Bullet Points: The Green Jade Statuette (1978)
If you are looking for some old school Kung Fu movies, Tubi is a veritable pot of gold! After perusing the many options on the free streaming service, I settled on The Green Jade Statuette, let’s see if I got lucky with this pick…
- Green with Envy: The action in The Green Jade Statuette starts during the opening credits, as three bandits invade a home and lay waste to all inside of it, in order to steal the family’s priceless green jade statuette. The bandits are the Wu Brothers… one of which is “Wu Brother with Beard” played by none other than Beardy aka Leung Kar-Yan of Sleeping Fist and The Thundering Mantis fame… The Wu Brothers disappear like literal thieves in the night and the movie jumps ahead three years…
- Welcome to Stone Village: The three Wu Brothers should not be confused with the three Ho Brothers. The Ho Bros have made their way to Stone Village where they proceed toe terrorize some of the local businesses… that is until the self-proclaimed protector of Stone Village, Wu Kang (Chi Kuan-Chun, Shaolin Temple) and dispatches of the horrible Ho Bros! …The next day, another newcomer makes his way to Stone Village, the world famous assassin, Chen Chang (Meng Fei, The Prodigal Boxer). Chen makes his way to the local brothel, but he’s not seeking female companionship, he wants to speak to the head woman in charge, Madame Pearl. When he gets the run around from some of the brothel employees (including the manager played by Phillip Ko Fei), we get to see Chen in action! …We then cut to Madame Pearl, who is watching her lover doing his iron ring training… her lover is none other than Wu Kang!
- Lies, Lies, Lies: Madame Pearl does eventually meet with Chen Chang, who tells her he has been hired to retrieve the green jade statuette from her, the same green jade statuette her bandit brothers stole three years earlier! Madame Pearl denies having the statuette and says she hasn’t seen her brothers in years. Chen Chang gives her three days to think about it, because if he doesn’t get the statuette from her, he goes to Plan B and that’s killing her! After their meeting, Chen is attacked on the streets of Stone City by some of Wu Kang’s men, however they are no match for a fighter the caliber of Chen Chang… Later, when Wu Kang asks Pearl what Chen Chang wanted, she makes no mention of the jade statuette and instead drums up a story that Chen Chang is blackmailing her for 50,000 taels of gold. Which seems like a strange thing for a hired killer to do!? Wu tracks down Chen, and the two have a spirited brawl, pushing each other to limits no other fighter has… respect is earned and Wu Kang learns that you can’t trust everything a prostitute says!
- Red Rose Has Entered the Chat: Following his confrontation with Wu Kang, Chen Chang has a conversation with the red rose carrying Chow Liu Shiang. Chow is probably the biggest wild card in the movie, he does his best to dissuade Chen Chang from attempting to get the green jade statuette from Madame Pearl, he ends up convincing Madame Pearl to hire him to assist Wu Kang in protecting the brothel and he eventually reveals to Chen that he is a secret government agent, who is there to retrieve the green jade statuette before the Wu Brothers return to collect their spoils from three years earlier! And speaking of the Wu Brothers…
- Wu Wu Wu: After the Wu Brothers return to Stone Village to retrieve the green jade statuette, the landscape changes… the true identity of two brothel employees is revealed, murder becomes of the name of the game, and out of the chaos, Chen Chang and Wu Kang officially team up to take on the deadliest Wu of them all!
Equal parts action and intrigue, The Green Jade Statuette is in the upper echelon of martial arts movies I have experienced over the years. With a cast of familiar faces and experienced Kung Fu veterans delivering in the fight department, and a story with plenty of twists and turns, The Green Jade Statuette is one that I will be looking to add to my physical media collection.
Now allow me to add to this review, with some Bonus Bullet Points…
- AKA: The Green Jade Statuette was also released as Fists of Vengeance and Killer’s Game… which is a great name for a movie with multiple assassins in it, just ask Dave Bautista.
- Bastard Count: There were a total of 9 “bastards” uttered in The Green Jade Statuette, including the first time anyone had ever called Chen Chang a bastard in his life. I believe the exact quote was “You’re also a bastard, who talks nothing but shit!”
- Directed By: The Green Jade Statuette was directed by Lee Tso-Nam, who also directed Edge of Fury, The Tattoo Connection and The Hot, the Cool and the Vicious.
