Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageKing Boxer (1972)
Director: Zheng Changhe
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Made by Shaw Brothers in direct response to Golden Harvest's huge success with Bruce Lee, this took the formula for the studio's swordplay genre and adapted it (minimally) for the needs of the new kung-fu. The righteous, virginal Chi-Hao (Lo Lieh, more often cast as a villain) wins a regional martial arts tournament, thereby avenging his two treacherously murdered teachers. Obstacles in his path to victory include black-hearted Chinese, evil Japanese and the ambush which leaves him with broken hands. Director Zheng (who is Korean) delivers by-the-numbers action melodrama, never rising above the studio's house-style, and falls back on tacky colour and sound effects to render the hero's winning 'iron palm' technique. But the joli laid Lo is kind of cute, and it's nice to see action choreography (by Lau Kar-Wing) that relies on trampolines rather than wires to enhance the fighters' skills.Author: TR
Cast & crew
Director: Zheng Changhe
Producer: Run Run Shaw
Cast: Lo Lieh, Wang Ping, Wang Ching-Feng full cast
Duration: 105 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Review: Penélope Cruz more raunchy than ever in 'Nine'
Dave Calhoun reports on Rob Marshall's Oscar-touted musical with Daniel Day-Lewis playing a troubled director
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Jim Jarmusch on 'The Limits of Control'
Jim Jarmusch has followed ‘Broken Flowers’ with an esoteric crime mystery. Dave Calhoun speaks to him from his New York office
Richard Linklater on 'Me and Orson Welles'
Dave Calhoun meets the 49-year-old, Houston-born filmmaker Richard Linklater to discuss his new comedy
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now