The film opens in China on July 15 with Song in the role of a young and gifted fighter who goes cityside to reunite with his apprentice after inheriting their late master’s kung fu clan. After randomly being hired as a bodyguard to protect a crime boss’s incorrigible daughter, things take a turn for the worse, and of course as a film like this would have it, we get Song in full form, stomping heads and breaking bones at top speed with the possible prospect of getting the girl at the end of the day, which is all well and good.
Absurd? Silly? Ridiculous? Yes, yes and yes, and then some, but in the best of ways you can possibly imagine if you’re a fan of comic books, kung fu flicks and Eastern cinema in general. Apart from the positive responses the film has already received from its many festival and market screenings since late last year, the trailers and behind-the-scenes featurettes are equally electric and clearly invoke Song’s growing brevity, aptitude and understanding of quality martial arts action on film following his 2012 debut, The King Of The Streets. Moreover, the addition of stars like Flash Point co-stars Shi Yanneng and Collin Chou will no doubt make this one worthwhile as well.
How soon can the rest of us see it? Time will tell, but the film is now poised for a premiere at Fantasia Festival later this month in Canada. So, to whet the appetite further, we now have a new fun, action-packed featurette that goes behind the lens as well as in front to reveal even more of the punsihing stuntwork in took to make this film a reality. The video is in Chinese sans English subtitles but you pretty much get the idea, and as if watching stuntmen bleeding out and take a beating weren’t enough, there’s stock footage of a Cheetah and that of a lion having a high speed dinner with its prey. Because reasons. Whatevs.
