Set during World War II while Korea is under the Japanese rule, the simple plot here is about Korean rebels who're willing to give up their lives fighting against the evil invaders. Li Jun Dong (Jhoon Rhee) is their leader and he works as a gardener in a local church. One day, being chased by the Japanese, rebel Jin Zhang Zhi (Carter Wong) seeks shelter in the church. Together, Li and his student Mary (Anne Winton) step in and beat up the attackers who then run away.
Buy This Title
Now that the church is not a safe heaven, the three of them take off but the priest stays behind and is captured by the returning Japanese. While checking on the priest's welfare, Huang Li Chen (Angela Mao) also gets into trouble with them. Li then sets out to rescue Father Louis (Andre Morgan) alone but is outnumbered. Jin, Mary and Huang who're hiding in China all this time, decide to come back to free Li from the Japanese headquarters, knowing that it's a trap but they have no other choice.
Although Angela Mao is the main draw card here, she doesn't appear until twenty minutes into the movie. But it is such a welcome sight as she starts to kick and chop her way in, sending those Japanese flying through thin walls and breaking almost everything while doing it. She has a wonderful screen presence and excels in both her acting and fighting skills. In “The Angry River”, she only fights with a sword; however, it's a blast to see her letting loose here with her real, bare hands, Taekwondo style.
Huang Feng had worked with Angela in other movies before, and he has again directed an exciting martial arts outing with this movie and the fights are epic, fluid and energetic. He even tilts and twists his camera to further catch the furious action. However, he probably has a limited budget too because one certain street scene is used twice to represent both Korea and China. Nevertheless, Chu Yuan Lung and Chen Chuan handle the action choreography masterfully.
Real-life Taekwondo expert Jhoon Rhee, the “Father of American Taekwondo” plays the leader of the Korean resistance fighters. However, we don't get to see him in his full glory till the end fight. Even then his hands are all chained up but his kicking technique is amazing just the same. This is also his only appearance in a movie. Carter Wong has a minor role as Li's royal follower Jin Zhang Zhi but he has nothing much going here besides being pursued by the Japanese and running around.
Interestingly, Andre Morgan who plays the priest is a producer from Golden Harvest, but anyhow, his acting is stiff. On the other hand, as his niece, Mary, Anne Winton flares much better. Furthermore, being trained in Taekwondo, she puts on a good display of kicking skill though less fluid in execution.
In a typical fashion, all the foreign invaders are portrayed as evil, mostly two dimensional caricatures with poorer fighting skills. Sporting long hair, Sammo Hung plays a mean Japanese henchman who always gets beaten up but his fights with Angela are a pleasure to watch, especially the one in the restaurant.
“When Taekwondo Strikes” is a fun and entertaining martial arts movie despite the weak and routine story line. Anyway, viewers are here for the spectacular and furious action which director Huang Feng fully delivers. Full of energy and displaying her Taekwondo skills, Angela Mao's definitely the main attraction, no doubt about it.
