The Killer Meteors (1976)

Jimmy Wang's movie always seems to have interesting theme to it. This one features a new kind of weapon called killer meteor.Killer Meteor (Jimmy Wang) is hired by Tiger (Jacky Chan) to steal an antidote for a poison, and kill Tiger's wife who put the poison in his soup. She has four expert kung fu men as body guards, and Meteor has the defeat them to get to her. The movie is made by Lowe Wei's company. Lowe Wei is the director who directed Bruce Lee's "Chinese Connection", but reportedly didn't get along with Lee, because he was listening in to horse races during production. After the sensation of "Enter the Dragon", Hong Kong cinema had hard time living up to its own legacy of kung fu movie. New actors were working for Shaw Brothers, and they were producing good kung fu movies such as the "Flying Guillotines" and "Executioner from Shaolin". Lowe Wei's production was too derivative, and didn't have the freshness that Shaw Brothers movies had. But this movie is pretty good. There's surprise at each turn of the story. Meteor is set up to be the fall guy, but Tiger, and his wife doesn't know how good Meteor really is.Solid old school kung fu movie that deserves a viewing.

I'll be completely honest and get right to the point - 90% of the people who give this movie terrible reviews are being harsh for one obvious and inexcusable reason: they are Johnny-come-lately Jackie Chan fans who got into him through Rumble in the Bronx and have absolutely no exposure or familiarity with classic kung fu, it's staple elements or it's classic stars. This entire situation is compounded by the fact that several "autobiographies" by Jackie dismiss this film as a "favor to Lo Wei". If you are a Jackie-lubber, then this film is sure to wrinkle your feathers. I don't think it's much of a spoiler to reveal that Jacky is the bad guy, but he's also a complete loser who gets bitch-slapped for all time. Jimmy Wang Yu is the star of this movie. Jimmy Wang Yu doesn't do crazy choreography. Jimmy Wang Yu doesn't doesn't give Laurence Olivier acting performances. But I'll tell you what Jimmy Wang Yu does: Jimmy Wang Yu kicks the crap out of people, wisecracks and smirks while he does it, and likes girls. The story is based on a novel by Taiwanese wuxia writer Gu Long. All you have to do is read two pages of a Gu Long novel to realize that this movie captures all of his setpieces and dialogue to a fault. And this is Gu Long the novelist, not be be confused with Ku Lung the ACTOR. Morons in the kung fu movie media (and this means YOU, Ric Meyers!!) are constantly making this mistake. Another notable standout for this film is that the dubbing is by the usual Ocean Shores/ Vaughan Savidge actors . . . but there is clearly something special about their delivery - almost as if a more deliberate approach was taken to put the project together. It should also be noted that the film is no where near as confusing as everyone is making it sound. The Scimitar and Columbia DVD releases contain about 15 minutes of crucial plot scenes that were omitted from the old VHS releases which I suspect some of these folks have been basing their reviews on. The plot is riddled with intrigue and implausible backstabbing, but the movie as a whole has a very well delineated beginning, middle, and end. Using this as a criteria for a film of this genre is suspect anyway, given that most of them end abruptly at the 90 minute mark with a freeze frame and a "THE END" overlay. One has to imagine Jimmy's character of Mi Wei as a Clint Eastwood type. He's already got the skills. You're not going to see him carrying water, strapping iron to his feet, attacking wooden men - fans of the ubiquitous training scenes need not apply. You're also not going to see Mi Wei backing down from a fight. He actively goads people into fighting with him and he usually takes them down in 30 seconds with a brilliantly violent ending . . . and smiles while he does it. You know - the same kind of smile that guys like John Liu and Hwang Jang Lee give when they take someone out in a flick. This doesn't sit well with folks who's rather watch Jackie monkey around with glass jars and do fart jokes. You know who you are. The Killer Meteors is an excellent film that is criticized for unwarranted reasons. Anyone seeking a unique and interesting 1970s kung fu experience should check it out with a completely open mind. Free your mind from the rank-n-file kung fu hacks who've slammed this movie.

Version: English dubI always thought Wei Lo made bad movies. He has such a reputation, and having only ever seen some of his later movies, I had concluded that this reputation was justified. I shall admit now that I was wrong, so very wrong. Watch 'Killer Meteors' and choke on your words, as you discover Wei Lo's directorial brilliance.Sure, this just another cheap release by Siren, keen on taking any movies that feature an early Jackie Chan (before he was even famous in Hong Kong) and cashing in on his now famous name. Before I would have called Siren "greedy bastards", but I just had a thought: Maybe someone at Siren realized that if they released and advertised it as starring Jimmy Wang Yu, few people would be bothered to view this fine piece of cinema. But! If they made it seem as if Jackie Chan was the star, then more people would have the pleasure of seeing the greatness that is 'Killer Meteors'.Jimmy Wang Yu stars in this as the Killer Meteor, a fighter whose secret weapon - the killer meteor, obviously - makes him invincible. I don't recall his character ever having a real name, so I can only assume that his parents actually named him Killer Meteor, and he worked on it from there. Anyway, Killer Meteor generally spends most of his time sleeping on a rock, accepting gifts from various people for reasons that aren't explained very well. Or at all. Killer Meteor finds himself employed by the villainous Jackie Chan, who is dubbed as the "Immortal" Wa Wu Bin. Ironically, Wa Wu Bin is very sick and close to death, thanks to his wife, Lady Tempest. Wa Wu Bin needs Killer Meteor to retrieve the antidote from Lady Tempest's cave, but first, Killer Meteor needs to defeat her bodyguards: a man who throws needles with deadly accuracy; a dude with hands so magnetic, that he can use them to attract objects that aren't even magnetic; a human microwave; and a fighter so cunning, that we never actually see him being cunning.I must say that 'Killer Meteors' is one of the most confusing movies I've ever seen. Be prepared for levels of confusion that 'The Matrix' and 'House of Flying Daggers' could only dream about. There are about a billion double-crosses, a few billion more 'twists' in the story, and many characters who seem important yet seem to disappear for most of the movie. Throw in the most hilarious dub ever, and 'Killer Meteors' shapes up to be one of the awesomest movies ever.But where would it be without the kung-fu awesomeness? Granted, there is not as much kung-fu awesomeness as I expected there would be. It is pretty hard to find time to have characters beat each other up when they're all so busy explaining to each other why they are being double crossed. Something like that. The fights pretty much define 70s kung-fu movies: very bad dialog during the fight, some rather poor fight editing, and most importantly - THE KUNG FU SUPER POWERS! Oh yes, 'Killer Meteors' is filled with kung fu super powers, and is another of those movies where *everybody* knows kung fu. Awesome.So when you watch 'Killer Meteors' - and I must insist that you do - I hope you come to the same conclusion I did, and apologize to Wei Lo for ever doubting him. 'Killer Meteors' is a cinematic masterpiece. Well, maybe not a technical masterpiece, but it is a fine example of cinematic awesomeness, and in the end, awesomeness is all that really matters. 'Killer Meteors' transcends a numbered rating system, for a number cannot describe the awesomeness and the entertainment value of this movie, and so it is awarded this simple rating: pure awesomeness.

While the final battle was OK, the rest of the fight scenes didn't impress me too much. I found then rather mundane and unoriginal. What this movie did have that distinguishes it from other movies of this type, is an intact, interesting story line. Easily better than any other kung-fu movie I have ever seen (including the garbage that has been made in the 90's). If you enjoy old kung-fu movies, this one is definitely worth checking out just for the odd combination of story and kung-fu.