The Challenger (1979)
Reviewed by: dandan on 2009-07-20
Summary: i've to clear the bad one for public...
yu kit (david chiang) is an opportunist, who takes people's money and is not afraid to give out a beating if they are reluctant to part with it. and, when he runs into chan hung (norman chu) - a man on a mission to find the man who raped his wife - he sees another chance to make money, as chan hung travels around to different kung fu schools, challenging their masters in the hope that he will find his revenge...

now, distilled into a couple of sentences, this sounds like a pretty serious film. it isn't. it is, in essence, an action comedy, even if it does have norman chu's righteous quest for revenge at its centre. david chiang's character spends most of the film being a mildly annoying pest, who uses his martial arts skills to cheat and profit. the latter being something else he does when he meets norman chu's character; there's even a slightly distasteful, although amusing, silent film styled sequence where yu kit hypothesises about the roots of chan hung's quest for justice. hmm...

still, despite some hit and miss comedy and a couple of slower sections, the film keeps you entertained with a string of interesting and enjoyable martial arts sequences; one-to-one, one-to-many and two-to many, mixing styles and weapons as it goes. david chiang isn't as watchable as in other roles, but norman chu rarely lets you down and he's the real star here.

reasonable...