The Magnificent Butcher

pirateneckbeard3.5

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laird4.5

A calligraphy fight, a fight that marries the violent slapstick of The Three Stooges with choreography worthy of Gene Kelly, a battle that showcases outlandish styles such as "monkey pole," "weird cat," and "cosmic palm"... Just ridiculously entertaining. There's a running gag of Sammo Hung's character making terrible mistakes because he's too impatient to hear a whole story before taking action. The pitch black punchline occurs when the head of a rival school ends up trying to kill him in a similar misunderstanding. It's really kind of tragic, because the villain's motivations are just (from his erroneous point of view, anyway). Sammo catches his butt on fire in that scene too, though, so I guess it's not *that* tragic.

Slig0013.5

A wild and offbeat kung fu comedy adventure. The Magnificent Butcher stars the great Sammo Hung as the butcher of the title. He's a student of kung fu and finds himself in trouble after angering a rival school. The first half of this is rather haphazard to say the least. It's a frenzied mix of jokes, fight scenes and Drunken Master shtick. It's never really clear where things are going, but it's good fun all the same. There's some genuinely funny moments, including a toilet gag involving a blind man that might be the funniest prank of the film. It takes something of an unexpected tonal shift at the halfway point into darker territory; though it always retains its jocular nature and sense of fun. The fight choreography is absolutely superb. Sammo Hung'a speed and agility is truly next level, especially given his large frame. It really just gets more wild as it goes along. There's a kung fu cat fight that has to be seen to believed, and then this is followed up with two more mind boggling skirmishes. The Magnificent Butcher is a highly entertaining ride - it's just a shame there was a little more focus.