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Kung Pow: Enter the Fist
2002 81 min United States of America PG-13 12+
★5.1
Comedy, Action
Director: Steve Oedekerk
Trailers
Description
A movie within a movie, created to spoof the martial arts genre. Writer/director Steve Oedekerk uses contemporary characters and splices them into a 1970s kung-fu film, weaving the new and old together. As the main character, The Chosen One, Oedekerk sets off to avenge the deaths of his parents at the hands of kung-fu legend Master Pain. Along the way he encounters some strange characters.
Budget:
$10M
US Gross:
$16.04M
Worldwide:
$17M
Starring
Steve Oedekerk
Actor
Fei Lung
Actor
Leo Lee
Actor
Awards
1 win & 1 nomination total
Key opinion
Kung Pow: Enter the Fist is a highly divisive cult experiment that remaps classic martial arts footage with surreal, low-budget parody elements. While detractors dismiss it as incoherent and amateurish, supporters celebrate its unique, absurdist humor and bold, experimental re-editing.
| Originality | The film utilizes an experimental and highly unique format by inserting the lead actor into existing archival Hong Kong cinema footage. | |
| Humor | Opinions on humor are sharply polarized: some find the surreal, non-sequitur jokes and absurd dubbing hilarious, while others condemn them as unintelligible and unfunny. | |
| Production | Critics and fans alike acknowledge that the production quality is intentionally or unavoidably cheap, leading to a stark split between those who find it "so bad it's good" and those who see it as technically incompetent. | |
| Screenplay | The screenplay is widely considered thin, illogical, and lacking a cohesive narrative structure. |