Ah, so upon reading about this film, I discover
that it is the sequel to Duel of Fists that was released the year previously.
I have not seen it. But that explains the beginning of this film that throws
a bunch of explanatory text at you. I had no clue what it was but in retrospect
I realize that it was a quick summary of the first film. Which is fine and
all you really need to know. In that film, Fan Ke (David Chiang) learns from
his dying father that he has a half-brother in Thailand named Wen Lieh (Ti
Lung). Nice. We have Chiang and Ti Lung together once again in a Chang Cheh
film. In Duel of Fists, they both run into problems with gangsters and Chiang
Ren (Chan Sing) has his leg broken and goes to jail. That is all you really
need to know. They are both now in Hong Kong.
This feels like an unusual film for Chang
Cheh - though possibly so did the first film. For one thing it is set in
contemporary times, but it has a Lo Wei and his spy films vibe to it. It
has an international flair as it goes between Bangkok, Hong Kong and Tokyo,
it has a mastermind criminal and it has a terrific brassy Bondian score from
Frankie Chan. Chan is one of the unrecognized Renaissance figures in Hong
Kong films as an actor, director, producer, writer and an astonishing credit
for nearly 400 films as composer. He started composing the scores with Shaw
in 1970 with The Singing Killer but didn't have his first acting or directing
credit until the early 1980s. Besides those three actors already mentioned,
this has Ching Li as the love interest, Kurata Yasuaki as a Yakuza killer,
Bolo Yeung as a muscular Yakuza thug and none other than Chang Cheh himself
as the Yakuza boss.
This is a sloppy effort though and not ranked
very highly in Chang Cheh's filmography. There isn't much of a plot and what
there is seems pointless, most of the action scenes (choreographed by Tong
Kai (RIP) and Lau Kar-leung) are jumbled group scenes - there is no one great
fight between two opponents and the editing is really lazy. There are many
scenes when the camera lingers about for no reason - or follows a car drive
about with no purpose. It is nice seeing the location shots of Hong Kong
and Tokyo, but they are just from a car driving around and have no drama.
Did Chang just need to add time? It picks up from where the first film left
us - Chan Sing, limp and all - breaks out of a Thai jail as easy as snaping
your fingers and his men come by every night just in case he escapes.
The first thing he does is kill Ti Lung's
mother and on the orders of the Yakuza kidnap Ching Li, girlfriend of Ti
Lung. Then Chan Sing goes to Hong Kong and starts murdering the members of
Ti Lung's martial arts studio. No point and without much of a fight. His
crutch is a deadly weapon. The Yakuza sends his messenger, Akikko, to tell
the boys to come to Tokyo if they want Ching Li back. In Tokyo the hotel
they stay in is the Keio Plaza Hotel and it is still there in case you ever
need a hotel in Tokyo. It looks just the same from the outside. Waiting for them is the nasty Kurata who wants
to rape Ching Li and of course Chang Cheh with his long cigar, shades and
dreadful teeth. Work for me or she dies. Hell, no! Our boys don't do that.
Lots of fighting there and then back to Hong Kong. Best is when
Ti Lung and Chiang operate two bulldozers and squash two Yakuza between them.
Chang Cheh doesn't shy from the blood - lots of it and when his men screw
up, they have to commit Seppuku in front of him - though the cutting off
of the head is modestly done behind a curtain. I guess I should watch Duel
of Fists. It takes place in Bangkok.
