Product: The Evil Cult [Region 2] (2005)
Rating: 3.0
Never slows down
Of all the movies I've heard, "Lord of Wutang" is undoubtedly the one... with the fastest pace.Really. This movie never even pauses for breath, hurtling from one plot development to the next, and barely allowing the viewer to catch up. But if you can keep up with the rapid-fire pace, it's a rewardingly bizarre and comic adventure story with a fantastical little twist.As a child, Mo-Kei (Jet Li) was hit with the deadly Jinx Palm, just before the terrible deaths of his parents. Mo-Kei grows up under the tutelage of a great master, but the Jinx Palm leaves him unable to fight or have sex -- until he and the sprightly marial artist Siu Chiu (Chingmy Yau) fall off a cliff.There, Mo-Kei encounters a wacky old hermit embedded in a boulder, who teaches him the great "Solar Stance" kung-fu and cures him of the Jinx Palm. Now Mo-Kei can seek revenge for his parents' deaths, but he and Siu Chiu find themselves in the middle of a massive power struggle between the martial-arts schools, Shaolin monks, and the Evil Sect (which doesn't seem that evil)."Lord of WuTang" is really kind of confusing -- revenge vendettas spring out of nowhere, battles start without warning, and the plot is so fast-moving that the whole thing seems to be about a day and a half's worth of action -- as soon as one subplot ends, another instantly starts. And yet, somehow despite all this craziness, it's still pretty entertaining.Perhaps that's because this isn't intended to be a serious revenge epic. It has lots of verbal and physical comedy ("Get my head off of my a**!") and bizarre characters who are thrown in just to be bizarre, like the Red Cross sex freaks and the old hermit who rolls around inside a boulder.But they don't neglect the kung-fu aspect, with lots of energy blasting, flying shields, and a great fast-paced duel between Li and a roaring Shaolin monk. It strikes a pretty good balance between the fantastical violence (flying killer shields?) and the realistic stuff that looks pretty bloody.It's hard to keep the dozens of characters straight, especially since some of the girls are almost identical in dress and body language. But Li is appealing as the naive, peace-loving guy, and Yau is just as fun as his sprightly, spunky love interest. She even gets the kung-fu equivalent of a catfight."Lord of Wutang" is almost too fast paced to follow, but it still has a bizarre charm. Definitely worth watching.... so long as you don't leave the room.