This Shaw Brothers film is exceptional. It's so good because it's jam-packed full of insanely fast and high quality fighting--fighting which features wonderful choreography and actors with great skill. In addition, unlike many Chinese sword epics, this one features LOTS of different weapons and styles--even cymbals of death and a grappling hook on a chain!! It's also good because unlike some martial arts films, the DVD is wonderful--with both Chinese language and two different English language tracks. So, for purists out there that had dubbing, it's a treat to be able to turn off the English--thought the dubbing, by the way, is surprisingly BETTER than the rather lackluster subtitles! And, there are two DIFFERENT dubbed tracks (I prefer the 2nd one). The film, however, is at first rather bad because story and character development seem almost unimportant until about a third of the way into the movie. If you want a story about people and want to see acting, then this film is not for you--it's almost completely frenetic action. And when it does slow down, a bit, it still is not one of the more character-driven stories I've seen!
My wife is not a martial arts film fan, but she usually can tune out my pictures. However, she begged me to watch this by myself later since it was making her (and our dog) frantic just hearing it!! Once I went to the exercise room and popped the DVD back into a different player, I was happy I didn't just give up on it. The story, while never great, got a lot better. And I was really impressed by the action--David Chiang, in particular, was great.
As far as setting for this story goes, understanding it will help if you read up on this part of history--and the film WON'T help you to understand this! But, here goes...the Jin (also called Jinn) captured the northern part of China and captured the Emperor, his father (who had previously abdicated) and the Crown Prince. Eventually, the Prince was somehow rescued--and went south to continue the Sung Dynasty in the southern portion of China. This movie is about some heroes who gave their lives to save the Prince. You will NOT understand all this based on the prologue--which seems to assume you are Chinese and know Chinese history.
Hsiao Pin-fu (called 'Little Bat' in the subtitles) has been sent by his master to find his old friend from their martial arts school because the Master was saddened that his student had given in to evil. When Hsiao Pin-fu arrives, he learns that indeed his old friend is a crook--and soon another nice-guy (Pao Kung Tien) is there because this crook knows about the kidnapping and how to find the Prince. The baddies are killed and Pao and Hsiao join forces. LOTS of killing and excitement ensues--along with a finale where Hsiao loses about 75 gallons of blood and STILL manages to keep on fighting!! While it starts slow, if you are a fan of the genre you must see this film. It's great--exceptionally well made and cool throughout.
My wife is not a martial arts film fan, but she usually can tune out my pictures. However, she begged me to watch this by myself later since it was making her (and our dog) frantic just hearing it!! Once I went to the exercise room and popped the DVD back into a different player, I was happy I didn't just give up on it. The story, while never great, got a lot better. And I was really impressed by the action--David Chiang, in particular, was great.
As far as setting for this story goes, understanding it will help if you read up on this part of history--and the film WON'T help you to understand this! But, here goes...the Jin (also called Jinn) captured the northern part of China and captured the Emperor, his father (who had previously abdicated) and the Crown Prince. Eventually, the Prince was somehow rescued--and went south to continue the Sung Dynasty in the southern portion of China. This movie is about some heroes who gave their lives to save the Prince. You will NOT understand all this based on the prologue--which seems to assume you are Chinese and know Chinese history.
Hsiao Pin-fu (called 'Little Bat' in the subtitles) has been sent by his master to find his old friend from their martial arts school because the Master was saddened that his student had given in to evil. When Hsiao Pin-fu arrives, he learns that indeed his old friend is a crook--and soon another nice-guy (Pao Kung Tien) is there because this crook knows about the kidnapping and how to find the Prince. The baddies are killed and Pao and Hsiao join forces. LOTS of killing and excitement ensues--along with a finale where Hsiao loses about 75 gallons of blood and STILL manages to keep on fighting!! While it starts slow, if you are a fan of the genre you must see this film. It's great--exceptionally well made and cool throughout.