House of Fury [Blu-ray]

House of Fury is a return to the older style of Martial Arts film. While there are some scenes where it's notably done with wires (only really obvious in the opening sequence) the rest of the fights are reminiscent of what you would have seen in the 80's and early 90's.

The story of the film is pretty original, but has its cliche moments. But that doesn't stop it from being enjoyable overall.

But honestly, the fights are what make this movie. Any Kung Fu or Martial Arts fan who enjoys the movies with a lot of amazing fight sequences will love House of Fury. They where directed by martial arts action supremo Yuen Woo Ping (The Matrix Trilogy, Kill Bill 1 & 2) who has once again proved why he's one of the best in the business.

All in all, House of Fury is a great buy for a Kung Fu film fanatic, or someone looking for a good action movie with some humor thrown in. The story isn't the strongest, but with well choreographed fights, well placed humor, and some great acting performances by the younger characters in the movie, House of Fury is one of the best films to come out of Hong Kong in 2005, and one of the better films in recent years.

House Of Fury is almost superb and that is the most disappointing thing about this film. Teddy Yu (Anthony Wong) leads a double life as a chiropractor and secret agent. His teenaged children, Nicky (Stephen Fung, who also directed the film) and Natalie (Gillian Chung from the pop group Twins) think his 007 stories are all nonsense. When Teddy is kidnapped by assasins who work for a man named Rocco (Michael Wong from Beast Cops),the kung fu kids search for the baddies. Rocco is after Teddy's longtime friend Chiu (Ma Wu) and his killers are tough. Rocco, on the other hand is the weakest character in the movie. On the disc cover, he's in a fighting stance with Wolverine-like claws. In the movie, he's a wheelchair bound crybaby who is paralyzed from the neck down. Rocco's young son, Nelson (newcomer Jake Strickland) is the baddest ass on the evil team. This kid is awesome and is one of the main reasons to buy this dvd. Daniel Wu (Cop On A Mission, One Nite In Mongkok) and Charlene Choi (the other Twin) are entertaining, but they don't do too much here. Overall, House Of Fury is a nice reminder of the way kung fu movies used to be in the 70's and 80's. With Yuen Woo Ping, Jackie Chan's production team, Stephen Fung, and the great cast involved, it should have been a classic.

`House of Fury' is a quite entertaining kung-fu action film that does not take itself seriously. It nicely re-uses the basic story of Robert Rodriguez's joyful `Spy Kids' series, and adds lots of well-choreographed kung-fu actions (advisor Yuen Woo Ping).

Anthony Wong (`Infernal Affair') is Yue Siu Bo, a middle-aged doctor who runs his own health clinic in Hong Kong. He is a good-natured person and a family man, but his habitual tales about his old days as martial arts master and top spy agent are very embarrassing for his children, Nicky (Stephen Fung, also director of the film) and Natalie (Gillian Chung, `The Twins Effect' and one of the popular duo Twins). Nicky and Natalie do not believe a single word of his father's braggadocio until one day he is really kidnapped by a baddie in wheelchair, Rocco (Michael Wong) who showed up before him to settle the score with the guy who inflicted a severe injury to him many years ago.

The story is thus simple, but it works in this kind of action-packed film. Though helped by stunts, smooth editing, and some wires, all the martial arts actions are above average, generating enough excitement and fun with the characters' super-fast, gravity-defying movements. I will not be surprised to find the good action from Josie Ho who plays a deadly assassin, but it is surprising that Gillian Chung can show good skills as kung-fu fighter, who has obviously trained so much since `The Twins Effect.'

Charlene Choi (the other Twin) also appears, but sadly her role is just an extended cameo. Daniel Wu also appears, but his fans would be disappointed with his role which does not play a significant role until one moment. On the other hand, veteran Wu Ma steals the scenes with some good (and you might say unbelievable) actions, and Jake Strickland as the baddie's son (who is always playing Nintendo) also shines in two scenes where he shows his true colors as capable fighter.

Of course this is not `Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' or `Kung-hu Hustle.' Stephen Fung as directo knows what he is doing, with his approach which is very orthodox, and even simple in letting his co-stars show what they can do on the screen. No grace and beauty of bamboo trees, no gimmicks and parodies. Only good martial arts actions, and they are very entertaining. Recommended for the fans of martial arts actions, or the sweet and lovely Twins.

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