Chinatown Kid (1977)

Bitterly average HK gangster flick

Born out of director Chang Cheh's desire to make anything other than another period martial arts piece, Chinatown Kid doesn't quite live up to its status as a classic in the Shaw Brothers' library of works. Utilising the standard martial arts framework as a backdrop to an entertaining, though exceptionally lightweight, examination of the pitfalls often experienced by Chinese citizens abroad and the circumstances which can divide even the staunchest heart. Chang's direction is decent, Alexander Fu Sheng's performance is fabulous and the music gets the job done but the whole film doesn't quite come together as neatly as I'd like thanks to its barebones script and long-winded runtime, it doesn't exactly tread over new ground either. While Chinatown Kid includes a little bit of everything and then some; from comedy to gangsterism and kung fu to big shoot-outs, it ultimately fails to connect the dots and ends up as a relatively average affair with occasional strong points of contention.

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