THE KILLER, aka SACRED KNIVES OF VENGEANCE, is a 1972 Shaw Brothers story made by prolific director Chor Yuen some years before he became associated with sprawling wuxia-based tales, often adapted from literature. This one's more familiar from the likes of early Jimmy Wang Yu productions, although it's somewhat unusual in featuring a couple of relatively unknown stars as the lead actors.
The twisty-turny plot involves the titular assassin turning up to help traders tackle corrupt officials. It transpires, however, that the officials aren't corrupt after all, and that the traders are secretly smuggling opium with the aid of the Japanese. It does take our hero a long time to figure this out for himself, and there's a kind of love triangle romantic sub-plot to get in the way too.
However, the visuals are delightful and the action plentiful, the latter with a noticeably gruesome streak. Things build up to an incredible fight climax which sees a cameoing Ku Feng playing a psychotic Japanese character who goes berserk on our heroes with his razor-sharp samurai sword. Incredible stuff, and easily making up for some of the slower spots earlier on.
The twisty-turny plot involves the titular assassin turning up to help traders tackle corrupt officials. It transpires, however, that the officials aren't corrupt after all, and that the traders are secretly smuggling opium with the aid of the Japanese. It does take our hero a long time to figure this out for himself, and there's a kind of love triangle romantic sub-plot to get in the way too.
However, the visuals are delightful and the action plentiful, the latter with a noticeably gruesome streak. Things build up to an incredible fight climax which sees a cameoing Ku Feng playing a psychotic Japanese character who goes berserk on our heroes with his razor-sharp samurai sword. Incredible stuff, and easily making up for some of the slower spots earlier on.
