| Five Fingers Of Death (1973) .. Cast:Lo Lieh,Wang Ping, Wang Cheng Feng A young martial arts perfects his skill so he can compete in a tournament and along the way battles a rival school with mean thugs, Japanese swordsman and eye plucking martial artists in the process of this classic old school martial arts opus that deserves to be seen on the Dragon Dynasty. This movie has all the text examples of what makes this genre so fun. The creative, intense and exciting martial arts battles that put this in the classic range, the mean villains who earn our hatred and are brutal. The training montage that is always enjoyable and provides the film with its humor and character development. Most of all though this is what inspired the Bloodsports, Kickboxers and Bloodfists in the next decades. This movie was the first real tournament film alongside Enter The Dragon, and like Enter The Dragon it is also among the very best in this genre. The Shaw Bros. always put out the best martial arts movies (ones without Bruce Lee anyway.) and Five Fingers Of Death is among the landmarks of their output. It's hard to believe that this classic gets thrown into the shuffle with all the other grade Z chop socky fests but this movie is made with real craftsmanship. The fight sequences are edited for ultimate effect and are choreographed with a sense of style, and when the fight sequences do come around you're pumped up, much in the same way you would be in a western duel. It's this type of percise crispness and craftsmanship that make this one of the classics of the genre. I myself enjoyed the move immensely and think this is a movie that will be liked by those who aren't the biggest fans of the genre. D.Cheng Chang Ho***1/2 |