Leofwine_draca An absolutely hilarious comedy/kung fu outing for Jackie Chan and Lo Wei which has one of the most bizarre premises I've seen in a Hong Kong movie (and there are a lot, trust me). The story goes that a sacred book containing instructions for the deadly Seven Fist technique is stolen from the Shaolin Temple by bad guys and used to train a new super fighter. Years later, a meteorite (a sparkler on a wire) hits the Temple and unearths a long-lost book containing the art of the Five Fist technique, the only technique powerful enough to beat the Seven Fist fighter. The book is found by a lowly student (played, of course, by Jackie Chan), who learns the arts and finally takes on all of the bad guys come the finale.Sounds straightforward enough, doesn't it? Well if you thought so, you'd be right. The plot has been done a million times in countless kung fu films and aside from the cheesy dubbing – always amusing, especially when solemn Shaolin monks are concerned – the plot is pretty forgettable stuff. Things benefit hugely from Chan's starring role and there are some fantastic fight scenes in the film, especially towards the end when all hell breaks loose. In fact the film gets more violent and brutal as it progresses, ending in a massive bloody battle, excellent filmed by the innovative Lo Wei who often breaks the fourth wall by having Chan and co. punching and kicking into the camera.But where the film really hits the mark is in the comedy antics of the five ghosts who help train Chan up on his new style. The ghosts are simply a bunch of guys (one of them apparently played by Yuen Biao) in white face paint and sparkly skirts (not forgetting the red clown wigs) who play around like kids and do stupid stuff. If you're a fan of lowbrow Chinese humour then you'll have a field day with the antics that Chan and his ghostly companions get up to – my favourite scenes are the "I'm not queer!" trouser-pulling and the side-splitting moment where Jackie urinates on the (miniature) ghosts. It certainly wins points for originality in any case. Despite the ultra-cheap budget, pitiful effects work and predictable narrative, KARATE GHOSTBUSTER is a whole heap of fun and provides some of the best laughs I've had in ages. Forget those insipid teen comedies, this is the real deal.

daworldismine spiritual kung fu is jackie chan's second attempt at kung fu comedy after the decent but flawed 'half a loaf of kung fu', director lo wei thought he could make something funnier, and in my opinion it is, because spiritual kung fu has some brilliant fight scenes, some of the best from all his early movies, not only that but the movie is even funnier, immature but funny. chan is great here and is showing some promise of who he would become, the fight scenes in this are brilliant though and any self respecting martial arts fan will admit that, even if they didn't enjoy the rest of the movie. the special effects of the ghosts are atrocious, but it makes it that bit funnier

Andrei Pavlov The problem of this action flick is not the absence of money. Did you watch "Xtro" (a cheap "home-made" horror from the UK)? "Xtro" was amazing because it was imaginative to the core and had a very freaky atmosphere. "Spiritual Kung Fu" lacks such charm. I think that the problem lies in some sort of laziness of the filmmakers. What could have been done better? OK, here we go...No.1 The opening scene is an example of frustration. Some sparkle falls from the skies and there is an earthquake causing a few funny ghosts to emerge from the monastery's vaults. The execution of this scene is awful. I would kick a football set on fire into the building, apply a set of metal sticks for some strange sound, and make the "ghosts" come out from the earth and fight each other for "warming up". Would it cost more money? I don't think so. But the final product would have been much more entertaining.No.2 The scene where Jackie Chan's character is being tricked by the ghosts is slow and unimpressive. What would I do? I would set up a tougher scene with the ghosts making Chan's character suffer a few bad falls and a few hurtful kicks and punches. The ghosts would scare away all the monks beating some of them to unconsciousness and only our "clown" would not retreat. After beating him up the ghosts would teach him their type of "spiritual" kung fu as a reward for his masculine behaviour.I don't have much time for all this kind of typing work but I can easily go on, while even the famous scene of Jackie Chan vs. the monks is far from being fantastic.Watch "Dragon Lord" or "City Hunter" instead. Those ones were made correctly, in my humble opinion. As to this "Spiritual Kung Fu", I have a feeling that Mr Jackie Chan was not very interested in the whole production, was drowsy all through the movie, and did not want to fight. There is no fire in his eyes and no fire in his movements here. And the jokes suck. And camera-work too (the focus is constantly roaming and the right scenes are shot badly as a result).2 out of 10 (well, it is not ultimately bad). Thanks for attention.

Antzy88 Lo Wei, the director of this rubbishy kung-fu comedy, as usual never let Jackie Chan shine properly in this slow-paced story about some ghosts that teachChan ‘Five Fists' kung-fu, for he is in search of a stolen book containing the means of learning Seven Fists kung-fu.Dreadful dubbing, awful special effects (mind you, this was Hong Kong with very limited budgets - something that HK fans are undoubtedly used to), not all that funny, and just plain dull. Not even the intricate fight scenes are worth looking at, and even these are a bit tiresome. Costumes - what were those ghostswearing?!And of course there's the diabolical dubbing. Distributors should learn that the original language makes it a lot easier to appreciate even a bad movie, but it still wouldn't save this...