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The Butterfly
Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen
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Chen Zen and his buddies have been sent as little more than canon fodder and labor on the front lines in WWI. The first fight scene featuring Donnie Yen is a thrill ride. The man went to a machine gun fight with knives and won! The stunt work was amazing. Donnie is fast and a true pleasure to watch.
Most of the movie gets bogged down into a series of subplots when the surviving soldiers go home. Japan has carved up Shanghai causing death and mayhem in their wake. Chen and his crew are part of the underground which includes a lot of characters who are never developed in any meaningful way. Anthony Wong is the owner of a club with shady alliances whom Chen partners with. Shu Qi with even shadier alliances is the gorgeous singer and hostess who wins Chen's heart.
Huang Bo is the humorous inspector who plays Commissioner Gordon to Chen's Black Mask. Without any real emotional connection to the rest of the characters the ongoing violence felt meaningless most of the time.
There is a great deal of Chinese nationalism played out rather heavily at times. This is a by the book movie, it's a foregone conclusion that Chen will have to fight the Big Bad Japanese Colonel, the son of the man killed in Fist of Fury, at the climax. The fight preceding it is reminiscent of Bruce Lee's fight in the original only on a grander scale.
The cinematography is quite lush with a good soundtrack backing it up. Director Andrew Lau brought 1920's Shanghai to life with eye catching depth and color. Yen is believable as the undercover freedom fighter and Black Mask. Shu Qi doesn't have enough to do, making do with what she is given. Wong and Huang added acting depth to the group. The star of this show is Donnie's fighting and the big fight scenes. He is unbelievably quick and agile. The fights are creative and deadly.
Though Legend of the Fist isn't a great movie it does have some gripping fight scenes that few actors other than Donnie Yen could carry off during this time period. Even now, it's hard to see many actors being able to duplicate what he accomplished.
Donnie Yen and Shu Qi had enough star power to almost cover over the gaping holes in this beautifully shot movie. Almost.
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It's an All You Can Eat Lobsterfest courtesy of Godzilla!
This era of Godzilla movies can be hit or miss with me as Big G became more anthropomorphized. In the case of Ebirah, Horror of the Deep-it was a solid base hit. The movie had plenty of cheese and camp, but not too much as to spoil the fun.Two rejects from a local dance competition and a safecracker end up on a sailboat commandeered by a young man who was told by a shaman his brother, thought lost in a boating accident is alive. He's determined to search for him, even with his grudging passengers. Long story short a giant lobster crashes the boat and the four young men end up washing ashore on a mostly deserted island. They find bad guys have kidnapped people off of Infant Island to work as slaves to make the yellow liquid needed to keep Ebirah at bay as they come and go. The bad guys are also developing nuclear weapons. You know they are bad because long time Godzilla star, Hirata Akihiko, shows up wearing an eye-patch and carrying a gun.
Another long time Godzilla star, Takarada Akira, plays Yoshimura, the safecracker, and does a good job as always completely selling the role. As it turns out, Yoshimura is the key to the young men's and Dayo's (an escaped islander) survival with his particular skill set and savvy. Yoshimura won a place on my favorite Godzilla character list with this role, which sadly, isn't very long.
Though the humans receive a lot of screen time at least they were interesting and fighting a more dangerous enemy than Godzilla or Ebirah--greedy men. Ultimately, they wake Godzilla up, who happens to be napping in a cave, to have him deal with the bad guys and Ebirah. Both Godzilla and Mothra were taking their hibernation vacations when all the action started. The kidnapped islanders and the ones back home sing until Mosura wakes up. She's obviously old and near the end of her life cycle but as always, she answers the call and comes to the aid of her people. She also smacks Godzilla around to remind him who's boss.
The miniatures weren't quite as accomplished as they usually are which was a disappointment. Ebirah's costume was very nice, for a giant lobster. There were several underwater battle scenes that came off well. The camp came through with funky 60's music playing while the two giants battled or when they swatted a boulder back and forth.
The movie never takes itself too seriously nor does it abandon all logic. Around 80 minutes long, "Ebirah, Horror of the Deep" was a fun ride on a tropical island filled with danger, courageous misfits, and a few Kaiju whose naps were interrupted.
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The problems I had with this movie were twofold. One, it took itself far too seriously, trying to mimic the original Godzilla filmed in black and white. Like Godzilla, Gamera is clearly the bad guy, despite saving a child at one point. He goes on to kill countless others and causes enormous damage. A message about countries at the height of the Cold War working together is pasted into the story. A giant turtle who walks on his hind legs doesn't make the most menacing of monsters.
The second problem I had was that the most prominent human in the story was a child. Quite possibly the most annoying child from any movie ever produced and in the end his presence was pointless.
The special effects weren't bad for this era. And the story does keep going at a nice pace with lots of Gamera shots.
After going through several weapons to kill Gamera the solution at the end to deal with Gamera is one of the funniest I've seen in a Kaiju movie.
Strictly for Gamera and/or Kaiju enthusiasts.
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Godzilla X Mothra X Mechagodzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.
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Godzilla: Tokyo SOS is a sequel to Godzilla X Mechagodzilla (2002) and a sequel of sorts to Mothra (1961). It's always good to keep in mind that Mothra is the only Kaiju to actually defeat Godzilla and kick him out of Japan before.
Kiryu, or Mechagodzilla, was badly damaged in the fight against Godzilla in the last movie and is still under repair. The military story was tepid at best. Yoshito is part of Kiryu's maintenance crew and dreams of one day piloting the Mechagodzilla. I missed badass pilot Akane Yashiro from Godzilla X Mechagodzilla. She is one of my favorite characters from all of the Godzilla movies. None of the new pilots measured up.
I thought the new fairies did a good job and loved that they were able to sing the Mosura song.
Professor Shinichi Chujo, played by Hiroshi Koizumi, from the original 1961 Mothra, makes a return and is the one the fairies come to visit early on. He and his grandson play a big role in summoning Mothra for help when Godzilla comes calling. And come calling he will as Mothra warned, because Kiryu is made from the bones of the 1954 Godzilla and Big G is drawn to it. Because of the original Godzilla's DNA in Kiryu, the giant metal monster is somewhat sentient making him a wildcard in the fight to come.
This is not one of my favorite Godzilla suits. Big G looks a little like a cobra or a Cardassian from Deep Space 9. Be that as it may, he's still wounded from the previous fight, Mechagodzilla needs more repairs, and Mothra is near the end of her life cycle. Not a three-way fight for the ages but spectacular enough.
Godzilla: Tokyo SOS is entertaining, no great moral to the story for this Godzilla aside from --- always listen to the Shobijin.
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The story takes place early on in China, then mostly in the United States, with a side trip to Japan. The narrative is constantly broken up by the use of flashbacks telling Hero's story which I found distracting. There were times it was hard to tell what time the characters were in and where they were located. Characters twenty years older tended to look almost the same as they did when they were younger to further confuse the issue.
It took a while to figure out the central conflicts were other than Hero being born under a “death star” which means he had to be a loner who wanted to be alone to keep his loved ones safe. Turns out a shady Japanese ninja and his henchmen wanted the kung fu secret of Hero's master which pitted Invincible and his ninja crew against Hero. It’s a martial arts movie which means they don’t need much of a reason to fight, but it’s always helpful to have a believable reason.
A Man Called Hero boasted a stellar cast though few had much screen time. It truly seemed a waste of Shu Qi, Ken Lo, and Yuen Biao. Bit characters became important and seemingly important characters dropped out of sight. There was a dearth of character development outside of Hero's and even then, we're missing out on nearly 20 years of story. It's hard to care about characters who only spent a few minutes on screen. Even the father-son relationship felt hollow. There were a lot of major plot holes that were never filled.
The special effects were very good, especially when the shape shifting ninjas who were dressed like chauffeurs battled Hero and his buddy Shadow. In a movie with so little character development, it would have benefited from more stunning action scenes than the few it had.
A Man Called Hero was mildly diverting but there wasn't enough depth or bright shiny objects to keep my attention through much of it. If you are a fan of Ekin Cheng, this particular manhua and know the story, or even a CGI buff, you might enjoy it. Kung fu enthusiasts may be disappointed.
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Scientists find two eggs, Rodan has recently hatched from one and it is flying around causing trouble. The scientists take the other egg back to the lab to observe it. What hatches is shockingly a mini-Godzilla. Godzilla and Rodan do battle over the baby and once again, the humans don't seem to understand that Godzilla rarely bounces into town to cause trouble unless he's been provoked. This time, he wants his kid back!
The humans have created Mechagodzilla to take on Godzilla and also have to use it against Rodan. A battle fighter plane can join with Mechagodzilla to form SUPER Mechagodzilla. Miki, the telepath of the G Force is back. And Azusa Goza plays surrogate mother to baby Godzilla.
Odaka Megumi did her best acting job of the Godzilla movies I've seen her in. All of the actors were serviceable although the 2 male leads felt largely indistinguishable. Ifukube Akira's score was superb as always.
Now to dig into the things I did not understand even after watching this movie twice. Baby Godzilla is not a Godzilla but Godzillasaur--nicer and a plant eater. Where did they get this information if he's the first one? And who is the mother? And does Rodan think he's his brother? How did Rodan hatch fully grown but Baby Godzilla is almost human size? Instead of who's the daddy, who's the mama?
It also turns out that Godzilla has another brain and it's in his rear. Not even going to touch that one. There is also a plant song that seems very important but for the life of me I don't get that story element.
Now on to what I did like. This is one of my favorite Godzilla costumes. I love his cat face and claws looks. After watching the first Rodan, Rodan's a favorite though often underused. In this film, near the end he does an incredibly sweet act that I found particularly touching. The monster fights and the fights with Mechagodzilla were all well done and of course the stake was custody of Baby Godzilla. Thankfully, this baby looked much better than and was far less annoying than Minilla. Baby Godzilla helped Godzilla be more than a rampaging destroyer and gave the humans more empathy to the giant monster. Unlike some of the revenge fueled movies, the humans built Mechagodzilla to protect themselves but also came to appreciate Big G's relationship to his son.
The theme was something about which would prevail-life or artificial life ( I can give you two guesses and one doesn't count) and the other thing they talked philosophically about was how dinosaurs would be there to replace humans when our time ran out. What I got out of it is that bitter custody battles are very costly.
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Even for a Godzilla movie, you have to leave your rational mind at the front door to enjoy this story. Either when Godzilla was battling Biollante or Mothra in a previous movie, his G cells made it into space, ended up in a black hole (whole other set of problems if a black hole is that close to Earth), collided with crystals, star making stuff, and maybe some space pollution to create a Godzilla that has powered up crystals on his back, can fly and can summon these powerful destructive crystals from the ground. Space Godzilla is fueled by rage and destructive tendencies even taking his anger out on Baby Godzilla. A mistake to be sure, because that brings Godzilla into the fight. Initially beaten by SG, we all know Big G needs his nose bloodied and to get angry before the climatic fight. Suffice it to say, eventually Godzilla, Space Godzilla, and the successor to Mechagodzilla II-Moguera meet up for a royal rumble.
The humans are at least a fairly entertaining group. Major Yuki is obsessed with destroying Godzilla after his best friend was killed in a previous encounter with the beast. His friend's sister is a scientist working on controlling Big G telepathically. Miki, the telepathic scientist from several Godzilla movies is back, and her powers have grown. My biggest complaint is that she isn't a very strong actress, probably the weakest in the cast. Her love interest and his comedic side kick round out the G Force team.
As a Mothra fan I was happy to at least see her in the opening, and her besties-the Cosmos-visited Miki several times as well as Fairy Mothra.
The big battles were well done and there were some good overlays to convey the size of the monsters. This mechanical Godzilla felt almost like a Transformer in that it could change shape, fly, walk upright, and burrow into the ground. Space Godzilla was a worthy adversary for Godzilla and he learned why you don't stomp around in Big G's territory and challenge him.
At the end, they tried to throw a moral of the story in, something about the danger of space pollution-truly out of place for this mindlessly fun film. Not a great movie by any stretch, but for fans of Godzilla it was entertaining if you didn't think about it too hard.
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What I liked:
The humans were a more engaging group than usual. The scientists had long time Godzilla actor, Hirata Akihiko, there to help them. An intrepid reporter had parachuted onto the island where the scientists were running tests to try and attempt to control the weather (nothing scary about that!) and he found a young woman who has been marooned on the island since her archaeologist father had died there years ago. The humans ran into problems having little to do with the monsters on the island and it gave them added depth as they had to work together to survive and get along.
Several giant praying mantis lurked in the jungle were a threat to the scientists and sleeping under the ground was a giant spider waiting to go all Shelob on them. The fights involving the giant monsters were all pretty well done and interesting.
If watching with children- Godzilla and his newly hatched son (which raises a lot of questions in and of itself from the mythos) are very affectionate, not scary, so this movie would be appropriate. Instead of frightening, Godzilla comes across as cuddly. There are a lot of loving interactions as Godzilla teaches his son to use his powers and also protects him. Minya protects his papa, too. And for once, Tokyo or some other town is not annihilated. Kamacuras and Kumonga might be too much for small children or those with arachnophobia.
What I didn't like:
Minya's/Baby Godzilla's costume was about as ugly as they could make it and Papa G's didn't look much better this go around. Kamacuras and Kumonga were styled better. Big G has battled far greater enemies and shouldn't have struggled as much as he did with the giant island bugs. Maybe his poorly created face caused him to feel inferior and he fought down at their level.
The sound department couldn't decide what noises to give Minya so they used a puppy, cat, lamb, and even donkey on different occasions to try and make Minya sound cute and helpless. I struggle anytime Godzilla is anthropomorphized to this extent, though it’s certainly not as bad as in Godzilla vs Megalon.
Overall, by setting aside the fearsome, destructive original Godzilla and accepting this era's kinder, gentler anti-hero, I could enjoy this movie for what it was. The humans were more compelling than in most Godzilla movies which helped as well. The truly scariest part of this whole movie was the humans' hubris in thinking they were wise enough to control the weather and not create greater world-wide catastrophes.
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When nuclear testing causes disturbances across the area, including the underwater world of Seatopia, their leader, Emperor Antonio, clad in a white toga with go-go boots and wearing a tiara with what looks like a replica of Megalon's head, calls for the giant cockroach to appear and retaliate against the humans. Megalon heads to Tokyo and starts tearing things up in town.
Meanwhile back at a Japanese lab a couple of humans and a kid are admiring the new robot they've created, Jet Jaguar, which was likely brought in to make the movie even more kid friendly. It reminded me of a creepy clown Ultraman. A couple of Seatopians show up and the kidnappings begin because they want the robot technology.
Ultimately, Jet Jaguar and Godzilla team up against Megalon and Gigan. It takes until two thirds of the movie to get the monster action going but when they do the fun begins. There are monster high fives and handshakes, dispelling any notion that these are giants guided by instinct.
When Godzilla shows up, the music doesn't announce a scary monster, it sounds more like someone's drunk Uncle Tony is stumbling onto the scene. The music was not very inspiring in this movie.
A giant cockroach seems apropos as a mortal enemy, they were here long before humans and will likely be here long after humans. I've always thought they'll be the ones to take over once we're gone in the hopefully very distant future. Thankfully, this time a giant irradiated lizard was able to keep cockroach world domination at bay.
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We are told somehow, somewhere, someway humans found a magical alien crystalline energy source in outer space and it transformed human society. We are told some alien Big Bads decided they wanted it and started attacking the earth. We are told about major cities being devastated world wide. We are told about loving longings between characters. We are told about friendships between characters. Another important thing this movie forgot---showing is more important than telling.
I found it utterly impossible to emotionally connect with any of the characters. Shu Qi is a beautiful and talented actress who was given the job of standing around looking at a monitor and giving orders. The four young pilots featured didn't have enough charisma or meaningful interactions with each other to have me invested in their lives or even remember who they were half the time. The rest of the cast acted in such a reserved manner as to feel almost lifeless.
Much of the CGI was good, even if the part of the alien spaceship they showed looked suspiciously like the ship from Independence Day. Too bad they forgot the part where we were shown what the actual aliens looked like from that movie, to make the battles seem even more personal and real. In Shanghai Fortress with all the amazing weaponry the humans had developed to combat the aliens, I'm at a complete loss why they still fought the alien robots on the ground using ineffective bullet shooting guns. There were several plot developments that made no sense.
Sometimes I can check my brain at the door and just enjoy the ride if the characters are compelling enough but this felt more like a hologram that was all visual with no substance.
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I'm going to start off with what I liked. The quality of the miniatures, sets, 1968 special effects, and space ship was quite good. I had to remind myself that this movie came out a year before the first manned trip to the moon. I appreciated their optimism that the world would be fully cooperating in 1999 not just on Earth but the moon as well. On the monster front, eleven popular Kaiju stars made appearances: Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, Mandan, Kumonga, Baragon, Varan, Gorosaurus, Minya, Anguirus, and Ghidorah. The fight near the end was all you could hope for in this era from Ghidorah against Godzilla and friends.
What let me down about this movie-in a movie called Destroy All Monsters, I want to see monsters. I suppose it could have been talking about the aliens because out of 88 minutes, the monsters were only on screen for around 18 minutes. The alien story could have been interesting but the acting was stiff and unemotional from humans and aliens alike. There were some entertaining moments, but not enough to keep me from wondering what the monsters were up to while the humans were talking.
Even though I was happy to see all the monsters in one movie, it would have been nice if they'd felt like the stars instead of guest stars in their own movie.
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Based loosely on the time when foreigners with guns were invading China, there were those who thought their fighters would be able to repel bullets with their kung fu. Lau Kar Leung's character disbands his school because he doesn't want to see any more young men die trying to survive bullet wounds with kung fu techniques. Of course, now he's branded as a traitor and the other schools send people to execute him. He's living quietly as a woodcutter though it doesn't take long for Hsiao Hou and Kara Hui to track him down. Kara's character is in agreement with his philosophy, Hsiao's character ends up having to question all his training and loyalty to his master when confronted with the truth of the human body and bullets.
There are some magical elements to the action with mind and body control. Two scenes with Alexander Fu Sheng, who plays a local conman, are particularly funny with Lau Kar Leung controlling his body with a straw doll.
Aside from Kara Hui, this is not a movie with pretty actors in the lead roles. This movie was made with actors, including Kara, who could perform the fights with precision and grace.
I could go on about the clash of traditionalism vs modern warfare and the nature of kung fu touched on in the film, but honestly what I enjoyed the most was watching the amazing fight scenes. Lau Kar Leung vs Hsiao Hou. Hsiao Hou and Kara Hui in a crazy attic fight. Gordon Liu, here in a supporting role as the antagonist, fighting against Lau Kar Leung was great. Just watching Lau Kar Leung practice with the weapons was worth the price of admission. The best was literally brother on brother fighting when Lau Kar Wing and Lau Kar Leung fight using all 18 weapons and their fists and kicks. The fighting is fast, expertly choreographed, no obviously missed hits or kicks, no missed timing. It was a joy to behold watching these experts put on a show.
After all the thrilling fights, the story even came to a satisfying end. If you are a kung fu movie enthusiast, this one is not to be missed.
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Mechagodzilla is back and this time it's personal!
Godzilla has his claws full battling a refurbished Mechagodzilla, Titanosaurus, and the space aliens from the previous Mechagodzilla appearance. This time the aliens have a mad Earth scientist who can control the normally peaceful Titanosaurus to help them reach their nefarious goal of leveling Tokyo and making it their new home. Along for the ride are some Interpol agents and the mad scientist's cyborg daughter. Of course, one of the Interpol agents falls madly in love with the daughter in the five minutes he gets to know her. Godzilla movies have it all--even romance!I thought the first Mechagodzilla movie was better than this one. Godzilla was almost relegated to a bit player here. He had a face lift since his last outing, making him look angrier. Thankfully, his eyes didn't look painted on by a fourth grader this time. Titanosaurus had the most screen time. I have to say I thought the design for Titan was very good and aesthetic, he made a formidable, if reluctant opponent for Big G. Mechagodzilla was back with some new weaponry and a few surprises.
Ifukube Akira's score was dark, ominous and at times thundering. I very rarely notice the music in movies, but I thought the score was nearly perfect, particularly for the opening sequence.
I would be remiss if I didn't make note that Honda Ishiro, the director for the first Godzilla movie, came out of at least semi-retirement to helm this movie.
The monster fights and city destruction were well done and didn't go over the line into the boxing camp of earlier movies. It did look like the same city block was destroyed several times, but given it's smallish budget that feels like nitpicking. My complaint is the same one I give in nearly every review, the humans were lackluster, including the simian aliens. The human element wouldn't be as important if they didn't take up so much screen time. I'm here for the big guy, not the humans he lets live on the island.
Terror of Mechagodzilla was entertaining, with a few dark elements thrown in, particularly near the end. This was a slightly above average 1970's Godzilla movie for me.
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Big G has his hands full with Mechagodzilla, luckily King Caesar/Shisa and some plucky humans are around to help. Returning for another Godzilla adventure is Hirata Akihiko as Professor Hideto Miyajima. This veteran actor is always a welcome presence. The humans were fairly interesting in this movie as they dealt with the aliens in various dangerous, if convoluted scenarios.
Though made during the classic 1970's rubber suit era, the makers of this film backed off the camp and upped the danger for Godzilla, complete with spurting blood. I have to remind myself that these movies were often made to be kid friendly though they did tone down the humorous fight scenes in this one. The laser effects were good for this time-frame and for what looked like a movie that was shot on a very limited budget. No miniature armies appeared, only buildings and mountainsides were destroyed. This was strictly monster on monster fighting.
Many Godzilla movies have a moral behind them. In this one, King Caesar/Shisa seems to be a call back to older Japanese traditions where the priestess must sing a hymn to awaken him. He is the god-like creature who protects the island and appears when called upon. Mechagodzilla shows modern technology encroaching on society. And somewhere in between is Godzilla, an ancient creature enhanced by modern nuclear radiation. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it and King Caesar is just a giant dog eared monster, Godzilla is a giant, destructive lizard and Mechagodzilla is just a large tin can created by some aliens spoiling for a fight!
Mechagodzilla's suit and weaponry were innovative though the real Godzillas's suit was underwhelming for me in this one. This is one of the rare times I enjoyed the humans' story as much as the monster fights. That's not to say their story was riveting, perhaps it's more of a reflection of my apathy toward the monster fights. I found King Caesar/Shisa to be lacking in particular. Mechagodzilla's weaponry and fights with Big G and all the spies both alien and human running around kept the film interesting and the action moving forward. Not a bad way to spend 90 minutes if you are a fan of the classic era.
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The story had some fun twists and turns. There were corrupt Ching nobles, Ming rebels, Korean sympathizers, Japanese characters, monks, fake monks, and real monks in disguise all after a pearl that is a holy relic, but there's also a fake pearl and a poor dead body dragged around the country side. With all these moving pieces, of course there are double crosses galore.
The story had potential, unfortunately some of the best fighters were missing for big chunks of time during the movie. Angela Mao doesn't appear until the 30 minute mark and Carter Wong is also vastly underused. Paul Chu plays the ML and he is out classed by the kung fu fighters around him and it shows.
The soundtrack often sounded like spaghetti western music and I suppose with all the outdoor settings and classic good guy versus bad guy fights only with fists or swords instead of guns it was fitting.
Many kung fu movies end abruptly as if the crew ran out of film but this one had a particularly unsatisfying ending. The saving grace for this film was simply being able to see the cast in action even if they were often underutilized. Legendary Strike may not be legendary but it did have some entertaining moments.
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