The Avenging Eagle

Two strangers—one seeking revenge, the other looking for redemption—join forces to defeat a common enemy, the Iron Boat Clan, a gang of bloodthirsty bandits raised from childhood by the cruel overlord Yoh Xi-hung (Feng Ku). As the two men (brilliantly played by tragic star Alexander Fu Sheng and martial arts legend Ti Lung) fight side by side, they form an unlikely friendship, but when they finally face their ultimate foe, the despicable Yoh Xi Hung, the tragedy that connects them threatens to divide them.

An epic tale of love, revenge, absolution, camaraderie, and intertwined destinies, The Avenging Eagle is classic Shaw Brothers storytelling, told with the utmost skill and style by director Chung Sun, who delivers a visually stunning and throughly engaging masterpiece. Sun also proves to be no slouch when it comes to capturing awesome fight action: featuring an incredible raft of villains, each adept at a different weapon (including spears, rings, axes, swords, and metal claws), this marvellous martial arts spectacular delivers some of the most entertaining fight scenes I've seen in an old-school kung fu movie, with incredible stunts, impressive acrobatics and brutal violence galore, all leading up to a fantastic finale in Yoh Xi Hung's HQ that sees our 'heroes' duking it out with numerous henchmen on their way to the top man, including a duel with a pair of deadly one-armed bandits (the human kind, not the fruit machine variety).

Sun Chung's AVENGING EAGLE is a martial arts film that transcends the genre; it boasts a superior script and characterization, and achieves a tragic quality of its own.

The Shaw Bros. studio churned out a lot of martial arts films in its 25 year heyday. AVENGING EAGLE is one of the most memorable that I have seen. The script takes the viewer back and forth in time, the flashbacks allow the viewer to discover more and more about its two protagonists (played by TI LUNG and Alexander FU SHENG). So interwined are their pasts that it is quickly obvious that they should actually be each other's enemy. But the logic is such that we can also readily accept that they put aside their differences, eliminate as many of the Iron Boat clan sent in pursuit of TI LUNG's character, and finally, take on the evil leader of the clan (KU FENG).

I found the dialogue especially good and satisfying, and I am sure that others who have seen the film, can think of at least four or five instances, whether the dialogue demonstrates wonderful irony, quiet sadness, and ensures the two heroes display real qualities of heroism.

SUN CHUNG and his crew show a wonderful eye for their locations, the exotic and distinctive costuming and weaponry (of the heroes, and also the thirteen Eagles, and of course, their leader).

With the opening shot, it was obvious this film was photographed away from the usual locations. That, the initial meeting of the two leads, their first skirmish with the Iron Boat gang, and much later, the remote inn that they 'rent' for a month to set up an elaborate ambush, and lastly, the lair of the gang, where SUN builds up to and sustains a lengthy climax, demonstrates a lot of imagination.

Even the music is effective, despite the mono sound of the Region 3 IVL/Celestial Pictures DVD, and is largely 'original'> This film is so good that I have not even broached the subject of its martial arts. And that alone, I believe, is reason enough that I consider AVENGING EAGLE one of the best martial arts films I have seen.

(PS: Consider a quarter century later the Japanese were making films along the same line, ie. AZUMI, which surely lacks the economy of this film, running almost an hour longer).

(PSS: I enjoyed the other contributors' comments on AVENGING EAGLE, surely more confirmation, this film deserves repeated viewing).

(PSSS: If you enjoyed this film, please take the time to track down and watch KILLER CONSTABLE).

With a plot more resembling a Japanese production than your usual kung fu film and excellent cinematography, Avenging Eagle is a very good lesser-known martial art movie. The main actors do their usual good job and the fight scenes are very well done. The whole film has the feel of a good B grade western.

The director, Sun Cheung, has a style apart from the other more well known Shaw directors and he handles the fight scenes with finesse as well as the rest of the movie. HIs movie output is hard to find and guessing from the lack of reviews on IMDb many of his films never made it into the U.S..

I recommend this film for anyone familiar with Liu Chia Liang or Chen Cheh's work. The movie is a change of pace from the baroque and brutal plot lines of Chen Cheh and the elaborate hi-jinx of Liu Chia Liang.

This was really strong. It's common to get to a martial arts movie and think "the story was a bit whatever, but the action was great," but I got quite invested in the story here. I think it was well-told and less predictable than expected, with a neat structure and two main characters who mostly wanted the same things (a form of revenge), and formed an uneasy alliance that was sometimes mysterious, and occasionally at risk of being challenged.

The action was all super satisfying, too. Typically great choreography, over-the-top death scenes, and some really inventive weapons that made things interesting, particularly in the final fight.

This might even be one of the better Shaw Brothers movies. Definitely an underrated one, in any event.

I grew up watching this movie, and I owned it twice, on VHS, DVD. When I started to buy the Shaw movies from itunes, I stayed way from this one. But I just watched it on Amazon Prime, because I wanted to be sure about this movie. This is a beautiful to look at, because of the quality, its a Shaw Brothers movie. The fight scenes are lacking though. Ti Lung was terrible with the 3 sectional staff, and the other eagles where exciting to look at, but they still had lame fight scenes. The same for Alexander Fu Sheng.