Shaolin Rescuers

Rating:
Summary: Shaolin Rescuers (aka Avenging Warriors of Shaolin)
Review: Fights, fights, and more fights! The Venom gang shows us once again why they are the best! Long, spectacular fight scenes and a good story makes this film one of my all-time favorites! An absolute must-have DVD for all Venom fans!

Featured Venoms: Kuo Chui, Lo Meng, Sun Chien, Chiang Sheng, and Lu Feng

Rating:
Summary: Shaolin Rescuers!
Review: The Shaolin Temple is destroyed and nearly all Shaolin men are slaughtered when the treacherous Monk Pai Mei betrays them and lets the Manchus in. Very few Shaolin Fighters have made it out alive, one of whom is Hung Sze Kwan (played by Jason Pai Piao in this film). Hung Sze Kwan is badly injured, and he seeks out the priest Chi San and his fellow Shaolin Brother, Fong Sai Yuk for help. Chi San gives him a prescription for rhinocerous horns, marigolds, tiger teeth and wild honey to heal his wounds. This kind of medicine is only made by the Lama clan, and Chi San instructs Hung Sze Kwan to get the help from one of his former students, Teacher Chao of the Lama Clan, and then to seek out another Shaolin Brother, Han Chi (Chiang Sheng) for help.Meanwhile, in a small town, two young Kung Fu experts, Lin Ta Po (Kuo Chui) and Ha Chien (Lo Meng) are very good friends who work hard day and night. Lin Ta Po practices "Black Tiger" style, which enables him to use anything and everything as a weapon, while Ha Chien is an expert in the Mantis style. Chien works from midnight until dawn grinding and frying bean curd, then spends the rest of the day selling it in a store, while Ta Po is a waiter in a restaurant. They meet each other at every chance they get and practice Kung Fu together. These scenes are hilarious, as their ongoing competition often causes lots of destruction everywhere around them, and one evening, they are so enthusiastic about their fighting that they break up all the furniture in the restaurant! The next day, all the customers are sitting on the broken chairs and tumbling onto the floors! Both of their bosses are very cruel to them, and while they do small things to get back at them (Ta Po steals food and Chien has a string tied to the threshold of the store entrance, which he trips his boss with constantly), they both yearn for something more in their lives. Both of them agree that they'd be willing to give their lives for the chance to make themselves famous Kung Fu warriors. Also in the town is a student of the Lama style named Chu Chai (Sun Chien). He is pretty unpopular amongst his classmates and his teacher, who is the same Teacher Chao that Hung Sze Kwan must search for, because he is a much better fighter than they are. On one particular day, his classmates drive him out of the school, and proceed to beat him up. Ta Po and Chien see this, and they help to rescue Chai and give his classmates a beating. After that, the three men become great friends and practice together often. At this point, the Manchus are after Hung Sze Kwan. They've killed Chi San and Fong Sai Yuk, but they still aren't able to capture him. They know that Hung Sze Kwan will go to Teacher Chao for help, and so they follow him to the town. Teacher Chao, an evil man who is afraid of the Manchus, turns Hung Sze Kwan away. Ha Chien is standing outside of the store when a man walking by collapses in front of him. At first he thinks he is drunk, but when he takes a closer look, he sees that the man is badly wounded. He takes him into the back of the store, where he lives in the loft, and calls Ta Po and Chai in to look at the man. Ta Po recognizes him as Hung Sze Kwan (he saw him when he tried to go to Teacher Chao for help). Hung Sze Kwan is unconscious, but they've found his prescription, and they vow to help the rebel hero. But the medicine is expensive, and they must pawn and steal at every turn in order to get the money for each dose.Han Chi comes looking for Hung Sze Kwan as well, and he ends up meeting Ta Po, who promises to bring him to Hung Sze Kwan that evening. Meanwhile, Chai is buying the medicine when one of his classmates sees him and becomes suspicious. He reports the news to Teacher Chao, and when the Manchus arrive to question, they tell them Chai is sheltering Hung Sze Kwan. The Manchus, headed by Kao Chi Ching (Lu Feng), seize Chai and drag him to the store where Chien and Hung Sze Kwan are. They are going to arrest them all, but Ta Po and Han Chi arrive, see what is happening, and set fire to the front of the store to cause chaos, and everyone escapes. Together, Hung Sze Kwan, Han Chi, Ta Po, Chien and Chai flee and take refuge in the old dyeing mill where Chai works. It's not long before the Manchus track them down and lay seige to the place. Besides the deadly warrior Kao Chi Ching, he also has his men with him: Leopard Boy (Lau Shi Kwong), who uses an iron ring to kill, and his brother Tiger Boy, Fan (Ma Sze Peng), who uses a giant brass hammer to kill and Chao Fong (Yu Tai Ping) with his deadly sword and shield. In the morning, more Manchu soldiers will arrive to lay waste to the place.Hung Sze Kwan tells the others that this is his fight, and that if they want to escape now, he will understand. But they all swear their loyalty to him and vow that they are willing to die for him if need be, at which point, he goes down on his knees in gratitude. The final battle of this movie is without a doubt one of the greatest battles in all of Venoms history, and possible all of Martial Arts movies in general. Literally everything is used as a weapon- hammers, rakes, spears, hooks, daggers, swords, vases, benches- even a bowl and a pair of chopsticks become deadly weapons! The jaw-dropping, edge of the seat, clenched-fists action has to be seen to be believed, and Lu Feng is the centerpiece of it all, fighting with a massive spear that looks like it weighs a ton, but seems light as a feather when Lu Feng wields it, spinning it into a blur behind his back, swinging over his head, around his body, under feet, through flesh and bone- toward the end, it's hard to even remember that there are other people fighting, in fact, you barely notice his opponents, because you're just mesmerized by his superhuman performance. To make it better, some of this part of the fight was filmed from above, and all you see is Lu Feng swinging the spear overhead and destroying everyone. In the end, it takes all the remaining fighters to bring him down!This has to be one of the greatest Venoms films ever made, and it's a real pity that this isn't on DVD. The world is missing out on a real treasure of a film!

Rating:
Summary: Old school Venoms action, but not at their peak.
Review: This DVD has all of your Shaw Bros favortie actors, they gathered everyone for this battle! The final battle has about a dozen fighters-- none of which are the lowly henchmen type, its a full on battle of skilled warriors. Even better, they use lots of different weapons as well, building up to the final battle with the master spearman.

Still, despite having plenty of fighters and lots of weapons, the action in this DVD is not spectacular. Lots of the punches and kicks are performed slower than you'd expect, making it look like their not really fighting at all. Also, the camera is often way too close to the action for you to really appreciate the skills being displayed.

There are also some other strange elements that make their way into the film including a master teaching how to fight with a bowl and chopsticks. It might sound kind of cool, but it ends up looking foolish on-screen, when the student uses the chopsticks to fight against a swordsman. I'd recommend only to the die hard Shaw Bros fan.

Rating:
Summary: Old school Venoms action, but not at their peak.
Review: This DVD has all of your Shaw Bros favortie actors, they gathered everyone for this battle! The final battle has about a dozen fighters-- none of which are the lowly henchmen type, its a full on battle of skilled warriors. Even better, they use lots of different weapons as well, building up to the final battle with the master spearman.

Still, despite having plenty of fighters and lots of weapons, the action in this DVD is not spectacular. Lots of the punches and kicks are performed slower than you'd expect, making it look like their not really fighting at all. Also, the camera is often way too close to the action for you to really appreciate the skills being displayed.

There are also some other strange elements that make their way into the film including a master teaching how to fight with a bowl and chopsticks. It might sound kind of cool, but it ends up looking foolish on-screen, when the student uses the chopsticks to fight against a swordsman. I'd recommend only to the die hard Shaw Bros fan.

Rating:
Summary: typical venoms
Review: this film is fear in every aspect! the venoms are great but lo mang doesn't get show his stuff fully. good flick

Rating:
Summary: A venom must have!
Review: This is a classic venoms tale of brotherhood and loyalty, what venoms films are all about, and if you're a true venom fan, this is a must have. Packed with great fighting scenes and one of the best ending fight scenes I have ever seen, this is a movie no kung fu fan should be without.

Rating:
Summary: Old School Classic
Review: This is one of the less known "old school" kung fu classics made by Shaw Brothers with some of the "Venoms" stars. The fights are great, most notably the one with the double-broadsword hero hopelessly taking on several bad guys alone. MOST UNUSUAL WEAPON: Giant two-handed hammer that looks like a big brass pumpkin. Really.

Rating:
Summary: ...
Review: this movie has nice fighting scenes but not cheh changs best work thats why I gave it a 3 star rating. I was only 10 years old when Black Belt Theater came on the scene on channel 11, though the titles of the movies are fuzzy to me, I do remember seeing this one. If you are a die hard fan of this genre like me you would know from seeing this movie it isn't the best of the genre but still it has it's moments. It doesn't compare to master killer, 5 venoms, 4 assassins, and super ninjas but still if your a hard shaw bros. fan add this to your collection!