DUEL WITH THE DEVILS is a Taiwanese kung fu cheapie in which Flash Legs Tan teams up with female ass-kicker Angela Mao for lots of Japanese bashing and kicking. The opening sequence is heavy on the melodrama, featuring Tan losing all of his family to the evil Japanese, so of course he swears revenge and goes off to get it. Mao plays in support along the way, popping up occasionally to do what she does best.
For the most part this film is very average and occasionally confusing, the latter due to having the same actress, Lung Chung-Erh, randomly playing two different parts. Why, I'm not too sure. Tan is an okay hero in the fight scenes but doesn't have much in the way of acting ability to bolster that. Thankfully, things pick up considerably at the climax, an open rip-off of GAME OF DEATH's, in which Tan must work his way up a tower to collect his wife's ashes at the top, fighting a different fighter at each level.
This climax is a lot of fun for kung fu fans. Initially the opponents are huge muscle guys (perhaps the biggest I've seen in Asian cinema) before a Taiwanese guy pretending to be an Indian takes over. There are some flying weapon traps and the hero pulls out a spiked yoyo to take on a traditional samurai warrior. Finally at the top he battles your usual karate-using bad guy. It's a great twenty minutes of running time; a pity that the preceding movie couldn't match it.
For the most part this film is very average and occasionally confusing, the latter due to having the same actress, Lung Chung-Erh, randomly playing two different parts. Why, I'm not too sure. Tan is an okay hero in the fight scenes but doesn't have much in the way of acting ability to bolster that. Thankfully, things pick up considerably at the climax, an open rip-off of GAME OF DEATH's, in which Tan must work his way up a tower to collect his wife's ashes at the top, fighting a different fighter at each level.
This climax is a lot of fun for kung fu fans. Initially the opponents are huge muscle guys (perhaps the biggest I've seen in Asian cinema) before a Taiwanese guy pretending to be an Indian takes over. There are some flying weapon traps and the hero pulls out a spiked yoyo to take on a traditional samurai warrior. Finally at the top he battles your usual karate-using bad guy. It's a great twenty minutes of running time; a pity that the preceding movie couldn't match it.