A gang of Robin Hood-esque warriors, the Swirling Riders like to steal from the rich to give to the poor. They are also masters of disguise, pulling off latex faces here and there, as well as being some of the finest fighters in the land. And they are also a very odd bunch of people...
After being tricked by a girl in a box who reveals a tiny paper knife, the team agree to help find out who killed her teacher...? Well I think that's what they agreed. The print I was watching was pretty rough on the edit with fast cuts on certain scenes that most probably meant some things got lost along the way!
While it has a lot going on in terms of cast, locations, sets and fights, 18 Shaolin Riders gets a little bit tripped up in itself to start with. Seemingly shot on a decent budget, this Taiwanese made classic aims for mystery and hidden motives with its disguises, double crossings and secret meetings. It's not that it fails to do so, it just doesn't do it wonderfully to begin with and may lose viewers too early.
The cast is great of course with the fantastic leads of Wong Tao, Wen Chaing Lung, Chen Jen Lei and Judy Lee getting the most of the screen time, and not forgetting the star-power of co-stars Chen Sing and Lo Lieh as the bad guys of course. Regular faces of HK and Taiwanese 70's kung fu cinema also pop up throughout!
Although there is never really 18 riders in the film (well, not until the final shot), 18 Shaolin Riders is a very interesting piece overall. I found it to be somewhat experimental in many ways with its cinematography, editing and choreography that tries to give something a little bit different that other films of that time. The fights themselves are far from boring often mixing some wire-fu with fast hand-to-hand combat, and offers some nice stunt work also. I saw shades of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and House of Flying Daggers at times which was interesting mixed with the grounded action.
I say it often, but it would be great to see this film in its original cut, language and ratio as I believe the English dub and release has some major issues that take away from what should have been.
Overall: 18 Shaolin Riders gets better as it moves on delivering an interesting kung fu film with some nice moments!
