During the Japanese occupation
of China, there is an increased tax on the local fisherman, which causes much
strife. The Japanese also go around
beating the tar out of hapless fisherman, just to throw their weight around. Chen (Shanghai Massacre) Sing is a Chinese
boxer who returns to his home in China with his Caucasian bride in tow. He killed a guy in the ring back in America, so
he vows never to use his fists again. If
you can’t already predict, the Japanese push him to his limit until he breaks
his promise and starts kicking ass again.
The Rage of Wind
isn’t bad, but it suffers from some considerable lulls in the action. Most of the lulls are devoted to showing how
bad the Japanese were. They’re pretty
much assholes in this. They hassle
random passersby and hang up dead people as a warning to others. These sequences are necessary I suppose. However, they do have a tendency to get
repetitive after a while.
Once Chen finally
says enough is enough, the action is decent, although it’s really nothing out
of the ordinary. The finale where he
fights the villain on the beach and does some Steven Seagal moves while waves
crash in the background is OK, but it’s just a day late and a dollar
short.
The plot is standard
issue and the fights are mostly unmemorable.
What is memorable is the music score.
And by “music score”, I mean that they just steal Isaac Hayes’ music
from Shaft at inappropriate times.
Sadly, they don’t use any of the vocals.
If there was a part where Hayes sang, “They say this cat Chen is one bad
mother…” it might have been all worthwhile.
Alas, it was not to be.
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