Kung Pow: Enter the Fist

Plot synopsis:
The movie is a parody of classic kung fu movies and features footage from the 1975 film Hu hao shuang xing. Most of the footage in the film is recycled with current actors superimposed into some of the scenes.A family eats dinner together one night in their hut somewhere in rural China (father is Ming Lo, mother is Peggy Lu). Their meal is interrupted by a mysterious man who swiftly kills all but an infant lying in a crib. When the baby (Alejandro Olazabal) is confirmed to be the 'Chosen One' the attacker, Master Pain (Leo Lee), tries to kill him. However, the baby fights back with surprising speed, strength, and agility, resulting in a comical fight scene. Tired of running after and looking for the baby, Master Pain sets fire to the hut and leaves. The baby, however, breaks out of the hut and cries over the loss of his family before tumbling over the side of a steep hill. He lands at the feet of a passing peasant woman (Tori Tran) who picks him up and holds him tenderly, commenting how cute he is, before tossing him over the other side of the road where he continues to tumble downhill.The film's narrator explains how the Chosen One (Steve Oedekerk) eventually grew up in the wilderness, living with various creatures and fighting his way across the countryside. Accompanied by his pet dog, Chosen walked and sometimes drove in search of the man who killed his family, often meeting fierce foes with whom he must do battle with. The fights do nothing but prove his mastery and increase his skills, some of which are physically impossible. He makes his way to a settlement where he meets the ill and slightly deranged Sifu named Master Tang (Hui Lou Chen). Chosen proves his identity to Tang by opening his mouth and revealing a separate being; a smiley face aptly named Tonguey. Master Tang explains that he was once told by his flatulent master that there would be a Chosen One and that his appearance would be of great significance. He agrees to continue Chosen's training much to the displeasure of student Wimp Lo (Chia Yung Liu) who was trained wrong on purpose and as a joke. His shoes squeak as he walks, matching his whiny voice. Chosen also meets the beautiful Ling (Ling-Ling Hsieh) who displays shyness at first but quickly warms up to him. She also displays a verbal twitch and constantly cries out "wee-ooh" when speaking.Jealous of Chosen's natural and supernatural abilities, Wimp Lo challenges him to a fight but seems to be under the impression that the more he gets beat up, the better he is at fighting. Ling attempts to stop the fight, crying out that a child could defeat Wimp Lo, before a messenger runs into the fighting arena and announces that Master Pain has been seen entering town. Recognizing the man as the one who killed his family, Chosen goes into town in disguise to meet him. There, he witnesses Master Pain's amazing skills as he showcases his resistance to pain, undergoing a brutal beating without flinching, even in the most sensitive of areas. Master Pain earns the support of the town's mayor and announces that he is to be henceforth known as 'Betty'.Eager to see if he possesses the same skills as Betty, Chosen employs a group of men to beat him up, until he tells them to stop. However, the pain is evident and Chosen is knocked unconscious. When he wakes up, he's approached by a caped woman with one large breast who introduces herself as Whoa (Jennifer Tung). They briefly skirmish and she tells him that he possesses the supreme gift that will allow him to defeat Betty. However, she warns him that now is not the time to fight him and that Chosen must avoid the meadow where Betty keeps his sacred guardian, Moo Nieu. She then flies into a tree, gets stuck a moment, and disappears. Chosen sits down and suddenly recalls that Whoa wore a brooch similar to the one his mother used to wear.The following day Chosen decides to set forth and fight Betty despite Whoa's warning. He asks Ling to tell him where Betty is but she refuses at first and requests that Chosen stay and live with her. Chosen becomes angry and implores Ling to reconsider; blaming the curlicues in her hair for temporarily distracting him. She finally tells him where Betty was last seen and bursts into tears. Chosen rolls his eyes and heads out, crossing through the very meadow Whoa warned him against and coming face to face with Betty's guardian; a Holstein cow. The cow rears up on its hind legs and fiercely attacks Chosen, using her udder to squirt bullets of milk in a scene parodying The Matrix. Chosen is finally able to gain the upper hand by grasping the cow's udder and milking her until she is completely empty, her body thin and withered, leaving her incapacitated. Chosen leaves the meadow the victor and continues until he reaches the top of a waterfall where Betty is swinging a chain. Chosen calls out to him, vowing vengeance for his family's death, but is stopped by a man who reveals himself to be Ling's father (Chi Ma), uttering the familiar "wee-ooh". Betty attacks both men using his dreaded iron claw, injuring Chosen and mortally wounding Ling's father. Chosen and Ling's father are sent over the edge of the rocky waterfall followed closely by a whale.They both survive the fall and Chosen helps Ling's father back into town. They meet Master Tang who immediately recognizes Ling's father as his old mentor, Master Doe. Master Doe is placed on bed rest and warns Tang that Chosen must not be discouraged by his defeat that day and should continue his training, for if Betty garners the help of the Evil Council he will be unstoppable. Despite using Neosporin and odd massaging methods, Tang is unable to save Master Doe and he dies that night. Ling is upset over the loss of her father and is comforted by Chosen. She gives him mixed signals about whether her grief can be quelled by romance but finally decides that she doesn't want Chosen to think she's a slut and gives him a hug instead.Master Tang confronts Betty the next day in town and declares that he will fight him for Chosen's honor. Betty prepares for the fight by getting one of his henchmen to play 'Baby Got Back' on his jukebox. However, Tang's constant coughing renders him unable to continue the fight and he further infuriates Betty by calling him Sally. That night, Chosen walks alone into a field and consults the starry skies for help. His prayers are answered by the image of a large lion in the clouds named Mu Shu Fasa (Mu Shu Fasa) (in obvious parody to The Lion King). Mu Shu advises Chosen that he must find his place in the great circle of stuff and tells him to continue his training. He speaks in further riddles and tells Chosen that the answers he seeks will be in the stars above before disappearing into the night, reciting, "this is CNN".The following morning Master Tang goes out into the nearby fields for a walk, singing about animal sounds. He is momentarily suspicious when bird calls erupt from the field, including one from Betty hiding in the tall grass saying, "I'm just a birdie too". Betty then ferociously attacks Tang with his iron claw. Meanwhile, Ling leaves the safety of the town in search of Chosen, followed closely by Betty's men. She comes to a courtyard where she discovers two ventriloquists who have been hung by their feet before she is grabbed by Betty's men and brought to him. He demands to know where Chosen is but she refuses to tell him and escapes. Wimp Lo attempts to act the hero and runs off, pursued closely by Betty and his men. However, his 'plan' is short lived and he's quickly subdued by Betty's claw, his squeaky shoes deflating as he collapses.Ling runs out to the fields where she sees Chosen in the distance. She calls to him and he begins to run to her, though he does not seem to make any headway. Before he can reach her, a net the size of his head is thrown onto him and he collapses to the ground.A short intermission ensues where the characters each advertise various theater treats as light music plays in the background.Back to Chosen, he struggles against the confines of the tiny net and forces himself to reverse time and the capture method. He runs backwards, freed, and stumbles across the body of Wimp Lo in the reeds. He hears moaning and, in sequence, comes across Tang, Ling, and his dog all wounded by Betty's attacks. However, despite appearing to die each time he comes to them, they all miraculously recover. Thinking that Wimp Lo has perhaps done the same, Chosen returns to him only to find (off screen) a fly-ridden corpse. He vows to find a way to reverse the bad and wrong that Betty has wrought, dubbing the term 'badong' and claims that he will stand up for the opposite of such tyranny; 'gnodab'. He sets up training dummies in a courtyard and attempts to remove from each dummy two metal, triangular spikes on their chests, identical to the ones Betty has on his person; the source of his power. However, each attempt is met with failure as the spikes are too smooth to pull. Chosen becomes overly distraught and frustrated.That night, Ling tries to help him. He holds out his hands, bloodied by the spike points, and watches as she pours first salt, then lemon juice, then pure liquid mercury out of a thermometer into his hands. She tells him to rub his hands in her hair, humming strangely, and then sets his hands on fire. This technique somehow allows Chosen to get a firm grip on the spikes and pull them out of the dummies. He thanks Ling, admitting that he first thought she was nothing but a psycho bitch.Meanwhile, Betty rests in the mayor's office, showing off his magician skills by changing the mayor's clothing color and laughing about Chosen's apparent demise. However, a messenger comes and tells him that Chosen is still alive. Betty is then summoned by the Evil Council and goes to their lair to seek advice, speaking to them in a large, echoing room. Though the council's speech is indecipherable, Betty is pleased to hear that they will help him defeat Chosen.The next day Chosen contemplates the best way to attack Betty and gain enough time to remove the spikes simultaneously, despite Ling's constant assurance that he's ready to defeat him. Each attack gone over in his head leaves him vulnerable to a counterattack, but he has an idea. He goes to a store and purchases a pound of nuts from the shouting vendor who then calls someone on his cell phone, telling them about Chosen's departure. Chosen walks to a tree and uses a nut to beckon a squirrel.Chosen goes to meet Betty in a temple and begin their fight. Betty's jukebox henchman begins playing music but Chosen alters the tune so that it plays 'Black Betty'. Their fight takes them outside to the courtyard where Chosen appears to have the upper hand. Betty summons the Evil Council for backup and they arrive from the sky in large, triangular spaceships and begin playing French music, to Chosen's disgust. Empowered by their energy beams, Betty renders Chosen helpless with paralyzing attacks. Partially unconscious, Chosen has a vision of Mu Shu Fasa and Whoa. Mu Shu advises Chosen to open his mouth. When he does, Tonguey extends to amazing lengths and flies out towards the Evil Council's mother ship, latching out on one of the corners and spinning it out of control until it crashes. The rest of the armada flees in fear. Chosen's body glows brightly and he leaps from the ground and grabs Betty's pyramid spikes as Betty chest palms him away. But Chosen is successful in removing the spikes. As blood spurts from the holes where the spikes were, Betty stumbles to the ground, hurts his stomach, and dies.Chosen sits up and removes from inside his shirt a very flat squirrel with a hand imprint pressed into it. He thanks the squirrel for providing a cushion against Betty's blow and fills the hand-sized cavity in the squirrel with nuts. The squirrel awkwardly runs off with its reward. Ling runs into the courtyard, flashing Chosen for a moment, and embraces him. Chosen returns home with her, triumphant. The movie ends with sequences showing a possible sequel (not true) filled with even stranger adventures for Chosen and his friends. At the very end, we see Master Tang, still weak and lying in the field where Chosen left him, asking if anyone will come to his aid as an eagle pecks at his leg.

Tags: cult, comedy, comic, violence, flashback

Review:
The first time i heard of Steve Odekerk was when I first saw the movie "Thumb Wars" on UPN, I found it to be so stupid that it was hilarious.
Now Kung Pow is the same way and has the most random unexplainable humor that I have seen in a movie.
Now I personally love this kind of humor but not everyone does, so I would say if you saw any of his other movies like Ace or Juwanna man these are more "normal" movies and aren't good to go by.
But if you have seen the thumb movies or just love weird humor you will love this movie, I loved but that doesn't mean you will, so my advice is if you don't like stupid comedy don't watch this but if you like that kind of stuff you should check it out..
This is one of the funniest films I have ever seen.The Screen-It Our Take reviewer doesn't like "silly" humor.
He thought it was the most "un-funny" film he'd ever seen.You either love it or hate it..
There's a good chance that when you saw the trailers and TV spots for this movie the first word that came to your mind was "stupid".
No jokes fall flat [except the gay henchman was sort of annoying at times], the action scenes are well done, and it's always a treat to see really bad movies get spoofed.
Plus add intentionally bad dubbing and you have a movie which never for a second tries to be subtle, ingenious, or intelligent.Kung Pow is absolutely, 100% absurdity and it uses this to its fullest extent.The plot, if that's what you'd call it, is a mocking of just about every martial arts classic which has a 'wrong fella decides to wreak revenge on the nasty sorts who ruined his life' style story.Steve Oedekerk is 'The Chosen One' whose mission it is to get revenge on the bad folk in as amusing a way as he possibly can.
Master Pain is his nemesis and the bad man directly responsible for the unspeakable acts against his family.The rest of the movie is purposefully disjointed and has no continuity half the time, but a masterclass in editing is not the point of this exercise.
Sure, you'll not have tears rolling down your cheeks but if you're willing to stoop to the dumb level the movie demands of you, you *will* be at least amused.One thing the movie makes particularly good use of is special effects, with some more than decent CG animation complimenting a number of scenes.
Aside from this, the technical merits of the movie are pretty decent, in that the interpolation of old footage and new footage is actually rather seamless and you'll not spot it a lot of the time, except where you're supposed to.As The Chosen One, Oedekerk seems to have a great time.
The situations and characters serve as the platform for the jokes."Kung Pow!: Enter the Fist" is a movie I should have hated.
In fact, when I saw previews for it back in 2002 (five years ago now, wow time flies!), I thought it looked like the worst movie out there.Finally, in 2004, when my friend convinced me to watch it, I realized just how wrong I was."Kung Pow" is without a doubt the stupidest film I have ever seen in my lifetime...
Steve Oedekerk (director/writer/star) really does an excellent job at making what is essentially an 80-minute Nickelodeon cartoon entertaining enough for the open minded to enjoy.I was surprised that within 10 minutes, I was laughing at a pretty constant pace...
Like our hero (aptly named "The Chosen One") fighting a CG cow, and the fact his tongue has a face and can talk...But the ingenious parodies of martial arts films in general (everything from bad dubbing to bad visual effects to bad directing/editing) is pulled off perfectly.If you are willing to look past the fact that you will feel like your IQ is dropping whilst watching this film, you will probably have a blast.And that is why I give it a very good 8 out of 10..
Seeking help from the Master Tang's Crane school to hone his style and make him stronger, the countdown is on till a showdown between Master Pain and the Chosen One.In case the title leaves you with any doubt that this is going to be a silly film, the opening scene features a terrible CGI baby fighting with a ninja master.
Too much of it is too puerile to appeal to a mass audience (that cow fight was just stupid and unfunny) but at times it is very funny just because it is so off the wall and has lots of lines that are unexpected.The "cast" is naturally dominated by Oedekerk doing silly voices but it works surprisingly well.
It might be worth a rental if you like kung-fu movies, but you should probably avoid this.
It's simply a spoof - an outrageous one at that - on these wild Hong Kong martial arts films that have become popular in recent years.Babies kung-fu fighting??
Yup, that and a whole lot more - many funny things, many incredibly stupid things - that added up to a fun viewing experience the first time but too stupid to watch again.Having an absurd sense of humor is a must.
I was wondering every single time when it is going to finish and have to bring myself to fast forward a movie for the very first time just to get it over with and done for.As a Chinese myself, I don't find the comedy that funny.
You know what I`m talking about , when a male character sees his female co-star for the first time a voice ( Which sounds suspicously like it belongs to the English royal family ) can be heard saying " Well hi there baby , you`re a pretty young thing " while the actor`s mouth can clearly be seen mouthing the words " Oh my god , what a scanky dog , no wonder I`m gay " .
This fact seems to have escaped the notice of the producers of KUNG POW: ENTER THE FIST who have decided to take some obscure Hong Kong movie and redub and edit it into this alleged comedy and I can`t emphasize enough how the comedy fails .
I`m actually shocked that no-one came to the conclusion that this might have been funny for a skit lasting two minutes but this movie lasts almost for an hour and a half .
It`s absolutely pitiful that humour in this movie is composed of people making funny noises like "Whhhheeee " and " Oooohhh " .
Yes that`s right that`s what the humour involves and before anyone asks " But Theo isn`t this a martial arts spoof like SCARY MOVIE is a horror spoof ?
The cynic in me ( And no dirty jokes please , the porn topic is finished ) believes that the producers only filmed that scene so they could put it in the trailer and make everyone believe they`d be seeing a martial arts equivilent of SCARY MOVIE .
False advertising I think it`s calledI was dying to give this one out of ten , but I did like the theme tune by Mint Royale which is the same track used in the punch up scene from the GET CARTER remake so I`m going to give it two out of ten , but even so it`s still one of the worst movies I`ve seen in a long time .
This was a excellent work with the right kind of parody-humour for my taste.Even though I had small expectations about Kung Pow after seeing the trailer I thought I'd give it a try...
it would at least be fun to see the man behind my favorite thumbs.Since a lot of scenes in the movie is borrowed from an old kung-fu movie most of this movie is a simple "make funny voices to silent movies humour" The kind of thing that one did when seeing Fong Say Yuk the first time without subtitles.
Very dull.I smiled 3 or 4 times watching this movie but I can't call it comedy.
I didn't know what to expect from Kung Pow: Enter the Fist, from the cover, it looked pretty stupid, but my boyfriend said that it was worth a look and that it was pretty funny if I was in the right mind set.
But we watched it last night and even if I was in a normal mind set, I thought it was a pretty funny movie.
Kung Pow: Enter the Fist was interesting where Steve Oedekirk took these old martial arts films and just made them into his own amusing comedy.
I think the reason why this movie was so funny besides the ridicules voices was because Steve really had a passion for the film and his writing.
It's great to see someone else bring it to life, even it at times it was a bit stupid.The Chosen One is one of the finest martial arts masters in the world, but his family was murdered when he was just a baby.
But he discovers that he needs more strength, with the help of his martial arts teacher, the love of his life that makes strange noises, and his wood chuck nun chucks, he learns the way of the martial arts and now must face the evil villain that plays popular music while defeating his opponents.Kung Pow: Enter the Fist is stupid, but I'm sure you'll get a couple laughs out of it.
Like I said the voices are so over the top that you can't help but at least laugh at the movie if not with it.
Steve and the rest of the crew looked like they had so much fun making this movie and they didn't take themselves too seriously.
Just give this movie a chance, I'm sure you'll have a fun time watching it if you just wanna laugh.6/10.
its a sort of a "so-stupid-that-its-funny" type of comedy, similar to the 'scary movie' and 'naked gun' films, but some people don't find it funny.
the original movie is actually an old Chinese film that they edited and inserted the actors and effects.
i didn't even notice it until i saw the making of the film.i you love the "so-stupid-that-its-funny" type of comedy, then this movie is for you, but its not for everyone..
But seriously, this isn't a parody, it's a boring (worst comedy crime) reading of old clichés, we know these movies were badly dubbed and had nonsensical dialogues, get on with it.
Kung Pow is my first walkout in a couple of years.One problem I didn't foresee in watching the trailer is that the by-now over-familiar joke about bad dubbing of Asian films --which has been spoofed for the last 30 years by everyone from Woody Allen to soft drink company commercial makers-- while still enough to elicit chuckles or at least giddy good humor in a commercial length vehicle, does not work long term.
--Can someone please explain?Kung Pow looks like a 20 minute student film inflated to short feature length at the request of venture capitalists who decided to try something a little more fun than parking lots this time out.In case you haven't guessed, this film is a wretched BOMB.
I also love action and martial arts films -- the cheesier the better.So you'd think that 'Kung Pow' would be right up my alley...
That man is Steve Oedekerk.Of course, anyone who has seen Thumb Wars knows the Oedekerkian way of poking fun at things.
Take whatever you want to parody, add lots of silly humour, fun special effects, lots of Oedekers voice acting, and voilà, there you are.Kung Pow is a bit like an extension of MST3K.
Instead of just riffing the movie, Oedekerk switches every single line of dialog to his own voice, with often very funny results.
I can't understand how ANYONE, and I mean ANYONE could possibly think this movie was in the least bit funny.
I know it was made to make fun of kung fu movies, this Kung Pow is not funny.
This movie is so bad that I couldn't bare watching the whole thing.
For those people who like this film or even "painfully" watched the whole thing, you are unique individuals.
I speculated on how this movie was going to be and upon watching it for the first time, I realized I needed to see it again.
Take footage from an old Hong Kong Marital arts film, over dub them with silly voices and add your own crazy characters and you get this.
Give me some random film, I'll go over some old geezer 'Oh, my name is Master Poo-Poo, dude.' Just like that.So if you are young and laugh easy and silly voices and simple jokes, go for this.
Sometime Kung Pow turn bad, like this time..
Unfortunately this movie doesn't turn out as good as the real Kung Pow. It turn more into a pile of s**t.
You could actually believe that they're all there, on the same sets, acting out each scene like any other movie.Again, this isn't for everybody, and if you aren't a fan of Hong Kong action flicks, you will not get most of the gags.
Good bits include the dog with a SEVERE problem of audio/video synchronisation (a very clever target of spoofing), the flashbacks in which nothing is added to what has already been said (until it turns into a fart joke), the parody of the "dramatic zoom in" effect of Japanese films (it's slightly overdone but still works) and the nut salesman with a very loud voice ("THAT'S A LOT OF NUTS!!" That was unexpected and genuinely funny).
But where that movie ran out of steam after only thirty minutes, Oedekerk keeps the momentum going by piling absurdity on top of absurdity, including a kung fu baby, a battle with a cow versed in the martial arts and the unexpected arrival of a fleet of French flying saucers.
"Kung Pow" starts with a modicum of promise, though; the scene with the baby rolling down the hill brought genuine giggles from the entire audience (all eight of us) the night I saw the movie.
I'm still trying to figure what forces of evil even got me into the audience in the first place -- but I implore you to benefit from my pain and suffering: Do not -- for the love of all things sacred and good -- ever watch this movie..
The humor is aimed at towards people below the age of 5 and it is one of the most stupid, unfunny and boring films I have ever seen in my life.
I really don't need to explain this plot, it is basically about a Chosen One.There have been plenty of good parody movies like Scary Movie, Scream, Top Secret, Flying High and The Naked Gun. This was lame, boring and had the stupidest humour I have ever seen.
After watching what seemed like 2 hours of the films tired jokes and noises, I was ready to turn it off (something I never do) when I realized it was only 45 minutes in.
This time, however, I did.The only funny parts in the entire movie were in the previews, and they were taken out of context.
The only reason people were laughing during this film was when they realized how stupid it was to have paid to be in the theater.
It is actually right at the top of my list for the worst movie I have ever seen.This movie may have about 3 or 4 funny bits at most - one is right at the start when the woman picks up the baby and then keeps rolling him down the hill.
Imagine 'Scary Movie' (which is probably the funniest adolescent humour movie I've ever seen) drained of all swearing, nudity, gross-out gags, fart gags, blow job gags and everything else 13 year old boys find funny and you've got this film.
If you want to watch a good spoof, rent "Airplane" or "Scary Movie".
Instead, the movie is basically an old kung-fu movie with voices dubbed over in silly style by the movie's director and star Steve Oedekerk.
In a movie where the laughs are few and far between, it needed more moments like these.Rating: 5/10 or (2 stars).
It's as if someone just did a bad dub job over someone else's movie...but NOT funny, just stupid...Like perhaps a drunk frat guy would find this amusing...
The jokes were cheap shots, the Matrix spoofs are tiring, and I would like to find Steve Oedekerk and personally kick his ass for thinking this was good.
The thought process of this movie: "Hey lets take old kungu films super impose Steve Oedekerk and dub over them and add some stuff.
It will be funny." The unfortunate reality is that after picking the scenes to dub over from two old kungu fu movies Steve Oedekerk realizes that its not funny.
I like all kinds of stupid comedy movies, but this one was just so annoying.
I couldn't sit through the whole thing and walked out after the first hour.There are no funny jokes and nothing at all clever about this movie.
I often watch a movie and even if I do not like it I understand how people with other views, lifestyles, sense of humor, etc.
While watching Kung Pow the only thing that interested me was the fact that how in the world does anyone enjoy this type of movie, including the artists(used loosely) who made the film.
The commercials for this film made it look like something along the lines of "Zoolander." Basically a fun mindless movie.