Last Hurrah for Chivalry

Early kung fu flick from John Woo, best known for the epic gunplay in his later gangster films. It still features the usual Woo themes of loyalty and brotherhood, and has some very well choreographed and performed fight scenes.

Had a bit more depth than I expected for a '79 kung-fu flick.

This was surprisingly awesome. After the good but mostly clunky Hand of Death I really wasn't expecting Woo to knock it so far out of the park with this. It's so much fun, the pace is relentless, and the fights are fucking insane. There's three or four fight sequences in here that are among the best I've ever seen. And it gets dark as hell, and the music is great. Loved it. Though it does get a bit exhausting by the end, and the female characters are atrocious. Other than that, awesome.

In this one Woo is coming even more into himself. With a plot that is about an unlikely friendship that forms between a righteous swordsmen and hired killer and dealing with themes as friendship, loyalty and honor this is a clear template for his later famous heroic bloodshed movies. On the other side this also is grounded in the epic wuxia movies tradition of Woo's filmmentor, Cheh Chang; making this a transitional work. The action is good and the two heroes make an enjoyable kick-ass duo.

The plot is pretty much just a confusing murder-thon. However, the fight choreography is undeniably great. I particularly like the guy with the Sleeping style of kung fu.

72.000

Back when John Woo was fitting the mold before blazing his own trail. The Chinese opera roots show through perhaps a bit too clearly in a way. It's all very impressively performed, but certain fights aren't as thrilling as they could be because they stick so rigidly to that slower, more measured rhythm and stilted style. There's still plenty of fun to be had in the fights and tons of cool moments, but I always prefer the next wave of Hong Kong action

The action was amazing, especially that twin blade swordsmen near the end