Viewer Comments:The Last Hurrah For Chivalry
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| LHfC is a really good movie. The biggest point I'd like to make is that John Woo not only directed this film, he also wrote it. He hasn't done much in the way of writing when it comes to his US films. But back in HK, he wrote just about every one of his major films. To me, that makes this film all the better. If you are a Woo fan, but have somehow missed this, you'll love it. It is trademark Woo.
Two friends who fight side by side: check. Slo-mo combined with slick choreography: check. Slick moving camera that takes on a life of its own: check. Sense of epic scale and grandeur: check. Doves flying just prior to a major action scene: che...okay, so it doesn't have ALL the Woo trademarks. But most of them. The story is very solid and takes some turns to keep it from being just standard action fare. If you enjoy kung fu flicks, this one is excellent. While it's not "Crouching Tiger" or "Hero" and isn't loaded with wire-fu, it is definitely the predecessor of these films and is most enjoyable, even by today's standards. I really thought I would have to lower my expectations a bit since it was an older film that would primarily have the 'rhythmic' kung fu you could set a metronome to. But even that played out well, and more creatively than I would have thought. There's a ton of action, the characters are fun and have some dimension, the story flows well and is creative, and it's just a good movie. Any fan of martial arts flicks should more than easily be able to enjoy this one. |
| AGREE? | READER COMMENTS | AUTHOR |
| Y | this is a great movie swordplay at it's best | kung fu kid |
| Y | One of the best swordplay flicks out there. The movie is really good. | JV47842 |
One of John Woo's earlier movies that shows his formula that we've come to love, but at a very early stage. It's pretty much "Hard Boiled" without guns and instead put into a wuxia film. To be honest, this is one of the few wuxia movies that actually has you really into the characters and is actually convincing. John Woo did a great job on casting, and the action is very well done. The movie flopped at the box office, but that doesn't mean it's not good. I loved the movie and it felt very different from most of the wuxia films I've been watching. Though it is a wuxia film, it still has the John Woo elements we all love, and this is the formula at its young point. So I feel that fans of kung fu, wuxia, and John Woo films will enjoy this as much as I did.
| AGREE? | READER COMMENTS | AUTHOR |
| Y | It has a lot of great "John Woo" moments. I enjoyed this picture a lot. | JV47842 |
| Y | I agree. I didn't like this movie at first but I understand it and I give you koodoes for giving this an exact rating. | ap2 |
The themes which continue to fascinate John Woo were almost fully-formed in this early work, and his technical mastery was already considerable by the time he made this. The bonds between masterful warriors, whether allies or enemies, and the ease with which one can become the other, inform every moment of this swordplay adventure.
-Jeffrey Frawley (see my profile)
This is a really cool kung fu movie. Without any superstars. Filled with lots of great fights. Lee Hoy San is supercool as the bad guy (isn't he always?) and Fung Hark On has two awesome bouts as well. John Woo shows here some promise of what he would become. The film is very well directed with a lot of his usual flair. Easily the best of Woo's kung fu flix.
A good directorial debut by John Woo. An intriguing story and change of pace/direction than what most of us may be accustomed to. If you are fan of swordplay than this may be of interest. I dont think this is a top 10 by any means, but its a solid effort by Woo.
This movie has a brilliant, unorthodox plot, definitely not one of those movies where you can predict the storyline, thus making it more enjoyable. The fight choreography is somewhat outdated, but the use of weapons is awesome for a movie produced in the late 70s. Commendable work by John Woo, Fung Hak-On (Pray), Wei Pai (Chang), Damian Lau(Ling Ysi aka Green) and Lee Hoi-San (Pai).
The [other] review is mistaken--Wei Pai plays Chang, and Damian Lau plays the wandering assassin, Ling Ysi.
The plot of this story all boils down to what Kao's old teacher tells him, "Man should help himself," and "a real fighter doesn't fight for money." After his teacher refuses to give him a magical sword to seek revenge, the ruthless Kao proceeds to falsely endear himself to Chang so that Chang will fight in his behalf. In the end, however, Chang discovers that it is Ling Ysi who is his true friend.
This movie has some weird trippy scenes, but some of the fight scenes are just too long for my taste. But I love Damian Lau and Wei Pai anyway.
Great swordplay movie from John Woo. I never knew he had it in him to make a movie like this. The one thing I really enjoyed was the little use of wirework. This is the type of movie I wished they made today, without all that CGI garbage. The fights were long, brutal and believe it or not "FREAKING SWEET". Check out the fight between Chang and Pray. This is what martial arts movies are all about.
A very interesting study of John Woo's early work before he swapped blades for guns and started the heroic bloodshed movement. Lots of the same elements here: honor, friendship, sacrifice. There's enough twists in the plot to make this engaging and less predictable or direct as many other wuxia material. Not much wire work except towards the end where it is used as a menacing accent; otherwise you get fights in more gravity dependant mode. By no means does this make the action tame---it's at times brutal and direct. A particularly humorous scene is when the heroes fight 'sleeping wizard'---a man who's the master of fighting---when he's snoozing. Waking up he's helpless---gotta see this one to believe it. A nice break from the seriousness the story could fall into. Better than one thumbs up, mates!
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