MOVIE REVIEW: Buddha Palm Technique (2020)
Honestly, I didn’t know what to make of Buddha Palm Technique, as it was unlike anything I had witnessed before. Sure, you could say it’s reminiscent of the initial shock of The Matrix, or that someone cribbed hard from the John Wick franchise, or that the tribute to Heath Ledger’s Joker was a bit on the nose. I will say this: it’s a superhero origin story that’s been heard before, but not from this angle or from this country. That said, the phrase “Buddha’s palm” speaks on the position of the aforementioned when meditating (these positions are also known as mudra [sing. and pl.]). If pointed up, the palm signifies teaching or reassurance, and if the palm is pointed down it calls for generosity. The phrase is a reference to a FICTIONAL martial arts move, and has inspired an insane amount of art (be it film, TV, manga, video games, or anime) like Stephen Chow’s Kung Fu Hustle and Wu Cheng’en’s “Journey to the West” (and its spinoffs). When I say “this movie is derivative”, I mean in the best possible way.
The movie is mainly about a sorcerer named Han (played by Colin Chou, The Matrix Reloaded, The Forbidden Kingdom) who wears a strange mask infused with unholy energy. It gives him phenomenal power to rule his domain, but is killing him when he wears it. He takes special medicine to keep himself alive and has done so for several hundred years — into the modern era. Now he uses science to find the ingredients for his special medicine. Unfortunately, it requires filtering it through a form of human sacrifice — don’t worry, he promises the poor slobs a ton of money and asks them to sign a waiver first. One of them is a thug with a heart-of-gold named Jianbei (Chinese actor Evan Wu, “Legend of the Little Monk” [TV-China], Girls Be Ambitious!), looking to get his sister an operation for her brain tumor. He’s caught up with gangsters who want him to rob the poor, but he is a noble sort and he gets fired. So Jianbei is taking part in medical experiments in Han’s special laboratories when he is accidentally infused with the energies of the Buddha’s Palm — energy Han wanted for his own use. Jianbei’s new power is uncontrollable and he escapes. Wandering about in the world with his new powers, he is found again by Han, who is trying to coax him to join the dark side. Han reminds Jianbei the Buddha’s Palm energy will burn through him before he can do anything about it, so he should just give it up…and calmly leaves the afflicted to his own devices.
Later in the story, an amazingly attractive woman named Sun Ling (played by Tang Fei, My Nurse Girlfriend, “Star of Ocean” [TV-China]) wants Jianbei to join an underground (literally) secret society of martial artist bounty hunters. These bounty hunters are very dedicated to defending the world; as a matter of fact, they’re trying their best to defeat Sorcerer Han and his minions…which is impossible without the Buddha’s Palm technique. The sage leaders of this bounty hunter guild task Sun Ling and Jianbei with a MacGuffin chase around their world, encountering strange enemy martial artists tied to Dante’s “Seven Deadly Sins”. The most notable is a drug dealer called Lust, played by a chunky Asian guy dressed up as the Joker…but with style. Our star-crossed duo have their way of dealing with problems: while Sun Ling is a martial artist with amazing form and precision technique, Jianbei is NOT a martial artist yet possessed of one of the greatest maneuvers known to man — he makes a habit of destroying half a city block with each swing. All this to protect Jianbei and keep the Buddha’s Palm Technique out of Han’s hands — AND to establish a will-they-won’t-they relationship between our cis-het protagonists. It’s a wild romp, and it will surprise you in the end — TRUST ME ON THIS ONE. It surprised me too…
CHOICE CUTS:
- Yes, I know the movie has swastikas in it. FYI swastikas existed for the use of Buddhist religion and mysticism BEFORE AND AFTER Hitler stole them for the failed Third Reich as a symbol to hoist while killing people his regime wrongly declared unfit to exist. I urge anyone who is triggered by the sight of a swastika to look at its usage IN CONTEXT.
- Sun Ling had no business being that beautiful and well-dressed as an adventuring bounty-hunter. Her outfit didn’t even look like it allowed any level of flexibility. Her waist is absolutely snatched!
- Even though Jianbei’s sister was not the love interest, she’s still a cutie!
- I am reminded of the 2012 video game Asura’s Wrath when we get to the end battle in this movie.
- I might have been wrong about the Seven Deadly Sins reference, but why was that guy named Lust?
- When your supervillain has a skyscraper with a dragon sculpture crowning the top with room for a bonsai garden and helipad, you might want to rethink a frontal assault. The gold-and-black interior design alone is wonderful, and nobody wants to ruin it with qi-infused arrows or Wudan sword-skills.
- Speaking of that frontal assault, it was very interesting to see a ton of martial arts styles with mystic arts combined to take on Han. They even came dressed up in archaic and outlandish costumes, relative to their combat style.
- To continue on these martial arts bounty hunters, the set design is amazing as it combines the ancient/old and modern/futuristic. The hologram meeting was great!
- Good to see Colin Chou in something new that isn’t the Matrix!
- Funny that: if Han is a sorcerer, then he’s probably a eunuch on top of that. It just jumped into my mind as a Chinese movie convention.
- “Will-they-won’t-they”? They absolutely do, thanks to Lust — both kinds. (ohhhh~ now I get it)
- The fight choreography is amazing — in the rain, in the subway, and on and on and on…
- Trying to find any information on this movie was a slog, since so much of the info is in Chinese and untranslated. Thankfully, I watched this on Tubi — thanks again!
