1 comments about Kung Fu's Hero.

1. Cheung Lik (the lead actor from 10 Magnificent Killers and 36 Deadly Styles) stars in this 1973 basher. It also stars Bolo Yeung and San Kuai (the co-star from 10 Magnificent Killers). San Kuai plays the main villain, and this is definitely one of the biggest roles of his career. He'a been in uncountable movies, usually playing one of the villain's main henchmen, but never the main villain. His kung fu skills aren't the best, but not bad either. His crazy facial expressions are where he makes you believe he could be a main villain. Bolo does a great acting job, but his main fight scene is a disappointment. He has one little part where he throws a few punches and then a kick all in one combination, but other than that his fight is pretty bad. But I wasn't really expecting anything from Bolo anyway. He didn't come into his own as a screen fighter until about 1975-76. So the main villain is not a top notch guy like Hwang Jang Lee or Phillip Ko, and Bolo's fight is barely worth watching. What are we left with? Cheung Lik, and his double nunchucks. Ohhhhh yeah. He doesn't seem to be highly skilled using them, but he's good enough. He only uses the double nunchuks in the opening fight, but does break out the single nunchuck later on. Cheung Lik is very good with his fists, but where he really shines is in his kicking abilities. He would actually improve quite a bit over the years, but his kicks were still pretty good in 1973. He has a few scenes where he does a hopping kicking style somewhat similiar to Dorian Tan, and in one take he's on one leg hopping and kicking for about 15 kicks in a row.
   
   Like I said above, there's no plot, and it's all action. When trouble arises (over and over again), be assured that the hero will show up and an extremely long fight scene will begin.
   
   3/5
   
   The Tai Seng DVD is full screen and the picture quality is a bit above average.

5 comments about Tattoo Connection.

1. i remember watching this 70s jim kelly classic on saturday afternoon tv in new york when a local tv station played kung fu movies every week. ah those were the good ol' days of the late 70s/80s. THE TATTOO CONNECTION sticks out as the best of those kung fu flicks i have seen. i remember jim kelly ... as an agent named lucas sent overseas to find some diamond. i remember some goofy disco theme song titled 'diamond'. i remember a good car chase scene with kelly at some lumber or junk yard. i remember kelly making love to an asian girl while switching drinks where 1 contained a drug meant for him but the girl wound up drinking it and got high. i remember jim kelly telling his bosses that he's "the black six million dollar man". i remember in the bad dubbing 1 of the bad guys called kelly not lucas but "black man!" racist! i remember the climax on a ship and kelly kicking rear. what else? that's all i know. i am just happy that TATTOO CONNECTION will be out on dvd in april (why so many delays after original dates of feb., march 25 and now april 22?!) and i will buy it. hope it will be widescreen and remastered. i will have a good time. congrats to pathfinder video for releasing this treasure, ok 3 1/2 stars. if only they can put out other old kung fu classics like STREETS GANGS OF HONG KONG, STONER (w/ george lazenby post-007), DUEL OF THE IRON FIST. A HARD WAY TO DIE, SLAUGHTER IN SAN FRANCISCO with chuck norris, & ROOTS OF EVIL (with christian anders---who?).

   it is june 9, and FINALLY, i bought THE TATTOO CONNECTION which sadly it isn't letterboxed and it is in need of windex w/ its filthy film prints. still, i had a good time. the fighting is surprising ly terrific and jim kelly is very good. to my surprise there is a lotta (A LOT! ) nudity that wasn't in the U.S. print when it first came out in theaters. there is commentary by 2 film critics who sound like a combo of beavis and butthead, dennis miller (one of 'em sounds like him) and MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000. and it is helpful and hilarious. 4 stars! if only those 2 critics can poke fun @ george lazenby's awful acting and kung-fu-ing in STONER.




2. This film is for die hard Jim Kelly fans! "The Tattoo Connection" (TTC) is promoted as "Black Belt Jones 2" although it has no connection with the original Kelly classic. The producers of this title probably used the tie in to entice the casual fan to check this DVD out based on the popularity of "Black Belt Jones." The plot is sketchy as Kelly's secret agent character Lucas is given the assignment of retrieving a stolen diamond some where in Asia. The film never really gathers up enough steam to be considered as a top rate martial arts offering. However, TTC is at its best when Kelly is on the screen (as the star Kelly is notoriously absent during several rather long sequences) chopping up guys and laying down that ultra smooth soul brother rap. The highlight of the film occurs during the climatic fight on a ship were Kelly goes toe to toe with fellow "Enter the Dragon" alumni Bolo Yeung in a fight to the death. Kelly is fit and in fine form through out TTC. It's a shame that he wasn't given more to do in this effort it might have raised the over all quality of the film.



3. This typical Hong Kong 1970's kung fu flick has now been re-released as BLACK BELT JONES 2, although originally released as THE TATTOO CONNECTION.Obviously the distributers have called it BBJ2 to tie in with the popularity of the original movie.This movie is no BBJ but it's quite entertaining if you are a Kelly fan.The film is let down by a scene where a rather choppy fight scene goes horribly wrong,the illusion is ruined and the fight looks fake.What's more, Jim Kelly is hardly in this movie and looks a bit of a fool surrounded by all those unknown Chinese actors.



4. Pathfinder Pictures? Never heard of them. While I'm pleased this movie was released on DVD, I am very disappointed with the overall picture and sound quality. This is one of the worst video transfers I have ever seen and the sound is not far behind. Obviously no money went into restoring this movie for its release on DVD and that's too bad for Jim Kelly fans. Make no mistake; this movie has nothing to do with the martial art's classic Black Belt Jones. Jim Kelly had a supporting role in "Enter the Dragon" and he didn't really get a chance to show us what he could do with his ability. In "The Tattoo Connection" he is the man, but once again this movie doesn't really showcase his martial arts talent either. I struggled to give this movie a 3 star rating but hey it's Jim Kelly. This is a typical 1970's chop socky movie that could have been much better. For martial arts and Kelly fans the fight scene between Kelly and Bolo Yeung is still exciting to watch. The Tattoo Connection is still an entertaining movie, but I definitely think the price is too much considering the poor picture and sound quality from Pathfinder.
   
   On the DVD
   Interactive menus
   Scene access
   Filmographies
   Trailer
   Audio commentary by cinema critics Luke Y. Thompson and Gregory Weinkauf
   Still gallery
   Languages: English, Mandarin Chinese
   On/off subtitles



5. B movie at it's best but KUNG FU. Black Belt Jones is back and HE is the one that is gonna take bruce's place. He got on the train and fell off quick, but Jim Kelly had a few pretty good movies. This is definitelyone of them. Add in Lee Hoi-sang, Dorian Tan(delon tan), Bolo, Sing Chen, tony leung sei hung ( a great action director) and a couple of other stars I can't put a name to, and you have a really alomst good kung fu flick.
   
   So some diamonds are stolen of course and Jim kelly shows up to track down the robbers. He says-"they call me the black 6 milion dollar man". AHHHHH the cheese, it is good cheese, but just liek anything, you can get too much of it. So save a litle for later if you need to, cause this is a classic and may take two sittings to get through the greatness of it. Sadly it gets REALLY borign at the midway point. So finally the ending comes around and is very unspectacular, but you do get 2 good fights, opne with jim and bolo, other with dorian tan and sing chen. All in all, worth a peek if you are a mega fan like me. And if you don't belieev me about the cheese, then here is the evry last line of the movie. "I'll see you on christmas". They may have finished this movie in 2 days time. For real.

1 comments about The Wandering Swordsman.

1. David Chiang stars as the Wandering Swordsman and robs from the rich and gives to the poor. He comes across Lily Li and saves her from possible death. Her brother runs an escort service and Chiang gets tricked into heisting the treasure they are carrying. Now he has to fight all of the guards of the escort service and retrieve the treasure from the thieves to prove his innocence.
   
   While David Chiang is likeable, the first half of the movie just isn't very good. The jokes are not funny, and the story seems like minimal effort was put into it. It's not bad, but not as good as most of Chang Cheh's movies he did in the late 60's and early 70's.
   
   The action is VERY good for it's time except for David Chiang flying around like Peter Pan. The blood spilling gets pretty graphic and the movie really heats up in the last 30 minutes.
   
   Since this was made nearly 40 years ago, there are a ton of young stars that have cameos. Wu Ma plays one of the thieves and uses a wicked whip, Cliff Lok, Wang Chung, Yuen Shun Yi and Yuen Chung Yeung play guards, and Bolo Yeung and Chen Sing play 2 of the thieves.
   
   Rating-3.5/5
   
   
   
   SPOILER ALERT
   DO NOT READ THIS!
   I SAID DO NOT READ THIS![While I don't think this is a great movie, I love the ending where I kept wishing a certain someone would have woken up.]END OF SPOILER
   
   
   
   
   The DVD from Image Entertainment has nearly perfect picture quality, though there does seem to be some shakiness at times when the camera moves. It's only a minor DVD defect. Sound quality is good and hiss free and the subtitles are well written.

4 comments about Chinese Hercules.

1. The fight scenes in this movie are totally amazing. The dubbing in the movie is horrible so if you are into movies like that such as godzilla, then this movie is for you.



2. Bolo Yeung, the only skilled fighter in this movie, is not the star of the film as the box would have you believe. The main character is an actor who shows no skill in martial arts. His character flips out in the beginning after killing someone and then runs away. The rest of the plot thereafter is nearly indecipherable. Bolo is the 'Darth Vader' of the movie. The big villain uses him to beat good guys to death. Bolo's Shotokan is excellent in the movie, but that is the works only redeaming value.



3. Well,This movie is about a young man who thinks that he killed his girlfriends brother. In doing so runs off and smashes his hand and swears to never again use his fists. He gets a job at
   a pier working for some bad men. The boss of the bad men sells
   out to the syndicate and in turn has to get rid of the workers
   at the pier any way he can. When his friends start ending up dead the young man must once again raise his fists.The star of the movie is Chan Wai Man who kung fu movie collectors know very well as a common movie villian - but, here he is the good guy. The movie is old and originally had a different title.When they repackaged and changed the title - they capitalized on the fame of Bolo Yeung who plays one of the villians in the movie. The Fighting is solid - I have seen far better and far worse. Their are some minor volume problems in the movie as well. I have given this movie three stars for the simple fact that I have seen hundreds of kung fu movies and martial arts movies and this rates slightly above average to me.



4. If you like kung fu movies, you'll probably get some mild enjoyment (keyword: mild) out of "Chinese Hercules." It's about a guy who kills his fiance's brother. Feeling awful about it, he runs off to start a new life and a new identity, vowing never to kill again. But, this being a kung fu movie, you can be damn sure there's gonna be some serious a$$ whuppin' by the time it's done. Bolo "Enter the Dragon" Yeung is heavily hyped on the box (and the movie's title, "Chinese Hercules," is actually one of his nicknames), but he actually only plays a small role as a henchman.
   The DVD I got is from Front Row Entertainment. The image is pan and scan, heavily cropped from the film's probable 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The image is extremely bad - very, very faded and scratchy. The sound is dubbed. While purists might complain, I sometimes get a kick out goofy dubbed dialogue. Unsurprisingly, there are no extras.

5 comments about Fists of Legends II: Iron Bodyguards.

1. This flick is weird,but has some great [stuff] in it.The dude who is the lead is actually Jet Li's double,and the Russian dude is actually Van Damme's double,so it's the closest we'll get to seeing the two superstars doing it. It's directed by my main man,Robert Tai,who did all the 5 Venom flicks,so you know his action is tight!The Phantasm ninja are off the hook!And the Venom Centipede is in the flick!Jet Le is actually better than Jet Li in my opinion.He's got more moves than Li. The other parts of the flick are old school type fighting with the hi point being Bolo using RED nunchuks! That's new to me!!Count on the Wu Tang to give us some strange but tasty jewels!I would suggest getting they Hidden Chambers series with the suped up extra features though.Flix like Revenge of the Patriots,Fury in Shaolin Temple, Shaolin Kingboxer,etc. They are hands down the best kung fu DVD jointz out there!!Check my other reviews. Peace!



2. First of all i just wanna say this movie doesnt even have anything to do with Fist of Legend.It actually had a good storyline too bad it didnt follow it.U wanna know why.........? Because the darn movie breaks off to a old kung fu flick which just flat out confused me because I was following this movie so well until that point I had thought that the star was jet le not the real jet lee but the guy that was on the box the fighting in this movie was ok but the storyline had no chance once they switched up.Whoever made this movie was only trying to make a quick buck.Well I bought it so i guess they did. I knew this movie couldnt even be as half as good as the original.And I wonder does the Wu tang Clan really like some of these flicks? If they do they are corny just like there last two albums.



3. This movie has nothing to do with the original Fist of Legend. Then to add salt to the wound it has nothing to do with JET LI. Instead it stars JET LE (like who is that?). Geez the nerve of people trying to make money under Jet Li's name. Don't waste time or money if you are trying to add to you Jet Li's collection.



4. this movie went from 1974 to 1996 thats a 22 year differential. went from good old fashion chop socky of the early 70's to a mid speed action of the 1990's. robert tai back in 74' must've made his 1st film in that period of time and didnt finish it. and it was good so far. he had the great tien feng, james nam, lu feng before he became a venom and supposedly does the fight choreography along with robert tai and alexander lo rei. and it stars bolo yeung also and jet le? not jet li but jet le and this film is decent but not great so i gave it a 2.



5. listed action directors-robert tai, lau kar wing, and alexander lo rei. I wish that they would have lived up to their names.
   
   Now the kid below is right. This is a godfrey ho type of movie. The story is that Jet "Le" is going somewhere and we get to watch him walk. Actually, all of the newer footage is fighting, really no standing around. It's just that it is not good. If you were to tell me this movie took more than a day to make, I wouldn't believe you. Editing, maybe 2 days. The earlier footage is VERY old and has Lu Feng, James Nam, Bolo, and a bruce lee clone. The fighting sucks in the old stuff but does get good towards the end. In fact, the end of this old movie was better than the end of Jet's. Spoiler alert ahead, not that it matters though. The final fight in this movie involves 2 shirtless guys in the jungle with twin swords going up against jet. And they have their faces painted, and then it lasts about a minute and a half. Just great. I should give this mvoie a one with the way it ends and how it just wrongly tries to correlate these 2 movies together, but the fact that robert tai actually managed to tie them togethter, that is pretty good. When you have seeen hundreds of godfrey ho movies, you have to respect something like that. But then aghain, the new footage shot is stuff like "You wanna fight", "no I don't wanna fight, I have to go", "ok, maybe I'll go with you". And it gets even worse.
   
   The dvd's picture is actually letterboxed! Bonus fight scene included on here is much better than the entire movie.

4 comments about Shootfighter: Fight to the Death.

1. Enter the most merciless combat arena ever imagined, as international martial arts wizard BOLO YEUNG stars with WILLIAM ZABKA, MARTIN KOVE, EDWARD ALBERT JR., and MARYAM D'ABO in this bone-crushing, full contact action spectacular! Karate Champions Ruben and Nick are lured by the menacing Mr. Lee across the border to compete as "shootfighters," a forbidden sport so brutal it's banned from the civilized world. But when Ruben and Nick are forced to face each other in the ring, they realize they're only pawns in Lee's deadly masterplan: a final, fight to the death grudge match between Lee and the legendary founding father and unconquered king of shootfighting - Shingo.



2. I am sure that 9 out of 10 reviews you will find about this movie will define it as CRAPPY, TERRIBLY BAD or even worse, but to me it is quite a great product.
   While the editing sucks, that I admit, the action will make you breathlees; the fights are perfectly coreographed, and the blood factor will leave blood-thirsty people more than happy.
   Here's the story:
   Shingo, a great Shootfighter, has reached the finals of the tournament after beating his opponent quite easely. The other semifinal match will confront Mr. Lee and Shingo's buddy.
   Despite threwing a few punches, Shingo's friend finds himself in front of a very powerful fighter, who, after punching him as if he was a PC that has just broken down, rips the poor guy's throat. Mr. Lee is then banned from Shootfighting, and decides to star his own Shootfighting bussiness in Mexico.
   Ruben and Nick, Shingo's karate students,and two great fighters, are tracked by Mr. Lee who, decided to take revenge from Shingo, convinces them of participating in Shootfighting, and of course the excitement for no-ruled fighting, and the need of money (typical!) will make them sign up in a tournament where defeat means DEATH.



3. Shootfighter is just about the best American-made martial arts movie ever. There is a decent story, good characters (2 from the Karate Kid movies), lots of action, and superb cage fighting - with weapons.
   
   The movie begins in Hong Kong, with Shingo (played by Bolo Yeung) and Lee (played by Martin Kove) who are about to fight off in the Shootfighter finals. Before Lee makes it to Shingo, he is banned from Shootfighting for killing his prior opponent. Lee begins his own Shootfighting tournament in Mexico, with weapons in the final round. In order to regain his honor, Lee lures 2 of Shingo's students (William Zakba and Michael Bernardino) to participate in the tournament in hopes that Shingo will follow.
   
   The fighting in the movie is extreme and intense, especially the weapons matches in the final round. There is plenty of blood and some gore, and the fights are lengthy, look real, and are evenly matched. There is also a lot of wonderful choreography. The finals alone last for about the final 30 minutes of the film. The scene for the tournament is in a pretty decent looking locale: an underground caged ring with a screaming dinner audience of betters.
   
   As far as the characters go, the movie has a decent list. Most notable are Martin Kove and William Zakba from the Karate Kid movies. There are also a couple of good fighters from other movies, played by John Barret (American Kickboxer 1) and Thunderwolf (Bloodmatch). Most of the acting isn't too bad, but there are cheesy moments. Unfortunately, if you are a fan of Bolo Yeung, this is not his best role. He doesn't do the good guy much justice, especially with the plenty of dumb one-liners he has. He does get a chance to kick some butt pretty good in the end though.
   
   Overall, Shootfighter is fast paced and above average quality as far as American-made martial art movies go. If you are looking for some of the most intense fights, look no further. This is easily an hour and half of enjoyable movie watching.



4. This movie is pure nostalgia if you remember the first Karate Kid. The Cobra Kai are back in action. This movie also features BOLO as the hero and has a few WMAC camios.
   The one thing I don't get is that BOLO is chinese, but his character "Shingo" has a japanese name. BOLO is well versed in Tai Chi, but his character is a substitute teacher at a karate school.
   Despite the ignorance of the script, there is enough action to make up for these flaws.

No comments about EXPLOITATION CINEMA: Chinese Hercules / Black Dragon.

No comments about Bruce Lee: Martial Arts Master, the Life of Bruce Lee.

5 comments about Dragon on Fire (Dub).

1. I'm not sure why people have given this film such good reviews. Maybe it's one of the reasons why I disliked it even more. I was expecting a film with great fighting, even without the good storyline, but I was very disappointed. My main beef with this film is the way Godfrey Ho manipulates the speed of the fighting sequences. I think he should have just undercranked to make it look like they were fighting faster. Instead, he snips out frames, so for example, at one second, a guys hands at his waist, while in the next instance it's above his head! Not to mention the fact that the coreography itself isn't memorable. Philip Ko is a great fighter (at least, he is in other films I've seen, like 'Tiger Over Wall'), but boy is wasted in this film. Tino Wong and John Liu are also not impressive in this film. And what's up with Dragon Lee? His character goes around making bruce lee faces and manneurisms, but what is the point of his character? I guess one interesting fact about this film is that it features some 'voodoo kung fu', which would become a popular genre during the early 80's.
   If you really are curious about this film, I'd suggest getting it as a cheapie in that 'Dragon Lee' set by BCI Eclipse/Brentwood. At least, if you dislike it, you won't have wasted your money, and if you really liked it, you'd feel satisfied about getting your money's worth and more.



2. CLASSIC! All star cast. Dragon Lee (Bruce Lei), Bruce Lea, Bruce Li, Samuel Walls. Get this at all costs.



3. This is NOT the movie staaring Dragon Lee. This is another movie and Dragon Lee is not the main character.



4. Nice to get this movie on DVD.There are no extras with it, but the quality is good. Well worth it if you're a true martial arts movie fan, especially a fan of John Liu. Unfortunately, there are a couple of annoying characters in this one, but the heroes make up for it, and the fight scenes are great. This has been one of my favorites for years.



5. We get the same old terrible godfrey ho movie, but it doesn't end with the white ninja vs the red, we get actual choreographed fights. Easily the best godfrey ho movie I haev seen to date, and sadly, I haev seen hundreds of his ninja flicks. Now the story is just as bad and meaningless as always. Let me tell you what I was able to decipher. John Liu fights a guy at the start of the movie. He beats him and because they fought, their secret style is lost forever?? There are a few white guys in this and a main one who is selling stolen antiques of course. Chan Lau runs a business where he receives these antiques and also sits outside of his house with a blue painted face and challenges people to beat his fighters. He is willing to give up $20 if anybody can beat his guys. So a guy says ok, I'll fight. Chan lau is like, alright, take on Bolo. So Bolo uses this cool gorilla style. Then someone comes in and beats Bolo. Then Phillip Ko shows up and kills him just after his victory on Bolo. Dragon Lee goes around doing Bruce Lee poses and tino Wong is his brother. Dragon is training one day and John Liu watches him. Dragon doesn't liek people watching him so he fights Liu. Then tino wong comes down to fight him. He says "I must kill you to revenge my father". All of this is classic godfrey ho. Sometimes you can have up to 100 or so movies in one pf his films. But this manages to be cut down to only about 3 movies. New record for godfrey ho. Chan Lau hires Liu to work for him, because, well, Bolo lost so he needs another fighter. Hey, I figured one of the plot lines out! Fat kid shows up who you have seen in MANY movies(one is snake in eagle's shadow) and he is trying to break his plates out in some wasteland and is getting mad casue tino wong is catching them and not lettign them break???????? Then we see Chan Lau having this weird scenee where he can't breath and is eating roaches. This happens in the dark of course and I think he is supposed to be a demon, but why I am tryign to figure stuff out in a godrefy ho movie. But basically it leads up to him learning the mad dog technique and biting up dragon lee. That fight and the finale is what got this film it's 3 stars. Good stuff from the great Godfrey Ho.
   
   We also get training sequences and stupid plot twists that add to the film horribleness also. What a wonderful movie.
   
   Now this movie is also called dragon, the hero. So why is dragon the star of so many ho movies and nodody elses, Godfrey just loves him I guess.
   
   
   Picture quality is full screened and pretty bad picture with colors bleedign all over the screen. Adn whoeeevr the cameraman was when they were actually filming this, he must have had a seizure at one point.

4 comments about Bloodfight.

1. bloodsport totally ripped this asian movie off! even going so far as to hire bolo to play the same charachter! that aside both are worth watching. ...



2. THOUGH THIS STEALS IDEAS FROM BLOODSPORT, THIS MOVIE SEEMS TO BE PRETTY GOOD ANYWAY. A TRAINER COMES BACK OUT OF RETIREMENT TO FIGHT A RUTHLESS FIGHTER [BOLO YEUNG] WHO KILLED A YOUNG FIGHTER HE TRAINED. THIS VIOLENT MARTIAL ARTS FEST HAS PLENTY OF GOOD FIGHT SCENES, BUT THE THING THAT SEEMS TO HURT THIS MOVIE IS ITS SHODDY FILMING. MARTIAL ARTS FANS SHOULD BE SATISFIED WITH THIS NONETHELESS.



3. IF SOMEONE SAID TO ME HEY I GOT A MOVIE WHERE YUSAIKA KURATU AND BOLO FIGHT EACHOTHER ON SCREEN, I WOULD KNOCK THEM DOWN, GRAB THE TAPE, AND RUN TO THE NEAREST VCR/DVD PLAYER, POP IT IN AND WATCH. ABOUT HALFWAY THROUGH I WOULD FIND THAT PERSON AND BEAT THE LIVING SHI* OUT OF THEM AND LET THEM KNOW THAT HE WOULD HAVE ONLY GOT BEATEN UP ONCE IF THE MOVIE WOULD HAVE BEEN GOOD.
   
   BUT THIS IS HONESTLY THE WORST MOVIE THAT I HAVE EVER SEEN. I GOT THIS IN A DOUBLE PACK WITH CHINESE HERCULES, AND AFTER HAVING WATCHED THIS, I MIGHT GIVE IT A 3/5. BEFORE WATCHING THIS I WOULD HAVE TO DECIDE TO GIVE IT A 1 OR 2. IF THIS MOVIE TOOK MORE THAN 24 HOURS TO MAKE, THEN THEY TOOK WWWWWWWAAAAAYYY TOO LONG.
   
   kURATU IS A TOP 5 ACTION STAR OF ALL-TIME FOR ME, BUT AFTER WATCHING THIS, I WOULDN'T BELIEVE ANYONE THAT HE WAS GOOD IN FIST OF LEGEND MADE ONLY LIKE 4-5 YEARS AFTER THIS IF I WOULD HAVE SEEN THIS FIRST.
   
   SO IF YOU HAVE SEEN FIST OF LEGEND, THEN BUY THIS MOVIE SO YOU CAN NOW SEE THE WORST OF KURATU AFTER SEEING HIS BEST.
   
   
   THIS DESERVES TO BE SEEN BY NO ONE.



4. Some quick stats for fans of martial arts films. Body count: 1, with 2 ambiguous. Nude scenes: 0. Best (only) death sequence: Neck snap. All spoken dialogue is English.
   
   Whether you're a fan of plot or a fan of action in martial arts movies, this film will disappoint. The acting in the movie is amateurish, save for Yasuaki Kurata (plays Masahiro Kai), whose acting is respectable in a sea of obvious low-budget casting. The characters are, for the most part, poorly developed and forgettable.
   
   The fight sequences are fakey at times, poorly choreographed, and rarely last longer than a few seconds. The only fight scenes of any respectable length are Simon Yam vs. Bolo Yeoung, and Yasuaki Kurata vs. Bolo Yeoung, otherwise known as student vs. bad guy, and master vs. bad guy.
   
   The plot is a nothing complex or unique: Student dies in tournament, and master reenters the ring to avenge him. The master's comeback is a spitting image of Stallone's training and comeback in the Rocky series.
   
   You may enjoy the many eigties culture aspects of the movie, such as a gang of punks including a slick haired, jean jacket clad, black shades-wearing leader.
   
   Bottom line, there are many martial arts films to go through before you need to resort to watching films of this level. Any film that would stoop to recycling the plot of a Van Damme movie (Bloodsport) speaks for itself. While the movie is not totally without merit, you would get much better satisfaction from "The Young Master" or "Story of Ricky."