Magnificent Bodyguards

This is a typically bizarre early Chan film, made by Lo Wei. It concerns Chan escorting a woman across a dangerous valley to find a cure for her sick "brother". Although not a classic, this film does contain a number of impressive fight scenes,although the script is messy and often confusing. Still,it's nice to see Chan in his long-haired seventies days!

I have seen a lot of (bad) chinese, and I am a big fan of Jackie Chan and Jet Li, but this movie is probably the WORSE movie ever made. Let me explain why:

1 - The acting is very, very, very bad. The actors in the "nazi" monk scene were laughing during the fight. The fighting scene is very bad.

2 - As this movie was shot in 3D you'll see some knives, rocks and even snakes flying over the camera, to create that 3D effect. If you are watching this movie in a TV, this will look silly.

3 - The fight scenes are quite bizarre. The make up and the fake blood are very odd. The final fight scene is indoor and outdoor almost at the same time (watch carefully the final fight scene and prepare to laugh with the final "the end" scene)

If you want to see this movie, I must say: May the force be with you! You'll need it.

Odd, but fascinating and likable early Jackie Chan martial arts vehicle. Well I might just be stretching calling it a vehicle though he's the name seller (outside director Lo Wei), but at times Chan (who plays it cocky, but can back it up) was overshadowed by his co-stars (James Tien and Bruce Liang). Nonetheless the thing that does stand out and this is probably why he doesn't charismatically standout (well not from the crisply choreographed action sequences though) was that the comical elements are played down with a more straight-laced vibe winning out. Lord Ting Chung the fastest fists in the East (Chan) is hired along with some other partners to protect a women and her ill-brother while transporting them through the Stormy Mountains that's infested with robbers. The story might seem basic, but it's anything but. It's quite an eventful plot, which does become somewhat of a mess with its dramatic twists and silly turns. Therefore its busily conceived structure consisting of a variety of characters, situations and challenges lets the pace briskly move through moving from one set-piece to another. Quick, lively and fun sums it up. What more could you ask for. The fluidly diverse martial arts come in spades with flexibility, creativity and exuberance in its flashy and flighty execution of one-on-one or group ambushes. Namely the stirringly long-winded climax, which would come back down to earth with a thud with its abrupt ending (which filled many films of its genre). A novelty that comes to the foreground is that it was obviously made for 3D with its intrusive framing and tricky jolts. I was kind of surprised how much of those occurrences did pop up and another interesting note would be the use of the "Star Wars" theme score for one particular scene. It might not be held up alongside Chan's other efforts, but this raw venture is a neat little kung-fu showcase.

It is a pervasive feature of the written history of Chinese martial arts films (from CFW's long-extinct periodical "Martial Arts Movies" to the pioneering coffee table book "Martial Arts Movies: From Bruce Lee to the Ninjas" by Ric Meyers) that Jackie Chan languished in a series of both artistically and commercially disastrous films before attaining stardom in 1978 with "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow". The general idea is that Chan was being held back by his director/mentor Lo Wei, who was such a humorless square that he saw no merit in Chan's comedic aspirations and insisted on trying to sell the young actor as the new Bruce Lee in a series of straight dramatic roles. This contention has been repeated so often that even today it is uncritically accepted as fact. Well, guess what? It's a bunch of baloney. In the first place, Chan starred in only one Bruceploitation film: "New Fist of Fury". Thereafter, he was cast in period costume productions (in contrast to Lee, who never made a period film). Secondly, some of these movies--like "Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin" and "Spiritual Kung-Fu"--featured comedic elements. Thirdly, Chan almost always did a respectable job when assigned a dramatic role. Finally, while there's no doubt that comedy kung-fu made him a star, it's debatable how good films like "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow" and "Drunken Master" really are. They were wildly popular, certainly, but unless you consider slapstick the highest art ever achieved by human civilization, they're pretty cringeworthy. "Magnificent Bodyguards", neither a deadly serious dramatic picture nor a screwball comedy, stars Chan alongside James Tien and Leung Siu-lung (Bruce Leung); they are martial arts experts who have been hired to escort a sick man on his journey to see a physician. Along the way they fight off bandits, hostile Buddhist monks and an assortment of other characters. Based on a tale by Taiwanese wuxia novelist Ku Lung, the film is not a classic by any means, but it's watchable. There are lengthy, entertaining fight scenes and Chan does just fine in his non-comedic role. (Bizarrely, the movie was shot in 3D, which is why there are so many kicks and jabbing weapons aimed directly at the camera.) Further putting the kibosh on the myth that Chan's early films were all unmitigated disasters, "Magnificent Bodyguards" was a success at the box office. Don't believe everything you read!

This film has never shown in Japanese movie theatre although Jackie was superstar for more than two decades. You will enjoy this if you don't sleep.(It's not easy!) I thought it was something like a mixture of the old Japanese Samurai story and the Western Cowboy film. You will see so many naked indians although it's story is in China - they look so stupid like Monty Pythons' comedy. And you will see the guy with 6 fingers on his hand.You will hear some Star Wars soundtracks.Kung-Fu actions with 3D camera tricks are so shabby, maybe one of the worst ones in Jackie's all films ever made. But you gonna like this garbage if you like 70's cheap and crazy Kung-Fu films.I like this one because this is definitely one of the most stupid films I've ever seen. Even more stupid than Austion Powers!!!!