China, 19th century. An old beggar, Pai Cheh, is travelling through the country. However, he is actually a legendary Snake-style kung-fu master, a rebel against the government. Pai couldn't pay his rent to a hotel owner, and thus arrives at the young, naive, but honest Chien Fu, who takes him in at his home. Chien earns his money as the janitor of a martial arts school, but everyone is teasing him. Pai decides to teach Chien martial arts techniques and is surprised by the lad's abilities. Together, they kill an assassin who was sent to murder Pai.
The year 1978 finally made a star out of Jackie Chan, thanks to two films, both directed by Yuen Woo-Ping: "Drunken Master" and "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow". While such a status was justified due to the worthy "Drunken Master", "Snake" is still an immature attempt at trying to exploit all of Chan's martial arts abilities to the fullest, though it seized the attention due to an unorthodox blend of martial arts and comedy. Already the sole sequences of people humiliating and demeaning Chan's character Chien are so pathetic, sloppy and amateurish that they immediately in advance sabotaged the film's further impression, whereas several examples of dumb humor bother as well. It already consolidated Chan's archetype of film: boring characters and an awful story are saved by brilliant action sequences. One such standout scene involves the hero dodging the hits of the overweight son of a rich man, and thus Chien defeats him by sheer exhaustion and tiredness, without ever striking back. Another good sequence involves Chien's inability to catch the plate on the head of his skillful teacher. While sloppy and crude, "Snake" at least proves as an interesting testing ground for future Chan's stunts, when he was still forging his style.
Grade:+
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