Firstly this has nothing to do with the much better 18 weapons of Kung Fu starring Gordon Liu. I mention this as my Kung Fu Theater presents DVD has a totally misleading picture on the cover, the wrong plot on the back and goes on to mention (no idea why) The Young Hero starring Hwang Jang Lee. Apart from an introduction to the history of the 18 weapons style told by a monk to some children during the opening and the usual mysterious manual that everyone is after, the weapons never really appear again and the fights are all boxing style. The hero is Lee Shao Hwa who I have never heard of before or any of the other actors. The film mentions another director Wu Yuen Ling as well as the one IMDb lists. The other actors are Wang Fu Quen, Wang Wing San, Chen Fei Fei, Wang Ki San, Suen King Kai and Hwa Yue Suen who seem to have sunk without trace after this film. The fights are reasonable and frequent but not great and the 'star' doesn't have much charisma. The twist at the end is just stupid and the film seems to end abruptly as though they got bored with it. The scenery and the training sequences in the river are a little different from usual. Unfortunately the pretty sister gets drowned not the very irritating (though acrobatic) young boy.
8 Reviews
A few okay fights with a vague revenge story to vaguely tie it together
ckormos116 November 2016
Titles include 18 Secrets of Kung Fu or Eighteen Fighting Skills or 18 Weapons of Kung Fu, 1980, Taiwan with Lee Hoi-Hing, Wong Wing- Sang, Miu Tak-San, Wong Chi-Sang, Got Siu-Bo, and Ricky Cheng Tien- Chi.
Please do not confuse this movie with "Legendary Weapons of China" 1982 by Liu Chia-Liang. "Legendary Weapons of China" mentions 18 weapons and in my opinion is the greatest martial arts movie ever made by the greatest man in the history of martial arts movies.
This movie begins with a helpful narrator , Miu Tak-San, telling the history of 18 Chinese weapons and how the art was lost. Pay no attention, nothing he says is true, except some of the weapons pictured do exist. The action starts with the popular scene "Who are these two guys and why are they fighting?" Cut to two idiots catch themselves in their own bear trap. The guy in white from the first fight is challenged by another guy over a letter. Cut again to an old guy fishing.
Then there is a meeting of a bunch of big shots.The big shots at the meeting decided that a man must die. Who they are and who he is and why and everything else required of an actual story were still missing so I gave up expectation. The next scene a guy and girl are crossing a river and she gets carried off in the rapids. He ends up with the fisherman. Let the training begin!
At about 20 minutes into the movie I am satisfied with the quality and quantity of the fights. Otherwise there are too many characters and no clear story.
Most of the other reviews here are heavy on the sarcasm but I am keeping it straight. It is unlikely anyone today would be watching this movie unless a fan of this genre. For fans such as me, this movie is average for the year and genre. I found no special moments and not much reason to ever watch it again. Yet, I watched it, never hit the fast forward, and can't complain.
My copy is a digital file from a typical VHS. It is English dubbed and the voice actors wee competent. The video quality is typical of VHS to digital.
Please do not confuse this movie with "Legendary Weapons of China" 1982 by Liu Chia-Liang. "Legendary Weapons of China" mentions 18 weapons and in my opinion is the greatest martial arts movie ever made by the greatest man in the history of martial arts movies.
This movie begins with a helpful narrator , Miu Tak-San, telling the history of 18 Chinese weapons and how the art was lost. Pay no attention, nothing he says is true, except some of the weapons pictured do exist. The action starts with the popular scene "Who are these two guys and why are they fighting?" Cut to two idiots catch themselves in their own bear trap. The guy in white from the first fight is challenged by another guy over a letter. Cut again to an old guy fishing.
Then there is a meeting of a bunch of big shots.The big shots at the meeting decided that a man must die. Who they are and who he is and why and everything else required of an actual story were still missing so I gave up expectation. The next scene a guy and girl are crossing a river and she gets carried off in the rapids. He ends up with the fisherman. Let the training begin!
At about 20 minutes into the movie I am satisfied with the quality and quantity of the fights. Otherwise there are too many characters and no clear story.
Most of the other reviews here are heavy on the sarcasm but I am keeping it straight. It is unlikely anyone today would be watching this movie unless a fan of this genre. For fans such as me, this movie is average for the year and genre. I found no special moments and not much reason to ever watch it again. Yet, I watched it, never hit the fast forward, and can't complain.
My copy is a digital file from a typical VHS. It is English dubbed and the voice actors wee competent. The video quality is typical of VHS to digital.
Great Fights, But That's About All...
Movie-Misfit4 April 2020
Opening with a master monk explaining the history of the 18 weapons of kung-fu to a group of kids, this Taiwanese chop-socky flick quickly turns into a typical early 80's kung-fu comedy, albeit with decent training and fight scenes to help keep afloat the basic story-line of a sadistic master and his student.
Starring Alan Lee Hoi Hing - usually a bad guy in many Alexander Lo Rei films such as Ninja USA, Ninja Final Duel, Ninja Vs Shaolin Guard - who seems to just get attacked every corner he turns, the film is filled with scattered comedy scenes and crazy characters who cross paths in training sequences, and well choreographed kung-fu fights!
While the overall story may be unclear due to the jumps in edits and large range of unexplained characters, you certainly can't complain about the quality and quantity of fight scenes on offer. And to be honest, that seems to be what its really all about. There is one great stunt involving one of the actresses, as she clings on to a wooden flat-boat as it tears down the white-water rapids, banging off rocks and raging torrents. Quite a bizarrely, dark moment in the film...
Overall: Bottom line, revenge is on the cards. Nothing special here folks, but plenty of great fights in this average kung-fu flick!
Starring Alan Lee Hoi Hing - usually a bad guy in many Alexander Lo Rei films such as Ninja USA, Ninja Final Duel, Ninja Vs Shaolin Guard - who seems to just get attacked every corner he turns, the film is filled with scattered comedy scenes and crazy characters who cross paths in training sequences, and well choreographed kung-fu fights!
While the overall story may be unclear due to the jumps in edits and large range of unexplained characters, you certainly can't complain about the quality and quantity of fight scenes on offer. And to be honest, that seems to be what its really all about. There is one great stunt involving one of the actresses, as she clings on to a wooden flat-boat as it tears down the white-water rapids, banging off rocks and raging torrents. Quite a bizarrely, dark moment in the film...
Overall: Bottom line, revenge is on the cards. Nothing special here folks, but plenty of great fights in this average kung-fu flick!
"Is all very exciting master!" -little girl at beginning of movie
nhlgumby20 March 2002
This is the ultimate Kung Fu movie! This is the only Kung Fu movie! This is the only Kung Fu movie I have ever seen! I am giving this movie way too much credit! My best guess for the reason for making this movie is that someone wanted to show off someone else's martial arts abilities, but realized that you can't just film a guy fighting another guy and have people watch it, so he put a story behind the fighting... and people still didn't watch it.
This movie's story line was onion skin thin. That acting was goofy and stereotypical of any Kung Fu movie. The dubbing was literally the worst I have ever heard. It seemed if you played a small role in this movie, like the fat guy or the two guys trying to catch the main character with a net, it didn't matter who over did your voice. It could have been a dyslexic with a slurred stutter and nobody would have said anything. But beside all of this, the movie makes up for itself with the somewhat awesome fight scenes.
The fight scenes were definitely what this movie was all about. But the instigations of the fights were totally absurd! On most all instances, a guy either pops out of the tall grass, or glances at the main character from a distance, and then attacks him. But once the fighting started, things sort of balanced out. There were only two things that really hampered the fighting, though. Those constant "wooshing" sound effects that were added to every swing of a fist or foot or sword, and the poor editing that made 25 percent of the fighting VERY jumpy and choppy. Someone would be in the middle of a back flip and then suddenly be on the ground being kicked, and then instantly be back on their feet blocking a punch. But while the cut and paste editing was more of a nuisance than anything else, it didn't really affect the overall movie.
In the end, this was not a great movie, but I wasn't expecting a great movie. A great movie is not something you should expect when you see a box cover like this movie's. All I saw this movie as was a way to pass an hour and a half of boredom. I rarely say that, but this was just one of those movies you have no practical use for, so you watch it whenever you have some free time. Enjoy the movie if you decide to watch it! Good day gentlemen.
-Scott-
This movie's story line was onion skin thin. That acting was goofy and stereotypical of any Kung Fu movie. The dubbing was literally the worst I have ever heard. It seemed if you played a small role in this movie, like the fat guy or the two guys trying to catch the main character with a net, it didn't matter who over did your voice. It could have been a dyslexic with a slurred stutter and nobody would have said anything. But beside all of this, the movie makes up for itself with the somewhat awesome fight scenes.
The fight scenes were definitely what this movie was all about. But the instigations of the fights were totally absurd! On most all instances, a guy either pops out of the tall grass, or glances at the main character from a distance, and then attacks him. But once the fighting started, things sort of balanced out. There were only two things that really hampered the fighting, though. Those constant "wooshing" sound effects that were added to every swing of a fist or foot or sword, and the poor editing that made 25 percent of the fighting VERY jumpy and choppy. Someone would be in the middle of a back flip and then suddenly be on the ground being kicked, and then instantly be back on their feet blocking a punch. But while the cut and paste editing was more of a nuisance than anything else, it didn't really affect the overall movie.
In the end, this was not a great movie, but I wasn't expecting a great movie. A great movie is not something you should expect when you see a box cover like this movie's. All I saw this movie as was a way to pass an hour and a half of boredom. I rarely say that, but this was just one of those movies you have no practical use for, so you watch it whenever you have some free time. Enjoy the movie if you decide to watch it! Good day gentlemen.
-Scott-
wtf?? terrible editing, terrible dubbing, terrible fighting sequences...they hardly even use weapons!
sexninja28 June 2000
I have a friend that works at blockbuster, and he gets 5 free movie rentals a week, so one day as we were scouring the aisles for something interesting, i stumbled across 18 Weapons of Kung Fu, and judging by the box alone, this movie seemed pretty wack, but nonetheless we gave into temptation and rented it -- afterall, it was free.....and thank god it was....this is by far THE WORST movie i have ever seen....the budget must have been a pickle and a piece of string...the plot was ridiculous, the only mention of the "18 weapons" is that there is some book that teaches the ways of the 18 weapons that some bad guy is after -- and thats it! there isnt even any weapon fighting in this movie...that and the action sequences are just flat-out BAD....9 times out of 10 the other guy's punches and kicks come about a foot away from landing on the other guy's, and there are MANY times when the the movie will skip frames (a result of ridiculously poor editing)....the dubbing is as well laughable, and it is hardly even understandable....and we wont even get into the acting...the ending will definitely leave you saying "wtf??", however to be fair i must mention that the fighting techniques used by the actors were somewhat decent, and the old guy is a mad chump....but thats about it...thankfully i didnt have to pay for this movie, but i guess at least now i know exactly how bad a movie can actually be....
The greatest American romance movie of our generation
papacheesy24 August 2002
There is a very old saying which goes something like: "Dont judge a book by it's cover." I suppose we could say, in the case of 18 Weapons, "Dont judge a movie by it's title."
Despite being titled 18 Weapons of Kung Fu, there is very little weaponry shown. which is pure GENIUS if you ask me. I mean, look at the movie 12 Monkeys. No surprise about the number of monkeys contained. But 18 Weapons goes and steers into the other direction, not into the realm of campy fighting movies, but into art. Thats what it is. Pure art.
And while some men may prefer to watch pornography with "American" girls, I get off on 18 Weapons, and that Asian chick with the armpit hair. I forget her name, but thats not important right now. What is important is the message. Those who complain about the choppy editing aren't understanding the SYMBOLIC meaning of 18 Weapons, which is that no good comes from fighting....Also not to socialize with women you meet while bathing in the river.
I'm done. THE END.
Despite being titled 18 Weapons of Kung Fu, there is very little weaponry shown. which is pure GENIUS if you ask me. I mean, look at the movie 12 Monkeys. No surprise about the number of monkeys contained. But 18 Weapons goes and steers into the other direction, not into the realm of campy fighting movies, but into art. Thats what it is. Pure art.
And while some men may prefer to watch pornography with "American" girls, I get off on 18 Weapons, and that Asian chick with the armpit hair. I forget her name, but thats not important right now. What is important is the message. Those who complain about the choppy editing aren't understanding the SYMBOLIC meaning of 18 Weapons, which is that no good comes from fighting....Also not to socialize with women you meet while bathing in the river.
I'm done. THE END.
i was shocked and apauled that this movie has been seen by people!!!
isisosis15 June 2003
one day my friends came up to me and said "we went to blockbuster and decided to rent the most terrible looking movie we could find" so they show me that they had rented 18 weapons of kung fu...i didnt really know what to say other than "POP DAT IN THA VCR AND ROLL THIS PIECE" and it was the most terrible thing ive ever seen ...but i loved every minute of it....the magic and joy that it filled me with was like no other...i don't think there was a story behind it really....the little boy who kept squealing "GRANDPA!!! GRANDPA!!!!" distracted me from everything...me and my friends have actually never laughed harder in our lives....the editing is terrible the audio dubbing is terrible the plot, character developement, and everything else you could want in a movie DID NOT EXIST in this movie....i think this movie was just 4 guys who knew kung fu decided to get together and make a movie with awesome kung fu fighting in it...i mean the fighting was cool but the fight scenes lasted 15 minutes each and there was like 12 of them even though it was only like an hour and a half movie...i dont really know how that works but they pulled it off and for that reason i give this movie a 10/10~as lizzie mcguire would say...."THIS IS WHAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF".... i love it!
Nevermind the misleading title, enjoy pure chop-sockey goodness!
YB in the House!4 January 2001
This film's title would lead one to believe that the movie is full of great weapons-based fight scenes in true martial arts movie style. Not quite. Sure, there are some (excellent) weapon-fighting sequences early in the movie, but they are short and have nothing really to do with the actual "plot" of the movie. But you know what? It doesn't even matter! This movie is a classic because it doesn't care about the title, the script, or even the acting! All it cares about is kick-butt kung-fu fight scenes. All your favorite stereotypical martial arts types are here: the main character who has people attacking him everywhere he goes for no apparent reason, the young actor dressed as a venerable kung-fu master, the two guys who always fight together against their opponents, and some of the worst editing you'll ever see (Watch the main character's outfit get dirty as he falls down and magically become clean again as he's getting up to resume fighting.). All that being said, you will also find some of the absolute coolest fight scenes this side of Sonny Chiba's "The Street Fighter." I honestly can't recommend this movie highly enough. It is a prime example of the chop-sockey movie and will remind you why you love them so much.
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