Customer Reviews

The Brave Archer

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the first of a four film series. This widely considered the best of the four stories released in the Brave Archer series. There are fantasticasl moments that really provide the escapism some viewers so desperately crave. Then there are the extremely well crafted hand to hand choreographed fights eg. the fight initial between Lee Yi Min and fu Sheng is great. Then there are touching moments eg. when Fu Sheng offers his only protection against the cold winter climate to a young beggar. The fantastical, with Fan Mei Sheng as snake lord, and the blind witch who is justifiably feared by ALMOST everyone. Peach Blossom Forest is a tribute to true escapism and the three fingered drunken monk played by the immortal, Ku Feng is perfect. You actually sense the air of respect the duo have for him through fear of uncertainty. This is a wonderful film and a must have for any self respecting kung fu fan.

No wonder "One Armed Swordsman" was disappointed with this movie (beyond some close-mindedness): this truncated adaptation of Hong Kong writer Jin Yong's "Legend of the Condor Heroes" came from director Cheh upon finishing his run of Shaolin movies, with "The Five Venoms" soon to come. With that, the movie goes in reverse (sort of) as the to-be-expected Cheh chaos leads to the love story: from dark to light, almost. Blame the source material for OAS's response! Everyone else who enjoys a break from the "usual" Cheh will like this work from the man himself ( by the third sequel, Cheh put the story six feet under by abandoning Fu Sheng [to an unnecessary, lesser role] and letting the "Venoms" run rampant). Alexander Fu Sheng fares well, aided and abetted by a supporting cast who give plausiblity to the fantasy. Among them, four soon-to-be "Venoms" are found: Chiang Seng (two quick walk-ons as a guy without a tongue), Lo Meng, Lu Feng and--stealing the show--Kuo Chui as "the Pope's brother"! Yet another great Tokyo Shock DVD, from picture, sound, commentary (from Brian Camp),and a nice touch of other extras. Not a kung-fu movie; another good reason to catch this....Love, Brother Fang.

I loved this movie! It's different from most of what I've been watching lately in that it's a costume piece epic that focuses on story and character development more than mindless action. There's still plenty of action, but in shorter bite-sized moments. And the story isn't perfect -- basically you have a huge cast with people coming and going quickly, so there are loose ends. I saw Shaw mega-star Ti Lung during the opening credits but I don't recall him from the movie -- I think they had to cut him out. It's quite long by their standards. But I enjoyed every minute and wish there was more. So many great stars, some great comedy, and I must admit I loved the sweet love story that starts in the most unexpected way and lasts the entire rest of the movie. I have such a huge crush on Niu Tien's character. She was amazing! My god I need a woman like that!

On this new Tokyo Shock dvd the picture quality is absolutely beautiful. Language tracks are English 5.1, English mono, and Cantonese mono, along with English subtitles. There's also a commentary track from some expert, but I never do commentary tracks, sorry. The extras are a photo gallery and trailers, as well as a textless version of the opening credits, but I'm not sure why that's included. You see all the major characters, but it's not like a Liu Chia-Liang action opening.

This movie is ok. Its not great, its not spectacular, its just ok. This movie is a love story. The only thing this movie has is name recognition. The fact that this movie has the dudes who played in the venoms series doesn't make it any better. The fact that this movie was made by the Shaw Brothers doesn't change a thing! It needed more action and more killing! There was some but...not enough. If your buying this movie to collect a Shaw Bros. classic then yeah buy it for that reason but for something to watch buy something else!

I just watched all four of the brave archer movies, and would like to know where's the archer in brave archer? I saw absolutely no archer or archery in any of the movies. The fighting was good, but the story lines were hard to keep up with at times. In closing I like to say that Alexander Fu Sheng and the Venoms made the movies worth watching.

THERE WAS ACTUALLY A 5TH PART TO THE SERIES - THE TITLE "LITTLE DRAGON MAIDEN"

This movie deserves 0 stars but unfortuanitly i have to put 1 (-_-)
THIS IS NOT A KUNGFU MOVIE!!!its a Corny-Ass love story(on sum Titanic iSh)
with [...] characters,a stupid plot(that totally switches up!OMGosh the movie
starts off with a decent(martial arts)story but as soon as this guy
meets a girl EVERYTHING CHANGES!& the original story is abandoned.

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