From the 1990s comes this film based off the Chinese Classic The Water Margin. It covers the meeting of two of the heroes Li Chung and the monk Lu Chi Sum, and the downfall of Lin Chung at the hands of corrupt nobles at court which leads to his outlawing.
From the blurb on YouTube
In this thrilling adaptation of the classic Chinese novel The Water Margin, Lin (Tony K.F. Leung) is the military instructor of the Imperial Guards — a crack fighting outfit. Sensing a diamond in the rough, Lin befriends Lu Chi Sum, an obnoxious monk with superb martial arts powers. But when Lin is framed by the double-dealing court officials, he must join Lu in exile long enough to plot a vengeful return.
The early part of the film establishes Lin as a character and shows how good he is at martial arts, yet how he is noble and honest. But there’s one problem, being a martial artist he’s obsessed with training, despite the wishes of his wife that he should calm down and spend more time doing other stuff. Then one day he meets Lu Chi Sum (a wandering martial artist) at the market, they fight, and then stop to talk. There then follows a fine “Bromance” between the two kung fu heroes, as Lu Chi Sum comes to live with Lin, and they are sparing literally 24 hours a day, smashing up pots, breaking through walls much to Lin’s wife dismay. Lu Chi Sum finally leaves when his wild nature gets him in trouble with the authorities. The film then .switches to the down fall of Lin at court at the hands of the dim witted but corrupt son of the Prime Minister. It ends on a real low with Lin outlawed swearing vengeance on his tormentors.
This was very much a film I watched on a whim, being linked from some trailers I was watching on YouTube. Its not up to the production standards of modern releases, and at times almost feels like a TV movie, but the fight scenes (which are numerous) are well up to standard and the storytelling while predictable (which I why I felt no qualms detailing it above) is full of character and good acting.
Anyway pull up a pew, grab some popcorn and enjoy courtesy of YouTube
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