Wei Fung Character Analysis
It is always soothing to enter the kung fu world of Shaw Brothers.
A world where a long pipe can become a murderous weapon, where each hit sounds like something made of glass has broken, and where coherence is rarely present.
In such a world, Wei Fung, a scholar and a martial arts master is tasked by the Emperor to infiltrate the Tien clan, which the authorities suspect of conspiring against his Highness. Furthermore, he has a specific amount of time to accomplice his goal or his parents will pay the price.
Eventually, Wei Fung meets Tien Chi Chi, the granddaughter of the leader of the Tien clan and through a series of peculiar incidents and he ends up being her teacher. However, his task is quite difficult since the Chi Chi is a spoiled tomboy, who only wants to practice …show more content…
The interior of the noble family's house is elaborate and the attention to detail evident; however, when the shooting takes place outside of this establishment, the quality deteriorates and the artificiality of the environment is quite evident.
The costume design plays a significant role, since the wardrobe of each character indicates his social status. In that aspect, the film truly excels, on both the protagonists and the various supernumeraries.
David Chiang, who portrays Wei Fung, was a martial arts superstar in the 70's, partly due to his looks, and he does not seem to stop exploiting the fact, since a permanent smile is almost omnipresent in his face. Nevertheless, his past as a stuntman and fight instructor is evident in this film, and results into a number of elaborately executed action scenes.
Lily Li as Chi Chi portrays quite a complex character, who starts as a funny, spoiled brat but eventually and after falling in love, transforms into a rather sad individual.
As I said before, the artistic aspects of the film exist to service the action, and in that aspect, Shaolin Mantis is everything a fan of kung fu films would
A world where a long pipe can become a murderous weapon, where each hit sounds like something made of glass has broken, and where coherence is rarely present.
In such a world, Wei Fung, a scholar and a martial arts master is tasked by the Emperor to infiltrate the Tien clan, which the authorities suspect of conspiring against his Highness. Furthermore, he has a specific amount of time to accomplice his goal or his parents will pay the price.
Eventually, Wei Fung meets Tien Chi Chi, the granddaughter of the leader of the Tien clan and through a series of peculiar incidents and he ends up being her teacher. However, his task is quite difficult since the Chi Chi is a spoiled tomboy, who only wants to practice …show more content…
The interior of the noble family's house is elaborate and the attention to detail evident; however, when the shooting takes place outside of this establishment, the quality deteriorates and the artificiality of the environment is quite evident.
The costume design plays a significant role, since the wardrobe of each character indicates his social status. In that aspect, the film truly excels, on both the protagonists and the various supernumeraries.
David Chiang, who portrays Wei Fung, was a martial arts superstar in the 70's, partly due to his looks, and he does not seem to stop exploiting the fact, since a permanent smile is almost omnipresent in his face. Nevertheless, his past as a stuntman and fight instructor is evident in this film, and results into a number of elaborately executed action scenes.
Lily Li as Chi Chi portrays quite a complex character, who starts as a funny, spoiled brat but eventually and after falling in love, transforms into a rather sad individual.
As I said before, the artistic aspects of the film exist to service the action, and in that aspect, Shaolin Mantis is everything a fan of kung fu films would