Highly Overrated But Still Good

A Brilliant Conflict

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

A zany comedy masquerading as a kung fu flick, 7 STAR GRAND MANTIS makes the knockabout comedies of Jackie Chan look like serious Oscar contenders in comparison. The main characters are a bunch of goofballs and the entire plot of the film showcases their running encounters with a bizarre trio of bad guys lead by a chubby bloke with a woman's hairstyle.It doesn't make much sense, but then films like this never do; what 7 STAR GRAND MANTIS does offer is a hell of a lot of slapstick comedy and silly scenes, and a few fights here and there. Inevitably the action-packed climax doesn't disappoint, and there are some weird bits to enjoy like the jokes with water (one of these is taken straight from an old Laurel & Hardy short) and death by toothpick.The scene in which the main characters paint themselves with gold and pretend to be statues is pretty well achieved. This film was put out by Filmark in Hong Kong, and produced by Tomas Tang, so it has a typically cheap, anything-goes approach; nonetheless, fans of dumb comedy might just enjoy it.

Oh, come on, folks - don't take this film so seriously! The basic intent of the film is 'the Three Stooges meet Bruce Lee in a Chinese Resteraunt.' It's another weird Korean hybrid of chop socky and slap-stick starring 'Elton Chong,' kung fu's answer to Jerry Lewis, as re-edited and re-released by the Lai Bros. If you don't know what that means, this is as good an introduction as any, If you do know, then you'll have already decided whether to see the film or not.AS a slap-stick chop-socky, it's actually not that bad. Some of the comedy is gimmicky, but certainly no more so than that of the Three Stooges, whose influence is clearly in evidence here. The fight scenes are nothing special, but there not really below par for the genre.The film also benefits from a remarkable female lead. The actress is exceptionally beautiful, and she plays a character smart, independent, and a good fighter, of course.As for Chong - like Jerry Lewis, he's an acquired taste. But I've always found him appealing in a goofy way.Don't expect much - certainly don't expect any mantis style kung fu, "7 star" (whatever that means) or otherwise. But with the best of Chong films, this can be a lot of fun in the right frame of mind.Hey, my mom liked him (but she liked Jerry Lewis, too).

This is probably the most awful kung fu comedy I've seen yet. There is very little fighting in it, and even at the end, when you think there's gonna be a decent fight, it ends up descending into idiotic, practically unwatchable "comedy".All in all, this movie is just terrible. People regularly break out in hysterical laughter for hardly any reason, and many characters are insufferably caricatured. The movie warrants nothing more than a "2" rating, and the only thing keeping it from a "1" is the very few decent kung fu scenes.My best recommendation is that you avoid this movie, unless you distinctly like really bad kung fu movies. And let me assure you that this one is not bad in "the good way", either; it's strictly bad in the bad way. Enter at your own time-wasting peril!

it's not that bad, I just stuck it in the video expecting to just turn it off after a brief view of the tape and I was captivated by it. One stupid thing would come after another, the fighting is only just passable I admit, but the zany comedy helps it out. The fact the English dubbing was very bad didn't matter, at least the character's voices were well defined. The film has quite a strong female character which is nice. The plot is quite simply but goes along at a good pace. I ended up watching the entire movie and was glad I did. I would recommend this film to fans of Hong Kong comedy/kung-fu cinema but don't expect to much from it. 7 Star Grand Mantis gets *******/10 from me. :)