Gordon Liu is the 11th son of the Emperor, who is ready to announce his sucessor; which causes a bunch of assassination attempts on Gordon Liu as he travels around enjoying fine wine and antiques.

What I loved so much about this film is the "fighting without fighting" style fights. Gordon Liu and Wang Lung Wei, Gordon Liu and Wilson Tong--which was hilarious because Young Wang Yu could hear the sounds of fighting, but every time he turns around it would appear that Liu and Tong were just looking over antiques.

The best part of this film for me was the final showdown between Liu and Lo Lieh. Lo Lieh has so many film credits in his career but rarely do we really get to see him show his physical talents. He fights a lot but he usually dosen't look like that great of a fighter. Well in this one he really showed his stuff, working with a Kwon Do in a fashion that would probably get praise from a Lu Feng.

A young man (Wu Yuan Chun) raised in a temple is allowed to leave the temple (well he is expelled, but it is made clear that after some time, if he should choose to, he would be welcomed back) to get a feel for what life is like on the outside and to see which way of life he will prefer.

Well, along the way our young, innocent hero helps the weak and assists those in need of help, making friends and enemies along the way. Unfortunately, due to living a sheltered life in the temple, our hero doesn't realize how bad his enemies really are. He manages to always maintain his good nature and love for life; he even manages to find a wife and a step-son. Everything is going great until his loved ones start to die at the hands of his enemies.

At this point our hero is really conflicted because he wants revenge, but revenge goes against all he has learned while being raised at the temple. So a friend tries to get revenge on our hero's behalf; but he is not successful and one more death pushes the Boxer From The Temple over the edge and he sets out to get his revenge in a great confrontation with villains in this film.

The last scene is of Wu Yuan Chun, with a very somber expression on his face, heading back to the temple...a very, very effective visual of all he has been through, all he has lost, all he has learned.

This was a very good film and Wu Yuan Chun was fantastic as the lead.

At first they are both amused that the other knows martial arts...until things get too competitive and they start destoying their home and their relationship as they each try to best the other. Gordon Liu unintentionally insults his wife's martial arts; and since she can't beat him, she returns to Japan. Gordon wants his wife back so he sends her a taunting letter hoping that she will be pissed enough to come back so that they will at least have a chance to try to work things out.

Unfortunately Gordon's wife is not the only one who reads his insulting letter; her fellow martial arts class mates get a hold of the letter and take the insults as a challenge. A group of martial artist from her school decide to head to China to accept the 'challenge'. What we get is a series of awesome fights between the Japanese students and Gordon Liu. Many different weapons, many different styles and great choreography...and even a cameo from 'Pops' himself, Lau Ka Leung as a drunk that Gordon learns 'Drunken Style' from.

If there was one little critique I would make about this film, it is the fact that Gordon Liu wins all of the fights. It would have been nice to see one of the Japanese martial artist win at least one of the fights; and be big enough not to try to hurt Gordon as he did with them.

Great cast and I particularly liked the Samuri who tried to give Gordon his sword. This guy felt so 'real', I felt like I was getting to see a real master at work. I would love to see more of his films. And Shoji Kurata was just as gorgeous as ever.

This is a rags to riches story; Fu Sheng coems to town so poor that he can't even afford shoes, his 'brother' Chi Kuan Chun takes him in, gives him food and shoes and warns him not to show his kung fu.

Of course it isn't long before Fu Sheng does in fact show that he knows kung fu, he is promoted as the insturctor at the weaving factor he and Chi Kuan Chun work at. Soon Fu Sheng finds himself as the only defense his company has against Chiang Tao who wants to take over the place. As Fu Sheng's stock rises higher and higher, Chi Kuan Chun can feel the pending doom. And just a note, the owner of the weaving factory played by Lu Ti (I think that's his name) is one cold so and so. When his man, who has stayed loyal to Lu Ti and his company dies at the hands of Chiang Tao's grunts, he coldly refuses to give any money the wife and child his worker left behind saying 'Money is only for the living, not the dead'...nice huh?

Fu Sheng's character in this film is only 19 years old so that pretty much explaines why he walks right into an obvious trap that ends up seriiously injuring him. He seeks out Chiang Tao who hides behind his hordes of grunts until Fu Sheng is so badly injured, that he can no longer defend himself...then Chiang Tao steps forward and delivers the final blow.

Now it is established very early on in the film that Chi Kuan Chun's martial arts is much better than Fu Sheng's so at this point you have to wonder what kind of a finale are we going to have since Chiang Tao couldn't even come close to taking Fu Sheng one on one? Well, it was short, it was sweet and Chi Kuan Chun made his point; he couldn't save Fu Sheng from his fate, but he wasn't about to let his death go unasnwered.

For those of you who like less story and just want wall to wall fights (hey I get in those moods myself) the first half of this film my be a bit too slow and boring for you, but for those of you who like a bit of story with your kung fu, you can't go wrong with this one.

Lung Tien Hsiang plays a man hell bent on getting revenge when his family is massacred by a man who rapes the women then wipes out his whole family. He gets his revenge when he catches and kills the man responsible for the death of his family; a man who is a member of a very large family named Wen; but he is enraged and he decides that isn’t enough. He sends the body to the man’s family with a note that says that he will continue to seek revenge by murdering at least 50 members of that family and raping at least 10 of their women.

The Wen family starts losing members as they are repeatedly attacked by Lung Tien Hsiang, the women disappear and eventually the family gets word that they have been sold to brothels. This is where I get really lost, Ching Li is a part of the Wen family, but she has so much disgust for her family that she purposely puts herself out there to be kidnapped by the man seeking revenge. They never go into why she has such disgust for her family, they are just bad and we are to accept that. I mean they are obviously not angels, but what caused her to have so much hate for a family that is taking care of her?

Well she gets kidnapped and of course Lung Tien Hsiang decides he has had enough revenge and he tries to send her home, they are ambushed by the Wen family that is out looking for Ching Li. Lung Tien Hsiang gets injured and Ching Li stays to nurse him back to health, they fall in love and Ching Li is actually stupid enough to think her family can accept this man. They end up badly injuring him and he swears revenge.

Jump forward 19 years Kuo Chui has a chance meeting with Candy Wen, she takes him home and then we get to meet the Wen family. The patriarch is played by Wang Li, the elders are Lu Feng, Yu Tai Ping, Chu Ko, Ching Li and the younger members are Chiang Shieng and Candy Wen. Now there are a lot of people after Candy because she has stolen some gold and other clans are trying to get it back. Why she stole it is never explained except she wanted it so she took it. This results in a showdown at the Wen home where one of the guards loses his arm, (which is blamed on the people trying to get the gold back and not Candy who actually stole it and set everything in motion) the Wen family stands behind Candy 100%, yet for some reason they are dirt and she isn’t…whatever.

Eventually Kuo Chui kills all the men of the Wen family except Wang Li who is left with 1 leg. All of this to avenge Ching Li and Lung Tien Hsiang. This whole family wiped out and why? Because they took care of Ching Li and her daughter even though they knew the daughter was the product of a man who had killed many members of their family? I just can’t see them as the bad guys in this. I also can’t even begin to grasp how a woman can fall in love with a man who has raped and sold her sisters. I really like Candy Wen but her character in this film was annoying as heck, an 18 year old who throws herself on the ground, stomps her feet and cries…yeah, if you say so.

I really enjoyed this film though and yes most of the fight scenes were ‘feeling the other guy out’ type fights, but the incredible Venom physical ability and energy was there. Not to mention Kuo Chui was buff as ever and very pleasing to the eyes even though I couldn’t cheer for him as he wiped out this awesome family.

Basically we follow the Archer and his big mouthed wife (Fu Sheng and Nu Nu) as they steal Lo Meng's kung fu manual...Nu Nu really suffers for this. Then we follow the two to Ching Li's house and of course she herself has a lot of drama going on. She sends them to Ti Lung who now a monk, has some sort of kung fu that if he uses a certain part of it he can heal the injured, but he himself will become vulnerable to attack...which is what Ching Li wants.

Once we get to Ti Lung we learn the back story between himself, Ching Li and Kuo Chui. Now I'm not sure if she was Ti Lung's wife or just a live in girlfriend, but basically 20 years early Ching Li layed eyes on a very young, very muscular Kuo Chui and went for it. Yup they had an affair which just didn't seem right because the Kuo Chui character had some serious mental issues...but that is pretty much played down so...anyway. When Ti Lung finds out about the affair he wants Ching Li and Kuo Chui to get married, Ching Li likes the idea, Kuo Chui says he would rather be executed. Once given the opportunity Kuo Chui can't get out of there fast enough. Ching Li ends up pregnant, she had the baby, Lo Meng thinks that the baby belongs to Ti Lung so he goes and Iron Palms it (hey, Venom's have no shame!) thinking Ti Lung will save it and leave himself vulnerable to Lo Meng's attack. Ti Lung wants to save the baby, but hey, it isn't his kid. Ching Li end's up killing the baby so that it doesn't suffer and instead of blaming her cheating slutty self or the man who ran out on her she blames Ti Lung. The man she cheated on yet he still let her stay at his palace even after he found out she had a baby.

All of this comes to a head when Ching Li tries to attack Ti Lung, get's turned back by those protecting him. On her way out she runs into Lo Meng, Fu Sheng jumps in to help and the 'brawl for it all' is on. This is one of my favorite Venom's brawl, which is why the film got 4 stars from me. Lots of weapons, lots of energy, lots of air and some of these boys got some good hang time.

Ti Lung plays a young Han who decides that the only way to have a good life under the Ching (Qing) rule is to join the Manchu army. Ti's character is very driven and very focused in a very eerie and rather chilling way. The Blood Brothers are Ti Lung, David Chiang and Chen Kuan Tai. Early in the film Chen Kuan Tai's wife played by Ching Li (whom I just can't stand!) can't help but gravitate towards Ti Lung (which I totally understand)and he too is very drawn to her. Ti Lung never loses focus of his real goal at this time though, which is to become a powerful General in the Manchu army. So he leaves his friends and tells them that if he makes it big he will send for them.

True to his word, a year or so later he is a powerful and successful General who does in fact send for his old friends. While at first he tries to stay away from Ching Li it is clear she is very much on his mind and she just won't be denied. So they begin their affair, he tells her to leave Chen Kuan Tai; she does the whole 'I can't' thing so Ti Lung decides to kill him. A very extreme decision, but the character Ti is playing (Ma I Hsin)is just barely holding insanity at bay. When confronted with anything that my ruin is name or his position, he goes into this weird little trance and says to himself, "Anything that stands in my way must be busted aside." Not moved aside, but 'busted' aside as in destroyed completely; and though Chen Kuan Tai fights like a demon to try to save his own life, he is murdered on Ma's orders.

One thing to note about the Ma character, he is very methodical in everything he does. He only acts rashly twice in the film and the first time he comes home with a sword in his back and the second rash action causes him his life.

Once Ti Lung has Chen Kuan Tai killed, David Chiang (who has seen the attraction between Ti Lung and Ching Li from the very beginning) is just disgusted with Ching Li and out for revenge against Ti Lung. Now I think this is one of the best pairings of Ti Lung and David Chiang for one reason and one reason only. David Chiang was not made to be larger than life. I'm sorry, but when it came to the actual fight scenes David could not hold a candle to Ti Lung and usually the directors would have him do something like hit one person in the leg and kill 4 people ...not in this film. In this one he managed to put a rather ugly looking knife in Ti Lungs stomach before the fight; giving him the edge he needs to kill Ti Lung's character. The final fight was excellent, and you could feel that knife everytime Ti Lung took a breath.

The film ends with David Chiang being executed for killing a General. It is really quite sad, because Ching Li sits and watches this and for whatever reason, she doesn't speak up on David's behave. She is alone, she has nothing to lose because she has already lost her husband and her lover so why not speak up?

All in all this film is a great story that is beautifully told with bright, eye catching color and wonderful sets. And the four leads, Ti Lung, David Chiang, Chen Kuan Ti and Ching Li were all fantastic. I have to admit as a long time Ti Lung fanatic, watching him play crazy was very uncomfortable, but only because he is that good. Ti Lung won a Golden Horse Award for his role in this film.

A remake is in the works with Andy Lau and Jet Li...I say why bother.

This was my very first Venoms film, and I knew from the opening scene that things were going to be a bit different this time around. I had seen many kung fu films before this one and usually the bad guys didn't show themselves until the end...not these guys. There was no guesswork here, these bad guys were totally in your face. As a matter of fact the films starts with the baddies sending a little message to the escort service that will be escorting the gold through their territory...a message carved in the back of one of the escorts.

The good guys didn't really fit the mold either; how many good guys did you see with a side bet as to who could kill the most bad guys? Good or bad these boys enjoyed what they did.

This film had some really good fights; the showdown between Lu Feng and Chiang Shien, the completely over-matched Wei Pai who pushes his luck one time too many with Lo Meng, the showdown between Lo Meng and Kuo Chui and who could forget Kuo Chui and Sun Chien matching kicks...good stuff.

There really wasn't much story but this was a fun film. Lots of fights, lots of blood and lots of attitude. And ladies, the hunk factor is just through the roof in this one. From Lo Meng's gold chain that holds a piece of cloth to his back, to Lu Feng's peak-a-boo silver vest and see through silver genie pants, and let's not forget Sun Chien's black and silver chain outfit...and the forever handsome Wang Lung Wei.

The only gripe I have about this one is Helen Poon. Why oh why didn't they put a female in that role who could actually take on one of the Venoms? Ching Ching, Young Pan Pan, Hui Ying Hung or Lily Li just to name a few.

Chiang Tao heads a band of thieves on the run after a bank robbery where they took off with the safe and apparently murdered some of the bank workers. They find refuge in a peaceful seaside village where David Chiang (a small-time village thief that the people like so much that even though they catch him stealing, they can't bring themselves to punish him), Ti Lung (a former martial arts master who has gotten a bit lazy but still fancies himself as a master), Chen Kuan Tai (a hard working restaurant owner along with his girlfriend), Danny Lee (a blacksmith), and Wang Chung (an acrobat who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time) happen to all reside...well actually Wang Chung is just passing through. The bandits decide to stay at this village because the police are days away and they need the blacksmith to open the safe.

What makes this film so good is that the heroes are ordinary people...you and me.

The bandits kick a sick Wang Chung out of the inn and hang him outside after he tries to resist them. The scene where Ti Lung decides to go and try to cut Wang Chung down is just wonderful. You see this man (Ti Lung), who is very afraid because he has obviously never really had a true life and death fight, but he digs down deep and finds the courage to go and help this man he doesn't even know. Chen Kuan Tai goes along with him and try as they might they are simply no match for the knives the bandits use. Soon, Ti Lung and Chen Kuan Tai find themselves tied to a wagon and whipped as they are forced to drive the bandits through town to serve as an example of what happens to people who try to fight. Ti Lung and Chen Kuan Tai are about to be executed in front of the town when the bandits decide that if the women of the town are willing to entertain them, they will let the two men go. Eventually, Chen Kuan Tai's girlfriend (played by Linda Chu) steps forward. She tells the eight bandits that she can handle all of them if they just let the men go and leave the young girls of the village alone. A very sobering scene as Chu walks away with the bandits and Chen Kuan Tai and Ti Lung watch her go, knowing there is nothing they can do about it.

There are a few twists and some rather brutal and emotional fights in this movie.

Simply put, this is a very good film with wonderful characters.

The story was nothing new: Shaolin vs. Wu Tang...but with a Venoms twist to it. All the usual suspect were present except for Kuo Chui, and I didn't miss him one bit. I was a bit upset that the woman who played Sun Chien's sister didn't get to see any action. I loved her in "Treasure Hunters" and "Clans Of The White Lotus"; she is one heck of a brawler.

The action was great in this film. Everyone brought lots of energy to the table. And the final fight where Lu Feng takes on about five baby vemons at once...whew! What can I say, except I wonder what that boy had for breakfast that day...with the energy he was packing, I need to get some of whatever it was!

Frankly, with all the noise about what happened behind the scenes on this one, I'm glad Lu Feng got his shot at being the lead choreographer. I know a lot of Venoms fans think of Kuo Chui as the 'lead' Venom, but I have always thought of Lu Feng as 'Big Daddy Venom'; probably because he is always the bad-ass of the group.

This is one you can just sit back and enjoy from beginning to end so...ENJOY!

As for the story, the title says it all. This film is about a man (David Chiang) hell-bent on getting vengeance for his brother (Ti Lung) who is brutally (and I mean BRUTALLY) murdered by a gang member (Ku Feng) who wants his wife. Nothing new here.

BUT, Ti Lung's death scene is worth the price of the DVD. The whole "life imitating art" (Ti Lung is an opera performer) scene was beautifully done. The fast and furious fight is slowed (Ti Lung, with an axe in his stomach and his eyes punctured) when Ti Lung begins to run out of steam and his stage death is spliced with his "real" death. Awesome, awesome scene.

Another great thing about this film is the mood. Usually, even during the day, the streets are dark and shadow filled, which really fits the mood and tone of the main character.

Now, of course, when you have David Chiang and Ti Lung on the screen together, you are going to get a lot of ham, but that is okay, it works. Chiang's death scene seemed a bit too hammy, but all in all both men worked it and I say a job well done.