Rating: 2 out of 5
Director: Chan Hung-Man
Year: 1978
Plot:
The top draw to “Swift Shaolin Boxer” is that it features
Angela Mao, female martial artist. The story is about a group of female friends
that are looking to seize the Five Phoenix Night-Shing Pearl from the Black
Wind Fortress. They want to overthrown the fortress and restore order, and that’s
the limited plot that I knew going into the movie.
The reality of the movie, however, is that there is a
variety of different stories intersecting with fights, and not really a central
hero or villain as you’d expect from these films.
Thoughts:
Well if you were looking for a linear story with plot and
interesting moments, throw it out the window. I marked down a few points just
because the story here is convoluted, to the point where you get entire fight
scenes that aren’t part of the story as a whole. That’s not to say that it’s
bad, but it’s interesting to see overall. Chan Hung-Man’s direction is a little
off here, but as I type this, I’m reminded of a fight scene that is on a ladder
made of swords, so it’s not all bad.
The story takes some time to play out, and you see a mix of
fighting and dialogue before you get to the crux of the plot. There are some
interesting sequences found here, including children fighting, and kung fu of
different styles. Twenty minutes into the movie, and you swear you’re watching
a different movie altogether, considering the fighting and moments are not
related to the synopsis aforementioned.
Forget the story, it’s a variety show here, and honestly it’s a lot of different stories
coming through at once. Mixing in a lot of kung fu, you get a random assortment
of fights, moments of interest, and really not much else. Sure there’s a
central story, but it’s convoluted and hard to follow let alone try to write it
down. It’s for that reason why I give this movie a 2 out of 5 rating.
No comments:
Post a Comment