Aside from the best cast ever assembled and amazing action, this film boasts a unique setting--during the Mongolian invasion of China--that I have never seen repeated.

As well you have some of everyone's favorite: temple training. There is some serious brutality to the final scene, and there is a dramatic intensity missing from other Shaw Bros. films--both when Gordon Liu must reconcile his violent nature with Buddhist precepts, and throughout (especially at the closing credits) as Fu sheng's untimely death during shooting casts a pall over the film.

While there are some gaping plot holes (probably due to sub-standard translation in the English dubs), the action is fantastic. Gordon Liu and Lo Lieh truly bring out the best in one another's martial ability with their three scenes together.

Features acupuncture in fighting and addresses different styles and approaches to fighting.

As kung-fu takes on a variety of Japanese styles, we see some incredible fights and weapon pairings.

As the title implies, this film pays homage to the differences and brilliancies of two different but great cultures--and their fighting arts.

As well, Alexander Fu-Sheng plays a comedic role replete with the generic SB "something funny is happening" music. However, his portion of the film also does an interesting job revealing many of the tricks of a supposedly lethal fight.

Still, with a truly all-star cast and several incredible fight scenes, including the finale that utilizes all 18 "legendary weapons of China," this remains a great SB classic.

Incredible fights, great sets, innovative ideas, and of course the best training sequences ever, which also contain the largest and most detailed renditions of the Shaolin Temple.

Basically, if you don't have this, you need to buy it now. An absolute cornerstone of any kung fu film, or even Chinese film, collection.

This is evidently the inspiration for the '90s Ti Lung/Sammo Hung classic "Blade of Fury."

The remake does a far superior job making you believe the plot and the fraternal bonds of the sword master and the political reformer which forms the central device of the film. It also contains far superior action sequences.

If you wanna' own them all, this one is good in its own right and Chen Kuan Tai does a decent job. If you're just looking for the good ones, I'd say pass this by and pick up "Blade of Fury" instead.

The "crippled" aspect put a whole new twist on the plot and action sequences that you don't usually see (one-armed themed movies aside). And they come up with some clever training exercises and fighting styles patterned around this.

The action sequences are great and the evil guys really are evil. I found it completely enjoyable.

The only shortcoming is that there are a couple of characters moved in and then out of the film without time onscreen.

If you can see it, sure, but I wouldn't bother buying.

Jackie Chan's comedic style is in top form and his kung-fu has never ever looked as good, thanks to direction/choreography from Shaw Bros. legend Liu Chia-Liang (who also has a sweet cameo).

This is an absolute must-own--great plot, acting, characters, action.

A combination of two of the original six movies, I don't care if it's repackaged for short American tastes, this movie hits.

Great script, acting, beautiful sets and fight sequences, quotable dialog...this is a definite classic.

I always thought the plot was weak at best and, aside form the opening sequence, that the action sequences were nothing special.

I wouldn't get your hopes up about this one.

There is a simple yet interesting plot and good believable characters. One of the major strengths is that this movie exists within an hoest realm with plausible conflicts.

Aside from that it features amazing choreography and is bookended by an amazing lion dance sequence (at the start) and maybe the best one-on-one fight in any kung-fu film (at the end).

If you want good action, this is it.

The Marco Polo character never really enagages anything, just sort of stands around and watches random fights that are not well tied into the plot.

With the cast and the previously unexplored (and rich) storyline, this movie should be great. Instead it's dull, making it that much more disappointing.

So: good fights, great acrobatics, not a must-see but well worth it.

If you're looking for straight action, look elsewhere. If you want a decent film that has some good action featured, boom, this is it.

It should be said up front that there are about 2 1/2 actual fight scenes in this entire movie.

Aside from that it is an enjoyable film, Gordon Liu young and with hair has some fun training scenes with Chen Kuan-Tai playing the old master. Lua Kar-Leung plays a villian (?!) and there's some great sets.

Good story, camerawork and script, but if you want action definitely look elsewhere.

It seems somewhere in the boon time of the mid and late 70s, a terrible formula developed where the creative team would come up with one or two clever hooks for a movie (in this case telling the story through flashbacks and an Achilles' heel up the star's ass), then build a by-the-numbers film aorund it. We've all seen them--huge fights where most of the extras just stand there, weak choreography, nonsensical plot developments (hey, here are a bunch of poles, let's fight on top of them!).

Unless [you're a completist], don't waste your money.

Pro: As usual with Venoms, there are some great fatalities.

Con: Choreography in many of the scenes is unexciting. Also, multiple use of Chang Cheh's most annoying convention (to me): the creation of a new weapon with a trick mechanism that is actually really stupid.

Verdict: If you're a big Venoms fan you won't be disappointed. If you just want a good old school flick, there are better.

A different feel from later, more polished Shaw Brothers films, but has a great look and feel of its own. Good fights, great characters, good training and very fun old school conventions--huge jumps, punching through walls, etc.

If you like kung fu flicks, especially old ones, this is a must-buy.

As well, the plot is stupid. [spoilers follow] The hero works for the Qings, so at the very end, out of nowhere, his father declares loyalty to the Mings and poisons himself and his son. It's convoluted throughout.

Don't waste your time. The only thing this film offers is a scene with the development of Mantis style; however the training is very short and unimaginative and the technique is never passed on and hardly even used in subsequent scenes.

Pros: The action is truly top notch and there's a lot of it, there's some good training, the Shaolin monks are likable and can fight (often they're just annoying).

Cons: The bad guys' costumes are miserable, they say "Buddha's Name be Praised" about 100 times and for some reason they're obsessed with having people spit water (meant to be bile?) when they get hit hard.

All in all, a classic old-schooler, especially if you are looking for action.

The narrative thred is pretty loose and continually randomly jumps back to Jet Li.

If you're interested is owning some good footage of what Shaolin guys were doing, this is a great buy.

Movie starts well enough, with some court intrigue, but the plot meanders, having little internal logic. The action is mediocre at best and the actual house of traps is stupid, cheaply thought up and made, and simply not interesting enough to anchor the film.

Additional annoyances include characters appearing out of nowhere, really bad costume work, unexplored plot lines, unexplained superhero-esque names, dumb made up weapons (as in almost all Venoms films), and an absurd ending.

Even if you are a Venoms fan, skip it.

The bad: Plot could have been good, but they played some parts as comical that should have been serious, which made it weird. A lot of it is based around a mistaken identity that makes no sense and I'm guessing was lost in the translation.

The action: Not much, but it's pretty "realistic". Wang Lung Wei hardly fights at all, which is a disappointment. There's some bench fighting which is cool.

All in all, it can easily be missed.

The movie is pretty cheesy, but if you want such, it's a fun time and has a good amount of action.