This is the first film I watched on Wu Tang Collection, which is a great collection of these types of Martial Arts films. The transfer wasn’t great, it felt like the side of the frame was cutting people off and it also felt like it came from a VHS recording. It was also dubbed, but as I said on other kung-fu film reviews, it really compliments the film in terms of how we think about Chinese martial arts films of this era. There are some many things I like in this — mostly the fight scenes — but a lot of it drags, specifically the prison scenes. The plot is also something we’ve seen so many times: Corrupt lord, betrayals with a master dying, and someone running away to join the Shaolin Temple (all of those scenes feel very much the world of THE 36 CHAMBERS OF THE SHAOLIN). This is also my third Gordon Liu film this year. He really is something special, and I’m actually shocked this is one of his only directorial efforts. It is pretty cool to see him in this with the abbot looking exactly like the role he would play way later in life in KILL BILL VOL. II. Like most people I was introduced to this film from it’s samplings on the Wu Tang Clan album Enter the Wu Tang (36 Chambers) and it was very satisfying when those parts came up in the story from the amount of times I’ve listened to that album. Idy Chan is also a great fighter in this and I’m shocked she didn’t do more film work. I really liked her.
