Soul Brothers of Kung Fu

I was really disappointed when the so called new *uncut* release arrived yesterday, There was a jump cut to the third killer where you don't even see him being killed.. And the end fight was still cut. what the DVD company did was to add the full screen uncut sequence following the last fight. The print seemed to be slightly cropped and taken from a video source. I was looking forward to seeing this film in its original glory but loving martial art movies cuts to the the fight scenes are expected..... seen the movie once and will hope a proper release will pop up before i watch the film again.. This is my first ever review and i hope i did okay.

This starts with the look and feel of "A Better Tomorrow" and delivers the same heroic bloodshed. If you are familiar with these types of Hong Kong movies you know the characters will all die at the end or at most only one will survive. I'm surprised to learn about the alternate cuts/endings and now I have to find those versions also. Yes, Carl Scott was the token and under-used so every minute more of screen time for him would improve the final cut. The fights are fabulous in every respect particularly in Bruce Li's execution and power. The pacing of the story is perfect and the fights each seem unique. I rate it a well above average eight out of ten.

Fans expecting a light hearted Jackie Chan-esque Martial Arts movie or people expecting a fun blaxploitation film will be disappointed by "Soul Brothers of Kung Fu." This film is definitely NOT for the sensitive.

This film DOES feature some spectacular martial arts, the majority from Bruce Li, the best of the Bruce Lee clones. While the fights do provide a lot of entertainment, the storyline itself falters. Yes, it features a typical kung fu movie bad-guy and his bumbling henchmen and a lot of other formulaic martial arts movie scenarios, but most of it borders on risque.

If racial violence offends you, then skip this movie. A lot of the film is focused on the verbal berating and physical beating of Carl Scott, the film's sole African American character, who's been given an extremely stereotypical dub-over.

Also, this movie was obviously cut up when it was released on video. Some of the scenes made no sense, and it's easy to tell that a scene that supported it was cut. The annoying constant use of the theme from "Rocky" doesn't help this movie either. The ending itself also didn't sit well with me for numerous reasons, which I won't really get into. I saw the version with the "alternate ending" (I think that's the only one out there), so I'm not sure if the other version of the ending was any easier to swallow.

You may, as I did, notice this video at your local video store and go "That should be fun." I was under the impression that this would be a campy film, but it really wasn't. As a huge fan of Kung Fu movies, I was able to look past most of the content and focus solely on the fighting, but it was difficult. I do not recommend this movie for anyone looking a for cheesy movie to watch on a rainy day, or for anyone who is trying to wean their way into the Martial Arts Genre. But if you're a fan of good martial arts, you may wanna check this one out.

Seriously this movie is amazing! Great story line with a surprise at the end and no sugar coating. It's a gritty action movie that delivers like very few can!!! Only cheesy part was rocky music but other than that? Stars on every level!

There's only one 'soul brother' in this feature, released on video in the United States as part of the 'Mack Video' series. Anyone picking this up looking for black action thrills is going to be disappointed, as token African-American actor Carl Scott is really only a supporting character, and is burdened with a horrendous dubbing job by what sounds like a white Australian voice actor. Beyond the false advertising, however, this is actually an above average genre flick, featuring wall to wall, well choreographed action sequences and some unique training techniques, including a light up mannequin and what look to be bear traps! Additionally, the video is letterboxed and was decently mastered, and the film features a bit more sex and nudity than you might expect. On the other hand, this print features the usual bad dubbing as well as numerous bizarre jump cuts. Like many films of its type and era, Soul Brothers of Kung Fu also shamelessly cribs musical cues, featuring generous (and undoubtedly uncleared) segments of Bill Conti's Rocky themes, plus Paul McCartney's Live and Let Die, Silver Connection's disco classic Fly Robin Fly, and what sounds like Santo and Johnny's version of Happy Birthday!