The 1980s Gave Us One of the Most Over-the-Top Kung-Fu Movies of All Time

The Big Picture

• Holy Flame of the Martial World is a kung fu film that showcases an impressive cast of characters with awe-inspiring and terrifying superpowers.
• The film is incredibly fast-paced, with characters teleporting and a constantly expanding world that offers new mythologies to explore.
• The movie embraces the Shaw Brothers’ trademark use of comedy, balancing darkness with hilarious antics and ridiculous quips.

Everything Everywhere All At Once may have reminded cinema-goers just how much fun kung fu can be when taken to its absolute extreme, but fans of the iconic 60s-80s era Shaw Brothers movies know that when it comes to the kung fu genre, maximalism is nothing new. The Shaw Brothers were responsible for some of the wildest action movies of all time, with each one christened with a radical title to boot. Fittingly, 1983’s Holy Flame of the Martial World might just be the peak of their extremity, and if that title isn’t enough to convince you of that alone, it takes about a minute into the actual film to realize how over-the-top things are about to get.

Holy Flame of the Martial World was directed by Tony Lou Chun-Ku, whose other credits include Bastard Swordsman, Angel Terminators II, and The Holy Virgin Versus the Evil Dead. Clearly, the man knew how to spin together a title, and Holy Flame, in particular, is one of the best martial arts movies to stand up on its own. This is doubly fitting, as one of several obstacles our main character faces comes in the form of weaponized flying kanji. The film follows two siblings separated at birth after their parents are killed for possessing the secret to two blades known together as the Yin and Yang Holy Flames. Yin Tien-Chou (Max Mok) is taken in by a wise kung fu master, Yama Elder (Philip Kwok), while his sister (Ching-Ching Yeung) is taken in by their parent’s killers, Tsing Yin (Leanne Lu) and Monster Yu (Jason Pai). Make sure that you’re keeping up, because power-wise, this stacked cast of characters could give the X-Men a run for their money.

The Characters of ‘Holy Flame of Martial World’ Are Incredibly Skilled and Powered

Whether they know it or not, the MCU owes a great debt to the kung fu classics of the 70s, but it’s not just Shang-Chi with its wuxia inspiration that you can see elements of this flick in. The superpowers on display in Holy Flame strike that perfect chord between awe-inspiring and terrifying because of their implications. Naturally, every named character in Holy Flame has dedicated their every waking hour to the fine art of kicking butt. There’s no weapon that they haven’t wielded since the moment they were born, reflective of the amount of athleticism on display. Our main character, Yin Tien-Chou, seems to possess an unexplained telekinetic ability that sees him sliding across the floor through Naruto-esque hand signs and controlling his sword with his mind. It’s a worthy skill, but relatively tame next to the powers of his master, whom he tries to imitate.

Naturally, you don’t cast Philip Kwok without letting him show off some serious skill, even if he’s a little more reliant on VFX at his older age. The character’s strongest ability is that of the “Ghostly Laugh,” a technique that allows him to laugh in such a way that all those who hear it have their internal organs slowly shattered. The Joker could only manage that at his absolute worst. The bad guys attempt to fight him off by blocking off their chi paths and shutting their bodies down in meditative positions. However, they only learn to counter it when mastering “Bone Incineration by Fire,” which pretty much does what it says, and their final attack: Wipe Out the Entire Family. While that may be a mistranslation, as is common with movies of this era, it still slaps regardless.

Holy Flame of the Martial World gives its female characters the time of day as well, with Chief Tsing Yin mercilessly training a cohort of all-female kung fu students, even if the reason she’s doing so is altruistic. However, one of the best female characters comes in the form of Chuan Erh (Yung Jing-Jing), a snake catcher whose index finger becomes soaked in a snake’s bladder, leading her to develop a superhuman kung fu technique in the form of high-powered laser beams. To quote Kronk from The Emperor’s New Groove: “By all accounts, it doesn’t make any sense,” but let’s be honest, sense is far from the priority here.

‘Holy Flame of the Martial World’ Is One of the Most Fast-Paced Action Films Ever

Holy Flame of the Martial World is so imperceptibly fast that its characters blink in and out of the frame instead of walking from place to place. The kung fu masters walking down a long pathway will casually teleport across it to illustrate their speed. The film may be merely 89 minutes long, but the amount of story and characters it packs into such little time is jaw-dropping. It’s not just the non-stop action that exhilarates, with even the most famous Shaw Brothers movies like The 36th Chamber of Shaolin and The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter looking slow in comparison. The world-building in Holy Flame, like the universe as we know it, is constantly expanding, constantly offering new mythologies and elements of lore to explore. If Chuck Jones ever directed a martial arts film, it would look something like this, but regardless, the extent of its fantasy makes it the strongest of the bunch to compete against the likes of Star Wars.

‘Holy Flame of the Martial World’ Leans Into the Shaw Brothers’ Trademark Use of Comedy

Here’s the thing about watching kung fu movies nowadays, they’re undeniably funny even when they’re not meant to be! Only a Shaw Brothers movie could pull off a line like “I wish I had learned kung fu instead of studying,” and Holy Flame of the Martial World features no shortage of similarly ridiculous quips. It might be a bonkers action movie, but it’s completely aware of the fact that its only intention is to throw everything at the screen. While there’s a lot of darkness on display (a lot of parents die in this movie), Chuan Erh’s sudden growth in incredible power leads to much of the film’s more hilarious antics, as do her fish-out-of-water moments. These involve attempting to imitate the “Ghostly Laughter” with not-so-organ-shattering results or constantly punching holes in objects with her super finger. It’s a tone that allows the film’s heavy moments of exposition to swing by, and given the prominence of the “Ghostly Laughter” technique, seems to be a tone that it wants its audience to practice.

Holy Flame of the Martial World has a lot more going for it than one of the wildest titles of all time. It’s the pinnacle of the kung fu cinema that dominated the midnight movie circuit of the era, perhaps not in the quality of character development, but definitely in the quality of maximalism. Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle and RRR righteously capture the same spirit, but in 1983, without the use of CGI, Holy Flame remains a spectacle of pure unadulterated imagination, gorgeous to behold.

Holy Flame of the Martial World is available to rent on Amazon in the U.S.

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