- Year: 2005
- Starring: Stephen Fung, Gillian Chung, Anthony Wong, Daniel Wu, Michael Wong, Wu Ma, Charlene Choi, Jake Strickland
- Martial Arts Choreography: Yuen Woo Ping
- Directed by: Stephen Fung
- Running time: 102 minutes
From the back of the box:
"As a widowed father, Yue Siu Bo (Anthony Wong) lived his live as a Chinese chiropractor. His son and daughter, Nicky (Stephen Fung) and Natalie (Gillian Chung), learned martial arts from Yue but were tired of their father's bragging of his heroic past, so they stayed away from him, but on the other hand, the children constantly quarreled with each other, the family was never in harmony.
One day, a mysterious person, Rocco (Michael Wong), arrived in his wheelchair in Yue's Clinic and asked for a person called Tai Chi Lung. Later on, Yue was found disappeared, leaving behind the clinic in a mess. With the assistance of Yue's old friend Uncle Chiu (Wu Ma), Natalie's best friend Ella (Charlene Choi and boyfriend Jason (Daniel Wu), the children successfully escaped from the assassins showed up in their school and found out Uncle Chiu was actually a retired undercover. Astonishingly, there was actually a secret background behind Yue which the children would never have thought of. Now their father's life was in danger, they had to unite together and read for an impossible mission, but on the other side they were facing, was a gang of brutal killers..."
HOUSE OF FURY is Stephen Fung's second film that he's directed and he also served as co-writer. The movie won't go down as a cinematic masterpiece, but it still held my attention for the 102 minute running time which at times can be quite a feat. The story isn't all that original and quite predictable and some of the acting is fairly bad...Michael Wong!! Michael Wong is so wooden his character is confined to a wheelchair and can only move his head and a couple fingers and after all these years he still manages to excrutiatingly drone his lines, in English of course! Did I mention he is bald too? Stephen Fung doesn't fair much better when he tries to show some emotion, I mean a crying in the rain scene? Charlene Choi, has a small role as Natalie's friend and love interest for Nicky, although she's played as a cheap school girl tease. Nicky walks into the kitchen to grab a drink and she's laying on the counter seductively smoking a cigarette, er I mean cigar. We even get the slo-mo close up of her taking a drag and exhaling. I think she's supposed to seem sexy, but I found it rather replusing. Hey, that's just me.
I didn't buy (yeah, I bought it) HOUSE OF FURY for the writing or the story, I wanted to see some Yuen Woo Ping choreographed ass whuppings. As always he manages to take actors and HK pop stars and turn them into decent fighters. If Yuen Woo Ping had actors trained in MA I'm sure he could've done much greater things. There is some doubling, but there are some shots that are pulled back to show that it's really Stephen Fung doing the moves. I thought Gillian Chung looked good in THE TWINS EFFECT and she looks even better here. Stephen Fung isn't bad either, but some of his kicks and punches look funny because of his bent knees and elbows. White kid, Jake Strickland shows up and this kid has got skillz. He is spinning and going all over the place while spinning around a staff, it looks pretty cool. Apparently, Jackie Chan saw a video of Jake performing and was so impressed with his skillz that he gave Jake a part in HOUSE OF FURY.
I guess I should mention the reason the movie deserves a mention here at Bruceploitation. When four henchmen attack Siu Bo as his medical clinic called House of Fury a signboard gets knocked down. Siu sets it on it's side to protect it, but still is manages to get hit and one of the characters gets knocked off. Siu Bo looks at the signboard which now reads "Fist of Fury". Siu Bo goes into the classic Bruce Lee pose complete with Bruce Lee noises. Later after getting backed into a corner he rips the arm off a skeleton and uses it as a nunchuka. After hitting all the henchmen back the camera zooms in on Siu Bo's eyes and he looks back and forth while a music riffs plays that takes off of the ENTER THE DRAGON theme. I found both of these moments to be funny, even funnier than the pig.
HOUSE OF FURY isn't something to be taken seriously, so sit down, relax, and enjoy it. Watch Anthony Wong fight some ninjas, see Stephen Fung beat the white kid, see Daniel Wu vs Wu Ma, watch cute Gillian Chung kick ass, see the cabbie get pissed off, and see the pig!
"Reviewed" by Keith.
DVD Info: The HOUSE OF FURY DVD is a region 0 two disc set from Joy Sales. The first disc has the movie with Cantonese 5.1, Cantonese DTS, and Mandarin 5.1 languages and English subs as well as traditional and simplified Chinese subs. The only extras would be a teaser and full trailer as well as a select an action scene. Disc two has character profiles, behind the scenes pictures, and some behind the scenes videos and stuff. The menus and behind the scenes footage is not subtitled. For some reason HK video companies like to put their DVDs in cardboard slipcases. While this is nice if it's a set with a couple DVD cases, it's kinda pointless when it's one single case. I suppose it makes it look nice which it does now that I think about it. Joy Sales has also thrown in some other goodies with the DVD. Inside the case I found four glossy cardboard stand ups, one for Stephen Fung, Gillian Chung, Daniel Wu, and Charlene Choi. The DVD case features photos of all the primary cast in red suits and there is also a cellphone charm of the red suit jacket. The red suits aren't even featured in the movie itself, I've only seem them on the DVD, poster, and promotional material. Last, but not least there is a postcard. I'm not sure if all the postcards are the same or it's random, but I got one with a picture of Charlene Choi leaning on the counter smoking her cigar. I would've preferred a picture of her in her schoolgirl outfit instead.
