Fei Du Juan Yun Shan (1978)

A typical old Wei Lo film with Jackie Chan. There were some good fight scenes again, like at the end. Chan is one of my favorite actors anyway, so I'm happy to give a film like this a 3.5.

Translated from Dutch · View original

Revised on the new Blu-ray release from 88Films.

An early Chan film from the Lo Wei era and also the first 3D film in Hong Kong. The film was shot in Taiwan because it was cheaper. It is especially known among Jackie Chan fans for the Star Wars music that was used. This was very normal for Hong Kong films of that time; music from major American films was unceremoniously stolen. They couldn't care less about copyright, because what Westerner watched Hong Kong films back then?

The storyline comes across as a bit messy, but the fights and set design are certainly impressive. Jackie seems more comfortable in his own skin here than in his previous films with Lo Wei. He was given some room for creativity, and that is reflected in the fights. James Tien also stood out as the feared skin-off swordsman, who owes his name to his finishing move, where he literally smashes the skin off his opponents' faces. Most will recognize him from The Big Boss and Fist of Fury. Then we have the third fighter of the group of heroes named Leung Choi-sang, better known as Bruce Leung Siu-lung, one of the Bruce Lee clones. Here, he plays a supposedly deaf fighter with amazing kicks. The final fight against Luk Chuen (born as Yasuyoshi Shikamura) is by far the highlight. There was also a lot of experimentation with the camera, with kicks, punches, weapons, and even snakes shooting towards the camera for the 3D effect. There are a number of strong creative touches in there.

Definitely worth it for Jackie Chan fans.

Translated from Dutch · View original