Masterful Cinema

How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

The King of the Sword and the King of the Spear are, as their names suggest, masters of their respective weapons and have never been defeated. Each year they meet to battle one another but each time the result is the same – a draw. They come to the conclusion that, because they know one another so well, it will always be equal and the only way to decide who is best is to each take a student and train them for ten years before letting them loose on one another without revealing the connection between them, whoever wins has therefore been taught by the better man. So they head off to do this, unaware of the darker forces of competition that await them and their new students.LoveFilm treated me well for once and although it through up a "someday" film in place of one of the ones I wanted sooner rather than later, on this occasion it was a very enjoyable pick. I started watching it in the subtitled mode but after five minutes I decided to watch it in dubbed mode – not a choice I normally make but in this case I had a reason. The reason was that it was immediately obvious that this was going to be a very dated and cheesy martial arts film with wild hair, overacting and the like and I figured that I might as well go the whole hog and enjoy a typically cheesy American dub. This will upset purists of course and it did mean that some of the dialogue was changed (including the addition of a joke that references the Spice Girls) but it did add to the fun as I got the impression (looking back at some scenes with subtitles on) that a lot of the original humour doesn't translate particularly well.This is certainly true of the characters, some of whom do feel like they were created and acted with everyone smacked out of their heads – Master Rocking in particular; dubbing doesn't make him any less weird. The plot is a simple affair and the "evil" of my plot summary is very much thrown in at the very end to provide a focused conclusion. It doesn't matter too much though because the film is still fun and engaging even though the focus is on the training for the majority. The main reason for this of course is the action, which is roundly brilliant. There are one or two moments where it is sped-up to the detriment of the action (ie it ends up looking stupid silly) but otherwise it does deserve its praise for how good it is at the weapons stuff. All the fight sequences are well choreographed with humour and skill making them exciting and fun at the same time. Carrying the fun thread, all the actors play well into the silly humour. Sammo and Yung-Lia are both really good in their dual roles and work really well together, getting laughs off one another equally as the dynamics change between the two parts of the film – allowing each to be the elder or younger. The support cast are mixed in how they entertain but they all do entertain. Ka-Yan makes for a strong villain full and is just as memorable as the many weird, exaggerated characters in smaller roles. Everyone appears to have weird hair growing everywhere – in one case right out of a large mole and everyone overacts in a way that even actors from silent films would feel was pushing it, but yet it works. It does need you to be in a cheesy mood though but if you are it is a lot of fun.Odd Couple deserves viewers for the quality of its action scenes, which are technically impressive and really well choreographed, but it is also worth coming to for the very silly humour that dominates everything from the characters, the hairstyles and the performances. Those seeking a "serious" martial arts film may baulk at this but the majority of viewers will be too amused to care.

The combo of a youthful Sammo Hung and the legendary Liu Chia Liang's brother Liu Chia Yung is a perfect match here. While not as elaborate as the Liang's classic "Legendary Weapons of Kung Fu" the fights between Sammo Hung and director Yung are absolutely incredible.The plot is simply this: Two old kung fu masters, the King of Swords and the King of Spears can't defeat each other after 15 years of annual fights to the death. They are also known as the Naughty Old Man and the Dirty Old Man. They decide to see who can train the best student and make them fight each other in ten years. Cut to ten years later, the students are sent out to find the other and fight but suddenly an old enemy of the two old masters reappears and captures the students. The old men must now rescue their students.There's a lot of Chinese humor, some visual and some spoken which doesn't translate well. Many of the secondary characters are classic Chinese comedy characters and the humor is broad and exaggerated. There's a guy named "Potato" who's got buck teeth and the strangest hairdo or hairy moles on his head. Sammo and Yung are in great acting form here and both seem to be really enjoying their dual roles. They play the old men and the two students! Breezy and fun, the film should be very enjoyable for kung fu movie fans. Unusual for this type of movie the film doesn't immediately end after the bad guy is dealt with, it keeps going. Sammo and Yung have lots more energy to show.A film that is here for unabashed kung fu talents to show themselves. Very well done and recommend for those who enjoy watching real physical talent on screen. And there's actually a moral to the story!

I have to say that I have seen an awful lot of Sammo Hung movies and not only is this one of his best films, but it is probably the finest weapons movie in the history of kung fu movies, and there have been a lot. This film is not like many other kung fu films in the way that the fights start small and then get bigger and better as the film progresses. The fights in this film practically start from the word go, with the standard remaining high throughout the rest of the film. The first (and in my opinion the best) big fight in the movie starts about fifteen minutes into the film where the old Sammo and the old Lau do battle with their weapons. The fight is so well choreographed that you wish that it would never end. After this fight the fight scenes become shorter until Leung Kar Yan comes into the picture, then the fights turn violent. Leung is such a menacing villain that you really are rooting for the good guys to win. Once the young fighters have killed the villain its time for them to fulfil their masters wishes and fight each other until one of them wins. this culminates in a duel that is similar to the fight earlier in the film and is outstanding in its execution. This film is so great that no kung fu fan should be without it. Even if you hate weapons films this film may well change your mind, and if it doesn't there are a few open hand fights which are equally as fantastic. An absolute masterpiece, I can't recommend it enough!

This movie portrays old rivals,played by Sammo Hung (King of the sword) and Lau Kar Wing (King of the spear) who meet every 10 years to find out whose weaponry skills are better.These duels always end up in a draw and as the two warriers are aging they decide to each take on a pupil so that the duel may continue. What makes this interesting is that Sammo plays Lau's student and Lau plays Sammo's student. Some amusing scenes eventuate. This from the video cover: "Skillful balletic duels between the sword and the spear rival even the best work of Jackie Chan and Liu Chia Liang in their intricacy" With these comments I would have to agree. However this film would have to be the silliest Sammo hung movie I have ever seen. There are some scenes which I don't feel contribute much at all to the overall plot. Having said that, The duels between the elderly Sammo Hung and the elderly Lau Kar Wing with their respective weapons are masterpieces. Their mastery of these weapons has to be seen to be believed. So too, the duels between the young Sammo with the spear and the young Lau with the sword as the students of the elderly masters just goes to prove how versatile and how skilled these men are. Towards the end of the film they unite to defeat a common foe in a brilliant fight sequence and then go on to fight each other to a draw just as their old sifu's had done in another incredible fight sequence so ultimately the riddle of whose weaponry is better goes unanswered. An unusual movie with some really silly scenes but a lot of great action.