The plot is nearly incomprehensible and the characters are neither interesting or endearing. The film has obviously been re-titled for the international market, as it has absolutely nothing to do with Shaolin Temple or Buddhist monks. Instead, it features a group of blind monks who ingeniously kidnap a woman in a bathtub. You can tell they're blind because they have sour expressions and are always looking upwards. The action scenes contain some fairly satisfying swordplay, but the editing is a bit disruptive. The only noteworthy fight in the film is during the climax when Leung Ka-Yan and Meng Fei duke it out with a villainous Phillip Ko, and it's quite enjoyable. Unless you're a Meng Fei or Leung Ka-Yan completist, there's better fare out there to satisfy a kung fu craving.

Unfortunately for Willow, Iron Head had a brother and when this brother learns about Iron Head's death, he decides to gather up some buddies and put into motion a plan that will knock all the credibility out of Willow's sails and make him look like a jerk in front of everyone. How is he going to do this? He's going to kill off one or two of Willow's buddies and make it look like Rocky was the man who really killed Iron Head. This will steal Willow's thunder and to add insult to injury, Iron Head's brother figures he can make it look like Rocky and Cherry were having an affair while she was married to Willow! Shock!

When Willow thinks that Rocky was banging his beloved he decides to go teach him a lesson he won't soon forget. While he's out trying to fight Rocky, Iron Head's bother and his pals show up at his place to start trouble. The find Cherry there and she's raped. Rocky and Willow soon clue in to what's going on and they rush back to save her but it's too late, she's killed herself, unable to live with the shame and the tension in her life. Rocky and Willow, two unlikely allies, must now work together however reluctantly to avenge Cherry's death. Will they be able to put their differences aside and use their common love for the dead lady to overcome the bad guys and their deadly martial arts skills or is it already too late to save the day?

Known under a multitude of titles - Shaolin Hero (the title that Tai Seng released it under in North America), Faster Blade, Poisonous Darts (the title that is used on this DVD), Avenging Eagle, and The Great Massacre - this Korean/Taiwanese co-production contains some fun scenes of swordplay and martial arts combat but turns out to be a pretty predictable tale of morality, sacrifice, romance and deception. It's an entertaining enough movie but there's little in here that differentiates it, at least story wise, some dozens of other revenge themed martial arts films. The real reason to watch this one is the action, and on that level it isn't a bad effort at all.

Meng Fei brings some unintentional humor to the film thanks to the horrible wig that the producers have seen fit to grace him with in the film, and the equally horrible English dubbing doesn't do the movie any favors but in terms of fight choreography and swordplay there are a few fun and marginally impressive sequences in the movie to watch out for. The movie starts off with a bang and is paced well, and the final showdown is a pretty solid bout which delivers some genuinely exciting fighting moves. When it's all said and done this is an entertaining martial arts film with a few cool scenes and some entertainingly garish costumes, but not one that will likely ever be remembered as a classic.

It begins with Leung Kar Yan rescuing a young girl from three brigands; making good use of his spear technique (the spear being his weapon of choice for this film). Cut to a woman being kidnapped while taking a bath; her attackers trapping her in the bathtub and carrying her in it. Cut again to wandering swordsman Meng Fei who, after a series of duels, meets up with the bathtub girl with who, it seems, he has a bit of a thing going.

The one thing that does make sense throughout all of this is that someone is going round killing all rival warriors to gain dominance of the 'martial world'. In general though the whole thing is nonsense and suffers from one of the worst dub jobs I've come across. Unemotional tones can really make these films a trial sometimes. There are some real clunkers like :

• I'm not an easy person to kill and even though I'm not such a good warrior, you can't defeat me

  When put under any pressure at all, I make a point of doing what I'm told

• You'll be surprised to hear that our organisation is a type of orthodox semi religious group and I have no idea how many members it has got

And despite the dubbing, it doesn't take an expert to spot terrible acting.

The film does feature some very well constructed action sequences initially focussing on Meng Fei's character with some impressive swordplay scenes while Leung Kar Yan appears at the end with his big spear. In between though the film seems to spend far too much time on the marital problems of the two main leads and tends to get bogged down a bit.

When Meng Fei and Leung Kar Yan finally fight each other (they're love rivals as it turns out) it actually gets pretty good although that particular scene is a bit short. There's also a great ending with Leung Kar Yan and Meng Fei uniting to fight Philip Ko Fei and his henchmen. The sequence is nicely filmed with effective use of fast editing. It still doesn't make up for the senseless plot and crap dialogue though.

Spoiler Alert:
Leung Kar Yan's final words in the film to a mortally wounded Meng Fei : "We were never friends before this but now in this tragedy....we are close" (way to downplay the situation, jeez)

Meng Fei replies : ...uuhhh....

The end.

Classic

REVIEW:
Hong Kong kung fu stars Leung Kar Yan and Mang Fei join a cast of unknown Taiwanese actors for a well written, if only moderately exciting wuxia tale of romance and swordplay action.

Sporting a unflattering wig, Mang Fei escapes his commonly exuberant and boyish roles to play Rocky, a master swordsman who leaves Cherry, his childhood love to make a name for himself. He returns to find that she has already married a well-to-do fighter named Willow (Leung Kar Yan). While Rocky was away, Willow had killed Iron Head (also called Iron Star at the beginning), a villain who tried to make advances on Cherry. Having learned of this, Iron Head's brother forms a secret society called the Chung who devise an elaborate plan to discredit Willow as revenge. Part of this entails killing off Willow's allies and framing Rocky for the murders and even making it appear that Rocky has had an affair with Cherry. While the latter nearly comes true, the truth is discovered after the Chung society attack Willow's home while he's locked in combat with Rocky. The two race back to find Cherry has killed herself after being taken advantage of by Iron Head's brother. They join forces to kill him and Rocky proves to Willow in the end that although born of common stock, he is a nobleman at heart.

There are some stories that deserve better treatment on screen and Great Massacre is one of them. Taking place in the mythical world of the Chinese knight-errant, the story is fairly well fleshed out and easy to follow which is rare in these low budget, Taiwanese films. Although you'll find the usual elements such as valiant swordsmen battling it out, female seductresses and assassins, and plenty of colorful or downright gaudy costumes, its the central theme of justice prevailing that stands out. In most kung fu films, the idea is for the hero to avenge the death of someone close to him by killing the bad guy. And while the villain definitely gets it in the end, its the sacrifice that Mang Fei's character makes that not only defines this swordplay sub-genre, but is also a little more compelling.

Its a shame that the story is ripped apart by bad acting and even worse dubbing. Mang Fei is not much of an actor to begin with, despite the fact that he's a capable comical martial arts star. He's simply out of place with a bad wig in a role that someone like Ti Lung is much more suited for, being the noble hero. Leung Kar Yan whose physical skills are equally good, if not better is more convincing in his role, but never displays enough emotion until the very end. He frustratingly shrugs off rumors of his wife's infidelity and his own inability to deal with it. There are three main female characters all presumably played by Taiwanese actresses. The lead is Cherry, who is your typical damsel in distress who seems to be able to fight only at certain moments. The other two include Su Jade, a seduc|ress who is Mang Fei's friend and predictably falls in love with him. Her role is downright perplexing as attempts to carry her away while still in her bath (!?) and later poison her seems to have little to do with the main plot, aside from an opportunity to see her scamper around in nothing but soap suds. The third gal is the tomboyish lead grunt in the secret society who keeps trying to kidnap Cherry. She has an erratic quality that seems to indicate less a character trait than an inability by the filmmakers to figure out what to do with her as she floats in and out of scenes spouting ridiculous dialogue.

Speaking of dialogue, the English dubbing is just plain bad and not in a funny sort of way. Its simply sounds as though the dubbers used a poor translation of the original track and adlibbed much of it. There are also numerous scenes where characters' thoughts are verbally spoken on a grade school level. Its like reading an old Marvel comic book where the superhero is repeatedly speaking the obvious in the middle of a battle. And what's with Anglo names? Not only do we have to put up with Rocky, Willow, and Cherry but Leung's right-hand man is named Woody!

Great Massacre is a film that has two good leads, supporting stars that at least look good even if they can't act, decent martial arts action, and a better than average tale. If only everything else were even remotely as good. Sadly, with poor acting, overly theatrical costumes, and hideous dubbing, this effort tries to live up to its title in more ways than one.