Director: Chang Cheh
Year: 1978
Country: Hong Kong
Alternate Titles: Wu du
Genre: Kung-Fu
Plot:
About to finally die, a master instructs his final student to check on the activities of his former pupils, each of whom knows a unique and specific style of kung-fu. Finding each student, the Scorpion-style master, Lizard-style master, Toad-style master, the Snake-style master and the Centipede-style master each living in complete isolation from everyone else, he goes about trying to follow his mission when he gets wind that perhaps one of the students is about to be involved in a deadly gold heist. Realizing what's about to happen, he must team up with the remaining students to stop the evil students from carrying out their malicious intentions.
Review:
Unlike what its reputation suggests, this one isn't one of the finer Shaw Brothers efforts. What works fine is the usual format at play with a storyline that allows for a near-endless stream of fighting, the performers are granted numerous opportunities to shine. There's a lot to like here with the shots of each fighter in the training sessions with their styles being showcased as the frantic movements that allow for the visible differences between each of their styles to come forward, from hard-hitting blows to lightning-fast strikes and even the ability to scale walls. That turns the later confrontations here into rather enjoyable martial arts affairs, from the street fight that brings the first killer to justice or the few demonstrations against the guards that are brief, quick affairs that generate the needed action to hold it up until the finale. That's where the film really hits its mark, allowing five of the studios' greatest to go at it in a spectacular, extended battle that works in some stellar wire-work stunts alongside the acrobatic flipping and hard-hitting hand-to-hand battling within the environment. It's the unquestioned highlight and really helps this one considerably.
Still, the main problem to be had with this one is the rather sedate and bland pacing. The film opts for a far more investigative angle as to find out the true identities of the different pupils of the teacher, there's not much in the way of fighting here that comes into play as there's too much emphasis on figuring out the truth of the fighters' identities and then turning into the plot about the money heist they're undertaking. By placing more of an importance on the beggar's confession about the opening murder, these scenes in the jail beating him up and trying to get a confession into him hold up the majority of the film's running time to the point of forgoing a lot more of the usual confrontations. Even some of the usual manner of dealing with people in other movies, with the characters in the prison is not being thrown into an endless round of kung-fu fights as instead they are manually killed with various knives and pointed weaponry.
This decided lack of action is only confounded by the intrigue-laden plot that trades more on each of the students not knowing the other and really doesn't go anywhere. Filled with the backhanded dealings and the various clandestine meetings that take place, a facet that's completely unnecessary for such a simple plotline, the end result is a film without much in the way of hard-hitting action for much of it's running time. While this isn't in the slightest mean it's boring, but the plotline that could've provided full-on balls-to-the-wall action doesn't get there. It all ends up confounded by the inability to really engage its side plots coherently. The charge for the hidden gold that emerges as the main plot-point in the final half and feels incomplete with no real point for any of the characters to go after it considering those that are chasing after the money is already rich making why they would need it in the first place rather confusing. There really should’ve been more info here for each of the participants to explain this part of the story.
Overview: *** 1/2/5
As there are a few big flaws to be had about the film that does emerge as a result of a haphazard story and a less-than-ideal tempo, this one has its moments but ends up falling short in the long run. Give this a chance if you’re a hardcore kung-fu/martial arts film fan or a devout Shaw Brothers effort, while those that require more from their films than this should look for other classics in their catalog.
This review was originally written on Asian Movie Pulse and is gratefully reprinted with their cooperation.
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