Sammo Kam-Bo Hung has crafted a masterpiece of classic martial arts action. Do not miss this.
This film contains some of the best martial arts fight scenes ever shot. Long takes, complex action with large numbers of participants, but most importantly, absolutely stunning choreography and plenty of it. Even in intense action sequences Samo can add a moment of humour before the intensity starts again.
The plot is decent (for a martial arts movie). The comedy is slapstick orientated and thankfully mostly works.
As any fan of Asian action cinema knows, it's the fights that matter and these action sequences deliver in spades.
Samo Hung is a legend amongst fight fans, but sadly largely unrecognised outside Hong Kong aficionados for his absolutely massive contribution to action scenes that Hollywood slowly picked up on. Unfortunately, they still don't grasp many of the concepts Samo and his fellows, like Jackie Chan, created in the 80's Golden years of Hong Kong cinema. Fight editing is dire in Hollywood.
Sadly, every copy I can find is not of the best quality, even the DVD. I really wish someone would do a restoration job on it.
I've watched this more times than I care to think about. Every single time, the action makes my muscles tense and I hit the rewind too often. It really is that good!
A solid 10 for martial arts fans. Do not miss this one. 7/10 for others.
This film contains some of the best martial arts fight scenes ever shot. Long takes, complex action with large numbers of participants, but most importantly, absolutely stunning choreography and plenty of it. Even in intense action sequences Samo can add a moment of humour before the intensity starts again.
The plot is decent (for a martial arts movie). The comedy is slapstick orientated and thankfully mostly works.
As any fan of Asian action cinema knows, it's the fights that matter and these action sequences deliver in spades.
Samo Hung is a legend amongst fight fans, but sadly largely unrecognised outside Hong Kong aficionados for his absolutely massive contribution to action scenes that Hollywood slowly picked up on. Unfortunately, they still don't grasp many of the concepts Samo and his fellows, like Jackie Chan, created in the 80's Golden years of Hong Kong cinema. Fight editing is dire in Hollywood.
Sadly, every copy I can find is not of the best quality, even the DVD. I really wish someone would do a restoration job on it.
I've watched this more times than I care to think about. Every single time, the action makes my muscles tense and I hit the rewind too often. It really is that good!
A solid 10 for martial arts fans. Do not miss this one. 7/10 for others.