This is one of my favorite films from martial arts legend Lau Kar Leung. Gordon Liu and the underrated Robert Mak star as two kung fu students. Gordon Liu plays the legendary Wong Fei Hung, who Jet Li immortalized in the "Once Upon A Time In China" films (1991-1997). The two have constant contests to see who's kung fu is better, but a rival school led by Chu Tiet Wo and Lau Kar Leung stuntman Ching Chu want to be the best school and dupe a northern master (Wang Lung Wei) into joining them and fighting Wong Fei Hung in one of the best end fights I have ever seen.
This film is action filled and the action is mainly carried out by Gordon Liu, Robert Mak, Kara Hui and Wang Lung Wei. One of my favorites, Hsiao Ho, gets a few fight scenes, which is good; but it would have been cool to see Wilson Tong get a few moves in as well, although he does show off some good kicks in one scene! This is a must have film and any martial arts fan will love it!
In my opinion Tony Jaa has competition for the next big action star, that other person is the amazing Wu Jing! He performs amazingly in this film, he throws some gravity defying kicks and leaps. The film is good fun, Ronald Cheng is good in his performance and provides some good comedic moments. The film goes along at a great pace. The story is that Kong (Wu Jing) who is part of the wushu national team is asked to take part in underground boxing matches. At first he objects but his persuaded by his girlfriend (Miki Yeung) to compete in matches that progressively get more and more viscous. Wu Jing's opponents are good fighters as well, Andy On ( New Police Story) is a super kicking fighter, Timmy Hung ( Sammo Hung's son) is also one of his opponents. In my opinion the best fight is against Xing Yu ( Kung Fu Hustle) the two throw superb kicks and punches. The only thing that let's down the film is the end, don't worry it's not a bad fight scene, because in this film all the fights are amazing. Definitely worth your money to see Wu Jing kick ass!
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a dissappointing fu film & drama that does not really work.
The Weird Man (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure This is a Shaw Brothers film starring the baby Venoms, with the exception of the brilliant Chin Sui Ho. It stars Ricky Cheng ("Five Element Ninjas", "War Of The Shaolin Temple", "Nine Demons") who was from the Peking opera and is a great martial artists and acrobat. It also stars Chui Gwok who is a hung gar practitioner who is also in "Masked Avengers" and "Sword Stained With Royal Blood"). It's about a wizard (played by Cheng) who comes back as a ghost to haunt Chui Gwok's character. Other noticeable baby Venoms are Chu Ko, Wang Li and Chui Tai Ping. The fights are good but the story is a bit boring, definitely worth a watch to see what would have been the future Shaw Brother stars.
Ninja vs. Shaolin Guards (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure A great film, the plot isn't to bad: four Shaolin brothers (Lo Rei, Mike Wong, Kim Fan and Wo Hu) have to deliver a tantra to Tibetan monks so that a Shaolin traitor and his ninjas don't catch them. The film pits the great Lo Rei ("Ninja: The Final Duel", "Shaolin Vs. Lama", "Shaolin Vs. Ninja") against fellow super-kicker Han Ying ("Death Duel Of Kung Fu", "Dragon's Fist" and "10 Shaolin Disciples"). Robert Tai directs the frequent and good fight scenes. It's shot on the great wall of China, special mention goes to two of Robert Tai's stuntmen, Kim Fan ("Ninja Hunter", "Shaolin Chastity Kung Fu") and Mike Wong ("Ninja Hunter", "Invincible Obsessed Fighter") who are both great kickers and acrobats. This has to be seen!
(Robert Tai and Alan Lee both have cameos in the film as assassins.)
This is a great film. I'd never heard of it up until about one month ago. I heard Venoms Chiang Sheng and Ricky Cheng were in this film. Later I saw it starred Alan Hsu ("7 Grandmasters", "Kung Fu Vs. Yoga"). I love this guy--he is a great acrobat and is great in this film. Also the action directors were Ricky Cheng and Robert Tai, stuntman Wong Chi Sang ("Fearless Hyena", "Shaolin Vs. Ninja"). The film reminds me of a cross between "Rebellious Reign" (which also starred Alan Hsu) and "Shaolin Vs. Lama" (which stars Alex Lo Rei). The fights are very good, and the main character--sorry to say I don't know who he is--is very talented. The story is simple: a soldier for an anti-government organization steals a special seal, running to take refuge in Shaolin temple. Also stars Mark Long ("Mystery Of Chess Boxing", "Ninja Hunter") and Chi Kai as a drunken monk.
This film is definitely worth the money, it's a lot of fun, with good acting and even better fight scenes. My only complaint: Ricky Cheng and Chiang Sheng should have had bigger roles; but their fight scene is one of the best in the movie.
Chang Cheh directs this epic about the boxer rebellion. He tells the story of three brothers (Chi Kuan Chun, Fu Sheng and Leung Kar Yan) who join the boxer movement led by Bruce Tong ("Young Master", "Heroes Two"). When they find out it's a fake, they split up and try to escape from the invading forces. This film is good, but it's too long--it's about two hours but the film only needs to be about an hour and half; and the end fight we've waited to see between Chi Kuan Chun and the evil Wang Lung Wei is very short. Chi Kuan Chun and Fu Sheng were being groomed for success, and the two went on to make loads of other films together such as the brilliant "7 Man Army", "Shaolin Avengers" and "Disciples Of Shaolin". The two are very good together in this film. Chi Kuan Chun gets my vote for the best actor in the film, his martial arts skills are just as good. He practiced hung gar and gets to show off a very interesting form. Leung Kar Yan ("The Victim", "Warriors Two") is very good too, he fights alongside a young Gordon Liu in one of the film's best fights. Also you can see a young Philip Kwok of the Venoms and also Yip Fei Yang ("Instant Kung Fu Man", "Snuff Bottle Connection"). I'd say this film is definitely worth seeing, but there are a lot better Shaw Brothers films you can see.
This film stars three of the Venoms: Phillip Kwok (he also directed and did the action coreography for the film), Lu Feng and Chiang Sheng. The film also stars Ti Lung ("The Heroic Ones", "Deadly Breaking Sword") and the great Yasuaki Kurata ("Magnificent 3", "Call Me Dragon", "Heroes Of The East") as the ninja leader. The emperer (Ti Lung) sends his son to find three kung fu masters to protect him from ninjas who want to kill him. The only catch is the students never saw each other and the ninjas have infiltrated his own house. The result is a fantastic 15-minute finale in the palace's gardens. Although Sun Chien and Lo Meng are not in this, or any other of the Baby Venoms (Ricky Cheng, Chin Sui Hio, Chui Tai Ping, etc.), it still is an great movie with some amazing fights. The three Venoms that are here show there great skills, although Philip Kwok gets to showcase the most fights. He has a wicked moment where he runs up a wall, back flips off, and spin kicks an opponent in the head. The end fight between him and Kurata is short but really cool. Kung fu fans will recognize the two main ninja henchmen--one is Robert Tai regular Ma Chin Ku ("Thundering Mantis", "Raiders Of Shaolin"), and the guy who plays a samurai in "Shaolin Vs. Ninja" which stars Alex Lo Rei and William Yen. A must for Venoms fans and for any kung fu fan--though it would have been cooler to have Sun Chien and Lo Meng in it. It's also a shame that Philip Kwok didn't direct any more films, because this a fantastic debut effort.
This is Robert Tai's ultimate film. He brings together all of his top stuntmen (Sammo Hung said that Robert Tai's were the best in the business). The story is simple: the ninja want the gold of Shaolin, the Japanese and Chinese Shaolin join forces after a huge misunderstanding to take on the mighty ninjas. The film's leading star is the great Alex Lo Rei ("Shaolin Vs. Lama", "Ninja Vs. Shaolin Guards", "Shaolin Chastity Kung Fu")--he was a Taiwanese taekwondo champion. It also stars an opera classmate of Robert Tai called Alan Hsu ("Kung Fu Vs. Yoga", "Rebellious Reign", "Last Hero In China"). It was rumored that Venom Chiang Sheng was going to be in the film, which would have been so cool, but instead we get another acrobat with almost gravity defying skills called William Yen ("Final Duel", "Shaolin Vs. Lama"). Also stars other Robert Tai regulars Wong Chi Sang ("Fearless Hyena") and Kim Fan ("Ninja Hunter", "Ninja Vs. Shaolin Guards")--this guy is a great kicker, he reminds me of Wang Lung in that he can kick and do some great acrobatics. I mentioned the Venoms earlier, and a few Baby Venoms turn up here--Yeung Hung ("Drunken Dragon", "Killer Army") and Suen Po ("Five Deadly Venoms", "Butterfly 18") and Ting Hwa Chung ("Marco Polo", "Nine Demons"). Even Robert Tai turns up in one of the great fight scenes of his career, where the Chinese and Japanese Shaolin have a tournament. Also, lastly, one of the stuntmen, Wo Hu, is now paralyzed from the neck down after a failed stunt on (I believe) this film; however he delivers a great performance as a monk who practices drunken pole. This film is a must-see. It's a shame Robert Tai's stunt group never got the recognition they deserve, as they really are the greatest acrobatic martial artists the world has ever seen. Thanks for reading.
This is in my opinion the best of the "36th Chamber Of Shaolin" movies. The other two are amazing, no doubt, but this one in my opinion is so cool. Also one of my faviroutes, Hsiao Ho, takes the starring role of Fong Sai Yuk (other actors who have played him are Meng Fei, Fu Sheng and most famously Jet Li). Hsiao Ho is an amazing martial artist and acrobat, he's up there with Yuen Biao and Yuen Wah. Gordon Liu is in it and plays San Te (played by Ching Chu in "Return To The 36th Chamber"), Lily Li is also in it as Fong Sai Yuk's mother. Lau Kar Leung and Jason Pai Pao play the evil Manchus who want to destroy the Shaolin Temple. Other familiar faces are the two Venoms who stuck around after they disbanded in 1982, which are superkicker Sun Chien and Wang Li--neither of them really gets a chance to show their true potential, but it dosn't matter when Hsiao Ho and Gordon Liu are fighting. Speaking of the fights, the end fight is a fantastic 15-minute mass brawl expertly directed and choreographed by Lau Kar Leung. This is a must-buy film.
This Venoms film only features three of the Venoms (Kuo Chi, Lu Feng and Chiang Sheng). Because of this, the Baby Venoms get more of the limelight, which in my opinion really works for the film. The story is quite complex as it involves two rival gangs: one is destroyed and the boss mudered, one of the members (Kuo Chui) takes the blame; when he finds out that Lu Feng's charecter is using the money for gambling and prostitution, he goes back for revenge or something like that. Helping Kuo Chui's character is fellow gangmember Chiang Sheng and the mysterious white spearman (played by Lung Tien Tsang, who would go on to feature in a few Venom films--his best film outside the Venoms is probably "World Of Drunken Master", where he fights Lee I Min or the obscure "Dragon On Shaolin Tower"). Lu Feng is great as the evil boss, also Wang Li and Chui Tai Ping get bigger roleas and both have a great fight against each other. Venoms superkicker Tam Jun Tao replaces Sun Chien and is good and shows off great kicks. I don't think the film would really work with Lo Meng and Sun Chien as it is mainly weapons-based fights. Kuo Chi, my favorite Venom, gets the most limelight and deserves it--he is the ultimate good guy: he's a superb martial artist and a great acrobat. Chiang Sheng gets to show off a bit but is really a sidekick to Kuo Chui. Special mention goes to Sai Yuk and Chi Tai, who play good guys, and two Baby Venoms that never really get mentioned but do a great job. Also features the famous fight scne where Kuo Chui takes on ten killers in a long running of fights, the best against Baby Venom Lau Fong Sai. It's not the best Venoms film and can be a bit slow in places but is definitley worth buying for kung fu fans as the Venoms were arguably the most gifted set of actors in kung fu film history.
This is an obscure Korean Casanova Wong film, and it's well worth getting. Casanova Wong, in my opinion, is a better kicker than Hwang Jang Lee: he can do things that I didn't think people could do with their legs. Like every Korean kung fu film, it's slightly weird and disjointed, and things and people turn up and die for no reason. It also brings two of Korea's great kickers together as bad guys--Han Ying ("Ninja Vs. Shaolin Guards" and "Fearless Hyena") and Elton Chong ("Invincible Obssesed Fighter" and "Gravedigger Kung Fu"). The two show off some good kicks and weapon work. The plot is weird and dosn't make much sense. I'd just buy it for the fight scenes. The film culminates in a great 20-minute storming of Casanova Wong against the evil Mongol's temple. I don't know if it is true, but I think one of the main bad guys is played by the great acrobat Austin Wai ("Five Superfighters" and "Fearless Hyena 2")--it looks a hell of a lot like him. Casanova Wong serves up a treat and it's more than worth buying.
WOW! When i first saw the trailer for this back in July I thought this looked really cool! I also thought I wouldnt see it for a couple of years, because I live in the UK, but I found [a copy] and wow was it worth [the price]! Donnie Yen vs. Colin Chou ("Exorcist Master", "Matrix 2") was enough to make me want to see it, but then I learnt that Xing Yu ("Kung Fu Hustle", "Fatal Contact") would fight Donnie Yen as well--Xing Yu is a mainland kicking machine! The film also stars Louis Koo and Ray Lui, who are amazing in this! This film is so worth every penny you spend on it. There aren't too many fights in the first hour, but the last half hour is one hell of an adrenaline ride! Wicked gun fights and the best Hong Kong choreography I've ever seen! The end fight beats that of Wu Jing vs. Donnie Yen in "SPL", which is a feat in itself! BUY THIS MOVIE! If it's true that Donnie Yen is making a film with Tony Jaa, then that would make martial arts fans all over the world to have heart attacks at the thought! Donnie Yen has revived Hong Kong cinema, the glory days are back!
The Kid With The Golden Arm (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure I had always wanted to see this film. I love the Venoms, and with Kuo Chi being my favorite Venom as well I had to buy this! This is also the only Venoms movie where Lo Meng is a bad guy. Lo Meng is a bad ass as Golden Arm! All of the Venoms are here, even Wei Pak ("Last Hurrah For Chivalry"), who plays a real ass in this film. Sun Chien's in here as well and has an awesome kicking fight with Kuo Chi! Lu Feng is the coolest charecter and he is sick with his silver spear! Wang Lung Wei and Chiang Sheng have supporting roles but don't do great deals of action. This film is good, the plot is okay, but the twist at the end sucks and is confusing. Lots of blood and the action is usual Venoms greatness, and it's cool to see Lo Meng and Sun Chien getting the main end action for a change instead of Chiang Sheng and Lu Feng. I would say go buy this film, but there are better Venoms films.
Dragon Tiger Gate (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure This film is okay, it's based on a manga called "Dragon Tiger Gate", which I haven't read. It stars Donnie Yen ("Flash Point"--sick movie!, "Tiger Cage 2"), Nicolas Tse ("Invisible Target", "New Police Story") and Shawn Yu ("Infernal Affairs", "Dragon Heat") in the main roles. The story was okay but got really muddled and had some really bad special effects. The first half is awesome, Nicolas Tse gets to show off some amazing kicks and Shawn Yu uses red nunchuks with really cool moves, Donnie Yen is a bit dissapointing he throws no kicks, which is in my opinion what hes best at. Yuen Wah and Chen Kuan Tai are both wasted! Also Xing Yu (Flashpoint, Kung Fu Hustle) is in it but not for long, watch flashpoint or fatal contact to see him show off his great kicks. I'd say rent first then make your mind up, because you could be dissapointed!
thanks for reading!
I picked this up with a load of other films; this one really interested me because it has the Benoms (bar Sun Chien): Fu Sheng, Wang Lung Wei, Ku Feng, Dick Wei, and even Lee I Min, who was a great acrobat. I thought all these guys would make one hell of a movie. I was so wrong. I usually don't put the stories to the films in a review because I don't want to give anything away, but this film the plot was boring and had too many characters double-, triple- and back-crossing people. Kuo Chi of the Venoms is the main guy, and comes out best as he always does with his awesome acrobatics and kicks--I was really looking forward to him vs Lee I Min. It was okay--it should have been great! Fu Sheng, Chiang Sheng, Dick Wei, Wang Lung Wei even Lu Feng are totally wasted--there's a cool fight between Lu Feng and Chiang Sheng which is too short, then the isn't a fight for an hour. Lo Meng looks kind of dumb and his character is weird, He has a fight with Bruce Tong which isn't great. Basically it's a film that, in my opinion is boring. Celestial should have released "To Kill A Mastermind" ahead of this. I would say buy only for people that want to see the Venoms in a bad film which is really rare!I I can't think of a good reason to buy this film, but please make up your own mind, maybe you'll like it but it didn't do it for me.
!SPOILER FOLLOWS! Chiang Sheng has a cool fight but only lasts about 20 minutes into the film! And also Lee I Min is killed in the most stupid way! Sorry, needed to get that off my chest.
This is my new favorite Shaw film! Lau Kar Leung magic! I cannot recommend this film enough. I'd heard this had awful comedy, but it was great! Hsiao Ho is the man! Not only is he an awesome acrobat and a brilliant martial artist but he is actually funny! Speaking of comedy, the cameo from Gordon Lui and Robert Mak is so funny and cool! Other mentions go to Yuen Tak! He is cool and has a short fight with Hsiao Ho which is spellbinding; his sword fight with the amazing Kara Hui (sister to Austin Wai) is cool too. Kara Hui won an award for this film and you can see why: not only can she perform great moves, she is a good actress! Lau Kar Leung is so cool in this film, I love this guy and his films! His duel with Wang Lung Wei at the end is out of this world! The other bad guys are super kicker Kwan Young Moon ("Shaolin Plot", "Rebellious Reign") and super villain Wilson Tong ("Snake In The Eagle's Shadow", "Treasure Hunters"). This film is just the best in every way! Please go and buy this film, you won't regret it at all!
Thanks for reading!
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good kung fu action, the story as a whole could have been a little better.
Legendary Weapons Of China (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure This is the definitive Lau Kar Leung film! This movie is so cool! It stars Shaw Brothers master and hung gar master Lau Kar Leung, who also choreographed and made classics like "36th Chamber of Shaolin", "My Young Auntie", etc. Also stars in my opinion the best acrobat ever in kung fu movies (sorry Yuen Biao), which is Hsiao Ho--this guy can really stretch as well! He also starred in "Mad Monkey Kung Fu" and "Fake Ghost Catchers". Kara Hui, another student of Lau Kar Leung, also stars, along with adopted brother of Lau Kar Leung, Gordon Liu, who plays a spirtitual boxer disguised as a Shaolin monk. The main two bad guys are played by Chu Tiet Wo and real life Lau brother Lau Kar Wing. Fu Sheng also makes a funny cameo as a conman. The fights in this are so good and fast, the end fight goes through the 18 weapons, and it is truly spellbinding! Please stop reading this and go buy a copy!
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Need I say more about this film. It is directed by Lau kar Leung and stars gordon Liu. I guess I am missing something but most people seem to like their films. I have a hard time staying awake for any of their movies!!!
Invisible Target (product link) Action/Adventure / Martial Arts This film is awesome--a must-buy! Nearly as good as "Flash Point"! Nicolas Tse is great, he does his own stunts and his kicks are brilliant, Shawn Yue is cool and looks good in his fights. For me the standout thing about this film is Jaycee Chan (Jackie's son), this guy is an amazing actor and his fights are great and he is as fearless as his dad! Wu Jing shows again he is a ultimate badass with exceptional skills! Andy On shows some good kicks but his acting takes centre stage, has good chemistry with Jaycee Chan. Please go and buy this amazing film. Hong Kong cinema is back to its best!
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