Wong Fei-hung/Bill Wang comes to Thailand to visit his old Pal Chu. Wong Fei-hung/Ah Fu is with him; and Ah Fu helps Leo who has been injured in the fight. Opponent of Chu was local rival Ku who made threat against shipping business. Yu Ying is also in Thailand but he had developed gambling addiction which led her into debt and danger due to gambling den run by Ku.
Ku hires a mercenary fighter (Hwang In-sik) to take care of his enemies and bribes some of Chu’s workers to betray him. Skyhawk tries his best to refrain from conflict but his students keep ending up in fights with Ku’s men even when seeking to avoid trouble themselves. Chu finds Ku needs his shipping business to ship opium, triggering several tragedies and Skyhawk alongside Leo being forced to take revenge on them while others were for tragic purposes only.
When the production was made, Kwan Tak-hing was closing in on 70 years of age. Despite not being the best martial artist to play Wong Fei Hung, he truly captures the essence. This is a classical image, characterized by Confucian values where talks are valued over wars. There is only one moment in which his unwillingness to fight is mistaken for cowardice among others but it never tries to dispute that fact. We see a more contemplative man here as befits his age.
There are a number of scenes in the temple and it has an alternative version of Wong Fei-Hung’s “General marching under orders” theme that sounds slightly wistful. Even in their final battle, he calls out to Leo not to kill one of Ku’s lackeys. A small touch like this adds up for me on how this character is portrayed overall. The end is even slightly more subtle. Like most kung Fu genre pictures, it ends with our surviving heroes walking off into the sun set but he stops here for a moment to check on his friend’s daughter whom he had come to visit when she passes him by at the end of her father’s funeral pyre and she doesn’t look back once at anyone else. This almost never happens, usually they roll credits soon after bad guy dies
Another physical appearance is given by his young student Fatty (Sammo Hung) and Leo (Carter Wong) whom they save from an early fight. Sammo was at the beginning of his career, frequently portraying a rebellious pupil of the master who rarely made it to the end credits. He’s no different here, but he does try to act on his master’s wishes and avoid fighting if possible. It’s a standard role but he does what he can with it even if the 1970’s hair-do looks a bit too much. Carter Wong is always Mr. Serious Face. If you ask me, this man was born to play the bad guy with those intense eyes and eyebrows that act better than many of his peers! Such aggression actually makes sense here since Leo’s character is more indiscipline than others in the movie. Nora Miao really doesn’t do anything except give little glances at Leo all through while Hwang In-sik stands out from everybody else in this film as well.
The 1970s witnessed a number of Korean fighters emerging in Hong Kong film industry, and he was one of them. In contrast to his mercenary character, he defends a lady who is being pursued by some hooligans willing to send her to Japan; however, when they tempted him with a better financial proposition than what he would have got from her sale, he handed the woman over. The boot work is always neat and fast as it has always been in the case of many good antagonists. Ku and his fellow criminals are nothing but typical bad guys incorrigible and indulging in all vices.
Jeong Cheung-hwa’s direction is a notch above the norm of the time in this genre. The trademark shots are there as always, but for the most part, it has fluid camerawork and Thailand gives it a different touch. Some may say that the costume design is a little all over the place but who watches these for exact historical accuracy? Sammo Hung also went beyond his usual standard in terms of action choreography. Carter Wong, Hwang In-sik and Hung are among several strong performers involved so it works out pretty well, if not amazing. Its shortcomings occur mostly at the last conflict. It looks like the fight switches locations back and forth from an outdoor set to one inside a studio; whether this was due to Kwan Tak-hing being affected by high humidity I cannot tell but it’s quite clear. Although he still moved amazingly well considering his age, one can clearly see that he was doubled up for some of the acrobatic moments. He fights from waist up in most of his scenes with anything below being done by another person, which means he has doubles for everything else.
I have no problems with this and usually the editing and doubling done is very well disguised. However, on a few occasions, it has not been handled this way and the extensive doubling does indeed lessen the overall impact of the final duel.
“The Skyhawk” is definitely one of those in-between films for the genre. This was to be Kwan Tak-hings last role as Wong Fei-hung however he would make two cameos in Sammo Hung’s later films. So it is both an end and a beginning here, with Sammo’s choreography and Hwang In-sik featuring as evolving fighting styles. The earlier style used by Kwan from Peking Opera was gradually being replaced by more intricate movement patterns and increasing emphasis on action choreography.
Certainly, I cannot argue that “The Skyhawk” is a classic; however, it has various drawbacks that make it not to be one and a quite disappointing ending also holds back. Nevertheless, as a martial arts movie landmark, it’s well worth watching. Modern viewers might not appreciate Kwan Tak-hing and how he fits into the legacy of Wong Fei-hung. I believe that this will help people understand better how both the character and the genre itself have developed over time.
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