Warriors Two & The Prodigal Son -Two Films by Sammo Hung -Blu-ray (2022) - KUNG FU KINGDOM
Of course, the main man behind these two classics is the legendary Sammo Hung. In a career spanning six decades, he has worked with some of the best in the business, from Bruce Lee to Jackie Chan. His work as a performer, choreographer, and director helped to reshape and evolve modern screen fighting action as we know it.
Sammo writes, directs and co-stars as “Fei Chun”. The rest of the cast features some of the best-known stars form Hong Kong’s golden era of kung fu movies, including “Beardy” Bryan Leung Kar Yan as “Leung Jan”, Casanova Wong as “Cashier Hua”, Dean Shek as “Master Yao”, Fung Hak-on as “Mo”, Hoi Sang Lee as “Iron Fist”, and a guest appearance from Lau Kar-wing as “Town Chief’s Bodyguard”.
Sammo once again directs and co-stars as “Wong Wah-bo”. He is joined by his Peking Opera “brother” Yuen Biao as “Leung Jan”. A fellow regular collaborator with Sammo, Lam Ching-ying stars as “Leung Yee-tai”. Martial arts actor, film director, producer, action director, and composer Frankie Chan appears as “Ngai Fei”.
Cashier Hua accidentally overhears local businessman Mo, and his henchmen plotting to take over the town by killing the mayor. Hua makes the mistake of warning Mo’s treacherous ally Master Yao.
The cashier is ambushed by Mo’s men and barely escapes with his life. Leung Jan, a doctor and master of Wing Chun, is grudgingly persuaded by his student Fei Chun, to teach his fighting skills to Cashier Hua. Eventually Mo discovers Hua’s whereabouts and plans an attack.
Hua, Fei Chun, and Leung Jan’s niece split up to use specific Wing Chun styles against Mo’s leading fighters. Trouble mounts when it’s discovered that Fei mixed up the fighter’s names and each of Jan’s students have to improvise if they are to defeat their deadly opponents.
Leung Jan is the spoiled son of a wealthy family living in Foshan in the mid-19th century. He is a martial artist trained by two instructors in his father’s employ.
He has fought over three-hundred times in Foshan and won every fight, but unbeknownst to him, his father has arranged for his servant to bribe Jan’s opponents to lose to him in order to protect him.
As a result, Jan believes that he is a world-class fighter, but in truth he hasn’t even mastered the basics of kung fu and any real fighter could easily defeat him. Everyone knows this but him, giving him the nickname “The Prodigal Son” behind his back, because of the money he is costing his parents who pay to keep him from getting injured.
Following a duel with Leung Yee-tai, a travelling opera performer, Jan’s fighting inadequacy is painfully exposed.
The sad and humiliated Jan joins the opera troupe in the hope of learning genuine fighting skills.
Lord Ngai Fei, the son of a Manchu duke, plots against Leung Yee-tai and Leung Jan is lucky to escape with his life.
Yee-tai takes Jan to the home of his martial friend Wong Wah-bo. With Wah-bo’s help, Jan finally convinces Yee-tai to teach him Wing Chun.
Jan trains under both Yee-tai and Wah-bo, becoming proficient in both Wing Chun kung fu and freestyle fighting. However, the shadow of Ngai Fei hangs over them leading to a deadly confrontation.
Having made a stunning directorial debut with “Iron Fisted Monk”, Sammo Hung really started to hit his stride with “Warriors Two”.
Taking the art of Wing Chun, Sammo used his incredible depth of knowledge as an opera performer, and action director to elevate the close-quarters combat skills into intricate and entertaining screen-fights.
Having one of cinema’s legendary super-kickers, Casanova Wong as your leading man, might seem an odd choice to highlight the art of Wing Chun.
Casanova’s first few action scenes certainly highlight his exemplary taekwondo kicking skills. But as his character grows in skill, so does the intricacy of the fight choreography in his scenes.
Lau Kar Wing guest stars bringing a more traditional feel to the screen combat. An extended fight sees him pitting his sword skills against Hoi Sang Lee’s iron shirt qigong. Being directed by Sammo, there are still a few acrobatic moves, although Kar Wing is quite obviously doubled for these.
Inevitably there is a fight in a teahouse, in which we get our first proper glimpse of the signature blocks and strikes of Wing Chun. Bryan Leung is as convincing as ever as a master of Wing Chun, and it is astonishing to think he only ever learned his martial arts skills on film sets!
There are many interesting training sequences, sometimes played for laughs, but often featuring authentic blocking and countering techniques, or “chin na” seizes and traps.
As Hua’s upper-body skills begin to match his lower body, he faces a “Shaolin Wooden Men“-style test in a hall of wooden Wing Chun dummies. A blindfold duel with Sammo highlights just how supremely skilled the performers are when executing the complex choreography.
The epic finale features operatics, acrobatics, Praying Mantis kung fu, Wing Chun and weapons performed at a blistering pace, and is a deserved fan-favourite.
Casting his “Little Brother” Yuen Biao in the lead of “The Prodigal Son” allowed Sammo to be even more versatile with his choreography.
Having Yuen Biao and Lam Ching Ying as your leads almost by default demands that the action feature Peking Opera skills. It is not out of place in the plot of this film as, historically, there were martial artists who travelled the country with opera troupes.
Lam Ching Ying has perhaps one of his finest onscreen battles with villain Frankie Chan. The traditional techniques are fast, fluid, and filmed and edited with such clarity that they can all still be appreciated by the viewer.
The attack on the opera school, perhaps not surprisingly, allows Sammo to showcase some traditional Peking opera acrobatics and flag dance skills with a fiery twist!
Sammo himself gets in on the action, mostly played for laughs, as he trains our hero. It is another shining example, that, despite his burly frame, no one else quite sells it and moves like Sammo!
The finale of “The Prodigal Son” is one of the all time great fight scenes of kung fu cinema. As an action director, by this stage in his career Sammo had moved squarely into making his fights fluid, yet looking like every blow was full contact.
Incredibly the performers still manage to keep the traditional kung fu look of all the postures and techniques, which can sometimes be lost when trying to up the rhythm of a screen fight.
In both films, ever the master of his craft, Sammo manages to seamlessly blend the art of Wing Chun with the fluid, operatic fighting style that was the hallmark of his early works.
When you read people’s lists of “Best Ever Kung Fu Movies”, you can almost guarantee that either “Warriors Two” and “The Prodigal Son” will be near or at the top.
The high definition restoration, as with other recent Blu–ray releases, is exemplary. It is of particular benefit when viewing scenes set in dimly lit locations or filmed at night, which were pretty poor to watch on previous standard definition versions.
The extras include audio commentaries from Asian film expert Frank Djeng, and martial artist Robert “Bobby” Samuels, as well as action cinema experts Mike Leeder & Arne Venema (who do a Golden Harvest intro that The Minions would be envious of!).
Audio options include the original audio for each film and the often hilarious English dubs. There are also archival featurettes and interviews for each movie.
When Eureka released the excellent “Three Films with Sammo Hung” Blu-ray, you can bet your bottom dollar that tons of fans were chomping at the bit for the release of “Warriors Two” and “The Prodigal Son”.
They are both examples of some of the best traditional kung-fu fighting films to emerge from Hong Kong, and of Sammo Hung’s prolific career. “The Prodigal Son” in particular is a virtual masterclass in how to film and edit traditional kung fu style fights
To have both films released in one package means this is another absolute winner from Eureka. The great thing for the fans is, it’s only January and there is already more to come in 2022, so stay tuned…!
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