Opium and the Kung Fu master...junky monks!!!!

Tieh is the Kung Fu champion of the village, people respect and fear him, his word is law, but only a his most trusted students know of his terrible secret, the Shaolin master is addicted to opium. When a shady business man and his kung fu master body guards come to the humble village to get rich off the addictive substance by opening up a popular opium den. It is up Tieh to stop the exploitation of his village by this shady business man, but will he be able to kick this terrible (although, at times, hilarious) habit long enough to fight off these dastardly fiends???

Most of the time in period piece Kung Fu flicks, we see the use of drugs or special tea or alcohol as a plus, an inner demon that can be harnessed in order to deliver some sort of unblockable punch or as a means to withstand incredible amounts of pain. Opium and the Kung Fu Master strays far from this tired trope. The message is too in your face for me, it would have made the movie more enjoyable without the message. The story building dialogue was reminiscent of old public service announcements here in the US, if it was meant to be taken seriously it failed, the serious message came off very comical, even during the more heinous double homicide/ double suicide scene, i couldn’t help but laugh at the misfortunes of the cross-eyed poor sap. Side note: when time traveling to imperialistic China be weary of cookies, they apparently look and taste a lot like rat poison.

That is far more than I should ever write about the plot of a Kung Fu movie, we aren’t here for the drama and high-grade acting. No, we require poorly dubbed hitting sounds, various weapons and fighting styles,  long fight scenes and cackling mustachioed  villains. Being a Shaw Bros studio production, Opium and the Kung Fu master delivers on all fronts, although I would have opted for less after school special and more of the mustachioed fellas. The heroes and villains are very colorful and dramatic, the supporting cast is full of funny characters and good filler footage. A highlight for me was the token blind kung fu teacher, the actor did a horrible job of portraying and vision  impaired man but that might be a positive for the movie.  There was maybe two or three different kung fu styles but they make up for it with the weapons and sword play. The standard sword and fighting pole are present but they also dust off the rarely used double short spear. My favorite fight scene had to be ‘tween the fighting pole and double spear. The film could have used a little more of the aforementioned kung fu movie staples for me to give it a ‘must watch’ recommendation but give it a try if you are looking for some laughs between badly placed punching sounds.