What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Yi-Long
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

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luckystars wrote:
Yi-Long wrote:Some comments and small spoilers (third paragraph):
However, I absolutely can't stand Deannie Ip. And that's because of Crying Heart. And she's just one of those actresses who is always so 'suffering' in her roles, but really going OTT with it. Whever I see her face, I just zap away.
:(

Delete your account, immediately !! :D
Oh come on. I'm constipated almost every day and even I don't have that constant frowny troubled sad look on my face all the time. She's terrible. She reminds me of Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream, who also went completely OTT with her 'suffering'.
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

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Shady (Japan, 2012) [DCP] – 3/5
Highly praised debut feature by Ryohei Watanabe doesn't quite live up to the hype. The film begins as a tale of two high school girls' friendship, and then proceeds to become a psychological study that isn't quite that original, however. There are good moments throughout, and the post-credits sequence is brilliant, but the film is also slightly artificial and clumsy at times. However, for a 25 year old director's first feature film it's certainly a promising start.

I’m amazed I finally managed to catch this in theatre. It was playing in Tokyo 1.5 years ago, but it finished a few days before I arrived the city during my travel. The next time I was in Tokyo it was set to play a few days after I left. There was even one screening this summer when I was in Tokyo again, but The Street Fighter (1974) was playing at the same time, so, no. Now it finally had two screenings in Sapporo, and during the first I was in Tokyo of all places. Managed to catch it in the second screening.
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

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Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno (Japan, 2014) [DCP] – 2/5
The first Rurouni Kenshin movie was ok: it had surprisingly good action, pretty visuals and a nice pop-cinema feel to it despite being a shabby idol product. This sequel is an instantly forgettable teen opera. It’s pretty idols everywhere, bloated uninspired action, bland Hollywood-style score, and a constant feeling that you’ve seen these scenes done so much better with real actors 40-50 years ago. The darker tone of the story makes many of these flaws only more distracting. 75-80% of the audience in the screening were women, probably came to see Takeru Sato. Makes sense.
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

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That's disappointing. I liked the first movie, although it somehow doesn't seem to offer much replay-value, and Kenshin's way of talking was annoying, but the trailer for the new movies looked promising again, so that's a shame it doesn't deliver.
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

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In all honestly, there have been many people who thought the sequel was better than the original (for example twitch). I have no idea what they're talking about, but you might still want to check it out and make your own mind.
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

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Hocus Pocus (1984: Chin Yuet-sang: Hong Kong)

I have been so slow to get to horror influenced watching which normally dominates my October viewings. For a variety of reasons I just have not been in the mood and have watched other genres. What better way to start (well technically restart since I saw The Brood at the beginning of the month) then a Hong Kong ghost/comedy film with some kung fu.

Since this is pre-Mr. Vampire, Lam Ching-ying is not yet in Taoist sifu mode (I realize this statement will make no sense to people who have not seen a lot of Hong Kong films.) But he is a venerable leader of a Peking Opera troupe full of prima donnas (specifically Chia played by Law Ho-kai who has one very unfortunate scene with a baby, I hope he got extra pay for that), newbies and solid martial artists. They are soon visited by an impish but ultimately good ghost, in one of the uglier ghost outfits, played by the director Chin Yuet-sang.* But he is not the only ghost they will have to contend with.

This definitely needed more kung fu and/or a script especially given that this is a Sammo Hung production. It starts off with a fantastical Peking Opera scene that had me hoping this was an underrated film in the vein of Zu: The Warriors from the Magic Mountain which came out the year before. I also saw way too much under-cranking which I could not figure out if it was supposed to be there or there was a speed-up with the DVD. It meanders during the mediocre middle of the movie which has its moments of hilarity but also many moments of repetition as the Opera members mainly play practical jokes on each other. However, that ending was entertaining. I do not see too many films that have such a promising start, a weak middle yet has a satisfactory ending.

John Charles in his book Hong Kong Filmography (he rates this a 6/10) states that some of the score is lifted from Suspira. That is about what I would rate it. This is the type of movie to watch after you have seen the better horror/comedy/kung fu hybrids like Mr. Vampire and Spooky Encounters, but definitely not before. Unless you like turtles, then you might also want to skip this (completely ignoring how much dog blood was used in this.)

My Mr. Vampire review.

* I noticed a sleepy warrior scene during the operatic prologue. Chin had did one of the earlier examples of this in Last Hurrah for Chivalry in 1979.
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

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Tai Chi Master (1993): 3.5/5

Really quite enjoyed this, its been so long since I saw a period HK movie from this era.
The action is good, and Jet Li and Michelle are both good in it (she looks lovely) although the fights look weird in places being unnaturally sped up. The foley on the soundtrack is crap, and the image seems ok but it looks like DD just put the Cantonese track with the US print of the movie for some reason.
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

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Sukeban Sex Violence (Japan, 1973) [VoD] – 2/5
Nikkatsu was no stranger to girl gang movies, having pioneered the genre with the Stray Cat Rock series. This modest roman porno is a far cry from those movies or Toei’s larger budgeted action films. It’s 70 minutes of sex, schoolgirl fights, rock music, and more sex. It’s a sound concept, but comes out far less exiting than you might hope. There's even a comedic fat sukeban girl who is bound to get on the viewer's nerves. The most outrageous exploitation is actually found in the poster, which clearly states “High School Girl Sex Violence” in Japanese, but gives the kanji characters an alternative, “correct” reading “Sukeban Sex Violence”. Two birds with one stone, and a way to argue that high school girls are not, in fact, mentioned in the title.

Red Light District: Woman in the Honmoku Brothel (Japan, 1975) [35mm] – 2/5
An average-at-best Roman Porno, which nevertheless contains some interesting elements. The strengths are: a small number of odd scenes featuring a blind woman, (underused) jitsuroku approach, and setting the film in a Japanese wartime brothel serving both Japanese and foreign customers, which adds a bit of political touch. Unfortunately the rest of the film is nothing special.

Vampire (USA/Japan, 2011) [DCP] – 3/5
A highly unusual and extremely uncommercial take on the vampire genre. Perhaps for being an English language production by a Japanese filmmaker, it feels more like an arthouse effort by a film school graduate than a work of a true master that Shunji Iwai is. A very quiet and grey film which strips the vampire genre from all of its shock and goth: no one gets bitten in the neck here. There are elements that don’t work, such as the serial killer side plot and some clumsy artiness, but much of the rest is fascinating, especially the combination of vampire theme, suicide and depression.
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

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Wet Sand in August (Japan, 1971) [35mm] – 3/5
Popular early 70s zeitgeist by Nikkatsu’s youth film specialist Toshiya Fujita. The director spent most of his career bouncing back and forth between youth dramas and crime films with similar themes. This film belongs to the former category and follows a handful of rebellious and restless youngsters hanging out on the beach and eventually heading to the sea with a stolen boat. Although a solid film, one gets the feeling it resonates best with audiences who have lived through the time period depicted in the film. In cinematic sense, unlike some of Fujita’s other films, it’s hardly extraordinary.

Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter (Japan, 1970) [35mm] – 4/5
One of the best films in the series which consisted of very different kind of installments by gang film director Yasuharu Hasebe and youth drama specialist Toshiya Fujita. This one is remarkable not only for being a slick action film, but also for capturing even more timely themes and content than the rest of the films. Among these is the girl band playing in the club scenes: The Golden Half, which consisted of half-Japanese members (Runa Takamura later had a brief Roman Porno career as well). Another great turn is featuring rock star Rikiya Yasuoka as the heroic male lead – he’s much better known for bad guy roles and yakuza brutes that dominated his later acting career.
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

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A Killer’s Blacklist (Japan, 1970) [35mm] – 2/5
Toei is best known for two distinctive types of yakuza films – the chivalrous old school films of the 1960s, and the brutal true account films of the 1970s. Between them also existed a modern middle ground that didn’t quite fall into either category and sometimes lacked distinguishable identity. A Killer’s Blacklist suffers from this problem: it’s a violent, yet humoristic modern day film that doesn’t find much balance between gratuitous violence and some silly characters. Tsunehiko Watase is the first billed star – and does fine job at it – but frequently takes the back seat in favour of bigger stars like Makoto Sato and Kanjuro Arashi (yakuza film legend who was, frankly, too old to convince anyone as a knife fighter at this point). A semi-entertaining but forgettable effort by Teruo Ishii, who has helmed far better crime films in his career.

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I gave up on both Ju-On and the US remake The Grudge. Bo-ring!
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Seen three of them:
The original (video) (2000): ok
The JP remake (theatrical) (2002): hated
The JP sequel (theatrical) (2003): hated

The only Tahashi Shimizu movie that I actually like is Marebito (2004).
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Mo wrote:Ju on- this was ok I guess. I couldn't follow the story, especially the second half.
It is one of my favorite Japanese horrors, but yeah it is hard to follow (or impossible.) One of the few films that has actually frightened me. I've seen four of them.
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

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Good/Bad/Weird

Not really sure about this. Visually it's a spectacular. Story wise I found it transparent and unmoving. No intrigue whatsoever. Kinda 'on rails' - could see most of it coming and didn't care where it went next.

Probably a 7/10. Could've been much better with a tighter plot
2010 - The return of the HK movie industry :)
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

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Bad Film (Japan, 1995/2012) [VoD] – 3/5
Sion Sono’s legendary Tokyo gang film, starring mostly his Tokyo Ga-Ga-Ga querilla poetry group members. He filmed over 500 hours of footage which wasn’t edited into a movie until in 2012. What finally came up was a 161 minute, shot-on-video indie epic that is looks barely better than someone’s home video, and that is rough around every edge, but also endlessly fascinating. As much as a gang film, it’s a documentation of mid 90’s subcultures, racial themes, sexual minorities, politics, street violence, and urban scenery. The use of music from Sono’s more recent films unfortunately is distracting, but there are some mesmerizingly beautiful moments.

True Account of Ginza Tortures (Japan, 1973) [35mm] – 3/5
Here’s an incredibly brutal jitsuroku yakuza film, more violent than any of Fukasaku’s movies. The film follows post-war criminals in Ginza. Every single character is a homicidal maniac. The introduction sets the tone: the protagonist returns from war only to find out his girlfriend has a baby with an American G.I. He kills them both. We later witness men vomiting blood, tortured to death and fed to pigs. Almost every woman in the film is beaten, raped, killed, or all three in that order. Nevertheless, in the hands of an experienced director like Junya Sato is becomes powerful and occasionally even poetic, if repetitive, vision of madness on the streets of post-war Tokyo.

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Onsen Mimizu Geisha (Japan, 1971) [35mm] – 2.5/5
Reiko Ike’s debut film. There’s a rumor she was underage during filming, but that hasn’t been confirmed. In fact, there was a 5 week window between her birthday the release of the film, which, by the hectic 1971 production standards, could’ve been enough. In any case, director Norifumi Suzuki shows little restraint in his idol-like shots of naked Ike running on the beach. The film is a silly sex comedy about a young woman (Ike) who earns money as geisha (or rather as a prostitute posing as geisha). Harmless and forgettable, but moderately entertaining pink comedy. Miki Sugimoto appears in a small supporting role as Ike’s sister.

True Account of the Yamaguchi Gang: Life-and-Death Operations on Kyushu (Japan, 1974) [VoD] – 3.5/5
Kosaku Yamashita, who is better known for his old school yakuza classics like Red Peony Gambler, helms this solid jitsuroku-tale. Bunta Sugawara is excellent as trigger-happy gangster whose violent nature gives trouble even to his own superiors. It’s a relatively ambitious film, although slightly too long and not quite the Fukasaku caliber. The film was re-cut and re-titled for US theatrical release in the aftermath of The Street Fighter. The US edit, known as The Tattooed Hitman, loses 20 minutes and severely alters the storyline to make it more of a grindhouse fare.

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Onsen Suppon Geisha (1972) [35mm] – 3/5
The 4th film in the Onsen Geisha series trades Ike for Sugimoto who now plays the leading role. The film follows the same pattern as its predecessor, with Sugimoto as university student turned stripper turned geisha, but with more energy, more WTF moments, and even dumber jokes. One of the side plots focuses on a mad scientist using vaginal fluids to develop serum to create Japanese negros! Sugimoto also sings the theme song. She look better in geisha dress than Ike did anyway, and of course director Suzuki thought it would make great cinema if he had her riding motorcycle dressed as geisha! That pretty much sums it up.

Jeans Blues: No Tomorrow (Japan, 1974) [35mm] – 2.5/5
Clumsy Bonnie and Clyde variation by Sadao Nakajima, who could be a fine filmmaker from time to time. This time, however, action and editing are a bit off, the storyline has some silly twists, and Tsunehiko Watase and Meiko Kaji struggle to find a common tune. It is no wonder that Kaji recommended against seeing the film. That being said, it’s by no means a boring movie. It is, oddly enough, a rather entertaining train-wreck produced in the middle of Toei’s mid 70s action movie craze – something that can be easily sensed while watching it.

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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

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Delinquent Girl: Alleycat in Heat (Japan, 1973) [35mm] - 1/5
Countryside gal runs to Tokyo and gets exploited by a bunch of crooks, only she's too naive to realize it, so she hooks up with them. Leading girl Yuko Katagiri had the kind of genuine innocence (it seems she barely understood what kind of films she was making) that was spot on in director Chusei Sone's earlier film, the cute and funny harem fantasy Secret Chronicle: Prostitute Market. This one, however, is a dud. It's directed without any kind of passion or style, had no storyline to speak of, and doesn't even make much use of Katagiri's good looks. There is only one interesting scene: a street dance sequence near the end.

Goyokin (Japan, 1969) [35mm] - 4.5/5 (Theater experience: 6/5!)
An absolutely breathtaking samurai film shot in epic winter locations in Shimokita Peninsula. The cold was too much for the original co-star Toshiro Mifune, who dropped out and was replaced by Kinnosuke Nakamura. Tatsuya Nakadai stars as a silent swordsman with a dark past. It's certainly got a spaghetti western vibe to it, with The Great Silence (1968) being the closest companion, but comparisons do no justice to the film's terrific mix of realism, great characterization and lyrical beauty that comes out fresh and breezy. One of Hideo Gosha's best films.

And holy shit this was amazing on Shin Bungeiza's big screen! Pristine print too!

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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

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The Tattooed Dragon (1973: Lo Wei)

I am hoping this is the worst film in the box set of the recently released Jimmy Wang Yu Collection from Shout!. I am a fan of The One-Armed Boxer so I have two more to go to find this out. The best aspect of this film is that it is coherent. It is not particularly fun though. It is overly didactic (gambling is bad), treats everyone as imbeciles (almost no one has control over there gambling addiction habits, in fact the whole plot is based on this fact), overwrought (the suicide was a bit much) and unfortunately there is not enough fighting. Well the fighting is not particular good either and the ending is under-cranked. I do blame Lo Wei’s script (or lack of one) the most though. I do wonder if Wang Yu’s fighting ability gets worse as he gets older.

Wang Yu stars as the stoic Tattooed Dragon a wandering hero who seems to have a bit of trouble at first in fighting to retrieve some stolen money and gets himself injured. How he fights better later on in the film I’m not sure, though Sam Hui does help. He luckily gets rescued by a Lassie-like dog (it gives a good performance) and finds himself into the hands of Sam Hui’s character and his too-nice girlfriend (Sylvia Chang.) In the meantime local crime boss (James Tien), who is also looking for the Tattooed Dragon, sets up an evil gambling casino in a remote region to legally steal (they do not appear to cheat that much) all the houses from the locals. Obviously there is going to be a showdown.

The whole film was unfortunately a chore to sit through.

There is a Zatoichi reference when Jimmy Wang Yu’s titular character goes in gambling with dark shades on and a Zatoichi ear twitch which he uses to know, sight unseen, what values the dice have landed on. Interesting connection because Wang Yu played in Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman (1971). It is nice seeing the future director Sylvia Chang in her first Golden Harvest role and her second film overall (the first seems to be The Flying Tiger (1973) is not even mentioned in IMDB and is a movie I know nothing about.) Like Golden Harvest’s The Big Boss (1971: Lo Wei) and The Skyhawk (1974: Jeng Cheong-who) it takes place in Thailand and like The Tournament (1974: Huang Feng) it features a Muay Thai fight.

IMDB Review: surprisingly this is a good review there, better than the HKMDB ones. A few mistakes in it though like saying Sam Hui is a kickboxer which is something he does once and doesn’t even keep the money that was bet on him and saying Sylvia Chang is his wife (he will not marry until he makes his fortune off his ducks which he will sell for other animals etc…, yes he is stubborn in this as well.)
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

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Brutal Tales of Chivalry 8 (Japan, 1971) [DVD] – 2.5/5
Young gangster (Hiroki Matsukata) and his sister try to escape their ruthless boss who has laid his eye on her. The boss sends four men after them, lead by Ken Takakura, who is torn between his obligation and humanity. This is yet another late entry in the hugely popular 1960s ninkyo yakuza genre which inspected the themes of honor, obligation and friendship between men. Some unfit comedic scenes and lesser-than-usual studio sets aside it’s a pretty functional but unremarkable genre film. One can’t help but to feel that by 1971 old school yakuza films had already passed their prime.

Three Outlaw Samurai (Japan, 1964) [35mm] - 4/5
Hideo Gosha's debut film is a terrific samurai movie of a bunch of ronin who decide to take sides with local farmers who have kidnapped a corrupt official's daughter. It an exploration of honour and greed, an entertaining film but with a darker edge than usual for the time, starting from the Japanese title, which translates somewhat like "Three Samurai Dogs". Chang Cheh directed an inferior Hong Kong remake The Magnificent Trio, which, true to its title, made its characters cleaner and more heroic.

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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

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HungFist wrote:... Chang Cheh directed an inferior Hong Kong remake The Magnificent Trio, which, true to its title, made its characters cleaner and more heroic.
...[/img]
One of the biggest differences between the two when I watched it back to back was how much better the cinematography (Tadashi Sakai who did not do much unfortunately) was for the original. It's just not even close. Check out how the chiaroscuro is used in the original, how the camera moves, the composition etc... Watching them together really helped me see the differences.
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Post by Markgway »

Haven't seen the Japanese version, but The Magnificent Trio is one of my favourite Chang Cheh films. I would imagine if I did catch the original my opinion would be somewhat different from yours... ;)
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Markgway wrote:Haven't seen the Japanese version, but The Magnificent Trio is one of my favourite Chang Cheh films. I would imagine if I did catch the original my opinion would be somewhat different from yours... ;)
I'm fine with that as long as you do not have a glowing opinion of The Tattooed Dragon :D. Ugh!!!

It is funny because I saw The Magnificent Trio first (when it came out of R1) then I saw Three Outlaw Samurai when it came out on Criterion. Then I rewatched Magnificent Trio right afterwards.
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Masterofoneinchpunch wrote:I'm fine with that as long as you do not have a glowing opinion of The Tattooed Dragon :D. Ugh!!!
I think I gave it **

I saw it MANY years ago.
It is funny because I saw The Magnificent Trio first (when it came out of R1) then I saw Three Outlaw Samurai when it came out on Criterion. Then I rewatched Magnificent Trio right afterwards.
I admit my bias toward Chinese films. I don't hold the same affection for Japanese cinema.
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

Post by Masterofoneinchpunch »

taken from a mini-review I did a year ago with more than a few changes and spelling fixes:

The One-Armed Boxer (1972: Jimmy Wang Yu) Hong Kong/Taiwan

I am a big fan of the sequel Master of the Flying Guillotine (aka One-armed Boxer vs. the Flying Guillotine (1976)) which is one of my favorite martial art films of the 1970s. I finally got around to rewatching this one as finally a good release of this came out with the Shout! Jimmy Wang Yu set. This was made in Taiwan, but co-produced and distributed by Hong Kong’s Golden Harvest who were doing quite well during this year (Bruce Lee’s beloved Fist of Fury had already been out earlier that year). Wang Yu’s directed films do not always contain good martial artists nor exquisite story or direction, but there is always something fascinating and fun about them even though I notice he does repeat himself quite often.

The weakness of some of the martial artists is evident, especially with the “Thai” fighters (compare the Thai fighters here compared to the later Yu film Return of the Chinese Boxer) and Wang Yu’s kicks (and punches) but with a coherent storyline, a large body-count and a plethora of fighters with various fighting styles this is a fun film. Wang Yu is Yu Tien-Lung the star pupil of his martial arts school who gets into fights to protect the weak (annoying his current sifu which then annoys me because there is a strain of sifus that just do not want to stir any trouble -- nowhere near as bad as Kwan Tak-hing in some of his films though), but also antagonizes a neighboring school of martial artists that want to take over the whole territory where they can operate their drugs and prostitution without resistance. Yu’s embarrasses the thugs by beatdown and ultimately it leads them to outsource to a variety of hired fighters from Tibetan monks, several Japanese fighters including one with fangs (Lung Fei), Thai fighters and a yogi who fights on his hands. They are a surly lot. This leads to one of the basic patterns in martial art films: humiliation (of teacher and/or self), recovery, training and then revenge. Oh but what revenge.

I'm still not sure why Lung Fei has fangs though. I'm also not sure he has them in all his scenes either. One might wonder how lucky Yu Tien-Lung was to just happened to stumble bleeding upon a brilliant sifu who just happened to have all the knowledge to not just strengthen his arm, but to also defeat the lama version of Violet Beauregard. But we can ignore the logic as we fast forward through a quick montage so we can get on with the fighting.

Recommended for kung-fu fans. This is my favorite release of the Shout! set and the second time I have seen the film. There are two strong releases with this and Beach of the War Gods (funny enough I watched this right before seeing the battle-centric The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.) There is no English dub for this though the rest of the films have one. Not a negative for me since I'm just happy this is out and the Mandarin release sounded good to me.

Sources:
Unfortunately the link ahead is now defunct. I wish I copied the article. If anyone has this, or if there is another link please tell me: ONE ARMED LEGACY : How Wang Yu single-handedly created an icon. By Bey Logan
Dr. Craig D. Reid has a nice little write-up of the film in his The Ultimate Guide to Martial Arts Movies of the 1970s though I'm not sure he is correct stating this is Wang Yu's first directed film after leaving Shaw Brothers (IMDB has it as such; HKMDB has two films between; OK HKFA has The Brave of the Evil listed as 1971 as well.) He states this film has about 40 percent of fighting throughout the movie.
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