouring on special effects shots in practically every scene. While there is little in the way of authentic martial arts in the film, the supernatural combat on display clearly requires some level of skill on the part of the performers.The film is among the new Shaw Bros. releases newly remastered (by Celestial Pictures) and made available in beautifully transferred widescreen DVD editions. The original language track, in Cantonese, with removable English subtitles, is supplemented by an alternate track in Mandarin. For this reviewer, this film makes it to the top of the list of Shaw Bros. rediscoveries made possible by these new releases, shooting just past the Chor Yuen films (MAGIC BLADE, et al).