Chinese folk hero Wong Fei Hung, a kung fu master of the Hung Ga style himself was better known as a physician who practiced acupuncture at his medical clinic Po Chi Lam in Canton, South China. After “Challenge of the Masters” (1976) directed by Lau Kar Leung and starring Gordon Liu Chia Hui as Master Wong, and as we approached the early 80s, the pair was back with another version which was fundamentally a comedy at its core but peppered with plenty of amazingly choreographed action and some equally awesome display of lion dancing.
This time around, the theme is not about revenge, there is hardly any blood during the fights and above all, no one gets killed. Even though Lau touches on the conflicts between rivaling martial arts schools, he is more interested in the honor and respect of all involved and that righteousness will finally save the day. There are strict rules to follow as clarified in the opening lion dance sequence in order to maintain harmony and peace. Therefore, throughout any lion dance, a team must never sniff the bottom of the opposing lion; secondly, it is rude to blink the lion's eyes while approaching the other lion and lastly, a team must never raise a leg towards the other lion.
Sure enough, the lion team from Master Lu's school broke all the rules which ended up in a brawl with the Zhang team. In any case, Wong Fei Hung's father, the respected Wong Qi Ying stepped in and restored peace at least for the time being. Meanwhile, Master Lu is planning to take over the other schools while putting up a friendly front; he even recruited a kung fu expert from the North, Master Shan Xiong to do the dirty work.
Wong Fei Hung and Zhang school's Wang Yin Lin are rivals but they are also good friends and they are forever trying to outsmart each other to see who is the best in kung fu but deep down they know where they stand, which is as evenly matched opponents. This friendly rivalry soon results in humorous occurrences, mistaken identity plus some misunderstandings among friends and of course plenty of incredible fights.
It is a bonus that Liu shares wonderful screen chemistry while clowning around with Mak Tak Law who plays his friendly rival Wang Yin Lin. Charming and confident as always, Kara Hui plays Wang Ju Ying, the lively and head strong sister of Wang Yin Lin. A beauty and the beast rolled into one, the misinterpretation between her and Wong ends up in a memorable fight which is a delight to watch. But the Wong Fei Hung character portrayed by Liu here is a hot-headed, over confident and a mischievous young man. Even though he did a fantastic job in this lighthearted comedy role, the slapstick approach might not suit everyone. Maybe Lau was trying to give the audiences a different kind of folk hero not seen in most films. Nevertheless, he gets deadly serious when it comes to his action and the lion dance sequences and this is where the film really shines. The use of overhead shots of the three tiered platforms of the lion dance in the beginning is simply brilliant and a reminiscing of an old Hollywood musical.
The casting of Wang Lung Wei as Master Shan Xiong, the country bumpkin fighter from the North is definitely the icing on the cake. He may look naive and lack sophistication to the Southern schools but he is an honorable man who doesn't just beat up any enemy without good reason. In addition, the highlight of the film has both of them engaging in the most creative and spectacular fight in a narrow alley way in which they also use their wittiness to predict the opponent's next move, apart from displaying a variety of animal related fighting styles. Credit must go to Lau too for emphasizing on the importance of stance which ties in with strength in combat and footwork. Elsewhere in another demonstration, the elderly Master shows that he is also very creative in the use of props like rolls of cloth and bags of rice to get his point across.
Overall, the collaboration of Lau and Liu which is usually a guarantee to see some great quality and entertaining kung fu action and “Martial Club” doesn't disappoint. Top it off with the theme of uprightness and respect for each other, plus wonderful support from the pretty and amazing Kara Hui and Wang Lung Wei in one of his very best roles ever; we sure have a winner here.
