Rating: 4 out of 5
Director: Wing-Cho Yip
Year: 1979
Plot:
“Sleeping Fist” has a simple plot that weaves around a few
subplots, before getting to the final epic battle. Chin Tai Ba is a police
officer that gets beat down by criminals, and ends up getting rescued by a
young martial artist. He is then taken to a master of Sleeping Fist style kung
fu, and he trains in that. After the training and mastery of Sleeping Fist, he
ventures out to get his revenge. However, the crew run into something else, the
villains have a master too, and they utilize Eagle Claw Kung Fu, making it an ultimate test of wills at the end
of the movie. That’s as simple as I can make the plot based on what I saw, and
read, and while there’s a few smaller plots, that’s the overarching plot line.
Thoughts:
“Sleeping Fist” opens with a red backdrop and a showcase of
kung fu from our main characters. I loved that starting line, and we see a
great amount of action to start. We then move to the movie and there’s comedy
afoot which I loved to see overall. There’s a kung fu kid that is chased by a
few guys and he uses a very tall unicycle to get away. It’s hilarious, and got
me chuckling.
The plot moves swiftly, and you get a sense for the
characters overall. There’s plenty of brawling too, but there’s a stop gap to
get the story and training moving forward. I noticed the transfer was VHS
quality, and the dubbing wasn’t too bad either. The sound design is good
overall, and definitely above average at times.
The brawling is good overall, and definitely a highlight of
the movie. There’s an elevation to it too, with fights getting more and more
complex until the ender. If you’re a fan of mixed styles, you’ll definitely
appreciate this one as there is a mix of kung fu styles, and of course Eagle
Claw and Sleeping Fist too. Even with the stop gaps, and plot development,
there’s a lot of good to be found with this one, and it definitely has a great
deal of heart mixed with kung fu. The kid makes this one stand out for sure,
and it’s impressive to see a young actor so good at kung fu. Overall, “Sleeping
Fist” is a good movie, with plenty to offer fight fans and regular movie fans
as well. I give this movie a rating of 4 out of 5.
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