Wing Chun (film)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Wing Chun
Film poster
Directed byYuen Woo-ping
Written byElsa Tang
Produced byYuen Woo-ping
Starring
CinematographyPin Bing Lee
Music byYen Chi-tan
Distributed byCentury Pacific
Release date
  • 24 March 1994 (1994-03-24)
Running time
93 minutes
CountryHong Kong
LanguageCantonese
Box officeHK$4.2 million

Wing Chun (Chinese: 詠春) is a 1994 Hong Kong martial arts film directed and produced by Yuen Woo-ping. The film stars Michelle Yeoh, Donnie Yen, Waise Lee and Cheng Pei-pei.

Plot

suitors
to the chagrin of her father. She is the only person out of all the villagers who will stand up to the local bandits, led by two nefarious bandit brothers nicknamed the "Flying Chimpanzee" and "Flying Monkey". One day, a young and beautiful widow named Charmy comes to town, catching the eyes of the predatory Flying Monkey. Wing-Chun rescues the hapless widow and gives her a job in her family shop, earning the enmity of Flying Monkey.

Meanwhile, Wing-Chun's childhood sweetheart Pok-To, who previously went away to learn kung fu in order to protect Wing-Chun from local bullies, arrives in town returning fresh from years of training to claim her hand in marriage. He at first mistakes Charmy (who is enamored with the handsome stranger) for Wing-Chun and is disappointed that his "fiancée" is now a flirtatious saleswoman, and mistakes the masculine-dressing Wing-Chun as a rival suitor. Wing-Chun remains silent about the misunderstanding due to concern that Pok-To will not accept her current unfeminine, warrior persona.

Wing-Chun later injures the Flying Monkey in a night duel, hitting him with a fireball and rendering him permanently

Buddhist nun who created her style of kung fu
, but her master only advises her to go and live a normal life.

Pok-To finds out about Wing-Chun's tomboy disguise, and tells her that he doesn't mind that she is not a traditional woman. She agrees to marry him, and accidentally realizes (when Pok-To unintentionally punches the mosquito net to repel the pests) that her "inch strike" is the key to defeat Flying Chimpanzee's "cotton belly". Using this new-found knowledge, Wing-Chun returns to fight Flying Chimpanzee again and soundly defeats the bandit boss in a final showdown, forcing him to submit to her superiority. With the bandit problem gone, Wing-Chun marries Pok-To in a wedding celebrated by the whole village.

Cast

  • Yim Wing-Chun
    (嚴詠春), the titular protagonist
  • Donnie Yen (credited as Yen Chi-tan) as Leung Pok-To (梁博滔), Wing-Chun's childhood friend and fiancée
  • Kingdom Yuen (credited as Yuen King-tan) as Abacus Fong (芳姑), Wing-Chun's sharp-tongued, money-loving paternal aunt
  • Catherine Hung as Charmy (萬艷娘), an attractive widow and newcomer to the village
  • Waise Lee (credited as Lee Chi-hung) as Wong Hok-Zau (黃學州), a wealthy scholar who wants to court both Wing-Chun and Charmy
  • Norman Chui (credited as Chui Siu-keung) as Flying Chimpanzee (飛天猩猩), leader of the local bandits
  • Cui Ya-hui (credited as Chui Ah-fai) as Flying Monkey (飛天猴子), deputy leader of the local bandits and a sexual predator
  • Cheng Pei-pei as Abbess Ng Mui (五枚師太), Wing-Chun's martial arts master

Release

Guang Dong Tung Ah released it on DVD in the United States on 5 February 2002.[1]

On 20 September 2004, the DVD was released by Hong Kong Legends in the UK in Region 2.[2]

One year later, The Epic Action Collection DVD was released on 26 December 2005, a 4-disc set also including Iron Monkey (2-disc platinum edition) and Tai Chi Boxer; all three films were by directed by Yuen Woo-ping.[3] One month later, The Michelle Yeoh Collection DVD was released on 9 January 2006, a 3-disc set also including Magnificent Warriors and Police Assassins.

Reception

Joey O'Bryan of the

Austin Chronicle called it a "fun, period martial arts film, unique in its stylistic approach to both violence and sexual politics".[4] J. Doyle Wallis of DVD Talk rated it 4/5 stars and wrote that what the film lacks in authenticity, it makes up for in "dazzling fight scenes".[1] Beyond Hollywood called it "a silly comedy with kung fu" that "knows what it is".[5] Chris Gould of DVDActive rated it 7/10 stars and wrote that the lack of actual Wing Chun fighting could [be] disappointing to some fans, but the action and comedy make up for it.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Wallis, J. Doyle (12 February 2002). "Wing Chun". DVD Talk. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  2. ^ a b Gould, Chris. "Chris Gould takes a look at the latest offering from martial arts label Hong Kong Legends..." DVDactive.com. Archived from the original on 10 December 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  3. ^ Gould, Chris. "We have full specs and artwork for the latest HKL DVD release". DVDActive.com. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  4. Austin Chronicle
    . Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  5. ^ Nix (28 March 2002). "Wing Chun (1994) Movie Review". BeyondHollywood.com. Archived from the original on 13 October 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2014.

External links


Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wing_Chun_(film)&oldid=1195193945"