JP Nunez
If you had asked me about 100 Yards last week, I wouldn’t have known what you were talking about. Up until a few days ago, I had never even heard of this movie, but that all changed when I randomly saw the trailer on Twitter (I still refuse to call it X). Even then, I still didn’t know much about the film, but it gave me a fun, somewhat Ip Man-esque vibe, and that was enough for me. While I can’t say I love all the sequels, I think the first Ip Man is fantastic, so I figured I’d give this movie a shot. I requested a screener right away, and from the minute I saw a response in my inbox, I couldn’t wait to check it out.
100 Yards was directed by Xu Haofeng, and it stars Jacky Heung, Andy On, Bea Hayden Kuo, Tang Shiyi, and Li Yuan. The film is set in China in the 1920s, and it revolves around Shen An, the son of a renowned kung fu master. An is a great martial artist too, but surprisingly, he doesn’t inherit his father’s school.
Instead, when the old man dies, he leaves his academy to his top apprentice, a man named Qi Quan, and that fateful choice kicks off a power struggle that threatens to engulf the entire city. An wants to run the place himself, and he’s dead set on fighting Quan for a chance to take back the family business.
In other words, 100 Yards isn’t just a movie with a lot of kung fu in it. It’s not about a guy who has to use his fighting skills to achieve some completely unrelated goal, like avenging a great loss or rescuing the love of his life. Rather, this film is actually about the art itself, so naturally, you’d expect it to be chock-full of amazing fights.
And you’d be right. This cast is made up of top-notch martial artists, so when they go at it, it’s a thing of violent beauty. Every kick and punch these actors throw is lightning fast, and they’re all executed with impressive pinpoint accuracy. It’s pretty much the embodiment of the classic song “Kung Fu Fighting,” but the hand-to-hand combat is just the tip of the iceberg.
As is often the case in kung fu movies, a number of these fights also involve weapons, and they’re just as jaw-dropping. We get the typical mainstays like swords, knives, and sticks, and there are some less familiar items too, like a sort of long handheld shield that can be used for both defense and offense. Again, everybody in this cast masterfully wields these deadly weapons with a smooth, beautiful grace that almost looks more like a dance than a fight (in a good way!), so when the action gets going, it’s nearly mesmerizing.
In fact, as a kung fu showcase, 100 Yards is right up there with the best martial arts films I’ve ever seen. Not only are the fights great, but there are also enough of them that you’ll never be bored. Sure, there are plenty of times when the movie takes a breather and focuses on its characters and story, but those stretches are always relatively short. It’s like the filmmakers were always itching to get back to the action, so whenever the kung fu takes a back seat, you know it’s going to come back with a vengeance soon enough.
That being said, 100 Yards isn’t just a martial arts demonstration. It’s a film, so it also has to craft likable characters and an intriguing story around its blistering action. And on that count, it falls woefully short. To be fair, the characters in this movie aren’t bad. The performances are all pretty convincing, so it always feels like you’re watching real people rather than actors reciting pre-written lines.
But the story is all over the place. At its best, it just meanders from scene to scene without much purpose or direction, and at its worst, this narrative is downright incoherent. Things often happen simply because they’re in the script, not because they flow naturally from the events that came before them, and that disjointedness gets even worse as the movie progresses.
It makes for an absolute mess of a plot that eventually becomes a chore to watch, and that’s a shame. As I said, the fights in 100 Yards are second to none, so the story only had to be decent for this film to succeed. But it couldn’t even reach that low bar, so despite the genuinely great action, I still walked away from the experience pretty disappointed.
Because of that, I’d give this movie the same very cautious recommendation I gave the last action flick I reviewed, Bangkok Dog. If you just want to turn your brain off and see a bunch of badass kung fu, you’re probably going to have a good time with 100 Yards. Hell, even though I didn’t enjoy the experience overall, I’m still glad I got to see this masterful martial arts showcase at least once, so if that’s enough to sell you on a film, you should probably give this one a watch. But if you want anything more than that, I suggest giving the movie a pass.
100 Yards is set to hit VOD and select theaters on November 8.
