Kung Pow Enter the Fist
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''Kung Pow! Enter the Fist'' is a 2002 American
martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; a ...
comedy film that parodies
Hong Kong action cinema Hong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. Action films from Hong Kong have roots in Chinese and Hong Kong cultures including Chinese opera, storytelling and aesthetic traditions, which Hong Ko ...
. Written, directed by and starring
Steve Oedekerk Steven Brent Oedekerk (born November 27, 1961) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, director, editor, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his collaborations with actor and comedian Jim Carrey and director Tom Shadyac (particular ...
, it uses footage from the 1976 Hong Kong martial arts film ''
Tiger & Crane Fists ''Tiger & Crane Fists'' () (AKA ''Savage Killers''). Accessed 2 November 2009. is a 1976 kung fu movie, starring 70s Hong Kong star Jimmy Wang Yu. The story concerns the Tiger and the Crane martial arts style of two schools that has been separ ...
'' (also called ''Savage Killers''), along with new footage shot by Oedekerk, to create an original, unrelated plot. The film was a moderate box office success, grossing $17 million worldwide, and received negative reviews.


Plot

A man, called The Chosen One by the narrator, wanders from town to town to search for the man who killed his family and tried to kill him when he was a baby. In one town, he meets Master Tang, a very ill and slightly deranged sifu, and asks Tang to help him improve his already impressive martial arts ability. Master Tang is skeptical at first, but after seeing The Chosen One's mark (his sentient tongue, which he names Tonguey), he allows him to train at his dojo. The Chosen One is introduced to two other students: Wimp Lo, a young man who was deliberately trained incorrectly as a joke, and Ling, a young woman who has romantic feelings for him. While training, The Chosen One shows cartoon-like feats of strength, and Wimp Lo deems him an enemy out of jealousy. Upon learning that Master Pain, the man who killed his parents, has just arrived in town, The Chosen One prepares to confront him. Master Pain draws a crowd and demonstrates his skills. He lets his henchmen hit him repeatedly with
A ''bō'' (棒: ぼう), ''bong'' (Korean), ''pang'' (Cantonese), ''bang'' (Mandarin), or ''kun'' (Okinawan) is a staff weapon used in Okinawa. ''Bō'' are typically around and used in Okinawan martial arts, while being adopted into Japanese ar ...
staffs all over his body and groin, then subdues them all in one move. Impressed by Master Pain's skills, the town's mayor hires him, and Master Pain randomly changes his name to Betty. The Chosen One attempts to train himself by letting people hit him with bō staffs, but is knocked out after being hit. When he wakes up, a mysterious one-breasted woman named Whoa warns him not to rush to fight Betty. After flirtily fighting The Chosen One, Whoa flies off into the sky. Ignoring Whoa's advice, The Chosen One sets off to find Betty. He comes across one of Betty's evil companions: Moo Nieu, a
Holstein cow Holstein Friesians (often shortened to Holsteins in North America, while the term Friesians is often used in the UK and Ireland) are a breed of dairy cattle that originated in the Dutch provinces of North Holland and Friesland, and Schleswig-Ho ...
gifted in karate, with a large udder that can squirt milk as a weapon. The Chosen One eventually incapacitates Moo Nieu by milking her until her udder is empty. He sees Betty at a waterfall and confronts him. Master Doe, Ling's Father, shows up and tries to stop the unprepared Chosen One, and is wounded by Betty. The Chosen One takes Master Doe to Master Tang; it turns out they are old friends. However, as Tang massages Doe's wound, it does not close and Doe dies that night. Out of depression, Ling confesses her feelings for The Chosen One. Confused, The Chosen One journeys out to a field and consults the heavens for confidence. Suddenly Mu-Shu Fasa, a
lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...
, appears in the sky and dispenses advice in a scene parodying a portion of '' The Lion King''. He returns to town and finds that Betty's hostility has expanded to the entire town, and they are killing anyone who may be his allies. He finds Wimp Lo, Ling, Master Tang and even his dog heavily maimed. However, except for Lo, they all survive. After taking Ling and his dog to safety, The Chosen One begins training himself. Discovering Betty's weak points are the pyramid spikes embedded in his chest, The Chosen One makes wooden dummies, embeds similar spikes onto their chests and attempts to pluck them out with his bare hands. His hands are battered and he is exhausted, but after Ling treats his wounds and gives an inspiring speech, he finds himself rejuvenated and successfully pulls off the attack. Meanwhile, Betty is called by the mysterious Evil Council and learns that The Chosen One is alive. The Chosen One confronts Betty at the temple. They fight evenly, until the Evil Council shows up revealing themselves to be
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
aliens, and gives Betty supernatural powers. Betty viciously beats up The Chosen One, who, in a semi-unconscious state, sees visions of Whoa and Mu-Shu Fasa giving him advice. Mu-Shu instructs him to open his mouth. As soon as he does, Tonguey flies out and attacks and destroys the mother ship, causing the entire Evil Council armada to panic and retreat, leaving Betty vulnerable. The Chosen One eventually rips the pyramid spikes out of Betty's chest, killing him. As The Chosen One returns home with Ling, his tribulations are far from over, as presented in a trailer for a sequel, ''Kung Pow 2: Tongue of Fury'', that immediately follows the final scene. In a post-credits scene, Master Tang, who has been left behind, asks someone to help him from a hungry golden eagle eating his leg.


Cast

*
Steve Oedekerk Steven Brent Oedekerk (born November 27, 1961) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, director, editor, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his collaborations with actor and comedian Jim Carrey and director Tom Shadyac (particular ...
– The Chosen One ** Jimmy Wang Yu (archival footage) ** Alejandro Olazabal – The Chosen One as a baby * Hui Lou Chen – Master Tang * Fei Lung – Master Pain a.k.a. "Betty" ** Leo Lee – Young Master Pain *
Ling Ling Tse Hsieh Ling-ling (, born on 20 September 1956) is a Taiwanese-born child star and the ex-wife of Hong Kong billionaire Peter Lam. Biography She starred in five movies from 1977 to 1979, later returning to acting under the name Ling Tse. She ap ...
– Ling * Lin Yan – Dying Ling * Lau Kar-wing – Wimp Lo * Banjo – Dog * Jennifer Tung – Whoa * Chi Ma – Master Doe *
Tad Horino Tadashi Horino (August 14, 1921 — October 3, 2002) was an American film and television actor. Career Selected filmography Tadashi Horino had an impressive career in film and television. He appeared in such films as ''The Kentucky Fried Mov ...
– Chew Fat Lip * Nasty Nes –
Boombox A boombox is a transistorized portable music player featuring one or two cassette tape recorder/players and AM/FM radio, generally with a carrying handle. Beginning in the mid 1980s, a CD player was often included. Sound is delivered through ...
Henchman * Ming Lo – Father *
Peggy Lu Peggy Lu is an American actress and pharmacist, best known for her supporting role as convenience store entrepreneur and Venom host Mrs. Chen in the Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU) films ''Venom'' (2018) and '' Venom: Let There Be Carnage'' (202 ...
– Mother * Tori Tran – Peasant Woman * Simon Rhee – Young Master Pain's Henchman


Voiced-over characters

In many scenes, Jimmy Wang Yu, the lead actor in ''
Tiger & Crane Fists ''Tiger & Crane Fists'' () (AKA ''Savage Killers''). Accessed 2 November 2009. is a 1976 kung fu movie, starring 70s Hong Kong star Jimmy Wang Yu. The story concerns the Tiger and the Crane martial arts style of two schools that has been separ ...
'', was replaced by Oedekerk via post-production chroma key and
digital compositing Digital compositing is the process of digitally assembling multiple images to make a final image, typically for print, motion pictures or screen display. It is the digital analogue of optical film compositing. Mathematics The basic operation use ...
techniques such as head replacement. Oedekerk also re-dubbed all of the original cast's voices himself, inventing a different voice for every character. The only exception is the character of "Whoa", who was voiced by her actress, Jennifer Tung. During filming of their scenes, Oedekerk and Tung spoke nonsensical lines, which were later re-dubbed with the correct lines from the script, in order to maintain the appearance of poorly-dubbed foreign language consistent with the rest of the film.


Reception

Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 13% based on 55 reviews, with an average rating of 3.5/10. The site's critics' consensus reads: "A short sketch's worth of jokes stretched into a full-length feature." Metacritic reports an average score of 14 out of 100 based on 14 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike". At the 2002 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, the film was nominated for Worst Picture and tied with '' The Master of Disguise'' for a win for Most Painfully Unfunny Comedy. ''Kung Pow! Enter the Fist'' grossed a total of $17 million worldwide on a budget of $10 million.


Future

In a livestream on March 27, 2022, Oedekerk has stated that, while his original plan was for there to be a Kung Pow trilogy, discussions to make a sequel with
20th Century Studios 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...
have not worked out. He also stated that he has thought of making a spiritual successor to the film using Spaghetti Westerns and/or
Sword-and-sandal Sword-and-sandal, also known as peplum (pepla plural), is a subgenre of largely Italian-made historical, mythological, or Biblical epics mostly set in the Greco-Roman antiquity or the Middle Ages. These films attempted to emulate the big-budget H ...
films.


See also

Other movies and TV shows have been created from footage from one or more previous movies and TV shows, adding redubbed dialog, new images, or both. Examples include: * '' What's Up, Tiger Lily?'' (1966) * ''
Shogun Assassin ''Shogun Assassin'' is a 1980 ''jidaigeki'' film directed by Robert Houston. ''Shogun Assassin'' was edited and compiled from the first two films in the ''Lone Wolf and Cub'' series, using 12 minutes of the first film, '' Lone Wolf and Cub: Sw ...
'' (1980) * '' Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid'' (1982) * '' Hercules Returns'' (1993) * ''
La Classe américaine ''La Classe américaine'' (; ), also known as ''Le Grand Détournement'' (''The Great Détournement''), is a 1993 French television film, written and directed by Michel Hazanavicius and Dominique Mézerette. It consists exclusively of extracts o ...
'' (1993) * ''
Kung Faux ''Kung Faux'' is an international action comedy television series and audiovisual art assemblage created by Mic Neumann, an American creator–developer showrunner, conceptual artist and multimedia entrepreneur, who remixes classic kung fu films ...
'' (television series redubbing kung fu films) * '' MXC'' (television game show based on footage sourced from '' Takeshi's Castle'', 2003–2007) * '' Voltron'' (television series, 1984–1985) * '' Robotech'' (television series, 1985) * '' Space Ghost Coast to Coast'' (television series, 1994–2008) * '' Sealab 2021'' (television series, 2000–2005) * '' Power Rangers'' (television series, 1993–present) * '' Mad Movies With the LA Connection'' (television series, 1985) * ''
Night of the Day of the Dawn ''Night of the Day of the Dawn of the Son of the Bride of the Return of the Revenge of the Terror of the Attack of the Evil, Mutant, Alien, Flesh Eating, Hellbound, Zombified Living Dead'' is a series of parody films written by James Riffel as ...
'' (film series redubbing old public domain movies) * '' VR Troopers'' (television series, 1994-1996)


References


External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kung Pow! Enter The Fist 20th Century Fox films American parody films American martial arts comedy films Kung fu films 2000s martial arts comedy films Films directed by Steve Oedekerk American slapstick comedy films Films with screenplays by Steve Oedekerk Films scored by Robert Folk Alternative versions of films 2002 martial arts films 2002 films 2002 comedy films Films set in Hong Kong Cantonese-language films Films shot in Hong Kong American films with live action and animation 2000s English-language films 2000s American films