Viewer Comments:Life Gamble
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This movie was not as good as I was hoping it would be .Very boring movie.
This movie only gets a 3 stars because I love the characters and the costumes. To see all the essential Shaw characters crammed into one movie is exciting. But the downside is that the plot was almost non-existent or too complicated or disjointed to follow. I was extremely disappointed with the overall piece.
-Master Cho Ye Fang (see my profile)
Surprisingly good. Kuo Chui gives a very restrained and mature performance. One of my favorite Venoms movies.
Great film. It has a strong storyline and plenty of fantastic fight scenes. It's another Shaw Brothers hit! Well worth seeing and buying.
-Warrior Cleric (see my profile)
I thought this was very entertaining and the cast is outstanding.
-William Giordanella (see my profile)
Loved it, good old school kung fu movie.
Garbage.
One of the earliest Venoms movies where the choreography is not done by themselves. This is a storyline first, action later kind of movie. But the action is very good. Character oriented movie. Not the best Venoms movie but definitely worth watching. Alex Fu Sheng is very good here. I recommend it.
-Roger Judd, Jr. (see my profile)
It was okay. Barely any fight scenes. I saw more daggers thrown than fists or kicks in this movie...for a second I thought I was watching the House of Flying Daggers.
This is an excellent film - not quite to the level of Chang Cheh's best, but very close. Had I known this was far more of a Kuo Chui than a Fu Sheng film, I would have watched it sooner. The female characters are all either unappealing (the supposed femme fatale villainess) or ineffectual (the daughter of the constable), but that is not unexpected in a Chang Cheh picture. With the exception of Sun Chien, all of the venoms appear, but Chiang Sheng's role is little more than a cameo, and I was disappointed not to see more of the great Lu Feng. (The antidote to most failings in Chang Cheh's films is just this - more Lu Feng!)
-Jeffrey Frawley (see my profile)
| AGREE? | READER COMMENTS | AUTHOR |
| Y | I agree totally with your review but lets not forget that Original Venom Wei Pei, remember the " Snake " is also not in this film. | Sgt. T |
| I picked this up with a load of other films; this one really interested me because it has the Benoms (bar Sun Chien): Fu Sheng, Wang Lung Wei, Ku Feng, Dick Wei, and even Lee I Min, who was a great acrobat. I thought all these guys would make one hell of a movie. I was so wrong. I usually don't put the stories to the films in a review because I don't want to give anything away, but this film the plot was boring and had too many characters double-, triple- and back-crossing people. Kuo Chi of the Venoms is the main guy, and comes out best as he always does with his awesome acrobatics and kicks--I was really looking forward to him vs Lee I Min. It was okay--it should have been great! Fu Sheng, Chiang Sheng, Dick Wei, Wang Lung Wei even Lu Feng are totally wasted--there's a cool fight between Lu Feng and Chiang Sheng which is too short, then the isn't a fight for an hour. Lo Meng looks kind of dumb and his character is weird, He has a fight with Bruce Tong which isn't great. Basically it's a film that, in my opinion is boring. Celestial should have released "To Kill A Mastermind" ahead of this. I would say buy only for people that want to see the Venoms in a bad film which is really rare!I I can't think of a good reason to buy this film, but please make up your own mind, maybe you'll like it but it didn't do it for me.
!SPOILER FOLLOWS! Chiang Sheng has a cool fight but only lasts about 20 minutes into the film! And also Lee I Min is killed in the most stupid way! Sorry, needed to get that off my chest. |
Brilliant film. Fu Sheng in his best role. Great action. The best scene is the flying darts scene. Buy it!
Boy, they just get better!
This was a decent movie. It's filled with a lot of stars and is more plot-driven than action. This is pretty much an asian western with knives/daggers instead of revolvers. My favorite character was definitely Kuo Choi. This is not a Venoms vehicle but more so a movie where Fu Sheng helps anchor in the cast and beef up ther status despite him not dominating the screentime as much as say Kuo Choi. This movie had cool characters, weapons, and even includes some outside fight scenes, which became more rare in later Chang Cheh films. Definitely pick this up!
| The title says it all: a highly sought-after jade treasure changes hands in the martial arts world, leaving a wake of betrayal and death. Anyone, hero or villain, who tries to possess the treasure is indeed gambling with their life.
What an amazing cast: Kwok Chue, Shiang Cheng, Lu Feng, Fu Sheng, Kara Hui, and many many other greats from the Shaw stable act out a really neat marital arts fantasy that demands repeat viewing. There are secret weapons, double secret weapons, cool nicknames, pretty much everything you could hope for and expect from this kind of film. Only a couple of things were not up to snuff: I don't know her name, but there is one actress whose acting seems woefully inadequate in Life Gamble. Raising your eyebrows at random moments does not make you a great thespian! Secondly, I have to question the narrative somewhat: I assumed that this was an ensemble picture with several stars sharing equal billing and screen time, but it slowly turned into a Fu Sheng movie. That was unexpected, given how much time was spent developing a certain blacksmith character... But really, this is all quite forgivable once the action sequences get rolling. Life Gamble is a safe, sensible bet that pays off. |
Rated #6 in my personal top-10. A must-have for any kung fu fan.
-Kung Fu Classic Viewer (see my profile)
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