[KFCC] Shanghai Affairs Review

Story: Two doctors (Tong Sang & Bond) decide to open a clinic in a poor area of Shanghai, soon after the Axe Gang comes into the village and start harassing the people. The doctors being well skilled in the art of Kung Fu decide to get involved. The towns people ask Tong Sang to go talk to the land lord for help, luck would have it the land lord is Raymond who was Tong Sang`s old teacher from the UK. They finally come to an agreement with the axe gang and the villagers and all the trouble is put behind them. One day when Tong is working in Raymond`s hospital he meets a woman who cant talk, Tong says he can cure her sickness. She turns out to be Lau Chi`s sister, he is the leader of the axe gang. Lau Chi has no like for the doctor as he ruined his plans with the towns people.

Review: This is for the most part a Kung Fu movie with a very good amount of drama mixed in. The story takes place somewhere in the 30`s or 40`s in Shanghai. Compared to most Kung Fu movies if this genre the story is pretty elaborate, there are several plots that start at different points in the movie. Even with all the plots it is easy to understand.

There are a couple main characters in the movie but the movie is especially focused on two. There is a little development between the characters, its more of an understanding of their motivations. Another important part is the relationship that evolves between the the Doctor and the Triad bosses sister. That is basically the evolution in the story and cause all the trouble for the main characters. The acting for the most part was very good but the characters were generally ordinary except for the two doctors who were somewhat interesting.

Soon after the movie starts there is a big street fight between the triad gang and a group of villagers, soon as the doctors get involved you see this movie is going to be old style Kung Fu. Unfortunately there are not enough fights for the Kung Fu fans, they are pretty spread out through the film. Between the fights there is quite a bit of drama and advancement of the plot. The quality of the fights are excellent, this is true choreographed Kung Fu. The camera shots are clear and focused on the fights so the Kung Fu fans will find that enjoyable. We only wish there were more fight scenes in the movie, also the best scenes is the first street fight in the beginning. Those that follow are less spectacular but the last fight is pretty decent but short.

The subtitles are decent in this movie but they are automatically generated by the DVD you cannot turn them off. This is your typical post old school kung fu movie, you have great fight scenes and a decent story to back it up. Definitely a decent movie but unfortunately it does not stand up to the classics of its genre. Any Kung Fu fan would find this interesting just be aware there are less fight scenes than you would like.