Customer Reviews

Deadly Duo Blu-Ray [Blu-ray]

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This review is for the Region A Blu-Ray edition of The Deadly Duo as released by Tokyo Shock (Media Blasters).

The technical quality of this release would get a 4 star rating. The Celestial Pictures transfer is beautiful with sharp colors and detail in 1080p High Definition (16x9, 2.35:1 widescreen NTSC). Some people may think it is too sharp or cold but I liked it. YMMV. You get the Mandarin and English audio tracks in Dolby Digital TrueHD and the English again in Dolby Digital Surrond 5.1. English subtitles are there as usual. It's a great viewing experience overall.

This is definitely not in my top ten Shaw Brothers releases although it features a pretty good cast including the smirking David Chiang, Ti Lung, Ku Feng, and Chen Hsing. The fighting is mostly weapons-based with swords, axes, fire bombs, knife-edge cymbals, and a nifty little harpoon/chain device that David Chiang uses. Chang Cheh directs and delivers the usual blood and impalements, and it's not shocking that I don't remember seeing a single female in the entire movie (surely there was one somewhere?). The fighting is competent but not overly exciting and I could put together a fairly long list of martial arts films that I think are better. The story is a standard rescue plot and is fairly predictable.

Extras include interviews with David Chiang and Ti Lung as well as a Stills Gallery and a Trailer Gallery. If your a Shaw Brothers fan and collector you will likely want to pick this one up but don't rush.

I don't know why Amazon listed this movie with a 1962 release date when this was actually released in 1971. It's been awhile since I've seen this movie but I remember it being rather mediocre and dumb in one particular spot(where I'll mention in a moment). Lots of weapons(which is probably the movie's strong point) and colorful shots from the costumes to the outside scenes. Ti Lung wields an axe, Ku Feng has a kwon do staff, Lau Kar Wing uses sword length spears, Yeung Chak-lam with a Baton that shoots fireball pellets, some guy with giant Zildjan Cymbals, and Chiang has a harpoon whip chain thingy. They kinda had a 5 Elements things going on here with the bad guys but of course this was poorly played out but would later be implemented much better with 5 Element Ninjas. I beleive the basic premise of the movie is that Ti Lung/Chiang & Company are trying to rescue a prince being held captive by Ku Feng & Chan Sing. In order to do so they have to get an emperor's seal to prove their identity and cross a rickety ass bridge to the place where the prince is held captive. This bridge is the bane of most of the good guys existence. Knowing full well that the bridge cannot support the weight of the men crossing it(i guess its immune to the elements though), nearly all of the good guy jobbers cross it to only fall to their demise. I can only imagine this is where the writers from Saturday Night Live got their inspiration for the Polar Bear Sketch from the 90s. If you are a fan of the Iron Triangle era, then I guess get this to complete your collection but I found it rather mediocre and quite forgettable.