Trolling Youtube sometimes can yield some old film gems, especially if we find Samo Hung in it. It's been years since I've watched one with him in it so it was joy when I saw this, with Vanness Wu of Meteor Garden fame at that.
At first I did not notice Vanness was here, all I knew was that he was a bit familiar. Anyway, he comes here as an arrogant student chef who then becomes a great chef under Samo Hung. You'll be surprised how he became one since Samo barely teaches him things in the kitchen.
Samo Hung here comes in as a celebrated chef who was disgraced when diners experienced stomach aches on the food he made. This led to a fall out between him and his brother who at first I had no idea if this was relevant to the story. Trust me it wasn't that much, as the only thing that ties this relationship to the story is of how he tangled up with with his nephew who is a king in the restaurant business.
Remember Samo was disgraced? He went into exile to Timbuktu to all we care as we didn't know where he went. All we know is that we went back in town at the same time Vanness did. Of all the restaurants in the area, they all converge on one. They had to boot out the existing chef when they did arrive. Unlucky for that chef.
Now that they rule that kitchen, it didn't show them cooking for guests and diners. I was wondering how they could have kept that restaurant afloat. It wasn't shown also that they became famous and got in the radar with Samo's nephew in the film. All we know is that this nephew had bad blood for his Uncle Samo being the son of the brother Samo had a fight with early in the film. The nephew employed a gangster type of approach to business, sending goons to rough up Samo to do what? I don't know, kill maybe or maybe maim him to submission and eventually leave?
The whole story here is a mess, they even put in a cooking competition where Vanness joins and eventually wins. I was surprised here as I said earlier, not much was taught by Samo to him yet he showed great kitchen prowess for him to win. His opponent, the chef from Samo's nephew's restaurant just showed up at this instance, with the expelled chef (remember the booted out chef?) as that chef's assistant. Talk about revenge here gone bad in the end.
If you like watching martial arts fights, then this movie has it. If you like to see Samo Hung again, then this is it. If you like seeing Vanness cook, who wouldn't? Then this movie is it. Story wise? This doesn't have it. A lot of loose ends and I can't believe how I even loved this movie with faults like these. I admit I like Samo Hung, maybe this is the sole reason I watched the film in its entirety.
Best of all, its free to watch. its on Youtube. I attached the link herein if you want to watch it the way I did. Again one name, Samo Hung. I never knew cooking has got a lot to do with kung fu.
