By Chris Hyde

May 13, 2003

With comic book films all the rage in Hollywood today, it's worth noting that the sequential-art-to-film transition is neither new nor limited to the American film industry. For one excellent older example of the phenomenon, we need look no further than the newly re-released 1982 Hong film Buddha's Palm.

Recently, the breakneck pace of Celestial Pictures' Region 3 DVD reissuing of the Shaw Brothers incredible back catalog threatens to overwhelm and bankrupt the dedicated fan of Hong Kong film. Every month seems to bring more required purchases from the golden ages of the territory's cinema, and it's truly hard to keep up with them without selling one's soul for more hard cash. But when gems like Buddha's Palm resurface, that forced pauperization seems but a small price to pay for the pleasures garnered from the film.

Made in 1982, Buddha's Palm seemingly represents a bridge between earlier wuxia films and the kind of highflying martial arts movies that would crystallize in the Hong Kong cinema a bit later on in the decade. Adapted from a popular Chinese comic book, the film is more or less a nonstop action ride with fantastic fight scenes following one right after the other, and each successively more insane than the last. The setting and effects range from the brilliant to the deliciously cheesy; the Shaw's typical high production values shine through in the many respects - though some of the special effects are pretty crude, especially when compared to today's CGI standards.

Somehow, however, inside the bizarre universe of this film, even the lower quality of parts of the mise-en-scene only serves to enhance the overall enjoyment of the spectacle. But luckily, along with the occasional cheap laugh at enhancements that seem ludicrous only 20 years after their debut, there are also plenty of top notch attributes that make this movie far more than a mere laughable outing. For one, as always with the Shaw's work, the production values are of exceedingly high quality, so that the lighting, costumes, camerawork and set design are all of exceptional grade. Additionally, the cast of actors and actresses is extremely talented and watchable, and this solid ensemble helps to carry the wild flights of fancy inherent in the storyline. Lastly, though this tale is utterly madhouse in conception, it manages to avoid the complete incoherence that sometimes plagues the screenwriting of films from Hong Kong; while there's no restraint on many twists of plot, in the main the story is written well enough that it can be followed without too much difficulty.

Still, to try to synopsize the plot here in a form that would do it justice seems a fairly pointless undertaking, given the outlandish and convoluted nature of the goings on. Suffice it to say that the principals involved are all wrapped up in battles that revolve around clan rivalry, love, honor, revenge and the wielding of martial arts skills that far transcend anything that you ever saw David Carradine pull off on Kung Fu. Here you will see on display such things as the pediform stomping of the Foot Monster, a dwarf that spits acid from an overgrown boil, four masked evildoers who fight with the sound waves from their stringed instruments, some knife throwing from a long-lost daughter, as well as the swastika swirling of the Wrath of the Ten Thousand Buddhas. And if that doesn't seem enough for you, along the way there are also charmed dragon pearls and wondrous orchids with the power to heal, killer combs, fast paced fight scenes with plenty of standard hand-to-hand combat, stunning and deadly female characters and a strange flying bird/beast who is integral to the tale.

Given all the above, you might think that perhaps the characters would get lost in the welter of perplexing effects and vying motives. But skillful handling throughout allows the storyline to develop organically without being unduly confusing, and the cast is so excellent and engaging that being swept up by the fabulous events as they unfold is near inevitable. Especially of note is the work by the female members of the cast, many of whom play crucial roles in the development of the story - though in some ways they are treated as second-class citizens. Still, Candy Yu, Hui Ying Ying, Kara Hui Ying-Hung and the oddly named Mary Jean Reimer (among others) are all so talented and confident that their performances help lend gravity to the absurd machinations of the plot. (Side note: Reimer, the Asian actress with the Western name, surfaced again in the news just last year. Now a successful lawyer, she was involved in an incident where a man fell from the ledge of her seventh floor apartment building while hiding from her husband, the actor/director/fight choreographer Lau Kar-Leung). Also worth pointing out is the hilarious job done here by the great Hong Kong actor Lo Lieh, who puts in an amazing turn as "Bi Gu from East Island", a sometimes comic but always important character with a penchant for showing up late to the battle.

With its capable cast, attractive story and high production values, Buddha's Palm from its very first moments proves to be an entertaining film that has all the qualities that any successful comic book to film adaptation should possess. While at least a couple of Hollywood's recent such properties have come close to handling this transition in an acceptable and entertaining way, there are lessons here that some domestic filmmakers could easily take a cue from so as to improve their efforts. In adapting the pulpier properties from that medium to the cinema, American directors are sometimes apt to get lost in the tributaries of back-story that they feel are necessary to explain things to portions of the audience unfamiliar with the printed material. But as the example of Buddha's Palm demonstrates, if the tale can simply be presented in an engaging manner with an eye towards character development, then much of that filling in of details is rendered somewhat superfluous. This astounding piece of classic Hong Kong cinema demonstrates unequivocally that familiarity with the source is unnecessary to the enjoyment of the cinematic version; given nonstop action, attention to detail, an accomplished cast and an accurate but not too overly serious approach, the weight of history need not weigh overtly on the finished celluloid product. If only more of Hollywood's current superhero outings had the simple joie de vivre and unpretentious air that Buddha's Palm possesses, our trips to the megaplex to watch live action comic books would be a hell of lot more fun.

View other columns by Chris Hyde