Hey folks, Valkor here. And I welcome you to TOV's "30 in 30",
where I'll review 30 unique film and maybe some not so unique,
all in 30 days. What's cool for most of the flicks, is that I
know nothing about em. So this should be a real treat not just
for you guys, but for me as well. Good or bad, this is gonna be
a fun month. It all starts today July the 4th and ends on Aug
the 3rd. Can I make it through? We'll know soon enough!
I was most excited with number 24 on the list of films in the 30. First it's a Hong Kong flick, which I always enjoy. And two, it has bad ass box art that made me think I was about to watch something epic. Imagine my surprise that it plays out more so as a romantic-comedy with lots of action. I mean such a thing is unheard of, but in Kung-Fu Cyborg: Metallic Attraction, it seems to work.
Kung-Fu Cyborg is a love triangle of a tale revolving around police chief Dachun (Jun Hu), a Cyborg named K-1 (Lik-Sun Fong), and their love interest Su-mei (Betty Sun). Dachun is elected to take K-1 under his wing and get him involved in some police work. Somehow K-1 and Su-mei are instantly attracted to one another, which doesn't go over well with Dachun. Plus it is against K-1's programming to fall in love, or he'll shut down. Things get even more complex when Dachun and K-1 track down another robot named K-88, who goes against his programming and speaks of robot freedoms. They take down K-88, but Dachun is killed in the process. K-1 takes the parts of K-88 and meshes them with Dachun, bringing him back to life. However his memories are a bit shoddy as he thinks there is a woman who is secretly in love with him. The organization that created K-1, go after him for lying about K-88. With the help of Dachun/K-88, they were able to hold off the first attack… but the second, not so much. It is at this point that K-1 professes his feelings for Su-mei and vanishes into dust, leaving a weeping Su-mei behind.
Kung-Fu Cyborg is a tragic tale that's action-packed, and filled with loads of laughs. Again, going back to the box art, it's totally what I wasn't expecting. So what did I think of the film overall?
The Good:
First of all the film is funny as hell. I'll give HK film makers credit; they do know how to make a goofy comedy. And to think this one is mixed in with some serious action, but it's waaaaay over the top – and I mean that in a good way. Take the second to last battle between the two guards in a giant kung-fu beast against K-1 and Dachun. K-1 tries to upload to Dachun/K-88 a love virus however he uploads a gangster virus and hundreds of gangsters' pop out to fight alongside them. It's hilarious! Another favorite and hilarious scene is Su-mei sister getting repeatedly popped in the mouth! Now that's classic comedy right there! There's a nice chunk of CGI, it doesn't look the best, but it works for what it needs to do. The best use of CGI is when K-88 is chasing Dachung and K-1. K-1 transforms into… a bicycle, K-88 changes into a truck. And from there it just gets crazy until they change into their robot form; I'm talkin video game action here. The acting is pretty good, and a little hammy. And considering the type of film this is, I can't hate on it. Lik-Sun Fong earns my kudos 1) because he's just that good and 2) persevering through what must have been a crazy make-up process. Think of Jude Law in A.I. and you'll know what I mean. (Or just check him out in the screen caps). Eric Tsang makes a nice cameo appearance and I love this guy! When I saw him in the beginning of the film, I knew this wasn't gonna be a serious picture. But he does a lot of crying; I wasn't sure if I should laugh or just take pity on the guy, but given the film is part comedy, I laughed. Overall, not bad.
The Bad:
It's a touch too long, stretching into 1hr and 43 minutes. Considering the type of film this is, stretching across different genres, I think 20 minutes could have been chopped off.
The Ugly:
When Dachun is testing out his new Cyborg powers; one of his abilities is to imitate objects and transform into them. As he's flipping through a magazine he spots a can of eel and changes to that. But on the next page he sees a baby's butt. And, you guessed it, he changes into a giant butt!
So in the Kung-Fu Cyborg: Metallic Attraction is the love/comedy/romance movie I wasn't looking for, but really glad I found it. Its off the wall humor will have you LOL'ing, while the intense action will keep you glued to your chair. If you're a fan of HK films, or looking to try something different, I'd definitely recommend Kung-Fu Cyborg. And out of TOV 5 stars, I give the film 4 stars. And it's been Valkor tested, TOV Approved!