Brilliantly shot, competently edited. Incredibly gritty and "unclean" compared to other very stylish and smooth martial arts films. I mean this in a good way, something feels very raw and pure about this movie. Plus an interesting and flawed main character and bad-guys who aren't inherently evil, something you NEVER see from this genre. Probably one of the gorier martial-arts movies from this genre, if not the most brutal, but it isn't over done like some martial-arts movies today are. Decapitation is used sparingly, and when it happens it takes you off-guard. The best scenes are during the night, and the lighting here is astounding, the director uses the dark to the advantage of the fighting, and it creates a very interesting dynamic. In fact every fight that takes place has some sort of element to it.
I would have to take off 2 star though, the fighting choreography isn't as well done as many other classic martial arts films, and that is one of the main strong points of the genre. The other reason is that this movie would have been better if it had been extended. We have an interesting character, and an interesting plot.If the movie was extended by perhaps 30 or so minutes to expand on some character and story elements it would be maybe one of the greatest martial-arts film of this kind.
While this came out in 1980, which isn't exactly the golden era for movies like this, I think you will be hard-pressed to find a single movie of the genre as good and mature as this one. It's a perfect blend of the good Chinese elements of filmmaking and some western-influenced techniques.
I would have to take off 2 star though, the fighting choreography isn't as well done as many other classic martial arts films, and that is one of the main strong points of the genre. The other reason is that this movie would have been better if it had been extended. We have an interesting character, and an interesting plot.If the movie was extended by perhaps 30 or so minutes to expand on some character and story elements it would be maybe one of the greatest martial-arts film of this kind.
While this came out in 1980, which isn't exactly the golden era for movies like this, I think you will be hard-pressed to find a single movie of the genre as good and mature as this one. It's a perfect blend of the good Chinese elements of filmmaking and some western-influenced techniques.