Fantasia XXIX Review: In THE BATTLE WIZARD, Pao Hsueh-Li’s Wily Fantasy Kung Fu Adventure
It’s not every year that I get to observe a revised kung fu classic. Pao Hsueh-Li’s 1977 fantasy kung fu adventure, The Battle Wizard, takes center stage here on this platform as part of our Fantasia coverage with a story about a bookworm thrust into an adventure full of surprise, wonder, and imminent danger.
One of several screen adaptations over the years based on the late Jin Yong’s literary works of the 1960s, The Battle Wizard flashes back to a deadly clash when a swordsman catches his wife in the act of having an affair with a royal prince who comes from a long line of martial artists trained in the secret art of Yi Yang finger magic. Years later, his son Duan Yu (Danny Lee) is of age, and a bookworm with no real interest in kung fu.
Challenged by his father to a bout in a month, a frustrated Tuan sets out in the world to test whether or not he would need such skills. What follows is the biggest wake-up call of his life after befriending a bold young woman named Zhong (Lin Chen-Chi) with a love for snakes, who ends up captured by a vicious forest clan. Decamping to a remote hut in search of a legendary warrioress who can aid in her rescue, Duan Yu encounters the mysterious and lethal Miss Mu (Tanny Tien Ni).
Little do they know they are being hunted by a half-human creature minion in the service of a sorceror with iron stilts for legs, and a grudge that dates back to before Duan Yu was born. Forced to consume the blood of titanic and exotic creatures along his epic journey, our hero takes on a new transformation, imbued with massive fighting abilities and superhuman skills to boot, and a renewed sense of purpose when age-old family secrets are revealed.
Sorcery and magic have been feted cinema feats for longer than I’ve been alive, although it’s fair to underscore kung fu and wuxia cinema for their more organic traits in terms of practical production qualities. The Battle Wizard is just one of those films that step things up a notch in bringing things full tilt with special effects as core to its narrative. Finger beams, hand blasts, glowing reptiles and torsos, and firebreathing are among the film’s fantastical overlays pertinent to our characters, topped off with cleverly shot battles with fierce monsters and even a costumed man-eating gorilla.
Late screen legend Tong Kai’s fight choreography paves the way for satiable hand-to-hand woven in between periodic acrobatics, limb-shattering finger blast attacks to whet one’s appetite for gore, and VFX-laden battles aplenty, with Duan Yu finally squaring off with the main villian that’s more so a test of strength.
The Battle Wizard takes a few wild swings in terms of its story, particularly when keeping in mind Miss Mu’s caveats for revealing her face. At best, it’s an awkward comedy add-on to Pao’s otherwise whimsical, watchable and fun entry from an era of Shaw Brothers potency. That Fantasia was able to present this film, restored and uncut, is an ample plus.
