It begins with a burglar trying to steal something but it is well protected by many traps particularly a copper net. Apparently he was killed as next many men swear revenge for his death. Then a lot of stuff happens that has nothing to do with that and doesn't go anywhere else either. For example a victim of poisoning is revived and quickly she agrees to marry the daughter of the woman who poisoned her. Yes, I wrote her, not he.
I watched this movie only because I am on a mission to watch every martial arts movie made from 1967 to 1984, the golden age of martial arts movies. Sek Kin, the most prolific actor of this genre though not in that time frame, is one of the stars. The great patriarch of the Yuen clan, Simon Yuen also appears though I failed to notice him on first view.
My mission lead me to the dusty corners and under the draped counters of movie stores in China towns across America. Things have changed over the past five years. VCDs and even DVDs are becoming extinct. I used to be fussy that the disk had to have English subtitles or why bother. Now I buy anything simply because it still exists and trust to future technologies that I will someday be able to translate the dialog. Some movies have Chinese subtitles but Google translation is not good enough yet and I have yet to meet a Chinese person (or anyone else) who can actually read Chinese.
Back to the movie review, albeit written only for the four or five people like me in the world who would obtain a copy and watch it, My copy is black and white. It is widescreen with dual Chinese and English hardsubs, an indication it originally came out on laser disk but it is not restored. Often with such movies the rating and review all comes down to the final fight and that is the case here. Sek Kin has a special moment in the final fight when he does a sequence of 16 moves without a cut. Back then that was as good as it gets. Most fights were simply one raised sword striking another then a cut. I also could not spot a stunt man ever taking Sek Kin's place.
