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Reviews
Shen ying fei yan hu die zhang (1982)
enter the eagle
the Butterfly Clan is mad evil and powerful. they have wiped out Shaolin and Wu Dang; yet their thirst for bloodshed isn't satisfied.
enter the eagle, as the great Lo Lieh (of like a million movies'fame)teams up with a mysterious stranger and an annoying chi kuan chun in pocahontas disguise to eradicate the oppressors. lots of blood will be shed, lots of slaughtering, lots of (mediocre) swordfighting.
as with most those flicks, the whole plot is very crude and not of any real relevance to the designated viewer anyway. the whole package is sub par with comparable flicks of the time but still fairly entertaining- though it has its downsides: most of the martial action is shot in "weakly illuminated environments". i wanna actually eyewitness the action, not guess it. as always: the dubbing is horrible; so make sure you grab a subtitled copy if you have the choice and don't consider yourself a sub-hater. the acting isn't particularly a bonfire of ambition either.
now for the important part- the martial arts choreography... in the first hour its predominantly one vs many swordplay style manslaughter in the dark. in the last quarter of EAGLE CLAW VS BUTTERFLY PALM they finally engage in some decent hand to hand combat. weapons involved are swords, razor shields, staffs and knives. plus they experiment with drugs that make you sort of braindead but also enhance your fighting skills.
oh yeah, there's a little twist towards the end also, but it doesn't really matter too much. this movie is about revenge, not plausibilty.
3.5/10 from me.
Naechureol siti (2003)
kick ass spells differently
so i was watching NATURAL CITY the other night... and right from the beginning it smelled like Blade Runner, Equilibrium & Returner. So far, not so bad and thats what this movie is all about: its "not so bad".
set in a futuristic Korea its the story of a special forces officer falling for an artificial girl whose chip is about to expire. as we watch NATURAL CITY, we witness his attempt to fixing the "expiration matter" while having the worst days of his life at work (mind you, he is eliminating replicants for a living).
i wont go more indepths as the rest of the story is as thin as ice & i don't wanna spoil too much. for most fans of the korean action cinema this flick definitely was a slight letdown- and its getting apparent to everybody watching the flick..... as there is nothing we aint seen before.
on the positive side NATURAL CITY offers decent acting, above average cinematography, some tense sequences (god knows, i prayed for more of them) and subliminal impulses to have a thought or two bout what the director may have wanted us to reflect upon. a good 60 % rate would be appropriate, I'd say.