one of my absolute favorites!

Don't Believe the Hype

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

I would suggest that the others voters here are underrating this movie. While its by no means a masterpiece, it does have some excellent elements. Perhaps the low score is due to the lame attempts at physical comedy, which many old skool Kung fu pics incorporated due to the success of Jackie Chans early films. Sure, they are terrible but get past em and you will have much to enjoy. There is, of course the genius martial artist that is John Liu, who gives his usual charismatic performance as a man searching for the Ex-monk, who has committed numerous heinous crimes. The selling point of the pic for me is the presence of Alan Hsu, a superb choreographer and martial artist, who plays the ex-monk. To see John Liu go into action under his direction is pure bliss, and the pair of fight sequences between the two are a joy to behold. While the film and choreography are not on a par with Hsu's excellent The Rebellious reign (if you haven't seen that one, your missing out), they are high impact and superbly edited. If your a John Liu or Alan Hsu fan, or Kung fu film fan in general, check it out