Gate's elder fight - why so sucky?
Well, question is - why was the master of the Gate so sucky? Did he not know any fancy techniques? How come Dragon is so much cooler comparing to him?
shareWell in a lot of these martial arts movies, they establish a hierarchy of skill very quickly. The Elder is teacher to Little Tiger, and has just accepted Black Dragon as his student. So he's their superior. As a result these 2 didn't last 2 seconds with the villain. Donnie's (Little Dragon) skill is a bit more mysterious. We don't know for sure how taught him, since he left the Gate very young. So, the Elder lasted pretty long seeing how quickly the bad guy took out the young 'uns. We need a very powerful and mysterious villain since he's only 1 against 3 or 4 good guys.
Near thing end, all 3 guys needed some sort of special training or potion to make them stronger than ever before. Only then could they beat the villain.
And of course, avenging the death of one's Kung Fu master is a classic theme for films of this genre. So the Elder master's fight with the villain is really not the "main" event at all. Its a plot device to move the story along.
Also wasn't the master NOT the original starter of the school? If I remember correctly he was just the younger "brother" of the original master. Usuually in these instances the original master of the school is a level or 2 more powerful than their younger "brothers".
shareIf the master ended up being the most powerful in the movie, it would go backwards when the main character is the student. Build up the students character then he gets killed and the master saves the day. It just wouldn't be right.
"Why the *beep* would I blow up Chick-fil-A? It's *beep* delicious."