LEGENDARY WEAPONS OF CHINA Release date: 1982 Alternate titles: Legendary Weapons of Kung-fu Director: Liu Chia-liang Starring: Liu Chia-liang, Liu Chia-yung, Liu Chia-hui Hui Ying-hung, Fu Sheng, Hsiao Ho Plot: Mystic kung-fu cultists are experimenting with ways in which to make oneself immune to the new threat of bullets. This is resulting in a lot of deaths. One instructor, played by Liu Chia-liang himself, refuses to line his pupils up to die, and retires, going into hiding to avoid retribution from the cults. The cult sends a young fighter (Hsiao Ho) after the old master, as well as a monk (Liu Chia-hui, of course), and the master's own brother (also the director's own brother, Liu Chia-yung). Also on the master's trail is a young woman who wants to warn him (Hui Ying-hung). Hsiao Ho becomes disillusioned with his mysticism and winds up fighting for the old master. The monk is deafened by the master, and also repents. Only the master's brother remains. They battle one another with 18 weapons, with Lei Kung--Chia-liang's character emerging victorious in each bout. He spares his brother in the end. Review: This often vies with ENTER THE DRAGON as "best kung-fu film ever made." This is a ridiculous comparison, as this movie completely blows away Bruce Lee's international effort. But I guess Bruce, like Brandon Lee, is dead, so no one really wants to say anything bad about them. I like Bruce Lee a lot, but comparing ENTER THE DRAGON (not even Lee's best film, if you ask me) to this is not a good idea. While I wouldn't say this is THE best kung-fu film ever made, it's certainly up there. It's multi-layered--with the first layer being a very exciting, well-made kung-fu action film. Below that is a second level dealing with kung-fu films--this film examines their strengths as well as their short-comings (short-comings are explored terrifically in Fu Sheng's scenes, where he is hired to impersonate Lei Kung and fakes all manner of martial arts seen in other films). Below that, it is a movie that is about China entering the modern age--or refusing to enter the modern age (similar in that way to MY YOUNG AUNTIE), as well as a film about dragging Hong Kong filmmaking into the modern age (it came at a time when people were tiring of the same old Chang Cheh stuff, but right before Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao would revolutionize film with PROJECT A). Above all, it's a movie about martial arts. With most "kung-fu" films, you could really substitute any form of fighting in--they were war stories or adventure films that had kung-fu in them. But this was a film that analyzed kung-fu itself. A must-see.
