Zhe jian chuan ji (1979) Poster

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5/10
Low rent Taiwanese wuxia
Leofwine_draca24 September 2016
DRESSED TO FIGHT is a low rent wuxia story lensed in Taiwan. It features a sprawling cast, a wide-ranging plot, and plentiful action scenes which while not particularly outstanding or memorable still serve their purpose in supplying adequate excitement and thrills. Certainly this is the kind of film which is indebted to the likes of DRAGON INN and A TOUCH OF ZEN and there's absolutely nothing new here at all, but it's still fairly good.

The main character is a wandering swordsman who goes around rescuing fair maidens and beating evil villains. The fights seem to pop up every few minutes so a lot of the running time is taken up with pure action. The special effects are limited but effective and there are some amusingly wacky moments, like the hands beckoning out of the ground or the flying sedan chair. The one thing that annoyed me was an annoying tinkly sound effect used to represent clashing weaponry in the big action scene at the climax which is really overdone. Although the usual detractions of appalling dubbing and poor picture quality are present in release versions, DRESSED TO FIGHT is one of the better low budget wuxia films I've watched.
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4/10
Starts interesting but goes nowhere
ckormos123 October 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Two men on a boat philosophize. Tien Peng continues his walk and sees a female arm sticking up out of the dirt and hears a female voice calling him. Next there are many arms. He just walks away. Next Elsa Yang Hui-Shan passes the same way. Her palanquin bearers run off. She fights Wen Chiang-Long's gang. Tien Peng to the rescue. Discussing his reward, she becomes angry. Another woman appears in the woods and Tien Peng and her go drinking together. She passes out and suddenly Doris is drinking next to him. Three babes in three minutes – what a man! Doris tries to kill him but fails and flees.

From here on the story deteriorates into "make it up as we go" nonsense. There are complicated attempts to kill the hero but they fall flat then are dismissed as if it never happened.

Consider this a spoiler or a warning but in the end neither the hero nor the audience finds out why everyone is trying to kill him. So maybe it is about the journey and not the destination? Not for me, though I could see how a few fights and a few surprises might entertain some people.

Overall I did not like it at all and I do not recommend it for anyone.
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