Rating: R
Genre:
Action
Release Date: 05/26/2009
SubTitles: English/Espanol
Dubbed: Cantonese/English
Sound: DD5.1
Run Time: 95 Minutes
Flags: Violence, Adult Situations, Suitable for Children
Distributor/Studio: Dragon Dynasty
Starring the fabulous
Jet Li, this incredible
historical epic with its deft blend of high
drama,
slapstick, and more subtle forms of
comedy coupled with breathtaking
martial-arts action represents Hong Kong -- filmmaking at its very best. The story contains many serpentine twists and a complex mixture of plots and subplots. The story is set during the Manchu dynasty in Canton.
Li plays
Sai Yuk, a courageous young
martial-arts expert who is the very best around, as can be seen in the opening kung-fu matches. Those he beats swear vengeance, and a chaotic fight breaks out. All involved, including
Sai Yuk, end up in jail.
Sai Yuk's father is most displeased. Later
Tiger Lei, a local official, decrees that whoever can beat his wife,
Siu Huan, in a match will win his daughter
Ting Ting's hand in marriage.
Lei then builds an enormous scaffold on which the combatants will fight; the first fighter to touch the ground loses.
Sai Yuk gladly takes on the feisty mother. Unfortunately, after seeing the homely woman he takes to be
Ting Ting,
Sai Yuk decides to lose the fight. His own wild and crazy mother is mortified by the potential loss of face. To save the family honor, she masquerades as
Sai Yuk's brother,
Tai Yuk, and beats the tar out of
Siu Huan. Unfortunately,
Lei insists that the victor honor the marriage contract, something complicated by the fact that
Siu Huan finds
Tai Yuk irresistibly handsome. While that mess gets untangled, another brews when the family learns that patriarch Fong is a member of the notorious rebel Red Lotus Society, a group the governor has vowed to destroy with the help of
Tiger Lei. Back again to the romantic travails, after much confusion,
Sai Yuk and
Ting Ting agree to marry and begin preparing for their wedding. They hold a pre-nuptial feast, one that the governor attends. Chop-socky chaos ensues resulting in the accidental shooting of
Siu Huan and the capture of the elder Fong. This leaves the son to figure out how to save his father from losing his head to the vengeful official. The story's climax involves a major confrontation between the governor,
Sai-Yuk, his lady, his crazy mother, and a town full of irate citizens. A sequel,
Fong Sai-Yuk 2, followed.
~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
