Waste of time

Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Directed by and staring Sammo Hung (whose character, as usual, is referred to as Fatty!), this kung fu flick was definitely one of the good ones. The first half was mostly standard fare but things picked up nicely at around the midpoint. After the cool training sequence, Fatty and friends each pick one of the different-styled baddies and seek them out to set things right. The last 20 minutes or so just kick butt, cumulating with the top bad guy whipping out a creepy praying-mantis style on our heroes that must be seen to be believed. As a Hung production, it does feature some of his cheesy but harmless brand of comedy but he also makes sure to splatter some blood in deserving scenes. Also, for such a movie, there were a number of shots that looked like they were lifted right out of a Chinese horror movie! When I finished the film, I watched the original trailer on the DVD, in which Chinese descriptions appeared over the scenes, translated underneath. Here are a few lines that occurred during some fight scenes: It's authentic! It's clearly shown! It's greatly entertaining! And it was. I just thought that was amusing…"clearly shown" isn't part of the modern fight choreographer's vocabulary.

Sammo Hung's classic 'Warriors Two' features Korean super-kicker Casanova Wong in his biggest role as Cashier Hua (the 'Zhao Qian Hua' of the title), who works in the bank run by Banker Mo (Fung Hark-On). One evening, just as he was about to pack up for the day, he inadvertently hears a discussion between Mo and some of his other employees where he plots to take over the whole town and become the new Village Head by disposing of the current one.Hua tries to warn the Village Head, but instead falls into a trap where some of Mo's henchmen beat him up quite badly. But Hua escapes, albeit seriously injured, and bumps into Fei Chun (Sammo Hung), who hides Hua in the home of his master, Mr Leung Tsang (the 'Zan Xian Sheng' of the title, played by Leung Kar-Yan), a Wing Chun master and healer.Mo and his cronies go about trying to lure Hua out of hiding by murdering his last remaining family member (in Chinese customs of the period it was traditional to avenge the deaths of murdered friends or family -- something exploited in a lot of the period kung-fu movies of this era), but Fei Chun eventually makes Hua see sense, that he doesn't stand a chance of avenging death as his fighting skills aren't good enough. That's where Mr Tsang comes in -- but Hua's quest for revenge makes Tsang reticent about teaching Wing Chun to him, as kung-fu (like all martial arts) is not supposed to be used aggressively. Will Fei Chun be able to make Tsang capitulate and become his Sifu?This movie was where Sammo's early promise as director and action choreographer shown in his directorial debut 'Iron-Fisted Monk' comes to the fore, as he steps up the quality of the fight choreography and overall structure of the film, and came up with a true masterpiece. Sammo's ability to choreograph the performers in such a way that they come across as powerful as they would ever look on-screen is something that fans of his work are used to (even his former Peking Opera classmate Jackie Chan has benefited from Sammo's excellent choreographic genius), and 'Warriors Two' is no exception, with some superbly crisp fights that contain shots where fighters perform well over ten carefully-timed moves before a cut occurs! But what's most amazing is that Sammo has actually managed to transfer Wing Chun to the screen successfully (some arts don't translate that well to the screen without some minor changes due to the limitations of film -- something that Hong Kong film-makers, especially those of Sammo's ability, have acknowledged over the years and allowed for accordingly), and has actually depicted Wing Chun very accurately in a way that you would appreciate even if you're not a dedicated martial artist.Casanova Wong's acting ability is a bit limited, but in my mind is not enough to completely hamper the film as a whole, and his kicking, combined with the hand techniques his character would learn throughout the movie, is superb. The bit most people talk about is his amazing jump-spinning back kick over a table (in one shot!) which even I rewind and watch again and again!As Banker Mo, Fung Hark-On gives what I believe to be his best bad-guy role outside of Jackie Chan's 'Police Story' (1985), with a menace he never really matched again. His character even provides a bit of a twist at the end!'Warriors Two' features an all-star cast including Eric Tsang (who would appear as Roundhead in the 'Lucky Stars' series), Lau Kar-Wing (Liu Chia-Yong; he's the real-life brother of Liu Chia-Liang), Fung Hark-On, the late Lam Ching-Ying, Yuen Biao (who would later co-choreograph the action in 'Shanghai Noon'), Mang Hoi (a.k.a. Randy Mang!), Dean Shek... Oh, and let's not forget Lee Hoi-San as seemingly-invincible Iron Bell fighter Ya Chao!Being a Sammo film, there are also some moments of broad comedy (some of it dark), but it works within the film, and was still fairly unfamiliar in Hong Kong movies in 1978.Mark my words: 'Warriors Two' is a cast-iron classic. It doesn't QUITE have the polish of Sammo's other Wing Chun movie, 'The Prodigal Son' (1983), but it's still an enjoyable film in its own right, and is different enough from the other kung-fu movies out there to help it stand out, and it still looks wonderful all these years later.

Mo played by Hark-on Fung has opened up a bank in town. In a great dialogue scene with his henchmen, he stares at the camera and reveals his plans.The bank is just a cover up. I`ve got other plans. The henchman with a big scar flinches and looks at Mo. -What do you have in mind? Camera zoom. - I`m going to own this town.The first real scene of the movie (the tiresome comic relief aside) shows Mo`s swordsmen riding into town, strutting into the local teahouse and asks for a table. They demand the biggest and best table, but the host politely informs that the table is reserved for Mr Liang Tsan, the town doctor and filantropist. Of course the swordsmen pay no attantion, and soon they have drawn swords, after just 5 minutes in town. Liang Tsan is about to engage in a fight with them when businessman Mo comes. - You`ve just arrived into town, and already you have managed to get into trouble? Get out of here.Liang Tsan immediately concludes that someone who can give orders to no good swordsmen can`t be trusted.And rightly. Mayhem is about to start, and it ends with Casanova Wong avenging Liang Tsan. In the final scene Mo reveals himself as the Praying Mantis, in an unparallelled turn of events that surpasses any kung fu flick I have ever seen. The Praying Mantis defies gravity.If not for the fact that Sammo Hung managed to ruin a lot of this film with comic reliefs, this would have been a 10/10 movie.

Once this film gets going it features some of the best kung fu ever filmed. The action is tightly choreographed and the strikes look like they really hurt. It's all I can do to stop myself from spilling the beans on the finale, which sees Wing Chun style up against one of my other favourite styles, which I can't reveal because it would spoil the surprise. The film also has a great "what do we have to do to kill this guy?" type scene in it, which is predictably bloody and excruciatingly painful. For lovers of eccentric training routines there's no need to worry, the wooden men are out in force, and the weasel with the glasses and the crap voice makes his presence well and truly felt. If you're a kung fu fan and haven't run into this one yet: this is "the business", up there with Prodigal Son.