Brighton Wok: The Legend of Ganja Boxing

A film cannot engage you if there are no real actors in it. You wonder why it doesn't have a rating and you can only buy it (for £10 + £2 p&p) from the website, its because literally no-one in it can act. The best actor in it is the random french guy. The plot is ridiculously thin on the ground and the effects are laughable. The villain has the most ridiculous accent which keeps changing, and the ganja master is just some English guy with white stick-on eyebrows and a beard. I mean you'd have thought there could be at at least one foreign actor playing a foreign character.. And the two old women are possibly the most jarringly annoying characters in history. Im probably being slightly over-critical here but all the other reviews are too positive. Yes, there are allusions to other kung fu films (which don't have great acting or plot either) and by all means if you know the guys who made it or live in brighton then see it, but don't expect a film on the level of British directors like shane meadows or danny boyle. the novelty wears off. fast. i don't think 85 minutes has ever gone so slowly. the trailer looks good because its a compilation of the fighting but in between the fighting there are long arduous pointless scenes with characters (who have absolutely no development) shockingly acting with a ridiculous aimless script. Not worth £12. By a long shot. Sorry guys.

My best mate bought a copy of this after seeing it on the 'if you enjoyed this, you might also like....' of Pineapple Express, and we thought we knew what we were in for - appealing amateurish British crap to pass an evening. I also thought that it might be made by a bunch of rich kids being self-indulgent. Thankfully, I was wrong; it's far better than that, though, and oddly compelling despite its flaws.

For one thing, there aren't enough martial arts films made in Brighton. In fact, are there any? Although the plot is as bog-standard martial-arts movie as it gets (apart from the inspirational ganja element), it's so great seeing it unfold on Brighton beach, pier and pavilion. Also, there's a cracking score - I've heard worse in big-budget Hollywood flicks. But then none of this would matter if the story didn't work, if there were no good performances and the direction didn't come off. Yet despite a couple of stand-out dreadful actors (old man looking for papers, feisty old woman) the characters are on the whole excellent, especially a Frenchman obsessed with Britain's street cred and marijuana-inspired creativity and their relation to our worth as a nation, a crazy man who lives in a tree, and an agreeably mad villain. I do like a bad guy who enjoys his work. The cinematography gets better as the film goes on and is impressive in scope and intent if not always in execution - in fact that could stand for most of the film, which finds a level of grandeur belied by its obvious lack of budget. In the end it's art. One forgets that montages have been put way too close together, that the continuity is, er, well, there isn't much of it actually, and the other little flaws. What we have is genius, brilliance, originality, comedy, Britishness at its best, and exactly the sort of film that we should be supporting. Even if you don't toke you'll laugh out loud. Can't wait for their next one. By the way if this review seems rambling and incoherent, that's because we just watched the film with the appropriate condiments. ;) Love to all concerned.

Brighton Wok was made in my hometown of Brighton, UK so, as a big fan of independent cinema, I had been following it's progress over the years up to its release. That said, I like to be very critical of movies in general and am writing this review from a completely un-biased perspective.

When I saw the movie, it blew me away. I kind-of suspected that, being a little movie with no big stars or a big budget, Brighton Wok would only really be of interest to me as it was made where I grew-up. How Wrong I was. The small budget and very hand-made feel that the movie has, combined with Hollywood-level production values (I still find it hard to believe how they pulled it off) do not detract at all from the movie's credibility. I was absolutely entertained from beginning to end. I don't want to go-on about the movie's small budget, but, considering that a lot of 'big' movies made for hundreds of times the price fail to cinematically gratify me to this extent whatsoever, I have to say what an amazing job these guys have done.

The Plot: An Insane Itallian Ninja (Vafan Cuolo) takes-over Brighton with an army of thugs and begins to implement his own brand of martial law: anyone having a good time or expressing themselves in any way other than with violence, is forced out of town or killed.

A young man (Ryu), haunted by a troubled past, intrigued by the local newsreader/reporter Bella, and feeling shaken-up after a series of confusing and violent dreams and flashbacks, decides to try and enlist the help of the 'Crazy Old Man who Lives in a Tree', who points him in the direction of the fabled 'Ganja Master', a spiritual guru, shrouded in mystery, who lives in a secret location outside Brighton.

Obviously having taken several pages from 'Drunken Master's' book, our hero Ryu must train with the Ganja Master in the ancient art of Ganja Boxing, before entering in to an all-or-nothing final confrontation with Vafan where everything is on-the-line.

some of the supporting cast are a little weak, and a few of the characters feel merely like plot-devices, but the dead-pan hero Ryu, maniacally charismatic villain Vafan, along with the wonderfully over-the-top Crazy Old Man living in a Tree are easily enough to carry the film. That aside, the great photography and editing, an absolutely excellent soundtrack, hilarious tongue-in-cheek storytelling, break-neck pace of the action and utterly ridiculous concept handled in such a serious manner make this a movie that'll be on-my-mind for some time to come...

At a Q&A after the screening, the filmmakers said that it was 5 years in the making. After having seen the movie for myself, I'm really not surprised. you can really feel all the love and hard-work that has so obviously gone into it, and despite a couple of minor shortcomings, I feel that Brighton Wok is destined to become a gem of a cult classic. The Kung-Fu is pretty good too.

as you can only find review by people either in the movie or at least from Brighton (or .uk) i thought it could be useful to some to hear what someone from Austria has to say about it! as a big time obscure KungFu fan (my favorites being "buddhas palms" "shaolin drunkard" "taoism drunkard" and many more from shaw brothers collection, Chang Cheh or Godfrey Ho) and pretty much your typical stoner i just had to buy this title. the story is like any other Hong Kong flick in the big KungFu era (i must avenge my family!) and if it weren't for the round-eyes and location you cannot tell the difference! it goes by faster than one would think and always feels like a mix of British humor, stoner humor, straight KungFu action and the cinematic skills of Godfrey ho (for those of you who really love the bad flicks, oddly enough i don't see any ninja headbands)! it will not win any price for best production but in my life as a movie-geek i've seen many flicks with much higher budget that won't even come close to this. its really well done, cool settings, funny dialogs and has this lovely Troma like love to it. the people involved in this obviously enjoyed doing it and you definitely feel that! all i have to say is give that flick a try if you're into what i just wrote... it really doesn't cost much and the shipping to Europe is extremely low! also to my surprise this is a pretty pro-done DVD with nice cover, inlay and the best disc-label i've ever seen on a pressed disc (no DVD-R!) recommend, greetings Christoph

After all the hard work put into this movie for the last four years Brighton Wok finally made it to the cinema. A fast paced roller-coaster of a movie packed with references to classic kung fu films, both obvious and subtle, and with an unmistakable British sense of humour that delights and surprises in equal measure. There is a surprising attention to detail and quality of production to this movie for its small budget, set and made all in Brighton and although at times the acting appears to be as though its just the directors mates and some random people off the street the movie never hangs around too long for this to be an issue. The pick of the acting bunch for me are the Trio who delve in and out of the movie to add a slight Shakespearian twang to the proceedings between acts. This is no spoof movie with laugh a minute gags, Kung Pow this movie is not. At times the movie is dark and sinister and with a stunning soundtrack, Ben Sarfas,it is emotionally embracing and captivating. So, is this the best low budget, made in a bedroom film since Bad Taste?