Hong Kong action film, King Boxer (1972) is better known in America as Five Fingers Of Death, and is a Shaw Brothers production that became an international cross-over hit. The success of which set the blueprint for martial arts movies. I was mainly drawn to watching it because of the imagery around hero Lo Lieh and his outstretched palms in a fighting stance glowing red. Later in the 1980s, The Last Dragon would use this imagery in its climax, using post-production effects to give a glow around its hero and electric energy. In King Boxer, the effect is achieved simply by having concentrated lighting on the hero’s hands.
King Boxer has the elements that would be repeated to the point of cliche, training montages, a martial arts tournament and rivalry that necessitates a quest for revenge. The impact of the story is in its simplicity, and yet I was surprised by the number of additional characters, who don’t feel unnecessary and eventually all have their own arcs throughout. King Boxer has the appeal of a classic western – the good guys are long-suffering and honourable, the bad guys are traitorous bullies. There’s even a trial of physical torture and injury, similar to something like Django, where our hero has his hands brutalised, and hence must further learn the ways of the Iron Fist to regain strength and fight back.
They knew how to edit movies back then! King Boxer has effective martial arts sequences that sting with occasional blood, occasionally delving into the grotesque. The editing keeps things moving and snappy, particularly allowing the fight sequences to have impact in where the cuts come into the flow. A classic in that you can feel all the things other movies took from it, not to mention it being the source of everything from Quentin Tarantino to the Wu-Tang Clan, namely the use of Quincy Jones’ ‘Ironside’ theme as its title score and sting for whenever Lo Lieh employs the Iron Fist. Solid, good fun, with intriguing additional characters and a strong honourable centre in Lo Liegh’s leading performance.
Remastered version available to stream on Mubi in Australia. Recommended.
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