This is one of Sammo Hung’s early movies which he also choreographed, although i enjoyed the movie i felt the direction of the film by Hwang Feng was standard.
The movie starts with Sammo hung, Angela Mao and Carter Wong being instructed by their Korean teacher to leave korea (Occupied by Japanese) and start a school of there own in china and spread the teaching’s of Hapkido there. When they get to china and start teaching the art to a few students, they realise they must also pay respect to other schools in the area, where one of them just happens to be a Japanese school.
The japanese school is the Black Rear Association and they do not take kindly to the students of Hapkido, and this is where the movie really picks up. There are lots of fights between the schools which leads in the end to some of the main characters being wiped out before the final battle.
One fight that sticks out is when carter wong goes to the japanese school to talk and is attacked by a load of the black rear association which leads to angela mao to step up and save the day.
The movie shows some great Hapkido moves, from the lovely jumping spin kicks, double jumping kicks through wood then to show angela mao perform a high spin kick through wood then straight into a low spin kick. (All at the start of the film). Its rare to have a movie based on this style, which is great to watch from your normal kung fu style movies.
Overall a good movie but the direction sometimes restrains the likes of angela mao and sammo hung from showing there many talents.
[Rating:7/10]
7/10
*NOTE* Do not miss the blink and you will miss cameos from leading stars of today like Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao, Corey Yuen that appear in the background in a few fights.
