Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
View MoreThis movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
View MoreExactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
View MoreActress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.
View MoreAs many have detailed here with a level of seriousness that I find amusing, this is *not*: A FILM. (cue dramatic music) It's just a so-bad-it's good, totally surreal, Jackie Chan stunt-for-all. The women fighters are totally kick-butt and Jackie is definitely put in his place. This is the movie you want to see with some good friends on a Sunday afternoon -- surrounded by munchies, ready to roar with laughter, cheer on the good guys, boo the bad guys, and continually yell, "WHAT?" when something totally bizarre happens. Great fun!!
View MoreDirector Lo Wei was known to read the racing papers and take naps on the set - tells us something about his "approach to film-making, huh? The reviews I've read fall into two categories: 1) this is a film so bad it is funny, or 2) this is a film so bad it is boring.So let's get to the point we all agree on - this film is really bad.I vote for category 2). The story is almost incomprehensibly complex, and it is further shredded and twisted by the remarkably poor camera work and editing. Yet Lo Wei was so in love with it that he slows the pacing so we can all have a long look at it, whether we want to or not.Maybe Lo Wei was upset the day (or two) this film was made - he just wanted to make everybody suffer, cast, crew and audiences alike.Spare yourself the agony.
View MoreA young master named Cao Lei (Jackie Chan) drives away his pregnant girlfriend from the family castle because he knows it's about to be raided by a gang of deadly bandits determined to kill his family. He charges a new friend with her care and protection. Following the attack on his family by the gang lead by a mysterious veiled woman who possesses tremendous, perhaps even mystical, fighting skills, Cao Lei somehow finds himself spared as the veiled woman seems to take a peculiar interest in him following him around like a shadow. Meanwhile the man Cao Lei had entrusted to care for his girlfriend is not quite the honorable fellow Cao Lei had thought. We soon discover his plans do not mirror those of Cao Lei.This 1970s Martial Arts film is a lot of fun to watch unfold. Filled with unexpected surprises and unusual plot twists, it really keeps the viewer guessing when he or she's not shaking their head in confusion. The most confusion stems from the relationship with the veiled woman who all reason suggests should be Cao Lei's sworn enemy yet...Still I love the action sequences and although the wire stuff just never looks believable, there's the suggestion of something mystical at work in our story that helps make some of these scenes somehow a little more credible that they would be without it. Jackie Chan may be the star of this movie Feng Hsu steals the show.
View MoreA remarkably young, ponytailed Jackie Chan in an unpolished kung-fu actioner that plays more like a soap opera with occasional action. It is overdone, bizarre, sometimes laughably bad (and I'm not even referring to the picture quality here), but it may be worth seeing for the most fanatic Chan fans, who will get a few glimpses of his skill, although most of the fight scenes rely too heavily on extensive wire work. As others have said, Jackie receives such heavy doses of beating in this film it's almost unsettling. (**)
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