Donnie Yen truly is a mesmerizing martial artist whenever we see him on screen. In Kung Fu Jungle, he comes back as Hahou Mo, a martial arts expert of course and a police instructor. In this film we see him in prison for involuntary manslaughter. This was three years ago and now a serial killer in Fung Yu-Xiu or Fung Yu-Sau (played by Wang Baoqiang) has surfaced and is killing off all the top martial arts experts around. Yu-Xiu want to prove he is number one among them.
Mo then contacts Police Luk Yuen-Sum (played by Charlie Yeung) offering her his help in catching Yu-Xiu. Acting as a consultant or resource person, Mo was released under Yuen-Sum's custody. He then guides Yuen-Sum on to Yu-Xiu's next target. It seems that they are always a step late as all the martial arts experts get killed before they arrive on the scene. Leaving but one martial arts expert is left, Mo.
They battle it off in the end and as true to Yu-Xiu's belief, martial arts are for meant for killing, he really wanted to kill off Mo. Our hero eventually won but he restrained himself in killing Yu-Xiu, he had a change of heart. Yu-Xiu took this opportunity to kill Mo but was pre empted by Yuen-Sum who aided Mo in the nick of time. With the case closed, Mo went back to prison to serve his remaining sentence however with Yuen-Sum's help, he was able to get out much earlier. Mo then returned to his hometown and again taught martial arts.
Overall, if you like martial arts films, then this movie has them all. From weapons, grappling, our antagonist practiced them all hoping to kill all those experts in these fields. He really wanted to number one for a weak reason in memory of his dead wife. Whom he killed by the way so that 1) she will not endure the hardships of having cancer or 2) he couldn't bear witness to the agony his wife is going through. How would he honor the death of his wife by being number 1 in martial arts? This maybe a cultural thing because we really don't get it. All we have happy here is that this his reason for fighting and we get to see a number of fight scenes that are truly breath taking and awe inspiring, and we get to see another best fight scene by Donnie Yen.
Wang Bagoqiang as Yu-Xiu is truly a great martial artist as well. His on screen presence was great and we can feel his passion for his craft. All his fight scenes were incredible and although I am no expert, is believable at my level. Thanks to the great fight choreographers and we were made witness to another great martial arts film.
Currently showing on Netflix but other versions are being shown on Youtube as well. If you can't find Kung Fu Jungle, try its initial title - Kung Fu Killer.
