Eastern Condors

Needs more kung fu and less gunplay, especially when the gunplay is so ridiculous. Also, much of the comedy is ill-placed, but that could be because I was watching the dubbed version. Worth it for the final fight scene (as usual), Yuen Biao's typically fine acrobatics, and the most epic crotch-kick I've ever seen. Btw, that poster just can't be the same movie.

Sammo Hung leads a huge cast of martial arts stars in this Hong Kong version of The Dirty Dozen, in which a group of prisoners are sent into Vietnam on what is essentially a suicide mission to destroy an abandoned American munitions dump...before the Viet Cong find it. An awesome non-stop action flick that oscillates between lightning fast kung fu and gory, Rambo-like war action. The cast list alone makes me salivate. Fabulous.

Some nice action, and some absolutely terrible dialogue and acting.

A film so invested in multiple variations in action movement -- physically powerful martial arts (these guys must have broken something), machete fights, machine gun mass killings, gunfights, Biao showing his best against the giggling villain, Sammo too, the three Cambodian female heroes kicking asses, Sammo killing dudes with LEAVES -- and so beautifully staged and choreographed that it feels impossible not to love it. Pure energy in the form of both slowmos and frenzy, unstoppable scenes.

Viewed August 17, 2020.

The concept of blending together kung fu action with Vietnam War violence is such an absurd concept that it wins me over on that alone. But looking beyond that, the film forgets to meld the two together in the second half and the focus becomes much more centralized on the choreographic theatrics than explosive violence, which is comparatively a lot more dull and tepid. But based on the quality of its action alone, it's solid despite the awkward and unnecessary slow-mo and weak catharsis.

It has fun likeable cast. There is comedy, there is tragedy, tho both don't always work. With some of the teams dying early on in the movie, it's clear there are real stakes. It has three female guerrila fighters kicking ass. But most of all this to me was a perfect fusion between the 80s kung fu movies from Sammo Hung and his friend Jackie Chan (like Project A) and heroic bloodshed action (war) movies (like Woo's Bullet in the Head). I really loved this.

Pretty bad on a plot and comedy level, BUT... Sammo kills two dudes with leaves, Yuen Biao kicks a dude in the balls in midair hard enough to completely change his direction, and in the first action scene, a guy gets stabbed in the asshole. And I do mean the HOLE. I'm talkin legs up in the air, cheeks spread, so deadly accurate the blade probably didn't even make contact with him, just in and out, no rim, nothin but net

Sure, fuck War movies, but this is so wonderfully schizophrenic between every genre cliche you’ve ever seen, extremely ill-placed HK comedy, Pathos of varying success and some absolutely great stunts and choreography, I didn’t find myself able to care much.

This movie, set in post-war Vietnam, is an unusual mixture of kung-fu and heroic-bloodshed genres. Sammo Hung directs and acts, alongside Yuen Biao, who is, in my opinion, criminally underrated. Surprisingly, tone of film, for the most part, is serious. The occasional comedy feels out of place. Plot is very similar to Dirty Dozen, but spectacular kung-fu action (choreographed by Wah Yuen, who also appears as the charismatic giggling villain) sets this movie apart.

Non-stop action. Kind of a mixture between "The Dirty Dozen" and Arnie's "Commando" in that sense.

Sammo Hung's attempt at a Vietnam adventure movie, with an Asian "Dirty Dozen"-style plot. Suitably gritty and violent.

THIS FILM IS DEDICATED TO THE BRAVE KHMER ROUGE FIGHTERS OF CAMBODIA.

I don't know if every edition is like this, but mine had the worst sound mix I'd ever heard from a movie. Some sounds were highlighted with deep bass, while you could barely hear the dialogue throughout. But the ridiculous action compensates most of the time. Just the two aspects go hand in hand, so you need one to make the other work.

Campiness at its best. A lot of illogical scenes.

A Hong Kong Martial Arts Vietnam Maccaroni Combat Movie! Wait, what...?