Home Entertainment Guilty Pleasures – Kung Pow: Enter the fist

Guilty Pleasures – Kung Pow: Enter the fist

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Brace yourselves, the memes are coming in hard and fast with this feature.I’m of the opinion that parody films died out in the early 2000s, when an asteroid of pale imitations and weakly-scripted films in the genre impacted upon them.

But if there was one film that stood up, bloody and battered after that impact, it would be Kung Pow: Enter the fist. It’s a niche genre film, that tears apart an even smaller genre, that of the B-grade Kung Fu movie.

The genius though, was in how director Steve Odekirk managed to insert himself into several older Kung Fu films, splicing new footage with hilarious dialogue, and some subtle computer-generated jabs added in between.

The plot is thinner than the restroom toilet paper, the action is absurd, the jokes are non-stop and dammit, it made for one of the best parody films of all time.

Everything, from Odekirk in his role as the magic-tongued Chosen One, through to the cheesy fights and innuendo-laden dialogue is perfect. You’ve got Odekirk facing the wrath of Master Pain, who decides to rename himself Betty for no apparent reason later in the film, while his plucky female assistant Ling takes absurdity to a new level.

You’ve got killer cows, musical fight scenes, one-sided battles and the danger of a tiny net. There’s not much else to say about this one of a kind film. It basically stole its formula from Hercules Returns, but at least it had the decency to take that idea and make a success out of it.

If you love Kung Fu films, wacky comedy and general surreal attitudes, then you’ve got to watch this. At least you’ll get to see a lady with a rather generous, ahem, single attribute if you do.

Last Updated: June 6, 2012

4 Comments

  1. I thought I was the only one that liked Kung Pow… I use so many quotes from that film that nobody gets… 🙁 “You will all refer to me by the name….. Betty!” 

    Reply

  2. Kervyn Cloete

    June 6, 2012 at 17:04

    I love this movie. It’s so ridiculously quote worthy.

    “That’s a lot of nuts!”
    “I see you’ve found my Face to Fist style!”

    Reply

  3. Kervyn Cloete

    June 6, 2012 at 17:06

    Also, you forgot to mention that Oedekirk does the voices of literally everybody in the entire film.

    Reply

  4. Andre116

    June 7, 2012 at 07:08

    oh…I still remember the first time I saw this film.  Snorted and laughed so hard that I probably missed half the film.  Saw it a year later again and went through the same process.

    hehe…the scene with the fly that keeps flying into the old man’s mouth.

    Reply

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