Reviews & Ratings for
King Eagle More at IMDbPro »Ying wang (original title)

2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Why this hasn't been remade as a western is mystery..., 9 October 2009

Author: thesubstream from Canada

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I'll bet you a hundred dollars (CAN) that you'll never in your life meet a huge science fiction film fan that hates samurai or western films. I mean, sure, these freaks must exist in a dark, slimy cave somewhere, but chances are that if they take their blinders off, they'll realize that Lucas' Star Wars, Kurasawa's Hidden Fortress and John Ford's The Searchers could all be shown in a triple bill of awesome genre flicks. When done well, this kind of genre film-making (with its weirdly requisite moral urgency) can rise above its particular generic tricks 'n' tropes to become storytelling in the classic mode, with heroes and journeys and villains and honour and justice and wise old people and peril and secret knowledge. Whether the hero swings a katana or a wields a six-shooter is irrelevant, which says a lot about how universal and accessible these genre films can be. You don't need much in the way of context if your hero is heroic, your villain is villainous, and everybody seems to be fighting for something important.

King Eagle is the nickname of an infamous loner swordsman/hero named Jin Fei (Ti Lung), who everyone thinks is, well, just amazing. Because he is, mainly. He's a real hero: purity of heart coupled with unparalleled skill with a really shiny sword, together in the body of a man with great hair. And even though he doesn't like to get involved in other people's affairs, he gets drawn into a sticky situation surrounding the betrayal and death of the Master of the Tien Yi Tong clan, who is sneakily killed by his own 1st Chief (who shoots darts out of his flute). Jin ends up being the only dude who knows the truth, and even though he keeps telling 1st Chief that what happened is none of his business, 1st Chief spends the rest of the movie trying to kill him anyway. Big mistake, because this guy, Jin Fei, this guy can swing a sword. Arms and legs get lopped off, and orangy blood sprays everywhere. And King Eagle barely breaks a sweat.

A neat thing about this film is how dedicated the filmmakers were in portraying Jin as a true, serious hero. He can tell the difference between two beautiful twin(-ish) sisters (played by Li Chung) because one is evil and one is good, and he brings tribute to the graves of a lowly waiter and farm girl, killed because of their association with him. A lot of this can be, of course, attributed to the fantastic Ti Lung, who, while physically capable of playing the dashing swordsman, actually has the acting chops to engage you. It's no surprise that he went on to play similar roles through the rest of his career, as he pretty much nailed it. Dude basically is Kung Fu Hero. And, oh yeah, dude can fight. He is an absolute badass. It's not even the best display of choreography you'll see in a Shaw Bros. flick, but Ti Lung is exceptional as a lone warrior, dispensing dozens of combatants at once with speed and cunning. There's an efficiency to his movements that clearly sets him apart from his fellow performers.

You've got to understand, if you don't already, that watching a Shaw Bros. movie (particularly one directed by Chang Cheh) means you'll be subjected to some of the most violent and inventive combat ever captured on film. Yeah, it's all very, very (very) fake. And there's no way that red stuff isn't acryllic paint. But in this film it still catches you off guard in the same way any more modern, realistic depiction of violence can because the story is actually engaging. And even though I've seen better kung fu fighting on film, King Eagle gets full points in this category because of the introduction of some memorably wicked characters. The hands-down most badass villain I've seen in a movie in a long time is Mr. "Deadly Fingers" Wan, who is hired out of desperation in the third act by 1st Chief. He's a mild-mannered older gentlemen that has steel fingers with which he uses to rip out your throat. Unbelievably cool.

The one thing though, the only real negative thing I can say about this film is that the sword sound effects were grating. Classically speaking, the Shaw Bros films didn't exactly have any cutting edge sound design applied to them. In fact, they probably used the exact same "punch" sound effect thousands of times per film throughout the 70's and eighties, regardless of performer, roomtone, etc. This is as endearing as it is laughable, but in the case of King Eagle, I have to say, their choice of sword sound effect made the hair on my neck stand up. It isn't so much the sound of two swords smashing, it's more like two swords scraping against each other. Like nails on a chalkboard. And this is a movie about swordfighting. So you hear it a lot. Like, 8000 times. Eventually I had to mute the fight scenes, which is a shame, because the laughable, endearing soundtrack to a Shaw Bros. fight scene is pretty much the greatest thing in the world.

If you squint your eyes you could imagine Clint Eastwood as the title character and it wouldn't change a thing. See it only for Mr. Wan, and it'll be worth it, I promise you. Three and a half clenched fists out of five.

2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
KING EAGLE – Ti Lung has good role in average Shaw Bros. swordplay film, 1 February 2008
Author: Brian Camp from Bronx, NY

KING EAGLE (1970) is a swordplay film from director Chang Cheh that may not be among his greatest works (ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN, SHAOLIN TEMPLE, THE FIVE VENOMS, et al), but nonetheless has a few major points of interest for Shaw fans. The beautiful Li Ching (THE LONG CHASE, HONG KONG RHAPSODY) has a remarkable dual role as two sisters who are the 7th and 8th Chiefs of the Tien Yi Tong Clan, which is in the midst of a bloody factional battle that puts the sisters on opposite sides. (They even fight each other at one point.) The 7th Chief is a good girl and the 8th is in league with the villains and both are drawn in broad melodramatic strokes. The bad one calls herself "the greatest beauty in the martial arts world" and gets upset when the hero ignores her. The good one's no slouch in the looks department either.

Ti Lung plays Jin Fei, or "King Eagle," a lone hero who tries to stay out of the fray, minding his own business. He's strong, stoic and a lethal killer when necessary and not one to tolerate other people's games. At one point he's offered a tray of money to join the bad guys' side and turns it down, insisting that all he really wants is to avenge the senseless killings of a waiter and farm girl at a roadside inn by two of the bad chief's henchmen. Which he then proceeds to do in a most effective and unexpected maneuver.

Jin Fei gets involved after the good sister tends to his wounds after a fight and the two eventually fall for each other. He's a hard guy who has never asked anybody for help and he gradually realizes it's not a bad thing to have someone in his corner. He displays some genuine tenderness here and it reminds us that director Chang Cheh didn't always shy away from romance and strong women characters. It all comes down to a dilemma of what to do about the bad sister. The good one insists that, in the impending showdown, the bad one be spared, no matter what. Jin Fei correctly notes that the bad sister will show no such compunction when push comes to shove, but good Li doesn't want to hear it, making for some crucial dramatic tension during the final confrontation.

The strong supporting cast includes kung fu great Chen Sing as a bad chief who fights with two rectangular metal plates that can do a lot of damage. Kang Hua (aka Tung Li), whom I liked when he played a hero in BLACK TAVERN, is another bad guy. He looks a lot like western star Lee Van Cleef. Dependable co-stars Cheng Lei and Wang Chung are two other good guys and there are a lot of the usual familiar Shaw Bros. actors around. Tang Chia, who co-directed the fight scenes, turns up on screen as a hired killer with a whip who gives Jin Fei a hard time. In one exciting action scene, he sends a heavy wagon loaded with sacks careening down a street into a group of children, forcing Jin Fei to stop the wagon with his super-strength to prevent it from running over a girl. As Jin Fei holds the wagon and tries to get someone to put a wedge under the wheel so they can move the girl, Tang Chia kills anyone who tries to help the hero and then launches a vicious attack on him.

If I have any complaint about this one, it's that the fights are all very short and the antagonists too easily dispatched. We don't see the extended battles that Chang's later films would feature.

Wyatt Earp, Chang Cheh style..., 9 August 2011

Author: poe426 from USA

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

KING EAGEL, though definitely stylized, isn't as grandiose as later Cheh efforts. As Jin Fei, Ti Lung comes across as very much a Wyatt Earp type of character: he's more than capable of killing more than his share of dumb***es when it comes right down to it, but he prefers the solitary, almost monastic life of a hermit. "Live and let live," and all that. When minding his own business doesn't quite work out and he finds himself getting caught up in the Tong intrigues of the treacherous Hung, he gives everyone an indication of just how wide a berth he should be given: he wipes out the band of thugs who killed his two best friends, tossing the leader of the raid onto a blazing pyre- while the man is still alive. Things heat up from there, and there's collateral damage aplenty. At one point, Lung battles Chen Hsing, who uses two razor-edged metal plates as weapons and there's a love interest in the form(s) of Li Ching as a pair of beautiful twins (which makes for some very good fx shots of the two sisters together), one good, the other not so good. Jin tells Yuk (the good sister): "If you have to get rid of villains, you shouldn't care who those villains are." I agree wholeheartedly.

Very good but far from great., 14 February 2011

Author: planktonrules from Bradenton, Florida

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

"Ying Wang" jumps into the plot very quickly. In a very, very typical sort of plot, the Master is murdered as a result of treachery (and if you've ever seen many martial arts films, this is a very familiar sort of plot). He is killed by one of the seven 'chiefs'--martial arts masters who are supposed to be on the side of good and working together. Because he has time to linger before he dies, he tells one of his subordinates (also one of the Chiefs) to run and tell the others that the First Chief was responsible. But, this baddie's men get a hold of the messenger and kill him. This occurs right in front of Jin Fei, (Ti Lung)--a man known as 'King Eagle' and a freakin' scary martial artist. However, Jin Fei really could care less who's killing who--he is a loner and values his working-class friends far more than worrying about the various schemes.

In a VERY dumb move, the baddies take on Jin Fei--even though he just wants to be left alone. After killing a couple of these idiots, he still doesn't want to fight--just go about his merry way. But, the baddies didn't learn their lesson and begin doing terrible things--like hurting civilians just to tick off Jin Fei. Even then, he refuses to fight. However, after a sexy martial arts babe (who is also one of the Chiefs) is attacked, Jin Fei is mad--and you KNOW that they've pushed him too far. However, what prevents him from delivering a thorough butt-whipping is that the woman's sister is one of the baddies--and she's always begging poor Jin Fei to spare her because of this. See how all this gets quickly resolved in "Ying Wang".

This film was made by the Shaw Brothers--makers of the best martial arts films of the era. It features tons of sword-play and it's very good in quality--a trademark of their studio. While far from the best of this genre (the 'One-Armed Swordsman' films were better), it is very good. One thing I didn't like but it all depends on your personal preferences were the 'wire fu' work. In other words, they used small cranes to lift the best fighters in order to make they seem to magically fly across the screen. I don't like it because of the complete lack of realism--but I know some think this is really cool. I feel it often gets in the way of good action sequences by being a distraction--and fortunately they don't do it too often in this film.As a result, I recommend you see it--just realize it is far from the Shaw's best.

By the way, read through Brian Camp's comments--he really, really knows his stuff and he's nailed this review.

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