Xanda

Our handsome hero Qiang has to punch and thwap and slap and kick his way to prizewinning super-stardom in this Chinese Rocky road to get the money to pay for his pal's operation. As clichéd as all that sounds for westerners like me who do not see many kick-boxing films made in china proper, XANDA is reasonably interesting in a cross cultural way. Modern as 2003 China can be and with romance, pals in peril, beefy cool hero and bleach blond nemesis (like in Blade Runner or Rocky 3), XANDA intersperses training heroics with kick-boxing pussycat fights, some roving camera romance scenes, an exasperated girlfriend and the big tournament that will see fist and flying fur and glistening muscles etc.... and the music in the DVD I sat though sounded like it was from a Faye Dunaway soap opera movie of the mid 70s. If it all sounds a bit gay, well it is, and might make great moving macho wallpaper in a gay bar, with Kylie or Madonna music tunes played over the thwacketty thwaps on the soundtrack. Probably XANDA also good for teens who have not seen Rocky but want to study Asian kick-boxing... with a 'do not try this at home' disclaimer. I think the film was not very successful in China, hence me finding it for $1 in a bargain bin in Chinatown Sydney.