Shaolin Mantis tells the story of a man who must face a more skilled and powerful enemy, so he watches the praying mantis and develops the Kung Fu style of the same name!
This Shaw brothers film kicks off by introducing us to Wei Fung (played by David Chiang). Wei Fung is proving his fighting skills in front of the Emperor by taking out some skilled men (including one played by Gordon Liu!) in a challenge. He’s then given a challenge – to go undercover and spy on some rebels who are Ming Loyalists – the enemies of the Emperor.
There’s a bit of catch – if he doesn’t return by a set period of time his family will be imprisoned and eventually executed! Just for a bit of motivation.
Wei Fung shows up to the family is is to spy on and tricks the granddaughter of the rebel leader Tien (played by Lau Kar Wing) to take him in as her new teacher – as she is a troublesome student.
Wei Fung hides his expertise in the martial arts, pretending to have no fighting skill whatsoever, and the girl, Chi Chi, slowly starts to fall in love with Wei Fung. But very quickly Chi Chi’s grandfather discovers Wei Fung’s true intentions and declares that he must be killed to protect their cause. That’s when Chi Chi announces that she loves him the plan changes – Wei Fung must Marry Chi Chi or be killed.
So the two get married and are not allowed to leave the house (which is a large mansion basically). But Wei Fung worries about his parents and plots an escape, with Chi Chi by his side. On their way out they face Chi Chi’s uncles and finally her grandfather Tien. During their fight Tien decides to deliver a powerful blow but it is blocked by a protective Chi Chi, who dies shortly after. Wei Fung escapes and hides from the family.
Whilst hiding Wei Fung watches praying mantis and adopts their fighting ways and creates his own ‘praying mantis’ kung fu. he then ventures back to get his revenge on Tien for the death of his wife.
Pretty Traditional Kung Fu Flick
Of course the main character is beaten by a more powerful practitioner, heads off alone and trains a new unknown way of fighting and comes back stronger.
This of course is followed by a strange ending (spoiler alert) in which he frees his family but his father ends up poisoning himself and his upon their congratulations from the Emperor. Seems that his whole mission to protect his father and himself by going through everything in the movie before him was pretty friggin’ pointless. If he was simply killed before the movie the girl would be alive at least!
But hey, if he had died we wouldn’t have seen some cool kung fu fights right? It’s all about entertainment!
Watching the praying mantis fight and how he adapted his style was reasonably interesting, and his situation with the family was pretty frustrating, you really feel for his situation – caught between a rock and a hard place, do you let your family die or your wife alongside you?
The overall entertainment value isn’t bad and is a pretty straight forward movie to watch, not one of the best told stories you’ve seen but it has that stamp of quality these old Shaw Brothers classics keep with them.
The Action & Martial Arts
As mentioned above, Shaw Brothers manage to maintain a good level quality in their movies, and the action is always well looked after (well, almost always).
The fights are fast and show off some awesome weapon work, while the empty hand stuff is pretty traditional before changing over to the ways of the mantis. The best action is saved for the middle and end of the film – during Wei Fung’s escape and inevitable return, with little before that. There is no lack of fights in this film, as Wei Fung and Chi face her 3 uncles before Tien himself, and again when he returns.
The pace is kept nice and fast and slightly varied. I liked the way Wei Fung took his experience and used his knowledge of his enemies’ styles to come up with approaches which would help neutralize their game – a standard device used in these films but always good to see.
Overall it’s a standard Kung Fu flick that was presented and performed with quality, but not groundbreaking. Check it out if you enjoy the old 70’s kung fu flicks form Shaw Brothers and are looking for some easy to watch entertainment.
