The Master (1992 film)

The Master
Poster ad for The Master home video
Directed by	Tsui Hark
Written by	Tsui Hark Lam Kei To Lau Tai Muk
Produced by	Tsui Hark
Starring	Jet Li Yuen Wah Crystal Kwok Jerry Trimble Anne Rickets
Cinematography	Chan Jun Git Paul Edwards
Edited by	Kam Ma Marco Mak Peter Cheung
Music by	Tang Siu Lam
Distributed by	Golden Harvest Paragon Films
Release date	26 May 1989 (1989-05-26)
Running time	92 minutes
Country	Template:Film Hong Kong
Languages	Cantonese English

The Master
Traditional Chinese	龍行天下
Simplified Chinese	龙行天下
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Lóng Xíng Tián Xià Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Lung4 Hang4 Tin1 Haa6

The Master (traditional Chinese: 龍行天下) is a 1989 Hong Kong martial arts action comedy film written, produced and directed by Tsui Hark and also written by Lam Kei To and Lau Tai Muk, starring Jet Li, Yuen Wah and Jerry Trimble. The project was released in Hong Kong in 1989, but it was not released in the West until after the success of Once Upon a Time in China in 1992.

Plot

The story begins in Los Angeles, with a fight between Uncle Tak (Yuen Wah) and Johnny (Jerry Trimble), destroying Tak's store in the process. Tak loses and tries to escape, but Anna (Anne Rickets) miraculously comes to save him.

Jet (Jet Li) arrives by bus. He takes a taxi driven by a friendly Jamaican man. Three thieves take his rucksack, and he chases them through the streets on foot while they drive. He catches them and they see his fighting skills, and they subsequently beg him to be his master. They take Jet to their home but they meet with a dangerous gang. Jet steps in and defends the buddies, but their home is set on fire.

Meanwhile, Johnny and his gang are closing down kung fu schools and making a name for themselves. Jet meets May (Crystal Kwok), and also meets Johnny in a carpark, quickly learning what Johnny's goal is. Unfortunately, Anna and Jet's friends get beaten up, so Jet trains his friends to defend themselves.

Jet and his friends go to Tak's store and prepares to deal with Johnny's gang. The three friends put their newly found skills into practice whilst Jet fights the gang. Jet and Johnny fight outside the store until the police step in.

Jet and Tak have a final strain on their relationship. Downbeat, Jet decides to take a bus to the airport, intending on returning to Hong Kong. On his way, he is attacked by a dreadlocked man armed with a shotgun out. The man fires, killing the bus driver, as May follows the bus with her car. In the meantime, Tak and the three friends make their way to a rooftop for a final duel with Johnny's gang.

After the bus incident, Jet and May go to Tak's store to find a note and a will. They quickly make their way to the rooftop, and Jet makes a surprise attack on Johnny's gang. He again fights with Johnny, while Tak and his friends save Anna from danger.

During the fight, Jet and Johnny drop down, smashing a gas pipe. Just as Jet thinks the fight is over, Johnny kicks a switch that, causing them to move to the building edge. Jet grabs a rope and just as he is about to fall to his death, Tak, Anna, May and his three friends save him as the rope breaks.

Cast

• Jet Li - Jet
• Yuen Wah - Chan Hou Tak / Uncle Tak
• Crystal Kwok - May
• Jerry Trimble - Johnny
• Rueben Gonzáles - Cito
• Guy Fadollone - Ruben
• Derek Annunciation - Mouse
• Michael Burke - Oscar
• Camille Carrigan - Jeannie
• Wayne Post - Jimmy
• George Cheung - Paul
• Pamela J. Anderson - coach
• Steven Ho - Johnny's student
• To Wai Wo - martial arts teacher
• Cheung Ching - Clerk of International Publication
• Billy Blanks - thug
• Glen Chin - taxi driver
• Anne Rickets - Anna

US Version

Miramax's North American version of The Master, which was distributed on home video and DVD, was dubbed in English, and the dubbing often strayed heavily from the original dialogue. Four minutes of cuts were made, including:

• The opening scene, in which Anna fights a gymnastics student.
• A scene of Anna being banned from gymnastics school.
• A scene of Jet walking through Los Angeles is cut slightly. Also, acoustic guitar music replaces the original, more somber score, changing the intentions of the scene significantly.
• A scene in which Jet, after the clinic is raided, finds Anna beaten up.

Reception

Upon initial release, The Master was not particularly successful. In his audio commentary for the Hong Kong Legends DVD release, Bey Logan gives possible explanations why, citing characters' ridiculous behaviour and contrived situations. He explains that the characters' motivations are unclear - there is no clear reason why Johnny and his gang repeatedly go to Uncle Tak's store to intimidate him, and close down other kung fu schools. Also, if the bus driver is shot by the dreadlocked man with a shotgun, why does this bus keeps moving while the action is still going.

Despite the flawed plot, the film did give signs of what was to come from Jet Li's appearances in films with modern settings. Li's actions style in The Master was an early example of what was to come in his Hollywood Romeo Must Die and Cradle 2 the Grave.

Box office

The Master earned a weak HK $8,096,542 in Hong Kong.

DVD release

On March 28, 2005, DVD was released in Hong Kong Legends at UK in Region 2.

Four months later, The Jet Li Collection DVD were released on July 25, 2005 at 2 disc set including Hitman.

External links

• The Master at IMDb
• The Master at AllMovie