Meng shi

Recently released by Code Red under its US title REVOLT OF THE DRAGON, THE BRAVE LION is basically everything I look for in a kung fu flick - lean, mean, and with great fighting and well staged action sequences. I'm not sure what everyone else here was looking for, but I really thought it delivered.

The bare-bones plot involves two Japanese prisoners assigned to oversee a Chinese logging camp as a stay of execution. The (Chinese) owner has collaborated with the Japanese and allows these two to operate inside while keeping their oversight a secret. One of the workers eventually finds out (while falling in love with the owner's daughter) and foments a revolt.

While the film is presumably set during the Japanese occupation in WWII, the mill workers' skintight jeans belie it as a product of the '70s - a plus for me, as I tend to prefer modern martial arts films to historical melodramas. To that effect, BRAVE LION is stripped about as lean and mean as possible, with its romantic subplot pared to a minimum and plenty of time left for kicks and fisticuffs. While the fighting is often poorly motivated (it's a wonder anything gets done at the mill, as guys start beating the crap out of each other the second anyone drops a hammer), it has an earthy looseness that's refreshing, a rough-and-tumble realism that finds the actors sliding down hills, rolling through the dirt and generally giving every scene their all. By the time the climax rolls around, featuring a jaw-dropping battle that careens onto a crane platform suspended over a gaping mountain abyss, it's hard for me to see how anyone could have lost interest. Like the best martial arts flicks, this one builds to a crescendo that leaves you exhilarated and breathless. Don't let the other reviews fool you – BRAVE LION is a keeper.

But then everyone has to start somewhere, I guess. The film is one of those anti-Japanese Chinese films (apparently the Japanese must have done some nasty things during the time because I used to have a Chinese friend who hated the Japanese, but was not even born when the conflict happened). The other unusual thing is one of the bad guys turns into a good guy (and gets killed in the process). Otherwise it's not as incoherent or non-sensical as other martial arts films, but there is the usual bad direction, editing, and out-of-focus photography characteristic of these films. So, nothing special here. And while some may consider Woo a good director, the only thing he was ever good at is action sequences, and most of these are so over-the-top as to be totally unbelievable (as are the plot devices in his films).

My copy is a digital file that plays on a HDTV in 4:3 format similar to the old VHS and is English dubbed. The video quality is as good as it gets for something this old in that the colors are bright and the scratched or other signs of wear and tear are minimal.

It opens with two prisoners taken to the commander and given life or death options. This sets up the very popular evil Japanese plot. Cut to men working around a train for the first fight sequence. It's hand to hand street fighting. Barry Chan becomes the victim of the Japanese boss cruelty. A Chinese man actually owns the operation that the Japanese are running.

Since there is only the simple, black and white, story of Chinese versus Japanese here I am left with reviewing the martial arts. The martial arts is also simple. Martial arts has many different styles. Even more styles have been fabricated just for a movie. There are also many different weapons and ways of using them. This movie just keeps it simple. There is no need to see if Tiger claw can beat Crane style. There is no need to see if two short swords are effective against a katana. This movie just has brawls, street fighting, and beatings. This can work as long as the moves have power and are on target. It doesn't work for long though as it can soon all look like the same thing over and over again.

Here's a movie that had little going for it until the final fight. I rate it a notch above average all because of the final fight. The fight lasted an impressive thirty minutes. The setting of train tracks and lumber yard meant any misstep or tumble would be painful to injuring. Back then safety precautions meant they put a thin mat down for the fight, if any. I recommend this movie for fans of the genre based on the down and dirty long duration final fight.

During the dark days of the Second World War, two Japanese prisoners of war are offered freedom if they are successful in managing a lumberyard in occupied China. They gladly take this opportunity and rule the yard with an iron fist, leading to an uprising lead by two of the oppressed workers.

The Brave Lion was one of many chopsocky films to exploit the bad history between Japan and China. Like the others it predictably has evil Japanese baddies and heroic, downtrodden Chinese heroes. Like the vast majority in this genre though, it is very limited; which is partially down to a low budget but in all honesty is mainly due to its tedious nature. There is a lot of kung fu action, quite relentlessly so, but it's never very distinctive and all blends into one long fight after a bit. And there's not really much else on offer with a film like this. I thought it was a pretty bad film and can only be recommended to hard-core martial arts fans.