| The loyalty towards Chang Cheh post-Shaw Brothers certainly is uplifting as Ti Lung, Chen Kuan-Tai and one of the Venoms Lu Feng appears in Death Ring. But that joy becomes conflicted because the movie is too. We get a very basic, flat entry into the story via the murder by Dai Chi (Lee Chung-Yat) of Lo Pang Fi. Lo is jealous of Dai's relationship with Lin May (Chen Kuan-Tai plays her father) and being from rival martial arts schools doesn't help either. Dai Chi flees to Thailand, goes back after 3 years for some lovin' but is discovered by the revenge-driven family of Lo Pang Fi's (headed by the father played by Chan Sing). A pimp (Ti Lung) steps in the way of the Lo's achieving revenge the unjust way and off to Thailand Dai Chi goes again to find his father. Here is where the titular death ring comes in as he gets involved with underground boxing matches...
Downright sloppy (study the timeline of the film and the various aging vs- non-aging process some of the characters go through) is the verdict and it's sad to see Chang Cheh having fallen so far from grace, even though some of the martial arts scenes shot in Hong Kong gives way for some watchable fluidity. Switching to Thailand, this is where Lu Feng's direction takes over and the flat mess it once was now turns into boredom, disinterest with a twist of muddled storytelling. Chang Cheh's stamp may have been fading but that stamp was the only thing keeping Death Ring alive for a little bit. As an aside, as with many later Chang Cheh films, they echoed stories, settings and ideas from past productions and Death Ring could be argued to be a little re-thread of Duel Of Fists (1971). |
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