"House of Fury" is a smooth mix of action, comedy and family drama. It's a lightweight film that neither tries to solve the world's problems, not does it turn into the fashionable bloodbath. And yet there is a degree of character complexity here; a couple of people are not who they appear to be, and even the villain of the story (Michael Wong) actually has a very understandable personal motive for his actions. But it is the fighting (co-choreographed by Yuen Woo Ping) that is undeniably the main draw: although there is occasionally too much wirework for my tastes (sometimes justified - like in the opening sequence, giving it a fitting fairy-tale quality - but often not), there is also a lot of solid and intricate ground (and weapon) fighting that's a throwback to the golden era of HK action cinema (hey, the climactic fight is even set in a warehouse!). Nearly everyone in this film can fight: men, women, old people, kids, etc. Sometimes they do so quite creatively too - as when Anthony Wong defends himself against four kidnappers by imitating Bruce Lee! Gillian Chung has speed, technique and flexibility, she is a female action star in the making; she just needs to increase her aggressiveness a bit. Despite her high billing, Charlene Choi has what amounts to a cameo; this should not really be classified as a "Twins" film. *** out of 4.

Shut up and appreciate this one fine movie by one of the best directors and actor of this time, Stephen Fung.I'm not a fan of any Kung Fu movies but this one will make you adore the art much more. The plot is good and not just the boring "avenging" that made kill bill a lousy story.It just shows that Stephen still has something aside from having commercial value as he focuses more on family values, the normal sibling rivalries and parental love. Rare would you find that in modern movies.This is a Kung Fu movie, remember? This isn't a sad family movie and or children unable to cope with family loss.The fight scenes at the start of the 100 minute movie is already astounding and the angelic face of Stephen, who happens to be one of the lead actors is just so adorable. His sister plays the other Kung Fu part and gives justice to it.I believe she can be the next Kung Fu idol.Villains are good, but could have been better if there were portrayals of other villain type characters in the school and in the ocean world where adorable Stephen works.The flashback could have been more effective if 5-10 minutes were devoted to it with the graphic depiction of what it was like being a secret agent. The movie lacked it but then again, it's alright. It doesn't really affect the whole story.Boring parts include the inability of Jason to fight good, considering he was there to replace Siu Bo (Stephen's father). He could have been more competent in his fighting skills.And yes, thank god Stephen did not kiss that ugly girl as he does not deserve her. Really. Stephen is just too good looking and too cute and it's a good idea he passed it out.I only saw the English version so I cant comment much on how they say it in mandarin.But Stephen Fung, you're a demigod of directing and acting taking note that this is only your 2nd movie to direct.Kudos Stephen. Really good job.

The story tells of Yue Siu Bo(Anthony Wong, The Medallion) who lives in Hong Kong running his own Chinese Health clinic. Here he raises his two children High school student Natalie(Charlene Choi, The Twins Effect) and Ocean World Dolphin instructor Nicky(Stephen Fung,The Gen-X Cops, also the film's director). who he also taught martial arts. Both of them have grown weary of their father because of his constant bragging of how he's defeated many opponents in battle, they have just believed he is always lying.Then one fateful day, a wheel chair bound man by the name of Rocco(Micheal Wong, First Option) arrives at Siu Bo's clinic looking for a man by the name of Tai Chi-Lung, the man responsible for Rocco's condition. When Siu Bo tells him he has no idea who he is talking about, Rocco leaves and later that night send his henchmen to capture Siu Bo.When Nicky discovers his father has been kidnapped, he goes to the clinic to investigate only to discover that his father was once in fact a secret agent for British Intelligence.Soon, Rocco finds out that the information he is looking for is hidden inside two charms worn by both Nicky and Natalie, he dispatches his team of lethal martial arts assassins to retrieve them.Now Nicky and Natalie, with th help of Natalie's Boyfriend Jason(Daniel Wu, Around The World In 80 Days) and her best friend Ella(Charlene Choi, The Twins Effect) whom Nicky has a crush on, must use the martial arts skills they learnt from their father to defend themselves and save Siu Bo before it's too late.Phew, now thats a synopsis.This is the second directorial outing for Star Stephen Fung, who's previous film, Enter The Phoenix, was a fun look at the gangster genre which dominated the box office during the 1980's, so his second film was an eagerly awaited film and boy let me tell you it was worth it.This movie was so fun, it's probably one of the best movie to come of Hong Kong in 2005. Firstly I'll comment of story and acting.The story is probably the films weakest point, mainly due to Anthony Wong's character being very open about his past as a secret agent, you thin being part of British Intelligence he'd know the meaning of discretion. The plot as well as an action movie is also in some ways a domestic comedy, with the characters many conflicts being due to the fact that the children think their father is a lair and the father thinks he is no longer fit to look after them.This is where some of the humour stems from in a way, although the humour is little weak, it did give me a few chuckles here and there. Now plotting and story aside, let's talk about the acting. For a film like this not much is really called upon of the actors. It's worth noting that this was executive produced by Jackie Chan so the end product is very family friendly, so no graphic violence or bad language of any kind, which isn't a bad thing in this case. Anthony Wong gives the strongest performance in the movie giving some much needed gravitas to what is really a flawed character. Stephen Fung does a good job as always as the frustrated and weary Nicky, while Gillian Chung has improved greatly since her performance in The Twins Effect.Daniel Wu gives fine support considering he does very little in the movie but the worst performances come from Charlene Choi, who is given some of the worst lines, and Micheal Wong, who was just too wooden to make the character seem menacing in anyway. Also veteran Hong Kong actor/producer/director Wu Ma provides strong support as Uncle Chiu.Now lets get to the good stuff, the martial arts fighting. Which has to be said is the best thing about the movie. They where directed by martial arts action supremo Yuen Woo Ping(The Matrix Trilogy, Kill Bill 1 & 2) who has once again proved why he's one of the best in the business. He does a great job of making everyone who fights in the movie look highly skilled, even thought most of the actor are not martial artists. Each fight is a joy to watch and recalls the glory days of martial arts action cinema in the 70's and the 80's.To finish off, this is an extremely fun film and I highly recommend that if your a fan of Kung Fu action movies you go and buy the DVD without hesitation as you will not be disappointed.I gave this film 5/5 stars!

Another Grade 'C' action flick with good looking candy idols to draw in the box office crowd. The saving grace of the movie would be Anthony Wong, more famously known in Infernal Affairs and Young and Dangerous series.This film boasts Yuen Wo Ping as the martial arts choreographer but the fight scenes were below average and nothing impressive. Coming from a high profile choreographer that done Kung Fu Hustle, Kill Bill, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Matrix is hard to swallow. Was it a rushed job? Only Yuen Wo Ping knows.The introduction of House of Fury was decent. The final ninja that was killed by Anthony Wong teleports very similarly to X-Men 2 character, Nightcrawler. Food for thought.In a martial arts movie, audience are willing to let go any logical explanations to accept the flying/super powers/fighting scenes. As long as it looks real and make sense, people will give slack and believe it. However the wire kungfu in this movie was badly done to the point that it is hard to 'believe' the man was 'really flying' in a chase scene.The storyline is generally weak and predictable. I believe most of us would have guessed that Wu Ma was the retired secret agent, Tai Chi Long.Stephen Fung is still immature when it comes to directing a film. He should stay as an actor for a few more years and be an understudy of reputable directors.Mao points: 3/10