Wu zhuang yuan

SUPER POWER is a vehicle for Indonesian martial artist Billy Chong at the height of his short-lived fame. The plot is about some vengeful Manchu patriots who decide to wreak vengeance on the 'Southern style' champions who defeated their master some decades previously. To this end they tour the countryside, beating up the champions until they find one person with the willpower and skill to stand against them.

Step in Chong, who we meet doing some energetic ring training in the film's opening sequence. SUPER POWER is a standard martial arts outing with plenty of training sequences to see it through; one lengthy sojourn sees our hero going into the wood to go through the movements. His training styles all have cool names like 'north eagle', 'horsehead fist' and even 'crouching tiger' years before the Ang Lee movie.

Although this is a low budget film it's a fairly watchable one, liberally borrowing stock music from Hollywood. The fight scenes are acrobatic rather than brutal and the final one on one in particular sees the participants jumping and flipping all over the screen. No masterpiece, but watchable enough for genre enthusiasts.

A dying Manchu kung fu fighter sends his three sons on a mission of revenge against the five Southern champs who defeated and humiliated him a generation ago. The three Manchus enter the town where the old champs live and begin challenging and fighting an unprepared group of once-powerful martial artists and their sons. After his counterparts in the other families take some serious beatings, Billy is forced to take a crash course from a noted teacher in North and South Eagle styles as well as Horsehead Fist. Only then is he able to confront each of the three Manchu fighters.

It's a pity that Billy Chang's career didn't take off as Jackie Chan - I guess there can be only one room for Jackie -as his fighting is fluid and powerful. Much less acrobatic than Jackie, and his technique has bite. As for the film, it's standard fare with a plethora of fights, some, especially in the finale, can be drawn out. Watchable but not on par with Crystal Fist.

SUPER POWER (1980) is a moderately exciting showcase for Indonesian martial artist Billy Chong, who had a brief round of stardom in Taiwan-based kung fu films in the early 1980s. Chong was not only a good fighter and physically agile, but a handsome screen presence with a fair amount of charm. Here he plays the carefree son of a martial arts champion who gets thrust into one of his father's old battles and has to measure up in order to defend the family name.

A dying Manchu kung fu fighter sends his three sons on a mission of revenge against the five Southern champs who defeated and humiliated him a generation ago. The three Manchus enter the town where the old champs live and begin challenging and fighting an unprepared group of once-powerful martial artists and their sons. They're not averse to underhanded tactics such as setting two families against each other. After his counterparts in the other families take some serious beatings, Billy is forced to take a crash course from a noted teacher (Wong Chi-Ming) in North and South Eagle styles as well as Horsehead Fist. Only then is he able to confront each of the three Manchu fighters in their own styles in a series of dazzling bouts. The final battle, with lead villain Hau Sau Seng, is well worth waiting for.

There is a romantic subplot involving an attractive young woman (played by Liu An Li), also a fighter, who is set to marry Billy in an arranged marriage. The two haven't met and each is fearful of what they're in for. The girl decides to dress as a man to track down Billy and check him out for herself. She likes what she sees and keeps the charade going long after Billy has seen through the ruse and fallen for her himself. Unfortunately, this aspect of the film is never developed and the young woman is inexplicably dropped from the film long before the final fadeout.

Another problem with the film is the lack of any other charismatic stars or formidable villains. Although there are plenty of fight scenes, the only notable ones are those involving Billy, whose first real battle comes relatively late in the film. The plot and fight choreography are good enough to make us wish for a stronger cast with a few more familiar faces.

Billy does some demonstrations over the opening credits. It will be a while before we see him again.

Father dies and two sons played by actors who always play villains go out for revenge.

Billy Chong is recognized as one of the greatest in the world of martial arts movies and then "what might have been" is always added to his biography. He appeared in only 11 movies. His first lead was in 1978 "Invincible Monkey Fist" made in Indonesia (his native land) but his breakout lead was 1979 "Sun Dragon" made in America. "Sun Dragon" flopped in America despite excellent fight choreography. I blame it on the English voice dubbing that sounded retarded. His third movie "Crystal Fist" or "Jade Claw" totally copies Jackie Chan's "Drunken Master" from a year earlier. Still, it was a good movie. So when did the "greatness" begin? Billy Chong became great in this movie.

I watched Jackie Chan's "The Young Master" - undeniably one of the greatest movies of 1980 and in "Super Power", punch for punch, Billy Chong is the winner.

The story starts oddly with the focus on the villains. I had no problem recognizing those guys as villains. Maybe it was a twist for the viewers who are not hard core fans like me, either way it was a good start. The story is solid and the pace is relentless. A romantic subplot is tossed in and not much happens with it but it works. I think this movie might make an historic note in that Billy Chong could see the girl was a girl despite being dressed in male clothes. It is a standard feature of these movies that the female simply puts on male clothes and no man can tell the difference.

The fighting is non-stop and never gets repetitive. The comedy choreography is clever and a pleasure to watch. The second to last fight sequence was one of the best ever filmed. It set the bar for the last fight sequence too high for it to have a chance.

My copy has the last fight sequence cut short and it seems every copy is like that. Mine is a typical VHS transfer with English dubbing. I am trying to track down a wide screen version to see if that copy is complete.

I am rating this movie as nine out of ten and the best martial arts movie of 1980.