We are still trying to find the next Bruce Lee. I hope he’s out there somewhere. In this movie, Jackie plays a character named “Little Mute”, so needless to say, there won’t be much humor here. However, the plot is somewhat interesting. It’s you’re standard period piece, but the idea of Little Mute being trained in an unknown martial art by a prisoner is somewhat different from the usual. Of course it turns out that the prisoner is indeed our bad guy here, as he killed Little Mute’s father, and Little Mute, in fact, is Little Not Mute.

This movie is actually known more for what it contributed to pop culture than the film itself. Both Tekken and Kill Bill draw some influence from this, and I’d dare so those two mediums are more closely associated with those influences than this film is.

Fight 1- We start this one out with action in the first couple of minutes with a fight in a dream like scenario. Little Mute fights two men, in separate instances, and it’s not great. The choreography feels REALLY deliberate and slow, and that is something of a problem throughout the movie. Some of Jackie’s athleticism is on display here, but it almost felt like the other two stuntmen had to be lead through this slowly. This almost came across like it was supposed to be a demonstration of their forms, but it’s never explicitly stated as such. (Rating 3/10)

Fight 2 – This isn’t a “fight”, per se, but still pretty neat. Little Mute must fight his way through the titular Wooden Men, which are mechanical training dummies. They are being controlled by people on the other side of a wall with chains. The idea is very unique, and allows Jackie to show off a lot of his athleticism and creativity. It’s honestly the best action in the movie. There are dozens of these things, and Mute must decide to fight through them honorably, or take a shortcut that keeps presenting itself. He barely finishes the trial in time, after taking a good beating. Really cool stuff. (Rating 5.5/10)

Fight 3 – Little Mute steps in when his friends are being harassed by some street toughs. Jackie vs 5 men, and it’s a bit one sided. Like the first scene in the film, it feels very deliberate and slow. Only saving grace for this, is the good use of some tables and benches as props, and you see Jackie’s fingerprints more and more in these movies. Still, nothing to get too excited for. (Rating 3.5/10)

Fight 4 – This is extremely brief. Jackie gets into it with a kung-fu master in a restaurant. Little Mute is handled easily by the master, who stops when he realizes when he(Little Mute…pronouns pal) is a Shaolin man. (No Rating)

Fight 5 – The prisoner who trained Little Mute has revealed himself as the heel of this movie, and has a fight with the kung-fu master from the previous scene. During the fight, the prisoner has confirmed that he killed Little Mute’s father, along with the people we saw get killed in the movie. This causes Little Mute to interupt the fight before the prisoner could finish performing the five point exploding hand technique, and thereby killing the kung-fu master.

The ideas behind this fight are better than the execution. Little Mute knows all of the prisoners technique, since he was trained by him, but he also has the non-lethal techniques he learned from the Shaolin. Mute has many chances to land killing blows, but does not take advantage. It’s a neat idea, but the editing and choreography kinda ruin this. Several weird cuts, and the deliberate, careful pace that is throughout the film.

Things pick up a little bit when the villains friends take over to fight Little Mute. This brief section feels fast and fluid, and has a much better pace than when Jackie fights the prisoner. The last part of this when when prisoner comes back in, is actually solid. The pace picks up, and the end of the fight is honestly pretty dramatic. Little Mute remembers the times when he was helping the prisoner, and the training, and offered him the chance to repent his bad deeds, but the bad guy refuses, and accidentally kills himself when trying to land the five point exploding hand technique on Little Mute, and hits himself instead.

Final verdict: Aside from the wonky fight scenes, this is actually pretty good, so I say SEE IT. The story is really well put together, and the ideas they use in the fight scenes are at least interesting, even if they aren’t always executed well. Probably Jackie’s best pure acting performance to date. He does a good job of battling his own emotions when it comes to the prisoner, because he knows he is a bad person, but Little Mute can’t forget what the man did for him.