Very disappointing...

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

THE 72 DESPERATE REBELS is a mildly crazy Taiwanese martial arts movie starring the unlikely-named Barry Chan as the erstwhile hero whose job it is to take out a huge pirate gang led over by a hulking leader who dresses as a monk. What follows is a film fill of glitz, glamour and cheese, not to mention plentiful action; the problem is that it was done on a very low budget, which means it's all rather silly and inconsequential.The action scenes are adequate but far from the best the genre has to offer. Bai Ying and Chen Sing play in support. One of the supporting characters is called the Ghost Killer and proves to be a rival to Chan. The only part of the film I really liked is the character of the pirate leader, who has been clearly inspired by Richard Kiel's Jaws in the Bond films, as he has the same power teeth and imposing, over the top presence. There are some crazy antics at the climax involving his character which did raise a few smiles but overall this is a lacklustre movie.

Forget the films of Ed Wood. This film is definitely a contender for the worst film of all time. Tension, drama, script, acting, direction you name it, this film fails at every level.Every cliché of the Kung-Fu genre appears in this film. A blind swordsman, an indestructible enemy, interminable sequences of Kung Fu that seem more like country dancing than a form of combat, a plot so inchorent if not stupid it should get the kind of critical acclaim reserved for incoherent art house films and heroes so irritating they deserve a fate worse than death.The most stupid scene is probably in the inital scene where the merits of the 72 killers are described, each group wearing different colour head band to signify the number of people they have killed.Enormously funny if watched with a group of people in the right frame of mind.

72 DESPERATE REBELS is not terribly well-plotted or edited, nor is the kung fu what it should be in a film of this type, but it does have a certain visual flair and enough fight scenes to keep fans interested if not always seriously engaged. The plot has to do with a trio of heroes (two men, one woman) who take it upon themselves to try and bring down a powerful outlaw named Po Ho Nin (Pai Ying) who has an army of 72 killers and warriors whose combined skills have wreaked havoc throughout the region. The heroes are joined at one point by a blind swordsman (Lung Fei) who teaches them to 'fight in blindness' and, later, by a notorious swordsman who, they hope, can lead them to victory. At one point the heroes have to fight in different chambers set up by the bad guys, including the Tiger, Leopard, Crane and Phoenix chambers. In the latter, they are assaulted by hundreds of bells being rung overhead or thrown at them by women fighters.The villain's personal bodyguards include a midget and a giant. The giant (played by Siu Kam) has the same glandular condition as seven-foot-two actor Richard Kiel and sports a row of gold teeth, recalling Kiel's role as the steel-toothed 'Jaws' in a pair of James Bond films. The giant bites on opponents' swords and breaks them with his teeth. The running joke is that, like Jaws in the Bond films, every time he's left for dead, he always rises up in the next scene to continue the battle. The stars are not terribly charismatic. The female fighters are not memorable and not particularly skilled, although they are attractive. The only name actors in the cast are Tien Peng as one of the heroes; Pai Ying as villain Po Ho Nin; Lung Fei as the Blind Swordsman; Tsai Hung as one of the lead villains; and Chen Sing in one short fight scene as one of Po's warriors.The plot is somewhat incoherent, the actors not at their the best, the English dubbing awkward, and the kung fu too reliant on gimmickry, such as incredibly high leaps up great distances. However, there is a certain amount of imagination on display and the giant is quite a novelty.

Directed by Lin Bing, this kungfu classic features all sorts of various characters and concepts. The pirate Po Ho Nim has gathered 72 fighters to guard him from the Chinese government. However, a band of fighters from various parts of China take a stand and seek out Po to defeat him. This film also is memorable for its 7 foot tall, gold toothed monk who can bite through metal (a reference to James Bond?). The films action starts out slow, but picks up its pace as the heroes take on 4 different branches of Po's army. The ending, however, is a bit disappointing and anti climatic. All in all, classic kungfu action, if you don't take it too seriously.Rating: 8/10