Lord Yeung (Carter Wong), Prince of the Ching Dynasty, possesses a priceless relic that resembles a pearl. He sells it to a Japanese warrior who intends to take it back home to Japan. While crossing over into the outlands, a Chinese swordsman, Kow Fung (Mars) attacks the Japanese warrior, who is quickly impaled. Kow Fung retrieves the relic and plans to make off with it, when a Shaolin monk (Kam Kong) appears and tries to convince the swordsman to give it up in the name of the Shaolin Temple. Kow Fung resists and the two men fight for their lives until the Monk kills his opponent. The Monk searches the corpse for the relic and can’t find it; his search is cut short because he feels the eyes of others upon him. The Ming rebel Tan (Chu Kong) witnesses how this relic swiftly passes from person-to-person. Tan deduces that Kow Fung swallowed the relic and it is now inside his corpse. He tells the Monk that Kow Fung was his friend, and he intends to take his body back to his family. Tan hires men to transport the corpse through the hostile territories and the Monk tags along. Meanwhile, the double crossing Prince is angered that the relic is missing. He sends his top aide, General Min (Chen Sing), whose is accompanied by a fierce Ching soldier (Casanova Wong). General Min scours the forest looking for clues until he stumbles upon a nearby Inn, where Tan and his entourage have stopped for food and shelter. General Min spots several coffins and immediately gets suspicious. He begins to interrogate the Innkeepers and people staying at the Inn.

That night while everyone is sleeping, another Japanese swordsman comes looking for the relic that his countrymen have paid for. He finds Cow Fung's corpse, and steals the coffin containing the body. The Monk witnesses the Japanese emissary making off with the corpse, and invites himself along. The next morning, Tan wakes up and realizes the body is missing. He rounds up his hirelings and sets out to find the body. General Min and his soldiers follow close behind. The Monk attempts to bargain with the Japanese warrior over the body. They nearly come to blows on the issue, and the Monk insists on opening up the casket. They slowly open it--however Kow Fung’s corpse is missing. Instead, there is live woman in there, Chin Lun (Angela Mao). Both men are royally confused, but the sudden arrival of General Min and his men squash their hopes. He interrogates everyone, and Chin Lun incriminates the Monk as the culprit behind the missing corpse. The feisty young lady is soon forced to defend herself in battle against the General’s men. One of them gets her with poisonous darts and she stumbles off, presumed as dead. Tan has been watching the entire incident and applies first aid to save her life. When Chin Lun recovers, she is appreciative and reveals that she is part of a Korean anti-Ching underground movement. Tan informs her that he too hates the Chings; and he is careful not to reveal too much information because of the secretive situations concerning the Ming rebels. Aware that Ming resistance fighters are lurking around, Lord Yeung and General Min take control of a local villa, threatening the lives of the innocents if the revolutionaries do not stand forth. Tan and Chin Lun must forces join forces if they are to liberate the peasants and resolve the mystery of the sacred relic!

A wonderfully plotted and controlled martial arts film that succeeds on several levels. There are so many characters, situations, and perspectives to keep track of, that THE LEGENDARY STRIKE would easily be a complete mess in hands of a lesser caliber director. But Hwang Feng’s precise direction perfectly keeps the narrative in structure and never veers of course. Feng maintains a constant thread of danger and suspense throughout. Though we’ve all seen hundreds of Ching Vs. Ming plots in these movies, THE LEGENDARY STRIKE throws in something totally original: they include the outsider influences of the Japanese and the Koreans, so this movie is truly international in scope. The fights are secondary to the story, as it should be. There is less amount of fighting than you may be used to, though the fights are realistic and kick ass. There is no trickery in the fight choreography (except for some reverse leaps). Chu Kong’s martial arts are lacking compared to everyone else’s (Carter Wong, Angela Mao, Chen Sing, Casanova Wong, Kam Kong) and he comes of like Jimmy Wang Yu--a tough guy with no martial arts finesse. In other words, Chu Kong is more of an actor than a skilled martial artist. Angela Mao produces some of the best action and highest kicks in the movie. The massive Carter Wong is one formidable Ching Prince, even making Kam Kong look like a piker. Casanova Wong doesn’t have much of a speaking role in this film, yet he delivers his finest beatings to date. Chen Sing is his usual bad-ass self, laying on his open palm Eagle’s Claw to revolutionaries and peasants alike.

SIGHT
The majority of martial arts films distributed by Ocean Shores movies are classics from the 1970’s, meaning flawed prints and faded colors (from cheap film stock) have become the norm. But THE LEGENDARY STRIKE is surprisingly crisp with razor-sharp delineation. The transfer is presented 1.33.1, cropped from the original 2.35.1 ratio. Tai Seng’s video master exhibits little wear except for the scratchy opening title sequence. The colors are fully saturated, rendering the eccentric production values with splendor. This detail level allows the viewer to bask in the meticulous set designs and authentic costuming. One major complaint with the video portion is the exterior night sequences are murky and full of grain. Thankfully, these scenes are few as the action takes place mostly in daylight or in well-lit interior sets. The true star of this movie is Angela Mao, who just looks awesome in the image, whether she is delivering a martial arts kick to her opponent or looking sensually into the camera. Another pleasing video presentation from Tai Seng.

SOUND
Tai Seng presents THE LEGENDARY STRIKE in Dolby Digital Mono 2.0. Overall, this is a good mono sound mix. One small worth problem mentioning is the slight hiss that lasts throughout the entire movie. It's not really distracting, but I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't point it out. The serviceable English dubbing is done by the same folks who did the Shaw Brothers films. Frankie Chan creates some original music cues for THE LEGENDARY STRIKE alongside several stock accompaniments. Except for the hiss, this is a good mono track.

FEATURES
The disc also includes audio commentary with author Ric Meyers. He does his usual job of filling in the details on the cast and crew. Meyers also provides a rich history of all the principals involved in THE LEGENDARY STRIKE such as Angela Mao, Chu Kong, Carter Wong, Chen Sing, director Hwang Feng, and composer Frankie Chan. There are also English language trailers for other Tai Seng special edition DVDs (all trailers are English, widescreen, and with Dolby Digital Mono sound):