Customer Reviews

Wang Yu, the Destroyer [VHS]

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

 

 

Some quick stats for fans of martial arts films. Body count: 87 (holy crap!), with 6 ambiguous. Nude scenes: 0. Best death sequence: An old lady impales a marauder with a completely blunt *FIREPLACE LOG* which she flips at him with her cane. Awesome! Spoken dialogue dubbed over in English.

Firstly, do not believe the plot synopsis listed above. The film has nothing to do with an "infamous bandit" or a commissioner. The negative reviews posted are perhaps for another film of the same title.

In Rage of the Master, an estranged relative returns to his family's martial arts school in order to destroy it and to prove himself. After wiping out most of the school and killing its master (his brother) and his brother's wife, some surviving members of the family go to a local farm seeking help. After a few failed attempts, the family enlists the help of a young kung-fu expert, Tiger (played by Tiger Yang), and his aging, but highly skilled mother. Meanwhile, the estranged relative plots from his casino to hunt down and kill the remaining family members, with the help of droves of casino cronies and some strangely dressed Thai boxing experts, one of whom is disturbingly similar in costume to Michael Jackson. When the thugs catch up with the protagonists, there's plenty of action and non-stop bloodshed!

With so many characters to keep track of in the film, it can get confusing trying to keep tabs on each character. The young male characters in the film are all in similar costume and hair and are difficult to differentiate at times. Several side ventures also add to the confusion.

The acting in the film is on par, but nothing special. Some characters are better developed than others, but this is forgivable, given the number of characters in the film.

The fight scenes in this movie are epic. After a couple of low level skirmishes between the two parties, things really start heating up. In the film's later fights, literally dozens of bodies drop during some encounters. The choreography is fine, and almost all of the films fights are group-on-group, rather than individual one-on-ones. The fighting is about 90% genuine martial arts skill and 10% special effects, which is a good blend. An added plus is the display of Thai boxing, which makes a nice contrast to the kung-fu used by most of the characters.

The skill of the actors is obvious everywhere, but surprisingly, the most entertaining character in the movie is Tiger's aging mother, who performs such outlandish stunts as killing a man by hurling a pair of scissors into his chest, the aforementioned impalement by a piece of firewood, and later, hurling giant blocks of concrete with a flip of her cane. She even manages to keep fighting despite being run through with a knife and suffering multiple stab wounds.

Rage of the Master's action is hard to beat, and gets an easy five stars. The plot gets four, and the acting gets three stars. Any kung-fu afficionado will definitely enjoy this movie. I purchased it as part of a bundle in the Martial Arts Action Pack, which includes three other feature-length films, all respectable. Regardless of how you purchase it, Rage of the Master is a must-see.

One person claimed there were 87 bodies, but I had counted at least 152 (it was so late by the time I rounded third on the body count that I passed out). The only reason I tried counting was that I kept seeing people rolling their eyes in the backs of their heads with blood spewing out their chests, necks, or mouths. Even "Terminator" didn't do this much damage; I don't think the trilogy could even come close to the number of 6-foot holes needed to bury the dead!

"YOU KILLED MY MOTHER, YOU'LL PAY WITH YOUR BLOOD!" says Tiger Wong (played by Jimmy Wang Yu), who had already done in another two handfulls of bad guys, pausing before wrecking more havoc after his buttons were pressed too hard and too often. He finally added to the slaughter, perhaps more than halfway through the film!

The dubbing pretty much sucks raw eggs, but I feel that's part of the joy of some of the martial arts films of its day, when the Asian characters mouths move, while British voices are heard instead. The color is really bad in my DVD pressing (one I had gotten at a true dollar store, where everything costs a buck). And there's a serious crop issue with the transfer being made from a standard TV format (4x3), when the film seems as though it were filmed in letterbox (around 2.35:1). That means that about half the original film is cropped in the transfer. But the framing during filming isn't fully exploited (like the composition of the scenes in Star Wars or Jaws, for instance). So, viewing this movie, you'll see more arms cropped out, than essential characters missing in essential scenes.

My version, a dual-sided DVD (with Snake Crane Secret on the flip) was worth the dollar spent. If you purchase any version over a couple bucks, try to make sure it's widescreen and a direct film transfer from the master negative. Otherwise, just get the cheapest DVD possible, so you won't be too frustrated over paying too much for a badly-pressed DVD.

aka THE HERO in South Africa,was one of Jimmy Wang Yu's early movies,after all these years its still as good as watching it the first time.This dvd is full screen,transfer is fair,but thats the best one would ever get this movie.I'm surprise its still around.The movie itself has a good storyline and fight sequences,but the dubbing was terrible.

if your a fan of kung fu, you won't like it. if your a fan of bad kung fu, and extremely cheesy action films, then this is for you. it says on the cover, the most extreme kung-fu action ever caught on film, and it surely is extreme. To say the least, that's really all the film has going for it. if anyone can actually understand the plot, kudos to you. not to mention lines like "these are also well known boxers" are not really convincing. but all the random "martial artists" jumping around in the background is hilarious. oh yeah, the highlight of the film is the women. i don't particularly go for asian, but these women kick some butt. you'll see some extreme projectiles propelled by the use of a walking stick. i'm a major fan because i got this movie cheap. i couldn't appreciate it much at first, but then realizing the comedic value of this film is greater than the action, it is surely a solid investment

I LOVE JIMMY WANG YU, that's why it was so hard to watch this. The only part I felt any emotion at all during this was the final fight between Lung Fei and Jimmy, and the final final fight between guy in pnk shorts vs. Jimmy. I love Lung Fei, but he sucks in this one and is almost as bad as the guy in pink. And by the way the one emotion I felt was laughter. Pure laughter. Now the pink shorts are one of the best things about this movie, I love the campiness of Wang yu's fimls, and the pink shorts did hit the spot. Other than that, I just got this really bad stomach ache while watching this, but when you press stop it goes away, so for health reasons, do not watch this. If you wanna see a good Jimmy Wang Yu movie, go and get the Original One-armed boxer where he loses his arm, now that is a GOOD movie, not great, but rates like a 7/10, now this movie is a 0.5/10, so if you like to evaluate how bad movies are, you will be takingn a lot of notes during this one.