Review 5. The Big Family

This movie starts off quite nicely with it being the birthday of one of hong kongs most respected familys father. Played by enter the dragon villian Shek Kin. We soon learn of the familys trouble with one son addicted to drugs and the other a trouble causing rebel. Things really kick off when the rebel son beats a top fighter in a tv hosted pre tournament event, meaning that the orangiser has to call the whole thing off, to bad he is also a mob boss.

Soon trouble begins and before long things esculate until the whole family is dragged in, having to be pitted against the mob leaders men in fist fights to the death.

No to bad of a movie with stars like Tino Wong and Bolo adding small roles for this offering from Goldig films. The movies major flaw is that the pacing isn't to quick and this leads to a pretty dry experience through most of the movie. The films does redeam itself in the last 20 odd mintues with what becomes a pretty solid ending. The basher action is swift and heavy, with a final bout against a japanese style fighter in which all the male members of the family fight to bring him down. Quite enjoyable ending aside this film isn't great, but i wouldn't call it a waste of money.

2 out of 5

The dvd i've reviewed is the vengeance video region 0 PAL version.

Picture:

Worn colours and print. Presented in fullscreen aspect ratio cropping is apparent and at times annoying. The darker scenes in the movie are hard to make out with contrast levels being lower than average. Still a watchable movie though.

2 out of 5

Sound:

English dubbed sound option, with all the hiss and pop you would expect, nothing distracting. The first five minutes of the English track are missing, but thankfully vengeance has provide us with well translated subtitles for the begining section of the film. Also included is the full Mandarin track

2 out of 5

Extras:

All thats included are promotional trailers for The Dragons snake fist and Furious Ultimatum, which looks completely kick ass.

1 out of 5

Overall:

Not the best flick you will ever see but basher fans will still get something out of the last 20 mintues.

Review 4. A Hero's Tears

This review was orignally posted on the flashlegsrare forums review section. All information on the dvd itself is new.

Ummm...the smell of just opening a new DVD. A nice sent if i ever smelt one. I ordered this movie based on a single still i saw some time ago and didn't really have any idea of the films content. As soon as i read the back of the box and saw yet more images i was a little hyped at what looked like it could be a small, decently bugetted slice of kung fu and swordplay.The film opens with two men waiting for someone in nice looking studio set. Ling Yun suddenly appears playing the feared assassin 'Three Days life'. After a nice piece of action unfolds in which both villians are killed. upon death we get to see a cold blood splatter effect. The title credits role.So after the first five minute my expectations of this movie went up a knotch or two yet again. The story revolves around Three days life's attempt to find a cure for his sisters blindness, having to work as an extreamly proffesional assassin to do so. Along the way Pai Sha Fungs character wants to help our hero; deluded by the reality and real motives behind his life. Upon finding the truth though he forms a strong bond with Three day's sister. And so he decides to help him in his quest for her cure. After the amazing titles though the movie does take a rather unnecessary turn for the worse. With the first thirty mintues containing some uneeded comedic elements that really don't fit what turns into quite a serious movie. This aside the film soon blossoms into a full delight to watch. The costumes and sets are real eye candy. Up there with the shaw swordplay movies in terms of the asthetic of the studio settings, which really reminded me of the beautiful ones that were used in Death Duel.

The character become very relevant to the story rather than just action as there are true motives to there acts and real morals to there lives. From thirty mintues onwards into the film the story really starts to map out with good pacing and a plot the unvolves with the nice action to match. There is small emthesis on wire works during the main course of the film, with little use during the action, but when inplaced used professionally and efficiently. As the movies come to a close, the plot comes together nicely and the ending has a real adrenaline running through it. The ending fight is very well done and is where the wire works really come into play, again used extreamly well. The inclusion of some interesting techniques and camera effects add more substantce to an already fantastic sequence, the ending also has a down beat tone to sourer the postitive happening that went previous to it. Some out of place comedy and minor unnecessary stuff aside, this movie really turned into a suprise hit and is worth a viewing most definately. Other notes to make are that the dubbing really did not fit the mood of the film, so after watching the dub and knowing the story i decided to watch this with with the original mandarin language option, which unfortunately is missing the subs.To conclude A heroes tear is a sleeper hit which i can say is worth your time as a fan and is definately as is so well written by flashlegs 'swordplay action with class.'

3.5 out of 5

The DVD reviewed is of the vengeance video region 0 PAL version. And is avalible at a buget price at most online retailers.

Video:
Good picture quality over, presented in fullscreen aspect. Cropping is at times noticable but never a problem. It is obvious that the film has been taken from two master, one with pretty low contrast and the other with print damage. Lots of speckle and marks throught out but again never a problem and nothing that will suprise kung fu fans.
2.5 out of 5

Sound:
Two sound options are provided, the English dubbed soundtrack, which is clear and suffers from only minor hiss. Also provided is the original Mandarin track, with a lack of subtitles on this disc most fans will probably discard this, but still it is a nice extra and i think it is fantastic that vengeance video provide these things rather than have them be lost somewhere over time.
3.5 out of 5

Extras:
Included on the disc is a picture of the movies original poster, also we are provided with a trailer gallery which contains original trailers for invincible armour, 18 shaolin riders and Iron neck Li.
More than you should expect from a bugdet title.
2 out of 5

Overall:
A good movie that i really enjoyed gets a pretty decent release, worth the money and a flick that many fans will find interesting.

Review 3. Duel of the 7 Tigers.

I can't beleive that it has taken me this long to give this film a look, it really is one of the genres unmentioned classics. The movie is brought to you by the people behind genre classic snake in the monkeys shadow, why this movie isn't better known is a complete mystery.
The flick is made up from an all star cast, including Cliff Lok as the hero, Philip Ko Fei as the karate expert villian. And what i consider the biggest treat of all is Charlie Chan as the monkey style expert.
The Opening credits give us a run down of the actors and their real life achievments in training teaching and competions, the movie was funded by the Hong Kong kung fu federation so many of the cast are experts and this movie could be seen as a way of promoting their styles.
The story begins in shaolin, the chief Abbott has just died and with no will left, the two best monks must fight each other to determine who will lead shaolin.
The losing monk travels to an island off the coast of Japan and begins his own school and style which becomes Karate.
Philip Ko his top student comes to China to prove Karate as the top martial art. He defeats all fighters. Cliff Lok with help from friends travels in search of masters in the hope of defeating the karate expert. They recruit masters in a number of styles, when faced against the karate champ they are all crippled. They decide to teach all their styles to Cliff Lok so that he can combine them to defeat his enemy.

The movie just doesn't let up through out. Non stop action is the order of the day and it really deleivers the goods. The first fight between the shaolin monks is superbly chorographed and sets the standard for those to come. I love animal styles and with the good monk adopting the monkey style the fight is nothing less than brilliant. As the movie progresses with see masters of lama, choy lee fat, hung, wing chun and dragon display their skills. It really is quite impressive seeing all these different styles packed into a single film. The training scenes are fantastic as well, watching Cliff Lok learn monkey style from Charlie Chan is a marvel. And Yeung Pan Pan is on top form as the female fighter. Not to mention that Casonova Wong Pulls in a great martial display and role as usual.
The ending showdown between Philip Ko and Cliff Lok is top ranking, lost somewhere between showcasing of shapes action and real life martial techniques.
This movie deserves recognition, definately an unsung classic.

5 out of 5.

The version which i have reviewed is the Eastern Heroes vhs tape. There is a offical uk dvd release from vengeance video, From what i have seen of this the sound and picture quality are both good it is presented in full screen. It sounds like a copy worth getting as the eastern heroes vhs has been out of print for a long time.

Picture:
Presented slightly letterboxed with small bars at the top and bottom of the screen. Good quality picture, colours are strong and contast levels are good. Eastern heroes were well known as a company that meant quality and love fro the genre. Overall this is a good version, specially when you take into consideration vhs kung fu quality.

Sound:
English dubbed, Clear and easy to hear. Slight crackle and hiss. And a low level background buzz through out, this never proves distracting of annoying.

Extras:
Vhs so none what so ever.

Overall:

A good release from a good company, a genre classic all collectors should own. Worth getting the vengeance dvd copy as even if it is full screen the vhs is only very slightly letterboxed so aspect difference is only marginal.

Review 2. The Dynamite Trio

Crap, bloody crap! IFD and Joseph Lai present....After seeing countless cheap ninja movies made up from several pictures spliced together released under this company, it's never a nice experience to see that screen appear. But a crappy ninja cheapie this movie is not.

I love sleeper hits, there is just something very pleasant about watching a movie that isn't widely acknowledged only to find that it is a good slice of kung fu action.


I'll be blunt in saying that this movie doesn't add anything new to the genre, it follows the same generic code as hundreds of kung fu comedy movies but don't let this put you off what is a quite fun little picture.
The story of our hero played by Mark Long revolves around his urge to learn kung fu and when a secret mannual finds it way into his hands he learns the lot and manages to master the secret mantis technique. Problems start when killer Lung Fei arrives and starts taking heads! Our heroes father is killed and he has to team up with the mantis master and his student for revenge.

The movie pans out at a good pace and the slapstick action is performed like most: bennyhill slapstick style, slipping on bannan skins ect. The action is really tight which is what makes this movie worth watching. On a personal level i love to see the use of animal styles and hand to hand trickery, mantis style being one of my favourite forms. This movie provides all of these at a good level.
The end fight see's a master against villian and then later a two on one against the baddy. Throughout it's solid shapes on show all the time. Mark Long puts in a fun performance as the lead and shows his skills in every fight. If light comedy and good fights are what you look for in your kung fu movies then this one most definately delivers on these factors. A solid three star movie.
3 out of 5



The DVD:
the review you just read was of the vengeance video UK release. The movie is uncut running at 88 minutes approx. There is a faults on the dvd, this being that the movie plays for about 100 mintues, with about 12 mintues of black screen after the film is over, as you can imagine though this is not a problem. Acceptable at a budget price tag.

Picture:
The Quality of the picture is nice a clear throughout, with some speckle and scratches. Presented in full screen aspect ratio cropping does become noticalbe at times, but never proves annoying. There is a widescreen copy is cirulation amoungst collectors and i would say that it is worth seeking out.

Sound:
Stereo sound is fine, some background hiss but nothing distracting, sound effects come through strong and clear.

Extras:
This is a budget release so only a fullscreen trailer for the movie is present, still this is a nice addition to the disc.

Over all it is sufficient to say this is an average release for a good movie, vengeance deliver another good disc to the fans for a good price. If it sounds right up your street that is because it is.