Wu yi bian fu

This is an uneven but entertaining wuxia pian film from the great director Chu Yuan ("Killer Clans," "The Magic Blade"). The title refers to the film's villain, a legendary and seemingly super-powered bandit/rapist who can swoop through the air and slay an entire group of swordsmen in less time than it takes to recount this movie's incredibly twisty plot. The so-called "Bat Without Wings," whose face is covered in makeup that would make Gene Simmons envious, was supposedly slain five years ago, but now a new killer has suddenly appeared claiming to be the infamous "Bat" himself.

A benevolent swordsman (played by Derek Yee Tung-sing) teams up with the father and the fiancé of a woman who was abducted and brutally slain by the "Bat" (Ku Feng). Together they track down the mysterious killer, but, as in most films of this type, they soon discover that things are far from how they initially appeared.

The movie has elements of melodrama, comedy, action, horror, mystery, and just about anything else you can think of. In fact, the movie's biggest problem is that there's so much plot to wade through and so many characters to keep track of (it seems like a new character is introduced almost every five minutes) that it's difficult to get emotionally involved in the proceedings because the players are mostly rendered in shorthand and come across as mere puppets to the convoluted plot mechanics. Yee is earnest in the lead, but there's not much substance to his character beyond his good will and his expert sword-fighting skills.

For those familiar with Chu Yuan's movies, there's little here storywise that feels particularly fresh or original, save for the outlandish title character and some gruesome horror elements (a headless woman), but the film moves at a fairly quick pace and there are some decent action sequences. As usual, Chu's direction is stylish and makes fine use of the colorful studio sets. Some story elements are a bit cheesy and suggest that this movie is not to be taken as seriously as some of Chu's more dramatically compelling ventures.

Oddball marital arts film about a demon-like rapist who sports make-up that's almost an exact replica of Gene Simmons Kiss make-up. Despite the bizarreness of that, this was a pretty good martial arts fantasy film which features a lot of atmosphere and better than average storytelling. There's lots of swordplay, comedy, mystery, melodrama, and searches for secret scrolls. It's gonzo entertainment, but it's quite entertaining. I only wish the filmmakers has excised the rape elements, which did not seem necessary.

Excellent sets are about the only thing going for this confused bit of absurdity. Aside from looking like a typical Yuen Chor production, lighting, sets, costumes, extravagant fight scenes, there's little to recommend. The story is full of holes and aside from the ridiculous appearance of the Bat (he looks almost exactly like Gene Simmons in KISS make-up) the result is unsatisfying. The effects department went out of their way to make sure the gory parts looked as stupid as possible. The Bat kidnaps and dismembers a woman and sends her body parts home. It's so clearly a store mannequin taken apart you can see the seams! Later when the heroes are fighting a gang around a toxic pond, you can see that blood is painted on the extras BEFORE they fall in the poisoned water which is supposed to make them bleed. When the end happens you'll think back and says, "Wait a minute, this doesn't all add up!"

Skip it.

Fan's of Hong Kong cinema would most likely know Chor Yuen more-so for his role as the main bad guy in Jackie Chan's legendary, Police Story, rather than his work as a popular director. But personally, I'm a big fan of Chor Yuen's Shaw Brother films. They always offered something a little different, often mixing thriller, mystery, and horror into kung-fu epics, with the Bat Without Wings being a prime example...

Starring the wonderful Ku Feng, a man who's filmography has spanned over 50 years, as the titular character, the Bat glides around the place, raping women and killing anyone who gets in his way, all while looking like an angry reject from popular rock band, Kiss. He even dons face paint almost identical to that of Gene Simmons himself. As it turns out, Feng is only masquerading as the Bat, and has the real one locked up in a cave having lost his memory a few years before, after getting hit on the head during a fight.

And while the Bat Without Wings has a lot of great things going for it, a lot of scenes with the aforementioned Feng, come off as silly as he seems to defy gravity in a much more abstract way than everyone else. But its hardly anything to put you off . In fact, the little bits of silliness really just add to the charm of the whole thing to be honest, giving the film a slight tongue-in-cheek feel at times. That said, director Yuen delivers an atmospheric, comic book style film packed with murder, and a host of incredible sets often enhanced with slow-moving smoke and fantastic lighting. This is backed by a wonderful score, and non-stop fights, which really, is what we're here for!

Shaw's regular, Tong Gaai handles the choreography offering plenty of wonderful fights from one-to-one battles, to our heroes taking on small armies of swordsmen with some lengthy one-shots and great moves from all involved. There's definitely no shortage of action with something kicking off every 5 or 10 minutes, leading to a fantastic finale against the two bats...

Joining Ku Feng is the handsome Derek Yee, brother to star David Chaing and an incredible director in his own right. Yee was quite the leading man in his Shaw Brother's days and while he doesn't have much depth to his character here, still proves a joy to watch and is great as the hero of the piece. Other popular stars that pop up are Jason Pai Piao, a young Yuen Wah, Yuen Bun, and even Yuen Biao pops up through-out as a background fighter.

Bat Without Wings may seem a little uneven, but if you don't think too hard about it, the film actually proves to be a fun watch. It does get bogged down with the introduction of far too many characters (that usually don't go anywhere) but again, its not enough to make it unwatchable!

Views: A bizarre Shaw Brothers entry, Bat Without Wings is far from the best in the catalogue, but entertains nonetheless with its non-stop fights!

Styling himself after Gene Simmons from KISS, kung fu villain Bat Without Wings adopts demonic black and white make-up, crazy hair, and flamboyant wardrobe to wreak havoc, raping and murdering women at whim. Twenty-eight martial artists aim to put a stop to his reign of terror, but only two live to tell the tale, the brave duo finally doing away with the face-painted menace once and for all, or so it seems: five years later, and it appears as though Bat Without Wings has somehow returned from the grave to continue his work.

Even more puzzling than the Bat's choice of glam-rock get-up is the plot for this early-'80s Shaw Brothers kung fu film, which is all over the place and guaranteed to confuse anyone struggling desperately to keep up with the subtitles. I tried my best to follow the muddled story, which rapidly introduces numerous similarly named characters, but it wasn't long before I had to admit defeat and be content to enjoy the more film's outlandish moments (the dismemberment of one of the Bat's victims, moving walls of bamboo in a poisoned swamp, and Christmas reindeer decorations that activate secret doorways), the fighting (of which there is plenty), and the impressive cinematography (the film looks great throughout).

4/10 - way too messy to rate any higher, although I might have added an extra point had the Bat spat blood, breathed fire, or sung 'Rock and Roll All Nite'.