The Master DVD Review:

This is a film full to the brim with fighting scenes, mixed American and Chinese dialogue and 1980’s inspired stereotypes. The bad guys have shoulder length blonde hair and the good guys keep stepping onto the wrong side of the tracks as they go about their daily attempts to get enough money together to scrape by in a rough neighbourhood. Grand Master, Uncle Tak was on his way home from his herbal medicine shop. His former pupil Jonny sets him upon. Jonny has already defeated and killed every Kung-Fu master he has faced. Now, he returns to defeat the man he once called ‘teacher’. But things do not go to plan for Jonny and Tak escapes to America. Tak is pursued by his other disciple, Jet [played by Jet Li] who finally gathers enough courage to come to America and stand by his master’s side in the face of danger. The stage is set for dubious fight scenes in car parks and numerous “challenges” to Kung-fu matches. Indeed, such challenges become so common throughout this movie that they become predictable. Jet and a Chinese girl walk down the street. Some men clad in leather jackets and awful perms are sat on the girl’s car. An awed hush follows and the smell of danger fills the air. Now we will see who is the true master of Kung Fu.

‘The Master’ is a fight dressed up as a film. The plot is ropey enough to allow the two male leads [Tak and Jet] to discuss American immigration visas for a whole ten minutes of screen time. The L.A police arrive when Jet and his comrades illegally squat in a derelict house but are strangely absent when the fight scenes take place in broad daylight and in front of masses of spectators. The colour and sound are of excellent quality but the Chinese subtitles prove distracting from the main action and they often do not reflect fully what the character is trying to express emotionally on screen. Jet Li offers the viewer a more credible performance in this movie than he managed in ‘Hitman’. Here, Li just manages to pull off the downtrodden fish out of water struggling to survive in hostile territories and unfamiliar surroundings. The scene where Li’s character snaps a baseball bat into two pieces moments before a hoodlum wields it in aggression is laughable but the film does manage to make the villains of the piece wicked enough for the viewer to want to see Jet Li and his comrades prevail, even if they are not entirely certain what is going on in the movie.

The casual viewer will display no interest in the assortment of extras included in the special features on the DVD but the Kung-Fu movie connoisseur will devour them and delight in their detailed interviews, behind the scenes exploration and general discussions on the merits of making a film which requires so much input from stuntmen and stunt co-ordinators. The culture gap between East and West makes films like ‘The Master’ into comedic pieces of fun rather than the detailed expressions of martial arts and honour amongst Kun-Fu fighters. Western audiences laugh at the poor dialogue and distinctly stereotypical plots. Eastern audiences and those with a taste for the stunts and awesome fighting skills present within this movie will understand that the chuckling of the West is misplaced. ‘The Master’ is not a story. It is a showcase of fighting talent. It might seem cheesy and it might well seem as if this film has nothing to offer the romantic comedy and slasher fest dominated movie markets. But take a little time to move cultural assumptions aside and you just might enjoy this display of skill and knowledge.



Martin Drury