everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Disturbing yet enthralling

Did you people see the same film I saw?

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Heroes of the East 6 out of 10. I am going to be nice here. I know this Shaw brothers picture is a favorite of some. If you like seeing different martial arts styles going against each other in interesting and colorful ways. You are in for a treat. If you like a story with your fighting you may be in for a long haul. The basic plot is an arranged marriage between a nice Chinese martial artist (Yay) and a horrible Japanese bride (Boo.). And the bride is horrible. It turns out she doesn't follow any of the nice Chinese customs like a normal person but instead follows those weird Japanese customs (Boo). To make matters worse she is a martial artist in her own right. But instead of doing good working class All-American Chinese martial arts (Yay) She does the sneaky, underhanded Japanese martial Arts (Boo).As one might surmise from the paragraph above the movie is slightly weighted to the Chinese point of view. This proves problematic as the wife (played by Yuka Mizuno) is neither attractive enough nor has the personality to convince me that her husband would pursue her back to Japan after she beat him up and destroyed his family home. Nevertheless, he sends a message asking her to come back to him and it is misinterpreted as a challenge to all of Japan's top martial artists. So we are then treated to some pretty good match-ups between Japanese and Chinese martial arts in everything from sword work to throwing stars.I see Wikipedia gives the film credit for not making the Japanese the bad guys as was the norm in Hong Kong cinema. (I am assuming they are grading on a curve). They do note that the fights are all honorable and without fatalities and that I agree is a nice change of pace. If the thought of seeing a Japanese Kusarigama vs. a Chinese Rope Dart or Japanese Crab-style vs. Chinese Fujian White Crane fills you with glee this is certainly a movie for you. If you are looking for an actual story the premise may come across as a little thin.

Heroes Of The East aka Shaolin Challenges Ninja is one of many collaborations between actor Gordon Liu and director Lau Kar Leung brought to us by the legendary Shaw Bros. Studios. Gordon Liu has an arranged marriage with a woman from Japan. His wife is an expert of various Japanese fighting styles and each party is of the viewpoint that their style is better than the other. Their various sparring matches cause serious tension in their marriage as well as destroy much of the house. Gordon Liu is, of course an awesome exponent of Chinese kung fu. His wife takes off to Japan and in an effort to get his wife back, slams the Japanese martial arts and challenges her to a competition. His wife's martial arts instructor/love interest grabs the letter from her and does not appreciate the letter's content. Next thing you know Yasuaki Karata and a bunch of Japanese dudes show up at Gordon Liu's pad and challenge him to a tournament. Gordon Liu accepts and fights each representative of various Japanese fighting styles. What separates Heroes Of The East from various other Chinese vs Japanese productions is that it respects both cultures and their fighting styles as well. There are lots of great fights to be had here and both Gordon Liu and Yasuaki Kurata are in top form. Heroes Of The East is indeed a solid martial arts film but it is nowhere near as essential as Lau Kar Leung/Gordon Liu's kung fu masterwork The 36 Chambers Of Shaolin aka Master Killer. Heroes Of The East still resonates and is an enjoyable, fast paced and cohesive martial arts film that is memorable and far above average.

East meets Far East when "Gordon Liu" (sporting what looks like an unintentionally funny wig) finds himself agreeing to an arranged marriage with a Japanese woman. He's Chinese, so there are bound to be some rough spots along the way- but the real sticking point for this couple turns out to be- surprise!- martial arts. She takes the next ship back to Japan, to meet with her karate instructor (Kurata) and discuss what might be done to save her marriage. Liu sends her a formal, written challenge in the hopes of luring her back. The ploy backfires and Kurata and half a dozen other Japanese martial artists, taking Liu's insult at face value, arrive to teach him a thing or two about Japanese martial arts. Before you can say "marital misunderstanding," Liu's facing off against one Japanese master after another in a great, unending sequence of fight scenes that make HEROES OF THE EAST well worth sitting through. Kurata himself, using what he calls "crab karate," has what must be the widest horse stance in the history of martial arts movies (horseshoe crab stance?) and moves from side to side like a real crab. In another bout, against a judoka, Liu greases his body so that the man can't get a grip on him.

If you like the Shaw Brothers Kung-fu movies and martial arts in general this is a cant miss. Gordon Lui plays a Chinese martial arts expert married off to a Japanese woman. Both are proud of there martial arts heritage and proceed to take on each other with all there countries weapons and arts. Kuda, his wife loses and returns to Japan in disgust. One of Lui's servants cooks up an idea to get here back by writing a mean letter ripping apart Japanese martial arts. Her teacher grabs the letter and takes it as an insult to there honor. Soon they travel to Japan changeling Lui once a day in different forms of Japanese martial arts, Kendo, Karate, numchuk, pole, yari, sai, Judo and then finally Ninjitsu. Defeating the kendo man and not taking his sword dishonor's him greatly and attempts seppuku but is stopped. The Japanese do there best to stop him, but Gordon takes them out one by one, apologizing about the sword incident and wining there respect. This is a great Shaw Brothers movie and surprisingly no one dies. Instead this showcases many forms of martial arts and weapons. Lui is one of the great Kung Fu leads of the 70's and I have always enjoyed him. I give this a 9 out of 10.