Yuen Biao makes sure you get the point that he's directing and starring in this movie.
A Kid from Tibet is a 1992 fantasy-martial arts epic starring Yuen Biao, in his first, and only, directorial effort. Co-starring Michelle Reis (Fallen Angels), Nina Li (Miss Jet Li), Biao's frequent collaborator Yuen Wah and Jackie Chan in an 8-second cameo, the film blends urban fantasy elements made popular by Highlander released a year prior and mixes them with Hong Kong martial arts and over-the-top choreography, resulting in some... let's say, interesting results.
Yuen Biao plays Lo Ba Wong La (Wong La the practitioner), a protege of a Tibetan monastery sent to Hong Kong to find an enchanted artifact called the "Babu Gold Bottle", which Wong La had its cap and is tasked with uniting the cap and bottle before either falls into the wrong hands. But when the evil Black Section Cult, led by the Black Section Sorcerer (Yuen Wah) and his sister (Nina Li) also seeks the bottle , Wong La had to take them on in an epic battle.
While its a shame that Yuen Biao never get to fight Jet Li during the peak of his entire career, at least over here he gets to fight Jet Li's wife. Ehh, close enough, right?
Tropes in A Kid From Tibet:
- All Monks Know Kung-Fu: The entire sect of Tibetan monks are martial artists and kung fu fighters. Wong La being their volunteer on his quest to Hong Kong.
- An Arm and a Leg: Wong La turns the tide of the final battle, by hacking off the Black Section Sorcerer’s arm after the sorcerer is Left Stuck After Attack.
- Beard of Evil: The Black Section Sorcerer. Come together with his evil Fu Manchu ‘stache and unkempt black hair, to complete his Obviously Evil appearance.
- BFS: The final battle between Wong La and the Sorcerer have them wielding swords roughly as large as themselves in an epic duel.
- Black Magician Girl: The sorcerer's sister. Complete with matching black outfit.
- The Cameo: Jackie Chan shows up for 8 seconds in the scene where Wong La arrives in Hong Kong airport.
- Dark Action Girl: The Black Section Sorcerer’s sister, who also serves as his dragon, whose name is never given throughout the movie.
- Fish out of Water: Wong La, a Tibetan monk protégé arriving in the metropolitan city of Hong Kong, leaving his rural Tibetan countryside for the first time in his life. Much of the middle part of the movie is spent on Wong La bumbling in the big city while being dragged along by Miss Chiu, much to her embarrassment.
- Healing Hands: Wong La can cure injuries and remove disabilities by transferring his inner qi to others. In his first scene, Mr. Bao arrives at the Tibetan temple while hobbling on his walking stick, but with Wong La sending his qi into Bao within seconds Bao is walking perfectly fine again.
- Hypnotic Eyes: The sorcerer’s sister has a hypnotic gaze which she attempts to use on Wong La to capture him, but it doesn’t work.
- Defeat by Modesty: Inverted when Wong La and the sorcerer’s sister fights each other for the first time. She is wearing form-fitting leather pants, tall boots, tight corsets, and when Wong La manage to disarm her and pin her down, he ends up catching a faceful of her boobs and quickly releases her and backs away. She uses this chance to hit him back and tie him up with her whip.
- Hoist Hero over Head: The Black Section Sorcerer lifts Wong La over his head with both hands in their first one-on-one fight.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Wong La eventually defeats the sorcerer, by shoving his BFS through the sorcerer’s midsection.
- Metronomic Man Mashing: Wong La is on the receiving end by the sorcerer’s sister when she get her hands on him and starts flinging him around like a ragdoll.
- Mind over Matter:
- The sorcerer’s sister briefly displays this as part of her powers, using her mind to telekinetically lift barrels and steel drums to hurl at Wong La as projectiles.
- Wong La himself also has this power, when he reads an incantation which allows him to lift two of the sorcerer’s mooks through the air into a ceiling.
- Naked People Are Funny: During a banquet scene where Wong La is showing off his powers, a slip-up caused by the Black Section Sorcerer’s sister screwing with Wong La’s powers causes more than a dozen party guests having their clothing disappearing. Including a focus on the buttocks of a man crawling away from the scene. This is all played for laughs by the way.
- No Name Given: The Black Section Sorcerer and his sister are never named onscreen.
- Phallic Weapon: As seen on the above screenshot, the Obari pose is featured in the climax when Wong La got his hands on a BFS.
- Rump Roast: Wong La accidentally sets himself on fire when he falls down, butt-first, on a fireplace. And just in case the audience can’t tell what’s happening, the movie had him yelling, "My ass is on fire! Save my ass!
◊" - Shock and Awe: The Black Section Sorcerer can generate electricity through his fists and hands, which he frequently uses for combat.
- Shout-Out:
- After Wong La is defeated by the Black Section Sorcerer, the Sorcerer then proceeds to unleash electricity on Wong while Wong is down on the floor, imitating Palpatine shocking Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi 6 years earlier.
- The magical Tibetan bottle, which Wong La spends the whole movie trying to prevent it from falling into wrong hands, ends up being opened by the sorcerer, whereupon its opening ends up unleashing beams of light energy and spiritual aura that kills off most of everyone in the area, Raiders of the Lost Ark-style.
- The final showdown between Wong La and the Sorcerer in a darkened warehouse, with electricity buzzing all around them, plenty of Stuff Blowing Up, both combatants engaging each other in a Sword Fight, pays homage to the first Highlander movie’s ending.
- Torso with a View: The sorcerer’s sister gets killed in this way when a stray beam of light energy goes through her midsection.
- Unwilling Suspension: Wong La is subject to being hung by his wrists on chains by the sorcerer after his penultimate defeat. Despite his predicament he still has time to snark and banter a bit with Miss Chiu when she came to save him however.
- Whip It Good: The sorcerer’s sister prefers using a whip as her primary weapon.
