You Don't Fuck With The Muthafuckin' Mantis!! (Mantis Fists, and Tiger Claws & The Thundering Mantis) [GeekJuiceMedia] (Goldig Films) {With extra Huggbees Riff)

About

I don’t think I’m alone when I say that I appreciate kung fu films that have a great story. Sure, the kung fu is what we’re typically there for, but a good story allows the fighting to become more exciting since we want to see our characters come out on top. There are a lot of films in the genre that show that, even without a noteworthy story, have interesting character development. One of the leading independent film studios in Hong Kong, Goldig Films, had their fair share of classic kung fu films, including Tiger Over Wall, The Thundering Mantis, and one of my favorite kung fu movies, Daggers 8. Then comes Mantis Fist and Tiger Claws of Shaolin, which isn't necessarily bad, but it also makes me ponder the filmmakers' sanity.

Pai Yung Feng (John Cheung) travels to a town to find his long lost sister who has become a prostitute at the Orchid House owned by the evil Mr. Hung (Dean Shek). When Pai travels to the town, he briefly visits a restaurant. The restaurant’s owner and his daughter, Shuang Shuang (Sarian Sai), start to get harassed by one of Hung’s sons, but Pai quickly comes to their rescue. Hung’s son retaliates and tries to rape Shuang Shuang, but shortly after, he gets mysteriously murdered. Pai is framed for his murder and Mr. Hung swears to get revenge. Pai and Shuang Shuang continue to try and help Pai’s sister escape, but Hung’s other sons continue to get mysteriously get killed. The question still remains: Who was the murderer?

THE GOOD: The movie starts off pretty promising. There are some fun characters, cool fight scenes, and even a well-paced story. Despite this film having a very simple plot, the film is somehow able to remain very interesting. Since the characters are so enjoyable, it becomes quite engaging watching them. John Cheung gets to show off his fighting skills and his creative weaponry (which he mostly uses in the second half of the film). There’s nothing terribly unique about these fight scenes, but it’s still a lot of fun to watch John Cheung beating the crap out of people.

Besides John Cheung, Sarina Sai turns out to be a refreshingly brave, funny, and smart female lead. The romance between the two is actually kind of sweet. Even Dean Shek is surprisingly good as the main villain. This movie also got me to laugh a bit. Shuang Shuang is very likeable and inspires a few laughs, but most of the humor is unintentional. The English dub for this film is amazing and sports one of the most hilariously horrendous laughs ever from Dean Shek’s character. This movie is also noteworthy for its unexpected amount of dread and mystery. It’s sometimes engrossing watching this film because we want to know what’s going to happen next. Then, we end up regretting it, but I digress. Picture Dean Shek as the main villain. THE BAD: Other than our three charismatic leads, most of the characters are pretty forgettable. Nick Cheung is supposed to be one of the main characters, but if he wasn’t in the last 10 minutes of the film, you probably wouldn’t even remember that he was in it. The ending of this movie sounds interesting, but turns out to be a bit anticlimactic. The film does try to be very meaningful and serious, but it usually fails. The English dub doesn’t help this movie to become very dramatic either.

This movie also has a very unsettling or even uncanny atmosphere, especially during the scenes in which Hung’s sons are killed. Sometimes the insane amount of apprehension becomes quite uncomfortable and hard to watch at times. Sometimes this film can really be a mixed bag. There are a lot of great things about it, but there are some things that really bugged me. You know what else really bugged me about this movie?

THE UGLY: That freaking twist ending! This movie’s mostly known for its disturbing content and for its totally bonkers twist ending. Besides the creative fight scenes and great characters, this movie’s mostly either laughable or downright uncomfortable (or both). The twist at the end will make you either sigh in disbelief or howl with laughter (or both!). The ending of this movie is somehow both poignant and hilarious, mainly because the actors take it so seriously. This ending of this movie is either going to make it or break it for you. One thing’s for sure though: This is certainly a very unique kung fu movie. And if something like that interests you, then great! But still, the less you know about this movie going in, the more memorable the experience. Enjoy!

The Thundering Mantis (Chinese: 癲螳螂) (Also known as Mantis Fist Fighter in USA) is a 1980 Hong Kong martial arts action film directed by Teddy Yip, starring Bryan Leung, Cheng Feng and Eddy Ko Hung.

Plot

A martial artist Ah Chi (Bryan Leung) who often gets in trouble while goofing around gets in trouble as he is saving the neighborhood. He later then meets a crafty kid and finds out that the kid's uncle is the thundering mantis-style master. Curiously, Chi goes off to challenge him and the uncle wins without trying. Later on, he comes against the Jade gang whom he easily beats but soon he is up against Hsia (Eddy Ko) the master of the gang. Humiliatingly, Hsia beats up Chi who for the second time is beaten shamelessly, the first came from the mantis master. Desperate, Chi runs to find the kid whom he befriended earlier on and his uncle. Time passes and the uncle decides to teach both the kid and Chi the thundering mantis style. After Chi finishes training he goes to wander around with the kid. Meanwhile, to the uncle's surprise, Hsia arrives and duels with him. Initially, the uncle gets the upper hand only to lose stamina and ends up getting wounded. Hsia takes advantage and uses his full strength to finally kill him. The climax has the kid and Chi caught by Hsia and the Jade gang, after the kid is tortured and killed Chi goes insane and suffers from a mental breakdown. Thus, breaking free and killing every single Jade gang member.

In the end, he goes up against Hsia for the second time and while fighting, he mixes his insanity with the mantis style and brutally kills Hsia.

Cast

Bryan Leung as Ah Chi, a fishmonger

Archive

Internet Archive, in More feature films

Licence or status

Public Domain Mark 1.0, as the Internet Archive states it.

Credit

KonstantineCategoy3

Language

English

Who can watch

The archive gives no rating. Invisible Network shows it to Teens profiles and older, judged from its collection and subjects. How films are placed