Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
Poor Otto. He just wanted to see KUNG POW and tell you if it was funny or not. He had no idea the pain he was in for. I'll let him tell you all about it. Watch out for Otto, though... HE'S GOT A BOMB IN HIS RIBCAGE!!
Hi AICN,
OttoMaddox here. You know, they're right: January is the worst month for movies. And if IMPOSTOR wasn't proof enough for you of that, KUNG POW: ENTER THE FIST will be. I watched it today, and wrote up a little review...
KUNG POW: ENTER THE FIST
Let's get the main question about Steve Oedekirk's KUNG POW: ENTER THE FIST out of the way: does it hold a candle to the "Fistful of Yen' segment in KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE? Nope. Even though KUNG POW is a full length feature and "Yen" was a mere segment of that film, it never matches the laugh count of that terrific Bruce Lee spoof. And for even without that comparison, KUNG POW is a pretty weak film, mostly due to the work of writer/director/star Steve Oedekirk, who took two Hong Kong action films, redubbed them, and entered himself (and other things) into the film using CGI effects.
And though KUNG POW does have a pretty funny opening that parodies kung fu movies nicely, it falls apart very quickly. While many martial-arts action films are ego trips for their stars, KUNG POW feels like an ego trip for its lead, Oedekirk, wanting to show how funny he thinks he is, by redubbing the actors with his monumentally stupid dialogue. He himself took it upon himself to do all the voices that he dubs the film with, which is too bad; you can tell that if other people had been involved, it would have helped make the movie a lot better. Some of the dubbed voices come off as funny, some are incredibly annoying, while others come off as plagarism; the voice Oedekirk gives the aging kung fu master sounds much too close to Robert Smigel's Triumph the Insult Comic Dog from LATE NIGHT FROM CONAN O'BRIEN.
The story of KUNG POW is this: our hero, the Chosen One (Oedekirk) is on the quest that we usually see heroes in kung fu movies of this sort, avenging the murder of his family. An evil organization tried to murder him as a baby, but even as a toddler, the Chosen One proved to be a master of kung fu, punching, kicking, and even, yes, pissing on his attackers. What makes up the rest of KUNG POW is a mess just on the border of becoming incoherence, since most of the time, it feels like Oedekerk is just writing around the old movie footage that he can use.
When Oedekerk is lampooning action films and conventions of them, the film sometimes works, but often that joke wears thin. Other times, like when he's doing tired jokes about Asians, gays, and even the French, KUNG POW hits its lowest point, becoming more like KUNG POOP. There's even an end segment that promises KUNG POW II: TOUNGE OF FURY, which not only seems lame but terrifying, given how bad this movie is.
I'm reminded of the Steve Martin film, DEAD MEN DON'T WEAR PLAID, which integrated Martin with footage from old film noir movies from the 1940s. That film wasn't perfect, but it succeeded because you had talented people like Martin and co-writers Carl Reiner and George Gipe knowing what they had to do to make the movie funny. Not only that, but you had a comic talent like Martin playing a likeably goofy lead to guide us through the silliness. Here, all you've got is mostly dull silliness, without the sense of wit or a likeable lead.
Anyway, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
Take care,
OttoMaddox.
But wait! Within moments of posting Otto's review, the following e-mail showed up, disputing his take on things. I'm startled by how quick such a clear piece of language seemed to have been coughed up. Check out this very different take on things:
Hey Moriarty,
I think that guy's KUNG POW review you posted was dead wrong!! Have you seen it yet? I just caught it a second time today (yes, I'm temporarily out of a day job...), and I still think it's one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. Definitely lifted my spirits - and with the chaos that's been happening in this country, my spirits really needed a liftin'.
I'll start off by saying that this movie ain't CITIZEN KANE, it's not even CITIZEN RUTH.... but it is DAMN FUNNY!! !!!
This thing is easily funnier than any movie that came out last year - and I see everything. It puts SHALLOW HAL or SCARY MOVIE 2 or the pathetic likes of ZOOLANDER or NOT ANOTHER TURD MOVIE to shame. Now, compared to those, it's not saying much. But this thing had me (and everyone in the friggin theater) dying of laughter!! I'd say there were like 10 jokes per minute - and maybe a third of them were duds. For every hit you get a bunch of misses. But believe me - the good jokes are much more plentyful than the duds.
Now, don't even begin to expect a sensible story or plot either. That gets thrown out the window in this kind of flick. But be prepared to laugh. I had seen the trailer a few times in theaters and it was "amusing" but not laugh out loud funny. There's stuff in this movie you couldn't even show on like HBO.
So the story (if you can call it that) is this. Steve Oedikirk is the Chosen One. His family was killed when he was a baby (that baby clip from the preview shows some of this stuff as back story.) He is abandened as a child in a hysterical rolling-down a hill scene.
So Chosen one grows up and must avenge the killing of his parents. He trains for years (using modern gym equipment) and starts fighting bad guys until he finds the Villain responsible for his parents' death - a bad guy named Betty.
Without spoiling too much, the Chosen One falls in love, meets a lady with one boob, all the while spoofing old/modrern Kung Fu movies like CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON.
Now, I don't know if you realize from the commercials that what the film makers did was take an old Kung Fu movie and re-dub it (like the Woody Allen movie WHATS UP TIGER LILY). But they also digitaly inserted Steve Oedikirk into the lead character of the movie. He's the only white guy in the whole thing! It has pretty cool Special effects - because most of the time, I really had no idea what was new and what was in the original movie. Sure, the film quality (the look) matches an older movie in grainy appearence, etc - but unlike today's over computer generated stuff, the difference between what's real and not real is definitely blurred.
This is the kind of movie that guys will be watching in dorm rooms for years to come. With a couple of drinks or any other unknown substances, this thing is an instant cult classic. (QUICK SPOILER) The flashback scene with the Old Master is one of the funniest jokes i've seen in years. but maybe I'm just on crack. same goes for the "That's a lot of nuts" scene.
I saw some early reviews months ago online which were pretty weak - all I can say is either A) those morons didn't "get" this kind of movie or B) they saw an early version that wasn't finished yet. Be forwarned, though, for every big laugh, there are many missed joke opportunities that fall flat. But overall, this thing ain't winning any Oscars - and all I know is I'm going back when it opens with my brothers and dad - it's totally the kind of comedy like SPIES LIKE US or ANIMAL HOUSE and AIRPLANE that we grew up loving....
Derrick M.
