by Cain Noble-Davies
Worth: $13.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Mimi Choo, Michelle Yim, Peng Chiquan, Yuan Teng, He Yutong
Intro:
… a messy but heartfelt tribute to the legacies of family, country, and kung fu.
Kung Fu Juniors, despite its title and initial snappily-edited introduction at a youth martial arts tournament, isn’t a Karate Kid-esque story about a young man learning to better himself by beating up bullies. At least, not entirely. It’s more of a family drama with added fight scenes, tracing the Liang family’s history and connection to kung fu over four generations, from 1925 during the May Thirtieth Movement, to 1949 around the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, to 1992 during the rise of Hong Kong legends like Jet Li, right up to 2019 where Sammo Hung does his best to prepare his grandson for the tournament.
The filmmaking from Clifton Ko and his team vary wildly from technical element to technical element. The attempts at period detail feel a bit slapdash, like a low-rent Ip Man, especially in the 1925 sequences, and there’s a fair amount of overuse of motion blur that can cut into Shi Yanzong’s genuinely-good fight choreography.
The film runs at a healthy clip that lets the occasional lull (like when it leans into comedy by inserting enough obnoxious sound effects to make Johnny Test blush) go past without leaving too big an impact, and along with the fun throwdowns, the drama on offer is surprisingly strong. Across the generations, the script team, headed by Lin Jing, does a good job of building up the generational story of the Liangs, a family of kung fu practitioners trying to make their way through particularly turbulent moments in China’s history.
The historical context behind each Liang’s personal battles helps bulk up the drama, highlighting the art of kung fu as an act of revolt, a form of entertainment and performance, a chance for fame and fortune, and above all as a way of life that carries through the bloodline. What makes its deeper philosophising about martial arts hit that much harder is how, despite showing it primarily as a way to repel those who bully others (like imperialist louts in 1925 or two-faced tax collectors in 1949), its core message is that brute force isn’t what defines a winner. Hell, winning isn’t even what defines a winner. Through the heartbreak, the injured pride, and the flawed attempts not to repeat past mistakes, it embodies an ideal at the heart of martial arts practice that knowing when not to fight is even more important than knowing when to take up arms, feet, and giant ceremonial lion heads. The discipline in the lesson, rather than the application, is the point.
Kung Ju Juniors is a messy but heartfelt tribute to the legacies of family, country, and kung fu. Despite his top billing, Sammo Hung isn’t given as much to do as one would hope, but between its solid action chops and well-paced and executed drama, there’s more than enough to make for an entertaining time.
