The 36 Deadly Styles

THE 36 DEADLY STYLES is a cheap kung fu film made by Hong Kong producers and shot in Taiwan. It features one of those forgettable story lines about an upstanding young fighter (the bland Nick Cheung) who must train in the martial arts in order to avenge the death of his father at the hands of some nefarious bad guys. The staging is very ordinary and occasionally quite inept, and the title refers to a hidden book of martial arts techniques and a fight between two old masters which has little connection to the rest of the story.

In fact none of this makes particular sense, and for the first hour it's quite the bore. The viewer is treated to the usual round of bland and cheesy comedy and bad dubbing, with some typical fighting thrown into the mix. Things only start kicking off towards the end, when the tag team of Bolo Yeung and Hwang Jang Lee as the master villains show up to kick some backside. Both are bewigged, quite badly; Bolo in particular looks like he's wearing a mop on his head. Still, they enliven the action-packed ending, which is a bit short but still the best part of an overall lacklustre production.

Opening with an attack on kung-fu star Cheung Lik (A Tooth For A Tooth), we quickly jump into the regular story-line of that era, with student learning a new style to defeat evil kung-fu masters. The first 20 minutes does contain a good amount of action, along with a scene involving the skinning of a snake which is particularly gross, as monk Yeung Chak Lam tries to make himself some medicine to aid his injuries from a past fight against super-kicker, Hwang Jang Lee. Hwang, of course, was in hot demand after his success with Ng See Yuen in Secret Rivals, Snake In The Eagles Shadow and Drunken Maste (to name but a few), and has his identity hidden for the most of the film allowing for a big reveal towards the end!

While it may open with a dark and serious tone, there is a lot more comedy than usual for a Joseph Kuo movie (along with music from the famed Pink Panther show), coming across like an early traditional Jackie Chan film at times. Saying that, 36 Deadly Styles does mature eventually and finds more of a serious tone for the last 30 minutes. It's certainly not as a tidy a production as the great 18 Bronzemen or 7 Grandmasters, but it is a case of having seen it all before and done better (even with Jackie himself repeating a similar role for years, I'd quicker go to one of his)...

Fight director Max Lee Chiu Jun, who starred in classics such as Snake In the Eagles Shadow, The Magnificent Butcher, and Drunken Master, brings a hefty amount of tight, fast, and hard-hitting kung-fu to the screen making the most of out his fantastic cast members, all of which deliver some incredible moves. Although there may be better fights out there, the action doesn't fail to entertain (especially with Bolo Yeung in action wearing that wig), and shows off some well choreographed, fist-to-foot action.

Magnificent Butcher star and father to the wonderful Fan Siu Wong (Ip Man), Fan Mei Sheng, co-stars as a tea-house owner who also suffered at the feet of Lee. His daughter, played by Jeannie Chang, joins forces with Lik to take revenge and throws some pretty sweet moves herself. Mark and Jack Long get to go toe-to-toe near the end, with Mark getting greyed up this time, and Jack once again talking about retiring as a kung-fu master. Their big fight looks almost like it was cut in from another film altogether, but apparently Mark Long's character is brother to Hwang Jang Lee's!

The lengthy finale is pretty sweet and well worth a watch...

Overall: Not a polished as other Kuo films, 36 Deadly Styles still hits the mark and delivers some great kung-fu action!

I had heard good things about The 36 Deadly Styles, but what I got was a big disappointment. The story is hardly coherent, and it actually seems like at least two different movies were conflated into one. The fight of the two masters who had waited ten years to settle their score (over a lost book of the 36 deadly styles, which is the sole reference in the entire movie to its actual title) had absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the story.

The first hour and seven or eight minutes were very, very dull, and made all the worse by a really terrible bad guy. There were a couple of decent fights (mostly involving the girl), but nothing to get worked up about. Then, suddenly, in the last 20 minutes, we get a lot of great training and fight sequences. The final battle is passable, but not great. The end is too abrupt.

I rate most of the movie a "3" out of 10, but because of the last 20 minutes, I'll generously award it an overall rating of 5.

After watching one of the greatest martial arts movies ever, 7 Grandmasters, it was very anti-climactic to see the same director, Joseph Kuo, make such a royal mess out of The 36 Deadly Styles. I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that most of the movie was done by some hack, and only a few scenes were actually Joseph Kuo's work.

Only bad with this one is 70's movie quality, and some scene breaks likely done to cut out burnt celluloid film.

No pun intended and I have to admit, I did not recognize Bolo Yeung at first! He is wearing quite the ridiculous wig - and he is not the only one wearing one! His partner in crime does too - and they are so painfully obvious. One can also only imagine how uncomfortable they had to be in ... I guess you could say it adds to the humor the movie carries (no pun intended).

There is some Jackie Chan style (or at least inspired) comedy and action involved here - at least it feels that way. And why not copy something that has been succesful before? Exactly - now if you have a thing for kung fu/martial arts movies of the 70s and 80s you could do a lot worse. Some fine fighting, some fine stunts ... even if it seems that in some scenes the major bad guy is replaced by a double.

We also have the end fight that could have been staged better (smoke and all that) and a scene involving a snake that is quite hard to swallow (no pun intended) ... just some pointers for you to get around to.