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King of Beggars (Hong Kong Legends)
An illiterate, but wealthy young man is
forced to become a beggar after it’s discovered he cheated on an exam to
become the royal ‘Kung Fu Scholar.’ Chan (Stephen Chow) all but gives up
on life until he is given the opportunity to become ‘King of Beggars’
and stop a plot to kill the Emperor.
Here's another amiable offering of kung fu
comedy featuring the talents of Stephen Chow (Kung Fu Hustle, Shaolin
Soccer). Chow is So Chan the lethargic son of the General of Canton who
in order to win the affections of the beautiful courtesan Yu-shang
enters a contest to secure a place as a kung fu scholar. So Chan crosses
swords with the Emperor's nephew and the enigmatic Lord Chiu, and when
it is discovered, by dint of his illiteracy, that he cheated in the
preliminary rounds of the contest, he and his father are reduced to the
status of beggars.
Yu-shang is a member of the Association of Beggars and pledged to
destroy Chiu for his murder of someone or other and Chiu himself has his
own agenda, inveigling himself close to the throne in order to seize
power. Frankly the plot doesn't matter, although the So Chan character's
alter-ego So Hat Yi is an actual historical character, the film is a
showcase for the laidback charm of Chow and features the quasi mystical
presentation of various schools of kung fu that seems to be the norm
nowadays.
The film doesn't take itself too seriously, the production values are
uniformly high, the comedy is okay and there is also a risible song in
the final third. King Of Beggars doesn't have the post-modern ability to
confound expectations displayed in Kung Fu Hustle and, at times, it's
hard to care for the characters or what might become of them, but that's
alright. The sleepy form of kung fu that So Chan becomes adept at seems
to be a spoof of Jackie Chan's Drunken Master technique and apparently
Chow's films are full of these kinds of send-ups so that might be the
case. The world awaits a critical thesis on the new direction the
martial arts phenomenon is taking, but not from this reviewer.
Special Features:
Rags to Riches: Gordon Chan interview
Beggars Banquet: Interactive cast and crew biography |
