What a beautiful movie!

Purely Joyful Movie!

Just so...so bad

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

A sacred treasure map is stolen by a group of thieves. They go underground and split the map into eight pieces between them all, agreeing to reconvene in three years and only then will they collectively seek out the treasure. Unfortunately for them, a kung fu fighting policemen pursues them and takes them out one by one.Shaolin Deadly Kicks is a fairly typical Hong Kong action flick from back in the day. I quite liked the simple plot-line that set up a neat excuse for several martial arts encounters. Like most films of this type, the action scenes are pretty well delivered but it all gets a little monotonous after a while and by the end I was actively tired of it. There are some good things to be found here admittedly but it's ultimately one mainly for martial art nuts I reckon.

A gang of masked thieves known as the Eight Dragons bust into a wealthy man's home and steal a map, leaving no witnesses alive. Once the deed is done, the leader decides that this ordeal has gotten way out of hand, and orders his men to each take one piece of the map and go into hiding for three years before they regroup and finally reap the rewards of their newly obtained treasure. Dorian Tan plays a cop who uses deceit, disguises, and finds himself in a compromising situations on more than one occasion as he tracks down each member and attempts to regain the stolen treasure. This premise sounds very promising but unfortunately the movie falls short.The movie flows along and holds one's attention pretty well as Tan finds each of the thieves but each resulting confrontation is plainly unsatisfying. Huang Lung's fight choreography here is stale and just plain boring. While I can certainly appreciate Dorian Tan's impressive kicking ability there is simply too much emphasis put on it. All too often do we see Mr. Tan hopping around on and attacking his opponent with one leg, which is all fine and dandy, but results in his kicks looking like they have no power behind them. Punches suffer similarly due to the slow speed at which they tend to be delivered, which is actually a fault I found with the kicking as well. The fight scenes get a bit more interesting towards the end, but regardless, I can honestly say that I enjoyed Tan's performance vs Yang Sze and Jim Kelly in The Tattoo Connection more than any fight in SDK. Even the talents of Lo Lieh, Gam Gong, and that of some other recognizable HK cinema stars are wasted here. The final fight where Tan and Doris Lung take on Lo Lieh is also quite bland and the ending itself is abrupt and like the rest of the film, extremely unsatisfying.The meticulous and well-orchestrated soundtrack by Chow Fook Leung is one of the high-points of this film and the only thing I really liked about it besides the inclusion of Miss Doris Lung Chun-Erh, who played the daughter of the Eight Dragons' leader. The English dub, acting, and directing are all fine and passable. Unfortunately, the action isn't, and for a movie of this type that is not acceptable. I would recommend this only to Flash Legs completists.

Shaolin Deadly Kicks offers a spaghetti western plot nicely adapted to the Martial Arts genre and a lot of well-choreographed and nicely filmed high-kicking action.A group of hardened criminals have stolen a treasure map in a widely publicized attack on a temple. To prevent their capture, they divide the map into eight pieces and agree to regroup in three years to locate the treasure. However, before they can do this, Tao-liang Tan shows up with other plans. This young man begins methodically taking out each member of the gang, until he meets his own weakness - which ironically turns out to be the Achilles heal of the gang-leader as well.Despite some of the opinions expressed here on IMDb, Shaolin Deadly Kicks' plot is actually quite strong for the genre. Unlike many martial arts films, SDK does not wander aimlessly and none of the scenes come across as simple excuses for violence. The voice-talent is typically mediocre, but the physical acting and evocation of the pan-southeast Asian cast compensates for it.Loke many non-American martial arts films, Shaolin Deadly Kicks has a fantastic/folkloric feel. Though it may not appeal to the standard American audience, it will certainly satisfy the martial arts film enthusiast.

This was the first movie I watched out a recent purchase, the "Martial Arts Classics" 50 movie DVD collection. It was almost exactly what I was hoping for: a pure recreation of the "Kung Fu Theater" experience...with all that implies about the pros and cons of the form. First of all, the hero actually had some acting talent and charisma. He was capable of conveying fairly complex emotions (for an old school Kung fu flick) and he had that all important ability to let you see what the character is thinking. So many actors just try to radiate an attitude and think their work is done...but this guy was able to "be in the moment" in the non-action scenes. Second, the fight choreography was pretty good. Everyone jumped and kicked and punched with admirable energy and conviction, and the so called "Deadly Kicks" were quite impressive. You could actually sort of believe that a person who could kick that fast and accurately might actually be able to fight that way (it worked for Bill Wallace, after all). The fight choreographers used the "Flash legs" gimmick a lot, but they didn't over use it to the point of laugh- ability or boredom, and the hero had to work hard to win his fights - he even lost a couple! The dubbing was average for a movie of this sort, but it didn't actively suck so much as to detract from the movie. I've heard a lot worse. The weakest part was the story arc. It just sort of seemed to lose focus as the hero's quest to retrieve eight parts of a stolen map from the eight outlaws who took it progressed...although there was an enjoyable complication about 2/3rd of the way through where the hero is nursed back to health by the (adopted?) daughter of one of the thieves.A lot of the character's action and decisions made very little sense (at least to my modern American sensibility) and the final climactic scene just stops short, like a Roadrunner cartoon instead of a movie, as if the director just ran out of money or time, or both. Still, there was a lot to like about "Deadly Kicks Of Shaolin" and I'm glad it was included in this pack so I got to watch it.