This beautiful opening melee is the first showcase of the skill of the White Lotus chief. He casually walks through sword attacks as if it were a Sunday afternoon in the park. If that doesn't cement his badassedness in viewers' minds, then the fact that no matter how good the kung fu, he cannot be touched should. I was personally disappointed that Siu-ching, the sister played by Yeung Jing-jing, had so little screen time. She went out valiantly covering Mei-ha's (her pregnant sister Kara Hui) escape.

The rest of the movie is basic revenge flick fodder, but two things stand out to me. The first being that without Kara Hui, this movie goes nowhere. Okay, her woman's sewing style kung fu seems improbable but adds much needed finesse to Wen-tin's tiger/crane style. Mei-ha (Hui) is pregnant when the movie opens and doesn't get to display her skills until maybe midway through the feature, but it's a subtle, but effective show of her skills.

The other thing that stood out to me seemed to be that the White Lotus chief wanted someone to give him a challenge. That's the only explanation I can think of for him letting Wen-tin live time after time to return and take his revenge.

There is very good action throughout "Fist Of The White Lotus". Every fight has something special, my favorites being Wen-tin's first fight with the twin Tai Chi swordsmen and his subsequent fight with White Lotus that leaves him battered, bruised, and rolling down the temple stairs.

Thankfully, there is very little in the way of humor. What little we see is courtesy of Mei-ha's brother with a whiny disposition and bad hairstyle. But, I did find the attack in the bath pretty humorous.

All in all, "Fist Of The White Lotus" is an entertaining movie. Although some claim it pales in comparison to the superior "Executioners From Shaolin" that it may or may not be a sequel to. See for yourself.

The idea that a dignitary would seek to eradicate schools of fighting rather than show them some reverence is confusing to me. The Prince's ruthlessness seemed oddly misplaced.

All of the diabolical plans and traps laid only served to distract from the real treasure: the fighting. You could see from the opening sequence that something sinister was in store for the two friendly rivals/friends. Both Gordon Liu and Adam Cheng come off as strong and confident in their arts. However, Lau Kar-leung's bias towards Shaolin is evident. Though screen time is split relatively evenly, Adam's 8 Divine Sword style training pales in comparison to Gordon's temple training sequences.

Give it a few twists, turns, and surprises (the best of which happens to be Adam's incarceration and involvement with a "crazy" woman) and we come to a massive scene with our heroes in a very satisfying all-out battle against the Prince's forces.

The climactic scene offers yet another twist to the two students versus one master cliche. Adam and Gordon have to allow their styles to evolve to overcome the Prince's strength and skill. The added surprise at the end comes when, at his sister's insistence, he pardons both the Shaolin and Wu Tang schools when, with his dying breath, he suddenly has a change of heart. After his last minute repentance, both factions move to make the Prince a monk. Huh?

I don't know what to say about "Fatal Contact". Jacky Wu Jing is certainly a capable performer, and he has leading man qualities, but he and his fists can't carry the movie alone.

I can't say I liked the plot or the other characters or the subplots in this movie. Ronald Cheng's Captain was a potential treasure if explored further. Captain gave glimpses of what could've turned out to be amazing skill. He was reportedly from a village where EVERYONE knew kung fu. Leaving that thread dangling was a waste.

I didn't like the scenes with Miki Yeung and Theresa Fu at all. After Chuichi became an escort, Tin's advice was to further prostitute herself until she could dupe a john into keeping her. With friends like that who needs enemies? Then the further revelation towards the end of the movie...

What I DID like, however, were the fight scenes. Jackie Wu Jing's Kong, as pointed out by Ronald Cheng's Captain, lacked a certain killer instinct or determination. Whether he needed that or not is in question since he won his fights decisively. The good sportsmanship on his part added insult to injury to opponents who wanted to do him serious harm. He showed some of that much needed determination in a fight against three opponents. It wasn't until one of the three (Kenji Tanigaki) cheats that he shows some evidence of steely eyed determination to hurt the person he's fighting. Wu Jing's performance in FC was heads and shoulders above what he offered in "Drunken Monkey" (where he was billed as Jason Wu Jing).

The movie started to take a downward turn after Kong (Wu) agrees to throw a fight against the Portland Street Punk (Timmy Hung) and breaks his leg. After that the move becomes overly melodramatic. The grim conclusion is a collage of endings mashed into one. To me it seemed like the storytellers presented too many partially developed elements when one, properly seen through, would have been more effective. It may have been more effective if we were given a chance to develop some empathy for the characters, but this isn't the case.

All in all the saving grace of FC is the action. Fast forward to the fights and past everything else.

I don't know how else to start this review, and even WOW seems to fall short.

Casanova Wong leads an impressive cast that includes the always entertaining Sammo Hung, Fung Hak-on (who, typecast as usual, plays the villain), Lueng Kar-yan as the wizened wing chun master, and a trio of familiar faces as Thunder, Tiger and Iron. The story is sufficient on its own, but add the fact you have scene after scene of kung fu and it quickly becomes apparent why this movie is held in such high regard.

All the fighters seems to be in top form, with action that sells the skills of the characters. Casanova Wong has a great look and impressive physicality. Leung Kar-yan is reserved in his performance but steals every scene he's in. Fung Hak-on's surpise revelation was a nice twist (I'd spent the film saying that his prosthetic headpiece made him look like a Kilngon). I was pleasantly surprised at that. His kung fu, what little wirework we do see, is creepy/supernatural and fitting his black-clad vampire look.

I don't know wing chun from wushu from hung gar with any level of accuracy, but I can tell you in this film it's ALL entertaining. Casanova Wong and Leung Kar-yan have the prototypical looks of an old school kung fu hero and his sifu, respectively. The training scenes seem daunting, but we watch our hero overcome those obstacles to become a formidable opponent. Sammo is in his usual form showcasing his agility, speed, strength and humor. Add to that mix death, betrayal and literal backstabbing and you're sped to a climactic finish featuring the three heroes (Wong, Hung and Lee Hoi Sang) against Boss Mo, his weasel of an assistant and Thunder, Tiger and Iron.

There are plenty of gems in the BIG, BRUTAL and ultimately satisfying finale. DO NOT miss out, kung fu fans.

It's been a few years since I've seen it, but PS still holds up. Lam Ching-ying is great as the kung fu master reluctant to train young upstart Lueng Chan.

There are a few solid fight scenes up until the incident that plants the seed of Yee Tai's (Lam Ching-ying) change of heart. The straw that breaks the camel's back is when the two fugitives seek asylum with Yee Tai's brother played by the incomparable Sammo Hung. I stand by my previous statement that Sammo elevates whatever he lends his talents to. His presence, character acting and physicality (comedic or otherwise) is above par. His cameo here is no exception. The brothers' fierce rivalry leads Yee Tai to trick his brother into training the Lueng Chan.

I LOVE training scenes and the ones offered here are a little unconventional, but still entertain. I think that can be attributed to the contrast in the brother's styles and Sammo's timely injection of humor.

It all builds to the bone crunching conclusion with the match up of the Prodigal Son with questionable skill and the government officials son with tried and true king fu. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

That said, I do understand the fanaticism that can grab us when we expect more than a film ultimately gives us. Some of the reviews I read for "Drunken Monkey" are two teeth away from vicious, while some reviewers are making space for it in the kung fu hall of fame. I can't say with any surety that either reaction is right.

Now, Lau Kar Lueng makes a comeback to film with this feature as both the director and main protagonist. The movie is a bit formulaic, but in the kung fu genre that's something I've accepted. To paraphrase another reviewer, "it's the same thing we've all seen before, just not as good." That sums up my biggest complaint. Jason Wu Jing does an okay job and in some places is very reminiscent of a young Jackie Chan. The biggest problem with that is in the action, comedy and training scenes he is almost completely outclassed by his senior. Everything he does in the movie seems like something Jackie did 30 years ago.

The story was twisty/turny and ushered us mostly effectively to the fight scenes. This is where we see the gems in DM. The opening fight scene was good and topped only by the over the top climactic fight. The middle of the film fight between Gordon Liu and Lau kar Leung was far too short, but a treat to see these two masters in great form. I can even forgive the obvious stunt doubles in places.

The real downfall of the film is the comedy. The parents seemed like unnecessary incidental characters and the mother especially was too annoying for words.

BUT . . . I still mostly enjoy the film. Like "Forbidden Kingdom" (which also stars two poorly used icons of kung fu cinema), "Drunken Monkey" is something you show audiences new to kung fu to get them interested and THEN you blow their socks off with Shaw Brothers CLASSICS!

Whatever was keeping me from buying this when I first saw it, I hope it never rears its ugly head again.

"The Rebel" from start to finish is a kinetic film with great drama, good period costumes and props, great locations, good acting, and best of all, kick ass martial arts. Johhny Tri Nguyen does a great job as both the protagonist who has a change of heart and the action director. He is also given a writing and production credit. As a leading man he has a great physicality and is handsome and athletic. As a trained martial artist his moves are powerful and best of all beleivable.

Dustin Tri Nguyen is surprisingly sadistic in his role as the near impervious antagonist. It's great to see him working again and "The Rebel" is an offering head and shoulders above "Finishing The Game". I didn't get the impresion that Dustin was a martial artist from the film, but his powerhouse moves and crushing haymakers were enough to make me believe his victims were in danger. That is a credit to Johnny's action direction.

What's more is Johnny made Asian pop star Veronica Ngo a formidable opponent. She was more than a match for the foot soldiers on screen and was far from eye candy in her role. She crashed, banged, fought and kicked ass as well as her male co-stars.

French-occupied Viet Nam was a perfect backdrop to the film. On reading the synopsis on the back this seemed like a liability to the atmosphere of the film, but after repeat viewings it is certainly an asset.

A great addition to your martial arts collection if I do say so myself.