Agreement:76% of 52 voters agree with Roger Judd, Jr.'s reviews Gender: Male Age: 48 Location: Brossard, Quebec, Canada
Bio: I grew up watching martial arts movies in the 70's.Practised Taekwon-Do (ITF) from 71 to 83.Also trained with friends in Shotokan Karate,Hapkido,Tang Soo Do and some Chinese styles.Martial arts movies are my favourite hobby & I own over 4000.Favourite actors:Bruce Lee,Hwang Jang Lee,John Liu,Jimmy Wang Yu,Cheng Pei Pei,Shih Szu,Tan Tao Liang,Chen Kuan Tai,Lo Lieh,Ti Lung,Leung Kar Yan,Venoms + more!Not crazy about modern KF movies. Always ready to trade movies with KF fans. r.judd@videotron.ca
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5 Element Kung Fu (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Not much to say on this one except: AVOID! Seriously, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, good about this movie. Bad acting, untalented cast, poor techniques and a stupid black hand palm technique. Like I said, AVOID!
The Sword Stained With Royal Blood [1993] (product link) Swordplay/Sword(s) / Martial Arts Total nullity! Flying people, magic weapons. This is pure crap (sorry Yuen Biao fans!). Poor performance by Yuen Biao. Plenty of fights but simply ridiculous to me. Not to be confused with the movie of the same title featuring the Venoms and directed by Chang Cheh, which is a pure gem. THAT's the one to get! Not this atrocity. Why did I even gave this movie ½ a star??
Kung Fu Hustle (product link) Comedy / Action/Adventure This is just a comedy/parody of martial arts movies. My guess is that you will either love it or hate it. I hated it! Way too cartoonish for my tastes.
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I totally agree. I don't understand the fascination with the unbelievably annoying Chow, and this movie was just plain awful
You have to see some Stephen Chow movies before this one. He's a clown, but he loves his kung fu. I agree it's over-done in parts, but if you are at all into the supernatural powers and skills in kung fu movies, you'll like it.
The Thunderbolt Fist (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure 1 star and I am generous. The good guy (can't recall his name) is probably the worst "hero" I have ever seen! He gets beat up all the time. God this guy is bad! No talent whatsoever (acting and martial arts wise!). I give it 1 star (which, when you think of it, is only 20%, so a major fail in any school!), because there are a couple of decent fights, but not enough to add this movie on your want list or must see list. The bad Japanese villain is very average. Nothing to compare with great villains such as Wang Lung Wei, Chang Yi, Lo Lieh, Tien Feng and Hwang Jang Lee to name a few. It is a Chinese-Japanese rivalry kind of movie. Very substandard for a Shaw Brothers movie! DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME WITH THIS MOVIE!
Dragon Lee Vs. The Five Brothers (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Oh God, what was that???? Dragon Lee was probably the worst Bruce Lee impersonator of all time! He's only good to make faces and touch his nose with his right thumb! HAHAHAHAHA! The fights (some) are very average at best! Don't waste your time with this title! Well, maybe after drinking a six pack you'll laugh a bit!
The Web Of Death (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Seriously, there's not much to say about this Shaw movie. The only positive thing I can think of are the sets which are quite nice. But the storyline is absurd and the secret weapon is one of the most idiotic thing I have ever seen! Unless you like magic and super powers martial arts movies (I really hate them), you can skip this one with your eyes closed. Total waste of time. A FEW decent fights therefore the 1* rating, or else it would be a BIG 0!
River Of Fury (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure BORING! Totally dull. Almost no action. This is more of a drama than a martial arts movie. Too much opera stuff (which I always fast forward in martial arts movies). Don't waste your time on this one. Even the "drama" is not that good!
Na Cha The Great (product link) Action/Adventure / Comedy I hated it. But I think it is the kind of movie that you either love or hate. Way too much supernatural stuff, fantasy, and comedy to my taste. Ridiculous villains. Fighting on top of clouds and under the sea? Not my kind of Shaw movie! Some decent fights with Alex Fu Sheng (if you forget where they are taking place and who it is against). Overall, a total bust for me. But I understand that there is some kind of "cult" around this movie. It is really a matter of taste. If you like supernatural and fantasy martial arts, you'll probably enjoy it. I just didn't because I simply don't like supernatural and fantasy martial arts movies.
Duels In The Desert (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Boring movie. Advertised as a Wong Tao/Angela Mao flick. False advertising! Wong Tao only has a small role. Angela looks like she would have preferred to be somewhere else! Not enough action and the fights are awful. I gave it 1½ stars only because I love Wang Tao and Angela Mao. I simply cannot recommend this movie. If you are a die-hard fan of Wong Tao and/or Angela Mao and decide to watch it, remember: you'll be very disappointed!
The Clutch Of Power (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Good cast, bad movie. Not much to say. Chessboard is used as a weapon????? Feathers used as a weapon????? An umbrella with no cover (or whatever you call that) is also used as a weapon turning it like wings of a helicopter...Seriously, what the heck was that???? There is a few decent fights. But overall, I could have easily lived without seeing this! Only recommended to strong die hard fans of Leung Kar Yan, Meng Fei & Chen Sing just so that they can say that they watch it! Otherwise, leave this title on the shelf!
The Fastest Sword (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Not much action here! The few sword fight scenes are okay but not spectacular. The finale, half of which is in slow motion, is quite boring I must say. Overall, this is more of a mind-philosophy type than action. Okay to watch, but if you're looking for an action martial arts movie, you can skip that one!
General Stone (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Not a great movie. Statues that comes to life??? Give me a break! Un-interesting plot line. Some average fights at best. Tan Tao-Liang (aka Delon Tam) displays his usual arsenal of kicks, mostly with his left leg, but is quite mechanical and slow in this movie. Certainly not his best. Not really recommended unless you are a big fan of Tan Tao Liang and wish to see all his movies, but don't expect much or you will seriously be disappointed. Otherwise, you can easily pass on this title.
The Shaolin Drunken Monk (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Quite boring movie! The fights are not very good. One of the worst display I have ever seen of "drunken style" performed by Gordon Liu. He looks so mechanical! Overall, I can't recommend this movie, unless you are an avid fan of Gordon Liu and wish to see all of his movies. You can pass on this one!
Swordsman At Large (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Nothing exciting here. Too melodramatic and not enough action. There's one scene where Franky Wai (Wai Wang) and Margaret Hui sings like in a musical--not my style of kung fu movie! Weird storyline that really goes nowhere. The fights are below average and not enough of them. An easily forgettable movie.
The Golden Knight (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure The storyline is okay, but the movie drags and drags with not enough fights and action to salvage it. A good cast but not well used. The villain (he's the hero in "Thunderbolt Fist") is an awful actor and an even worse martial artist! This guy has no style or technique. The only interesting thing here is to see that Shaw Brothers back in 1970 used masks as in the movie "Face/Off" with Nicolas Cage and John Travolta. The finale is boring and the ending is sort of sped-up when you hope there will be a good 20-minute final fight! Nice sets and costumes but you get that in most all Shaw movies. I want action when I watch a martial arts movie, and this one simply does not deliver.
The main star is Chen Wo-Fu, who was a Tai Chi champion who committed suicide at 24 just before the release of this movie, according to his biography on the DVD. This movie is really slow to begin and for the first hour all you see is the hero and a few of his friends get beaten up by second class fighters (Frankie Wei and Chan Shen are not great villains!). The fights are of poor quality and the martial arts skills showed are way below average. More of what you would see in a brawl. Chen Wo-Fu (he also had a few minor roles in other Shaw movies) is simply not a good screen fighter (maybe we can blame the choreographer for this?) and does not have much charisma either, if any. We wait an hour for the 20-minute finale where Chen Wo-Fu releases all his "fury", but the action is really not worth the wait! Very ordinary skill techniques and the special Tai Chi moves are done in slo-mo. Shih Zsu, who's great with the sword, plays the old teacher's daughter. Her performance here is very average and her techniques slow. She's way better in sword flicks. If you want to see real Tai Chi Chuan, I would suggest you see "The Secret of Tai Chi"--a low budget film with an unknown cast, but you'll get the surprise of your life! That's Tai Chi Chuan, not what's shown in this movie (although the old teacher does show a few basic moves in the beginning).
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Could not have put it any better myself! After the villains do everything imaginable to wreck this guys life, the pay off was mediocre at best.
Rape Of The Sword (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Strictly speaking of martial arts and action value, this movie is way below Shaw standards. Li Li Hua and Chia Chuang are not great wuxia stars and it shows. Li Ching is okay and played in a few wuxia movies, but is not of the same caliber as Cheng Pei Pei or Shih Szu so it shows in the action. The fights are slow and each move is so predictable. And there is not much action here. No enough for a martial arts movie. Sets and costumes are great as with most Shaw movies. But if you are looking for a good old school Shaw swordsplay flick, this one is not for you.
The Man, The Myth (product link) Martial Arts / Documentary An okay movie. Not much to do with the real life of Bruce Lee. Bruce Li is okay, but of course does not even come close to the real guy! I enjoyed Lee Hoi San as the bad guy who first put "Bruce Lee" in the hospital using a tiger style. The fights are well choreographed. Nothing too exciting but better than many other Bruce Lee pseudo biography movies!
Bloody Fight [1972] (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Old school movie but not very good. Classic Japanese/Chinese rivalry. Some of the weirdest fight "posing" I've ever seen! Over use of the jumping/flying stuff and sometimes it's simply ridiculous. You have to expect flying stuff in most martial arts movies but here it is poorly done. One positive aspect, it was interesting to see Chen Kuan Tai playing the role of a mean Japanese killer. The fights choreography is weak and the styles of kung fu are very so-so. I guess it is alright to watch once, but then it is easily forgotten.
Boxer From The Temple (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure What to say about this one.....It's OK. Not bad, not great. Easily forgettable. The action is OK at best. Would definitively not recommend this title to a neophyte in martial arts movies! But for fans of the genre, it's OK to watch. Once, not twice! Mostly an unknown cast.
Duel Of The Devils (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Not a great movie with Tan Tao Liang. Could have been a great classic Japanese/Chinese rivalry but it's not. TTL is very average in this one. Most fights are very slow (1-2-3 stuff). A few good kicks here and there by TTL but nothing to salvage this movie. The ending is a rip-off of the original Game of Death with fights in a pagoda, with dumb fighters such as big twin Mongolians who can't speak, an axe that flies by itself???? Pathetic! Kam Kong as a badass samurai? Laughable! OK to watch if you are a big fan of Tan Tao Liang.
Crystal Fist (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Not really my kind of movie. Training scene in the kitchen with food and plates and cups.....plain weird. The bad guy's main fighters are a deaf man and a blind man... ridiculous! They fight in duo and I'm not crazy about this kind of fight....There is some good fights though. Billy Chong is just not on top of my list of KF stars, although he is pretty good in Fist Full Of Talons & in Super Power.
Revenge Of The Shaolin Master [PanMedia] (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Very average movie of Tan Tao Liang doing his kicks but slower than usual. The first half is not very exciting. The second half is a bit better with Lung Fei and Chen Sing in the final fight. There still many good fights though but nothing to go crazy about. Very weak plot. It's worth watching, once...Not more! TTL has way better movies than this one.
The Master (product link) Action/Adventure / Martial Arts Overall not very good. Cheap comedy. Yuen Wah is OK as Jet Li's teacher (only the fight scenes). Jerry Trimble play's the bad guy. The acting is awful. Jet Li is pitiful in his first fight scene but gets better after. Seriously, the kind of movie that you can skip everything straight to the fight scenes. The training scenes are weird, very weird!. At 2½ stars [out of 5], I am generous...
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i could not agree more i was very disappointed in this film i cant think of another jet li film thats so bad as this one.
The Supreme Swordsman (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Too much flying wire work--almost super powers. Never really liked those. In the 1980's Shaw started to overuse spectacular unrealistic wireworks. Some love it, some don't. I don't mind jumping over fences, on top of roofs to escape, etc... But when you start flying in sitting position like a whirlwind or making mutiple back flips 30 feet backward and coming back with a boomerang effect, you lose me! Jason Pai Piao plays the villain collecting swords from the swordsmen he kills to open his House of 100 Swords. Ku Feng is a famous swords maker; and Derek Yee, his son, is the young hero. Overall the storyline is okay and the fights (take away the ridiculous flying) are alright. The ending is....I won't tell you, but is a bit "stretched". Mostly recommended for those who enjoy super powers and flying like Superman.
Long Road To Gallantry (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure The fights are sped-up and there's way too much use of wires and flying. Enough action though. Some comedy. When they stay on the ground, the fight scenes are alright. Pretty Kara Hui Ying-Yung gives a good performance, but I liked her more in "My Young Auntie". Chen Kuan Tai is much older here and does okay. Pretty lame storyline. Definitely not old school genre. If you like wired kung fu, you'll most likely like it more than I did.
My Rebellious Son (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Well, if you like comedy/kung fu movies, you may consider it a 4*. But I am more into the martial arts quality and quantity in the movies I watch and like. The fight scenes are good not great. Maybe the last 10-minute finale is better. Not enough fights. Alex Fu Sheng is his usual clowny self with some good kung fu action. But the movie drags here and there. The European fighters are a joke (but this is kung fu mixed with comedy). Ku Feng is Fu Sheng's dad and his role is more comedy than action. Not my favourite from Fu Sheng. Interesting extra on the [HK DVD by IVL] about Fu Sheng's life with comments from his wife.
The Silent Swordsman (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Not a great swordlay movie. Early 1967 Shaw so the action is often slow and way too much choreographed (you can guess the moves). Young Chang Yi is not very convincing in his leader role. He does get better through the years! The storyline goes everywhere: politics, love, patriotism, history, some musical singing scenes. Too many ingredients that don't always mix well if not well directed. Great Shaw sets and costumes. I've seen much worse but overall this is a very average movie, even boring sometimes. The finale is nothing to make you jump from your seat. Very close to a 2½*. Only recommended to die hard Chang Yi fans who woud like to see him in his early age.
Ma Su Chen (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure 3 stars because I love Jimmy Wang Yu. But that's it! The fights are average, JWY using his typical unorthodox style. Not really one of his best movies, but most of his fans should like it enough.
Fire Bulls (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Nice epic historical movie, but basically no martial arts content. So if you are looking for great martial arts action, skip this one! If you like epic/history stuff, you should like it and that's why I gave it 3 stars. If I rated this for its martial arts content, it would have been a big zero. Just know what you are buying if you get this one!
The Winged Tiger (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure The "Winged Tiger Style" is somehow ridiculous. Way too much flying for my tastes. It's part of Shaw movies to have fighters jumping on trees, over fences, on roofs, etc., but when they fly Superman style, it's simply too much! The fights are generally okay, sometimes too slow. Mostly swordsplay. Overall it's not a bad movie, and if over-flying stuff does not bother you, you might end up liking it more than I did.
The Killer [1972] (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Average to below average martial arts but plenty of fights. No superb techniques. It is a Shaw movie but I would say it it is a "second class" Shaw movie! Interesting to see Ku Feng play a Japanese samurai in the finale. If you are an old school fan, you will find it okay. ...Overall, an okay movie, but nothing to watch twice.
The Twin Swords (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Early Jimmy Wang Yu movie. Good cast and great Shaw sets. The Red Lotus Temple is loaded of traps (similar to those in "The House of Traps"). The fight scenes are a little bit slow. Too choreographed. The storyline is alright and overall this movie is worth watching. Jimmy Wang Yu's subsequent Shaw movies ("The Assassin", "The Invincible Trio", "One-Armed Swordsman", "Trail of the Broken Blade") are much better though.
The Tigress Of Shaolin (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure A bit disappointing. Even though the beautiful Kara Hui Ying-Hung is featured on the cover, this movie is not really about a Tigress of Shaolin. And I wished Kara Hui would have had more fight scenes (it was a first movie though). The title is misleading. The dominant hero is played by Lau Ga-Yung, who gives a good performance overall. Some comedy in the mix-up. The action is okay. If you are a martial arts movie fan, it is still worth a watch, but there is much better around!
The Kickboxer (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Sort of a comedy/martial arts mix. Yuen Biao gives a decent performance but too much wire is used (resulting in too much flying) plus too many action scenes are kinda of speed-up. I always found that Yuen Biao was better when he acted as a double (stuntman) with his brother in so many movies. As the main star in his movies, he never was, in my humble view, a great KF superstar, but that's me. Maybe he tried to much to be a comedian. In my view, he should have concentrated more on his "fighting" abilities as he was an excellent kicker. Overall there is enough action in this movie for a kung fu flick but I have seen much better. 3* is a fair rating, maybe 3½* if I'm generous....But if you don't like comedy, this movie is not for you.
The Master Strikes Back (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure This is the unofficial sequel to THE KUNG FU INSTRUCTOR. Very disappointed with that one. Ti Lung is good as usual but the action is lacking. I hate eunuch princes.....The few fight scenes are very good but not enough action for a kung fu flick. The story drags and too much time is spent in the brothel.... Also, Ti Lung leaving his son in the hand of the bad guy (Chan Wei Man) near the end is not very credible. 3* overall, but would be merely a 2* or 2½* if not for Ti Lung's presence. The fight scenes are 4* caliber but way too few and cannot salvage this movie. THE KUNG FU INSTRUCTOR is so much better!
Tiger Over Wall [3-Disc Set] (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Weak storyline (not very credible...). Hwang Jang Lee is OK but not spectacular here. Actually, I enjoyed Philip Ko more in this one! His fights were entertaining and he's the only one who played his character convincingly. Overall the fights are good and not a bad way to spend 90 minutes for a KF movie fan!
One Man Army [1980] (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Good and bad. Fun and stupid. One of those that I don't know if like or hate. Lots of stars here. But none of which their best movie. Chen Sing shows is usual tiger claw stuff. Does a good job at it. Yueh Hua is himself, he's fun to watch. Always play a noble character. The storyline is typical revenge stuff. Leung Kar Yan has a small role and is OK. It's worth watching I guess. I can't rate it for sure. Maybe 3* is too much...2.8* perhaps?
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A little too much cheese (dummies, wirework, etc) to be a classic, but that is also exactly what makes it so fun!
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