Beach Of The War Gods: Quick Takes

The Seven Samurai story structure and yet another clash between Chinese and Japanese, that's Jimmy Wang Yu's Beach Of The War Gods for ya! Usually by the numbers and featuring A LOT of expansive battles, Wang Yu provides little distinctive style as he pads the running time with swords swinging. Little character (of course) exists in the film other than the displaying of different ideals among the Chinese in war times so it's also (of course) difficult to relate when Jimmy asks us to care for the death of key characters. The package is sufficient though with some parts of the direction being quite atmospheric and the final duel (and really all of the beach scenes) finally sees some creativity rear its head but vintage Jimmy Wang Yu post-Shaw's takes place within a structure of pure creative insanity a la Master Of The Flying Guillotine. For straight faced genre excursions, turn back to his work with Chang Cheh. Also starring Lung Fei.