Kung Pow: Enter the Fist (2002) User Reviews (548)

Thought provoking and tense drama...

[Danny_G13 · 6/10 · 20 December 2004]

Only kidding :) Kung Pow is in a league of its own in terms of calibre. It's a slapstick 'chop socky' martial arts comedy full of silliness and ridiculous dialogue. Its vehicle is that it uses old footage of kung fu films such as Enter the Dragan and overlays its modern content onto them. Plus add intentionally bad dubbing and you have a movie which never for a second tries to be subtle, ingenious, or intelligent.

Kung Pow is absolutely, 100% absurdity and it uses this to its fullest extent.

The plot, if that's what you'd call it, is a mocking of just about every martial arts classic which has a 'wrong fella decides to wreak revenge on the nasty sorts who ruined his life' style story.

Steve Oedekerk is 'The Chosen One' whose mission it is to get revenge on the bad folk in as amusing a way as he possibly can. Master Pain is his nemesis and the bad man directly responsible for the unspeakable acts against his family.

The rest of the movie is purposefully disjointed and has no continuity half the time, but a masterclass in editing is not the point of this exercise. This is simply ridiculous fun, and assuming you switch off your brain completely and wreck any remaining braincells, you will be quite entertained.

As for how funny it is, well, that's quite subjective. Many of the gags are clearly forced and milked (No pun intended (You'll understand that one if you see it)) for all they're worth. However, many *do* work and provide belly laughs. Sure, you'll not have tears rolling down your cheeks but if you're willing to stoop to the dumb level the movie demands of you, you *will* be at least amused.

One thing the movie makes particularly good use of is special effects, with some more than decent CG animation complimenting a number of scenes. Aside from this, the technical merits of the movie are pretty decent, in that the interpolation of old footage and new footage is actually rather seamless and you'll not spot it a lot of the time, except where you're supposed to.

As The Chosen One, Oedekerk seems to have a great time. It's a daft movie, so he indulges in stupidity as a matter of cause, and it works reasonably well. It's always easier to enjoy a film if it appears the actors are enjoying making it.

Overall, leave your brain at the door and do not expect high brow laughs or Jackie Chan style action and you'll probably get something out of this.

So stupid, that it is actually funny

[Smells_Like_Cheese · 6/10 · 2 November 2007]

I didn't know what to expect from Kung Pow: Enter the Fist, from the cover, it looked pretty stupid, but my boyfriend said that it was worth a look and that it was pretty funny if I was in the right mind set. But we watched it last night and even if I was in a normal mind set, I thought it was a pretty funny movie. I think I just needed one of those stupid comedies in my night, the one's where you don't have to think, just watch and laugh. Kung Pow: Enter the Fist was interesting where Steve Oedekirk took these old martial arts films and just made them into his own amusing comedy. I think the reason why this movie was so funny besides the ridicules voices was because Steve really had a passion for the film and his writing. Who among us has not made fun of the old martial arts films? It's great to see someone else bring it to life, even it at times it was a bit stupid.

The Chosen One is one of the finest martial arts masters in the world, but his family was murdered when he was just a baby. When he meets the villain who murdered his family, he wants revenge. But he discovers that he needs more strength, with the help of his martial arts teacher, the love of his life that makes strange noises, and his wood chuck nun chucks, he learns the way of the martial arts and now must face the evil villain that plays popular music while defeating his opponents.

Kung Pow: Enter the Fist is stupid, but I'm sure you'll get a couple laughs out of it. Like I said the voices are so over the top that you can't help but at least laugh at the movie if not with it. Steve and the rest of the crew looked like they had so much fun making this movie and they didn't take themselves too seriously. I really loved a lot of the spoofs they had like The Lion King, it was so out there, but it was really funny. Just give this movie a chance, I'm sure you'll have a fun time watching it if you just wanna laugh.

6/10

Tongue-In-Cheek Humor

[ccthemovieman-1 · 6/10 · 15 July 2006]

One reviewer's headline says "You'll Either Love It Or Hate It" I did both of those in two viewings! The first time I loved this. On the second viewing, I hated it....and gave it away. Oh well, at least I got a lot of laughs out of it one time. So.....I guess you could say this definitely a one-look film, perhaps just out of curiosity since it is different. It's simply a spoof - an outrageous one at that - on these wild Hong Kong martial arts films that have become popular in recent years.

Babies kung-fu fighting?? Tongues in people's mouthing fighting? Animals flying in the air doing drop kicks? Horrible (on purpose) dubbing in which the voices don't match the person saying them? Bad voices, too! A dog that barks but you don't hear him until 5 seconds later? Yup, that and a whole lot more - many funny things, many incredibly stupid things - that added up to a fun viewing experience the first time but too stupid to watch again.

Having an absurd sense of humor is a must. This is all tongue-in-cheek (well, most of the time.)

'Enter' the theater and get ready to laugh!

[jellyneckr · 25 January 2002]

There's a good chance that when you saw the trailers and TV spots for this movie the first word that came to your mind was "stupid". Yes, this a stupid movie. It's one of the stupidest movies I have ever seen to be honest, but it is also one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. Up until I saw this movie earlier today, I hadn't seen one good movie in 2002 so I can say that this is the best move of 2002..so far. No jokes fall flat [except the gay henchman was sort of annoying at times], the action scenes are well done, and it's always a treat to see really bad movies get spoofed. ****

I Hated This The First Time I Watched It.

[Son_of_Mansfield · 7/10 · 21 August 2005]

It is so obvious. But, the second time, I listened to the voices. Master Tang and Master Pain(Evil Betty)'s voices are hilarious. Yes, some of the jokes are not good. The Lion King joke is wince worthy and I am still not sure if the French pyramid spaceships are an obscure reference to The Fifth Element. I don't know. It doesn't matter. The movie is just to silly to ignore and as the quotes section demonstrates, there are some funny lines in this movie. Although most of the lines are funny simply due to the voice work, this could have been a vanity project that beat it's one joke premise to death. Instead, the joke merely lost an arm, leg, and an eye. I think it has a little bit of a Monty Python or Mel Brooks feel to it. This may not be Mensa material, but at least it isn't another pretentious Adam Sandler "comedy." Badong! Bonus points for the use of MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This" and Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back."

*Master Tang: This is Ling. Be not alarmed by her shyness for it will pass. (Ling flashes her bra.) There you go!"*

It all depends on your sense of humor

[harryotter · 10/10 · 2 June 2005]

The first time i heard of Steve Odekerk was when I first saw the movie "Thumb Wars" on UPN, I found it to be so stupid that it was hilarious. After I saw the movie I quickly went out and bought all six in the series and loved everyone, now the humor in these movies is the stupid off the wall type that I love. Now Kung Pow is the same way and has the most random unexplainable humor that I have seen in a movie. Now I personally love this kind of humor but not everyone does, so I would say if you saw any of his other movies like Ace or Juwanna man these are more "normal" movies and aren't good to go by. But if you have seen the thumb movies or just love weird humor you will love this movie, I loved but that doesn't mean you will, so my advice is if you don't like stupid comedy don't watch this but if you like that kind of stuff you should check it out.

A much needed parody

[view_and_review · 6/10 · 13 May 2007]

Kung Pow: Enter the Fist was a long time coming. Parodies of kung fu movies are not unheard of when done in small bits,

but what I'd never seen before was an entire movie done as a spoof of your typical kung fu movie; complete with the horrible voice overs and simple plot.

I'd say this movie was a success.

It was funny, innovative, and impressive.

I could tell from the movie that they were using actual footage from a real movie with obviously new voice overs and a few new actors. But that is just how good the movie was done that I wasn't completely sure.

I'd say that it was very well done.

Kung Pow: Enter the Fist

[rah604 · 5/10 · 10 May 2004]

'Kung Pow' is a movie that would have been served better as a five-minute sketch on SNL. Or, it could have worked better as a martial arts spoof a la 'Scary Movie'. Instead, the movie is basically an old kung-fu movie with voices dubbed over in silly style by the movie's director and star Steve Oedekerk.

At first, the dubbing seems moderately amusing, but there is no doubt that this spoof wears thin well before its halfway mark. Although, it has its moments like the cow-fight that does a good job at poking fun at 'The Matrix'. In a movie where the laughs are few and far between, it needed more moments like these.

Rating: 5/10 or (2 stars)

I'm sorry... I'm really sorry... But I love this movie!

[TedStixonAKAMaximumMadness · 8/10 · 4 November 2007]

OK... Usually I hate juvenile, pointless humor. Thats why the films of directors like Kevin Smith so attract me. The situations and characters serve as the platform for the jokes.

"Kung Pow!: Enter the Fist" is a movie I should have hated. In fact, when I saw previews for it back in 2002 (five years ago now, wow time flies!), I thought it looked like the worst movie out there.

Finally, in 2004, when my friend convinced me to watch it, I realized just how wrong I was.

"Kung Pow" is without a doubt the stupidest film I have ever seen in my lifetime... bar none. But, I have to say, it is also one of the funniest movies I have seen in quite some time. The humor comes from how dumb it is. Steve Oedekerk (director/writer/star) really does an excellent job at making what is essentially an 80-minute Nickelodeon cartoon entertaining enough for the open minded to enjoy.

I was surprised that within 10 minutes, I was laughing at a pretty constant pace... and laughing with much more gusto than I did with big-budget studio-based duds like the "American Pie" films. (I'm not dissing "Pie", mind you, it just wasn't my cup of tea.) Sure, the humor is pretty random... For example, unnecessary quips from characters, and oddball visual touches added into the footage...

And some of it just falls flat as a pancake... Like our hero (aptly named "The Chosen One") fighting a CG cow, and the fact his tongue has a face and can talk...

But the ingenious parodies of martial arts films in general (everything from bad dubbing to bad visual effects to bad directing/editing) is pulled off perfectly.

If you are willing to look past the fact that you will feel like your IQ is dropping whilst watching this film, you will probably have a blast.

And that is why I give it a very good 8 out of 10.

Dumb and stupid, but funny

[reddiemurf81 · 6/10 · 6 June 2021]

I'd give it a barely 6, but it's plenty enjoyable for a laugh.

Absolutely the WORST movie I've ever seen!

[funkyshuz · 1/10 · 2 September 2002]

I've seen a lot of bad movies but this one takes the cake. I thought it would be sort of funny in a juvenile way but I was truly unprepared for what I saw. After watching what seemed like 2 hours of the films tired jokes and noises, I was ready to turn it off (something I never do) when I realized it was only 45 minutes in. My only consolation is that I rented it and didn't see it in the theater. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE!!!

There is no middle. You either LOVE IT or HATE IT!

[joetulgan · 10/10 · 5 January 2021]

I love this movie. I remember getting this as a gift in middle school and I could not stop watching it. Hilarious! Fun! One of a kind! Satire at its finest!

It is a "Savage Killers" (the original) spoof!

Steve Oedekerk is like if Tom Cruise and Paul McCartney morphed into one.

How original!

[whatdecow-1 · 7/10 · 18 September 2005]

Kung Pow:Enter the Fist sounded like a failed cheap B-grade movie,with average reviews and without any great success commercially.After watching it,boy,was I surprised.

Making fun of 70's Hong Kong action movies,from the dubbing to cheesy fighting sequences,you really gotta hand it to Steve Oedekerk,who,I'll just say it,has talent at.I have never in my life seen a spoof comedy like this.The meant-to-be-terrible dubbing was annoying at times,but at some parts you can't help it but laugh because it's exactly or beyond what you had in mind when you see these cheesy scenes.I could literally see the Shaw brothers coughing blood at every scene.

As a young Asian,I guess I'm among those few people who could totally enjoy this movie,simply because I've had my share at poking fun of chop-socky flicks,and also know how to appreciate them as action movies.If my Dad or anyone around his age were to see this however,I think Oedekerk just made himself one of the most hated film-makers among them.

Which is why I love it^^.

As delightful as a rake fight with an angry monkey.

[Jake the Writer · 1/10 · 8 February 2002]

This is easily the worst movie I've ever seen. It plays out like a one-joke, end-of-the-show SNL skit that just doesn't know how to quit -- and when you factor in the sophomoric voiceovers that wouldn't even pass for funny on "America's Funniest Home Videos," you have an hour and a half of cinema that is so painful on so many levels that it ought to be illegal. "Kung Pow" starts with a modicum of promise, though; the scene with the baby rolling down the hill brought genuine giggles from the entire audience (all eight of us) the night I saw the movie. But then the fun was over, and that creeping realization that I was about to lose almost 10 bucks and a perfectly good two hours of my life started to set in. The movie's jokes are predictable, its mismatched dubbing is uninspired, its premise is criminally tedious, and its cliched bathroom-and-body-part humor wouldn't even bring a wan smile to the face of a perverted third-grader. I'm still trying to figure what forces of evil even got me into the audience in the first place -- but I implore you to benefit from my pain and suffering: Do not -- for the love of all things sacred and good -- ever watch this movie.

Utter nonsense that does produce some sporadic laughs if you are in the mood

[bob the moo · 10 March 2007]

As a baby, the Chosen One had his family attacked and murdered by evil Master Pain, with only his martial arts skills saving him. Undefeated but broken, the Chosen One is raised by various rats and things in the valley and, as an adult he finds himself under constant attack from those that would seek to do the job they failed to do when he was a baby. Seeking help from the Master Tang's Crane school to hone his style and make him stronger, the countdown is on till a showdown between Master Pain and the Chosen One.

In case the title leaves you with any doubt that this is going to be a silly film, the opening scene features a terrible CGI baby fighting with a ninja master. This silly approach continues throughout and the entire thing is one big nonsense from start to finish. Mixing modern footage that is dubbed and excerpts from Hu He Shuang Xing, the approach is very simple but does produce some silly laughs. Too much of it is too puerile to appeal to a mass audience (that cow fight was just stupid and unfunny) but at times it is very funny just because it is so off the wall and has lots of lines that are unexpected.

The "cast" is naturally dominated by Oedekerk doing silly voices but it works surprisingly well. He is hardly Oscar Wilde but if you buy into the humour then he will do it for you. God help you if you don't want silly comedy though, because there isn't much else to be had in this film. Overall then nonsense – utter nonsense; but if you are in the mood for it, it does produce some good, if sporadic, laughs.

Beyond Goofy

[Bryan_Roderick · 7/10 · 25 April 2016]

Kung Pow: Enter the Fist

Goofy, no, it's beyond Goofy. There needs to be a word for how ridiculous this movie is all throughout. The martial arts film is a edit of archive footage that they got the rights too, dubbed everyone of the voices to complete hilarity.

Written, Directed and Stared by Steve Oedekerk. You probably don't recognize his name so I'll list some of his credentials you might know of. Bruce/Evan Almighty, Nutty Professor I and II, Patch Adams, and Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls.

I don't laugh easy, and I particularly don't laugh at stupid humor. For instance I don't for the life of me understand the draw of Pewdiepie. Normally I laugh at comedians like Kevin Hart and Lewis C.K. but this movie made me laugh. If it can do that to me then it'll probably bust some guts for others.

There are some cultural references in the movie that you'd have to lived through the late 90s and early 2000s to understand. There's a matrix reference, one of the thousands out there with the bullet time bending of the main characters back to avoid the bullets. In this case it's a martial arts cow shooting milk at him. Nuff said.

"WEE-OOH WEE-OOH WEE-OOH!" - Ling One of the best catch phrases in comedy. I'm probably going to appear as some sort of sociopath (more than normal) saying that at random moments because it's stuck in my head. Good luck getting that ear worm out.

Verdict: Cult Classic. Definite watch. It's free on HBO, at the moment, if you got it.

Needs to be watched in the right mind-set

[ari-gronning · 8/10 · 17 May 2006]

I first saw Kung-Pow on DVD with friends who had seen it in the theater and loved it. But they said that people had been walking out of the theater, lots of people. Despite this, I still watched. Everyone around me knew the jokes, and knew when to laugh. I quickly picked up on Oedekerk's sense of humor in this movie, and I ended up loving the movie. If it hadn't been for my friends, I could easily see myself hating this movie too.

There are so many things that seem like mistakes, but are done *on purpose* by Oedekirk. If it looks like a mistake, it's probably a joke. After all, it is a spoof type movie.

A low brow but hilarious martial arts send-up

[williampsamuel · 7/10 · 8 December 2014]

Kung Pow! Enter the Fist is not your average martial arts flick. For one thing, it stars a white guy- with a face on his tongue. Plus there's a dastardly villain called Betty, a climactic fight with a cow, and a mysterious one-breasted woman who shows up in one scene and is never seen again. And no, I am not on crack as I write this, just Mountain Dew and gratuitous amounts of AC/DC.

Anyways, as you've probably guessed, Kung-Pow is intended as a send up of all those campy, poorly dubbed kung-fu movies from the Far East. Those of you who are Woody Allen fans or have particularly long memories may remember a film called What's Up, Tiger Lilly, in which Allen took two low budget Japanese spy movies, moved some of the scenes around, and completely re-dubbed it to create an entirely new, entirely nonsensical plot. Here, writer/director/producer/leading man Steve Oedekerk takes things a step further, digitally replacing the original film's star with himself, and adding completely new scenes, like the aforementioned one with the cow.

Like What's Up, Tiger Lilly, Kung Pow! Is utterly ridiculous, and makes little if any sense, which is the whole point. Exhibit A is the dialogue. As stated before, all original lines have been replaced by new, hilariously nonsensical ones. Seriously, half the lines in this movie have nothing to do with anything. Ling, the Chosen One's love interest seems to be voiced by the same actress who does Miss Piggy. And in a nod to the usual quality of dubbing in Asian films, many characters sound just like fifth-graders reading from a Chinese-to-English dictionary. There's even a part where the guy's mouth keeps moving forever, and all he says is "no." And this is far from the only aspect of traditional martial arts movies that gets lampooned. The training sequences, the requisite close up of each fighter's face accompanied by dramatic music, the dramatic last words of the hero's dying sensei, and many more clichés are stretched well beyond their logical limits. Just for good measure, they even threw in parodies of the Lion King and the Matrix.

And just in case the ludicrous re-dubbing and slaying of clichés weren't enough, Oedekerk goes for further laughs by suspending all attempts at believability and adding whatever random ideas popped into his head. One suspects that much of the story for this movie was fleshed out by guys sitting around a table taking bong hits, which if true makes this one of the best things ever created as a result of drugs. Besides the fight with the cow, there's also a fight between the bad guy and a baby, and several fights set to hip-hop. And there's that tongue-face, who has lines of his own and proves key to defeating the Council of Evil. Add an intermission straight out of Monty Python and a trailer for a fictional sequel, and you get one of the most oddball productions in many years.

From this review it may sound like the filmmaker is desperately trying to inject humor any way he can, which may be why most critics panned Kung Pow! upon its release. But I personally could not stop laughing. This movie is simply to oddball and too original not to like. Even its flaws, like the sub-par CGI, only add to the campy feel. It may not engage your intellect, broaden your horizons, or make much sense, but if you have any experience with its source material, Kung Pow! Enter the Fist will have you laughing too hard to care.

Avoid at all cost!

[sdtrinity3 · 1/10 · 26 January 2002]

I never wrote a review about a film, but I felt it's my duty to warn people about crap. I can't think of any movie that is worst no matter how much I try. The jokes get tiring after the first few minutes of the movie, and the lack of voice talents surely do not help. Avoid at all cost.

You either love it or hate it -- and I loved it!!!!

[dakotaj · 10/10 · 17 February 2005]

I laughed so hard I could hardly breathe. This is one of the funniest films I have ever seen.

The Screen-It Our Take reviewer doesn't like "silly" humor. I do. My most common comments while watching: "That's SO STUPID!!" (when I could catch a breath from laughing) and "What was THAT??"

There are no swear words, no realistic violence, and no sex scenes. It's just FUN!! My 13-year-old son & I rented it and watched it twice in one week. It was even funnier the second time.

My husband hated it. He thought it was the most "un-funny" film he'd ever seen.

You either love it or hate it.

I can hear the Four Horsemen approaching - I actually enjoyed this movie

[FilmOtaku · 6/10 · 20 October 2003]

My brother recommended this film to me over the summer, and while I will admit that he has been dead on in his recommendations to me thus far I absolutely could not bring myself to watch this film. All that I had seen of it were clips of the `Chosen One' fighting the (badly executed) CGI cow in the field and knew that it was probably not something that I would really get into.

I actually started watching this film in the middle and ended up in complete hysterics. The premise is not a knew one (but perfected in Woody Allen's What's Up Tiger Lily?), but the concept of taking a Kung Fu film from the 70's and inserting your own dialogue and placing yourself in the scene via CGI is an absolute riot. Creator/Writer/Director/Star Steve Oedekerk may not have done many films that I enjoyed in the past, but his career has been an eclectic one, and this one is a gem.

Some of the jokes are extremely corny, and the CGI cow is still really painful to watch, but the majority of the comedy is *very* humorous. My recommendation would be to watch the film on DVD because it has a couple of very funny commentary tracks that made the $9 I dropped on it more than worth it. Much more painful will be admitting to my brother after giving him a world of s*** for even watching this film that he was dead on in his recommendation once again.

--Shelly

Funny for maybe 10 minutes...

[mcs2k · 1/10 · 25 July 2002]

Then this film degenerates into what could easily be the worst film I have ever witnessed. Its only saving grace is a couple of laughs delivered fairly early on. The film overuses all of gimmicks which range from stupid to painfully stupid. The face in tongue is a great example of this. It was not funny in the beginning and was worse at the end. The plot is unbearable for even a spoof, and in the end, the film simply bores the viewer.

Rating 1.5/10 (rounded down to 1 for imdb)

The perfect satire of a unique genre

[brentsoffcenter · 9/10 · 12 September 2006]

The more of a basic understanding of the history and genre of this movie type the viewer has, the more he will appreciate the good natured satire that celebrates it. Oedekerk exploits all of the essential points of this movie style's formula, and does so from a very alert and skillful standpoint. The extra attention and energy given to the inherent goofs and inconsistencies in the original movie ("Tiger And Crane Fists", Hong Kong, 1976) are priceless. The accuracy of the spoofing, and its entire purpose in this film has been needed for quite some time (since 1976), and it's very welcome and highly applauded by those of us who appreciate satire at its best. This film deserves an award.

Really depends of what ''funny'' means to you

[bartgodboy · 6/10 · 17 November 2020]

So I definitely can't say that this movie is worthless, unfunny and painful to watch because it isn't. You get at a certain point that this is Mr. Oedereck's vanity project( and in all due respect some technical aspects like the footage integration is really well done) and you enjoy it for what it is. Personally tho, the exageration in the dubbing kinda killed it for me. Like when I noticed the girl was dubbed by Oedereck doing a bad woman voice it was funny but when she started going ''Ouinouinouiiinnn'' it kinda became a bit too much. So again, depends on what you find funny but definitely worth a watch.

Very few laughs...Thus far the worst movie of the year...Worst movie I've seen since Tomcats

[jangbanger · 1/10 · 26 January 2002]

This movie is terrible. There are few funny parts and too many repetitive bits that just get annoying. The idea was decent and could have been so much more. Instead this movie contains unfunny jokes and fifth grade humor. It was about 90 minutes too long. This guy should stick to directing and staying out of his movies so he can hire people who are actually funny (i.e. Jim Carrey in "Ace Ventura 2".) This is the worst movie I've seen since viewing "Tomcats."