Fans expecting a light hearted Jackie Chan-esque Martial Arts movie or people expecting a fun blaxploitation film will be disappointed by “Soul Brothers of Kung Fu.” This film is definitely NOT for the sensitive.

This film DOES feature some spectacular martial arts, the majority from Bruce Li, the best of the Bruce Lee clones. While the fights do provide a lot of entertainment, the storyline itself falters. Yes, it features a typical kung fu movie bad-guy and his bumbling henchmen and a lot of other formulaic martial arts movie scenarios, but most of it borders on risque.

If racial violence offends you, then skip this movie. A lot of the film is focused on the verbal berating and physical beating of Carl Scott, the film’s sole African American character, who’s been given an extremely stereotypical dub-over.

Also, this movie was obviously cut up when it was released on video. Some of the scenes made no sense, and it’s easy to tell that a scene that supported it was cut. The annoying constant use of the theme from “Rocky” doesn’t help this movie either. The ending itself also didn’t sit well with me for numerous reasons, which I won’t really get into. I saw the version with the “alternate ending” (I think that’s the only one out there), so I’m not sure if the other version of the ending was any easier to swallow.

You may, as I did, notice this video at your local video store and go “That should be fun.” I was under the impression that this would be a campy film, but it really wasn’t. As a huge fan of Kung Fu movies, I was able to look past most of the content and focus solely on the fighting, but it was difficult. I do not recommend this movie for anyone looking a for cheesy movie to watch on a rainy day, or for anyone who is trying to wean their way into the Martial Arts Genre. But if you’re a fan of good martial arts, you may wanna check this one out.