Kung Fu Soccer (功夫女足) – Review

Football fever persists even with the recent conclusion of the FIFA World Cup 2026, as famed Hong Kong comedian, actor and director Stephen Chow’s newest comedy, Kung Fu Soccer, revisits his 2001 cult classic, Shaolin Soccer as a standalone sequel, this time focusing on a squad of female players using their martial arts abilities to compete in an international women’s soccer tournament.

Ahead of its global debut this month, the film opened in China to great success in July, grossing US$279 million in three weeks but the question isn’t why Chow, who last starred in 2008’s CJ7, and directed 2019’s The New King of Comedy, waited so long to release this, but why he even kicked things off in the first place.

As a film, Kung Fu Soccer rehashes much of Shaolin Soccer but instead of a team of Shaolin monks learning how to incorporate their martial arts skills with the sport, a group of women from Emei, a reference to the fictional (mostly) all-female martial arts sect from Asia’s wuxia fictional works, are now taking part in a women’s only global competition. 

The good guys, or gals, are clearly the ones you should root for, even if the film only spends mere moments of its 106 minute run time to touch on backstory of the various team members, instead preferring to focus on its two leads – Shuang Shuang (Zhang Xiaofei, YOLO), the team’s captain, and star striker Yu Long (Dilraba Dilmurat, Namiya), two childhood friends with unresolved issues. 

From jumping high in the air to land a kick, to the precise kicking of the football that can only be done with CGI, and seeing individual football moves masked by extreme martial arts action, your first thought would that you’ve seen it all before but done better 25 years ago, when Chow starred in his original film.

The moment the first kick strikes, it’s like you’re reading or watching the fifth chapter or episode, and there’s little to draw you in. Chow’s signature nonsensical comedic tropes come into play and you know someone’s going to do something stupid, say something asinine or misconstrue something that will be made into a joke. It’s funny but also familiar, and should appeal to his older audience but the younger generation would be somewhat lost, wondering why a man made to burn the hair off his leg, can serve as a punchline in 2026?

In the last 25 years, women in professional sports have also established themselves in their own arenas, from Serene Williams in tennis, Simone Biles in gymnastics, Caitlin Clark in basketball, and Saina Nehwal in badminton but instead of celebrating that explosive growth with an all-female soccer team, Kung Fu Soccer is merely a gender swapped exercise that pokes fun at some of the same female insecurities, of not wanting success enough to be good, or allowing failed relationships with men to influence their focus and dedication.

To his credit, Chow also shows the unity the women on the team have, of that trust and strong relationships they have built, but he just has to insert some romance into the plot that is unnecessary to propel the narrative. His jokes still lands, so we’re not talking about an inability to connect with the audience, but it’s also like watching a Jackie Chan action film in 2026 – you recognise he’s doing his best but also getting older, and he’s offering audiences and fans something familiar but nothing refreshing.

HSALS

Hsals needs more space in his house, and more money in his bank account to pay for all the toys, collectibles and other geek related items that companies are churning out. Free-time? Girlfriend? Who’s got time for those?