Young Hero (HK 1978)

Rating: **
Review Date: 1/6/01
Cast: Hwang Jang Lee, Yuan Chu

A boring and mindless kung fu adventure about an escalating feud between a group of Japanese thugs led by Hwang Jang Lee and the Fok family. It's a simple sequence of revenge and counter-revenge that can only end when all of the competitors are dead. The story primarily focusses on Master Fok's fourth son, who diligently and secretly learns kung fu behind his family's back. His skills eventually surpass his brothers, and it's he and his father who ultimately go up against Hwang Jang Lee at the end of the film in an exhausting (and eventually tiresome) fifteen minute beat-em-up finale. Of course, seeing Hwang Jang Lee in action is the real highlight of the film, although the actor who plays the fourth son is also quite good and very lively. The other highlight of the film is cute Yuan Chu, who serves up some excellent kung fu goodness along with some impressive acrobatics and graceful agility. The kung fu is good throughout the entire film, but the plot is just so tiresome and uninteresting that it's hard to get all that excited about the fighting scenes.