Review by C.J. Bunce
Put away what you remember (if anything) about the 1970s Kung Fu television series. You didn’t really watch the series for David Carradine, did you? If you were like most of the viewers, you probably showed up for the martial arts. CW Network’s new reboot of Kung Fu is for that same audience, but it also casts a wider net. Wednesday night Olivia Liang showed up to take the new series, CW’s Kung Fu, by storm. You can compare it to the similar-vibed, live-action Mulan, some of your favorite recent martial arts series that have the same dramatic beats like Wu Assassins, or you can compare it to series like Charmed, Smallville, Stargirl, or Riverdale. Fans of all these shows will get a kick out of the ease at which the CW has brought a young Chinese-American hero into our must-watch DVR queue with college student-turned-Shaolin warrior Nicky Shen. She’s a completely modern, updated Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and she brings with her an interesting supporting cast while pulling some intrigue into the story via elements of classic Chinese mythology and history. It’s fantasy, and its supernatural, and there’s swinging kicks and swordplay you’re not going to want to miss.
