The Thundering Mantis | |||||||||||||||
Native Name: |
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Director: | Teddy Yip | ||||||||||||||
Producer: | Stanley Chow | ||||||||||||||
Screenplay: | Cheung San-yee | ||||||||||||||
Starring: | Bryan Leung Cheng Feng Eddy Ko Hung | ||||||||||||||
Cinematography: | Cheung Tak-kon | ||||||||||||||
Editing: | Wong Chau-kwai Cheung Kwok-kuen | ||||||||||||||
Music: | Stanley Chow | ||||||||||||||
Studio: | Goldig Films (H.K.) Ltd. East Asia (H.K.) Film Co. | ||||||||||||||
Distributor: | Goldig Films (H.K.) Ltd. (Hong Kong) | ||||||||||||||
Runtime: | 85 minutes | ||||||||||||||
Country: | Hong Kong | ||||||||||||||
Language: | Cantonese |
The Thundering Mantis (Also known as Mantis Fist Fighter in USA) is a 1980 Hong Kong martial arts action film directed by Teddy Yip, starring Bryan Leung, Cheng Feng and Eddy Ko Hung.
A martial artist Ah Chi (Bryan Leung) who often gets in trouble while goofing around gets in trouble as he is saving the neighborhood. He later then meets a crafty kid and finds out that the kid's uncle is the thundering mantis-style master. Curiously, Chi goes off to challenge him and the uncle wins without trying. Later on, he comes against the Jade gang whom he easily beats but soon he is up against Hsia (Eddy Ko) the master of the gang. Humiliatingly, Hsia beats up Chi who for the second time is beaten shamelessly, the first came from the mantis master. Desperate, Chi runs to find the kid whom he befriended earlier on and his uncle. Time passes and the uncle decides to teach both the kid and Chi the thundering mantis style. After Chi finishes training he goes to wander around with the kid. Meanwhile, to the uncle's surprise, Hsia arrives and duels with him. Initially, the uncle gets the upper hand only to lose stamina and ends up getting wounded. Hsia takes advantage and uses his full strength to finally him. The climax has the kid and Chi caught by Hsia and the Jade gang, after the kid is tortured and killed Chi goes insane and suffers from a mental breakdown. Thus, breaking free and killing every single Jade gang member.
In the end, he goes up against Hsia for the second time and while fighting, he mixes his insanity with the mantis style and brutally kills Hsia.