***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** Excellent kung fu, the choreography blew me away. They use no wires or CGI to create the absolutely breathtaking martial artistry here. Gordon Liu is a man who's brother is killed by the evil White Lotus, an old man with mystical kung fu powers. Caring for his brother's pregnant wife, Liu vows to avenge him and his village for Lotus' evil carnage. After a failed attempt to beat him one on one at the Lotus' palace, Liu receives training by none other than the wife herself, who teaches him a female type of kung fu, a style accompanied by grace, smoothness and patience. It is this form that Liu uses to eventually defeat the Lotus. I love how the wife is used in this movie, being very feminine yet not just a weakling. Hollywood should take note, you can make a woman look strong in a kung fu film and make it believable, not the way Hollywood does it by making the female untouchable against a male opponent. Here, not only do women get beat by men, but, EGADS! they get killed by them, too. I guess women are humans after all. Anyway, the wife here clearly is instrumental in defeating Lotus and is more a salute to women than any American kung fu film will attempt to do. Gordon Liu shows why he is underrated, though his films have not been and have received well deserved accolades. WHITE LOTUS is a better film than MASTER KILLER (Liu's other film, the more famous one.) It is more fast paced, not as talkative, and it is also reasonably lengthed. FIST OF WHITE LOTUS is one of the best kung fu films ever made, and it is a must for your collection. 9 out of 10.
Review of Fists of the White Lotus
