Rating: 3 out of 5
Year: 1975
Director: Meng-Hua Ho
Plot:
Not to be confused with other titles of similar name, this
is the 1975 release, and it is a stand alone feature. The story has to do with
the creation of the flying guillotine, a weapon that the emperor has
commissioned. Once the guillotine is complete, a team starts to learn how to
use it best, and there’s a great deal of time given to this sort of training
etc. However, not all is well, as the leader of the group starts to question
the tool and the emperor’s motives to utilize it. The movie moves around the
political theater, rather than just fighting, which makes for a slow moving
plot. There’s much story afoot, but of course fighting is in the mix, and
eventually becomes the point of the movie as our main character Xin Kang is
conflicted about the guillotine as a whole. The simplest way to put the plot is
that the main hero is conflicted about the emperor’s motives, and decides to
leave the temple, only to have to deal with the henchmen that chase him and
follow his moves. The movie mixes political drama, sex, kung fu, and more
within the time allotted, however it does none of them particularly well or
overboard, with the exception of drama. There’s an attempt to focus on
character development over pure fighting, which is something to take note of,
overall.
Thoughts:
The first thing I noticed about this movie was the look and
feel of the film. It is not updated, restored, or anything like that. It is VHS
quality, at least the edition that I saw. It is dubbed well, however. The
movie’s pacing is slow, and focused a lot more on the conflicts and issues
between individuals and the emperor rather than on fighting itself. It’s for
that reason why you may not love this movie, as I didn’t think it was that
great at times. The invention of the guillotine, and the use of it is really
cool, and those sequences are presented well, including training and
utilization of the weapon. It is a masterful weapon that really makes the
premise shine, even if the fighting is lacking at times.
The movie is slow paced, with a lot of focus on character
development. The character development is fine, don’t get me wrong, but the
Shaw Brothers have a knack for putting together good fight features. I was
expecting more of a fighting film than what was presented here. That’s not to
say that this is bad, don’t get me wrong, it’s just slow paced and lacking in
the kung fu action at times. Brush that aside and the drama is heavy, and leads
you into an interesting focal point, making it a good collector’s item,
especially if you want all of the movies featuring the guillotine as a weapon.
I rate “The Flying Guillotine” 3 out of 5.
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