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Deadful Melody

Deadful Melody

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the best sleeper titles-guaranteed
Review: After I saw swordsman 2 (which is my favorite movie) I wanted to see some more sword play Brigette Lin movies.So I went out and got a few of her movies.The first was the East is Red(swordsman 3)which had some good special effects but as a movie does not deserve the swordsman name,then I got The Bride With White Hair, now this was a very origional movie that had an extremely evil tone which I wasn't used to but the fight scenes didn't live up to the reviews that I read as they looked far too Blury and definitley speed altered,but this was still a good movie(4-stars)Then last I saw Deadful Melody which was outstanding,I cannot express how suprised I was after viewing this movie ,expecially after having the lowest expectations for it out of the bunch.But the true star in this was Yuen Biao which the story mainly focused on.The story was good and easy to follow,the cinematography and backgrounds were awesome,and the fight scenes were done perfectly and had spectacular wire work with no aparent speed altering(and the fights were also very plentiful)An excellent sleeper title that I couldn't reccomend more.Buy it I guarantee you'll be suprised.Also if you like Yuen Biao I would say this is his best movie. $17.95(DVD),how can you not take a chance?

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Mindy's Review
Review: as a Big Brigitte Lin Chin Hsia Fan. ai ya this movie is Aite someparts are good such as the end where Brigitte Flys out of the Roof and act like supreme haha (which will always be hahaha =) well yeah besides that the movie is ok...... i find it so dang fake where Brigitte plays the Magic lyre with all that special rainbow effects haha ...... the kungfu is ok......I would say you should rent or borrow and see this movie first before you buy it with such a HIGH PRICE at Amazon ai ya ($89.90) (DANG) well yeah like what i said (in the review of east is red) naww it wasen't a mistake buyin this movie cause i'm a fan and is Still Collectin...... (wow the price of this movie is so DANG HIGH! 89.90 oh my gosh what a high price thanks goodness i found a very very cheap price) well yeah i would say 1 tumb up

Mindy Yang

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Really good Wire Fu, Style, Cinematography and Humor...
Review: As a fan of both Brigette Lin and Yuen Baio I jumped at the chance to buy this film. I eagerly put it in. The beginning was excellent, manic pacing and nice explosions. A good sign, but I was dissapointed to find that the intro to the film is the best part of it. The fighting scenes are directed very poorly, it's often hard to tell exactly what is going on. You'll see two people jump in the air and some close ups, then one of the bodies will drop without a clue as to what happened. The humor in the film works more often that not. A few running gags made me chuckle (the Master who is always late, and Yuen always thinking women with hats are men) and the scene with Yuen getting piggy-backed works well. The characters are a mixed bag. Some are appropriately evil, yet some left me confused. I was confused about the Fire Master, in some scenes he was a caring, merciful master to his pupils, yet in others he was as ruthless as the rest of the villains. All in all, the film was dissapointing, the action is horrible. Worth a rental, but do not make the mistake of purchase like I did.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Weak Action.....
Review: As a fan of both Brigette Lin and Yuen Baio I jumped at the chance to buy this film. I eagerly put it in. The beginning was excellent, manic pacing and nice explosions. A good sign, but I was dissapointed to find that the intro to the film is the best part of it. The fighting scenes are directed very poorly, it's often hard to tell exactly what is going on. You'll see two people jump in the air and some close ups, then one of the bodies will drop without a clue as to what happened. The humor in the film works more often that not. A few running gags made me chuckle (the Master who is always late, and Yuen always thinking women with hats are men) and the scene with Yuen getting piggy-backed works well. The characters are a mixed bag. Some are appropriately evil, yet some left me confused. I was confused about the Fire Master, in some scenes he was a caring, merciful master to his pupils, yet in others he was as ruthless as the rest of the villains. All in all, the film was dissapointing, the action is horrible. Worth a rental, but do not make the mistake of purchase like I did.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Really good Wire Fu, Style, Cinematography and Humor...
Review: but a little weak on plot and realism of fight scenes. I liked it and put it just a little below Dragon's Inn but certainly way better than most Kung Fu DVDs (for example all 15 or so Wu Tang Clan Kung Fu DVDs I have seen to date). You get what you pay for, and the relatively high price for this DVD is worth it, in this viewers opinion.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The stars shine in a creative movie
Review: I admire Brigitte Lin as an actress, not beacause she is great at martial arts, but because she can act. In particular, I really admire her work in Swordsman II and East is Red. She truly is one of the few actresses who can carry a movie.

Yuen Biao was great in this film also. He posseses skills that are rare in modern films. He plays a hero, who is inexperienced, yet skillful. A character who does not have to rely on comedy to be accepted by the audience.

Throw in an interesting plot with a musical instrument that can kill and you have an enjoyable movie. While this movie does not contain the amount of action sequences in typical HK fantasy films, the story is more than enough to compensate. Definitely a refreshing addition to the genre.

My only complaint is that Lin's character was far too similar to Asia the Invincible. Even though it may be what the director intended, it would have been nice to see her expand on that role, to allow her to distinguish differences in both characters. If she would have been given the chance, I feel that she would have been successful.

Great transfer on the DVD. If you're into extras, you will be disappointed. But I always buy DVD's for the quality of the movie, so it didn't affect my rating. It's also region 0 encoded and has Dolby Surround mixes in Cantonese and Mandarin. The subtitles are burned in, but are very readable throughout.

Definitely worth the 91 minutes to view . . . and now that Tai Seng is ditributing it domestically, you don't have to pay an arm-and-a-leg for it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The stars shine in a creative movie
Review: I admire Brigitte Lin as an actress, not beacause she is great at martial arts, but because she can act. In particular, I really admire her work in Swordsman II and East is Red. She truly is one of the few actresses who can carry a movie.

Yuen Biao was great in this film also. He posseses skills that are rare in modern films. He plays a hero, who is inexperienced, yet skillful. A character who does not have to rely on comedy to be accepted by the audience.

Throw in an interesting plot with a musical instrument that can kill and you have an enjoyable movie. While this movie does not contain the amount of action sequences in typical HK fantasy films, the story is more than enough to compensate. Definitely a refreshing addition to the genre.

My only complaint is that Lin's character was far too similar to Asia the Invincible. Even though it may be what the director intended, it would have been nice to see her expand on that role, to allow her to distinguish differences in both characters. If she would have been given the chance, I feel that she would have been successful.

Great transfer on the DVD. If you're into extras, you will be disappointed. But I always buy DVD's for the quality of the movie, so it didn't affect my rating. It's also region 0 encoded and has Dolby Surround mixes in Cantonese and Mandarin. The subtitles are burned in, but are very readable throughout.

Definitely worth the 91 minutes to view . . . and now that Tai Seng is ditributing it domestically, you don't have to pay an arm-and-a-leg for it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Surprisingly good film if you already like HK movies
Review: I had low expectations of this film, due to the lack of popular acclaim, but it was surprisingly good.

What I liked about it, was that the story was interesting and highly innovative, and the pacing and editing was generally very good - although occasionally, some of the scene changes are a little too abrupt (but this is true of most HK films, outside of Swordsman).

The story kept my interest throughout, and the fantasy-wire-style action sequences were well done. The amount of comedy was just right to keep the film from being overly serious and ponderous.

Brigitte Lin is great as usual, but all the actresses are quite beautiful in this one.

This review is based on the previous Tai Seng DVD, which has an unusually clear transfer for an HK DVD, so if the new one is any better, it should be quite good. (I posted my review here, because there were none yet and I wanted something about the film to appear here.)

If you have never seen an HK movie, I would start with Iron Monkey (1993) or The Bride with White Hair, but if you are an HK movie fan who likes interesting stories surrounding your action, then give "Deadful Melody" a try. Perhaps some day, we may even see the title corrected to "Deadly Melody" !

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great movie, you have to get this one for you collection.
Review: I have seen a lot of Chinese flicks and I can tell you that this a very good film. I have seen and own storm riders (wasn't impressed, but a good film), the duel, Dragon Inn, Magnificent Butcher, Wing chun, a man called hero, and 5 deadly venoms or return of 5DV, and this belongs in same class. The action was not hard to follow. I knew who was getting decapitated, or dismembered. Anyone tells you that the action is weak, is also referring to before mentioned films also. Bridget lin is so beautiful, WOW!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great movie, you have to get this one for you collection.
Review: I have seen a lot of Chinese flicks and I can tell you that this a very good film. I have seen and own storm riders (wasn't impressed, but a good film), the duel, Dragon Inn, Magnificent Butcher, Wing chun, a man called hero, and 5 deadly venoms or return of 5DV, and this belongs in same class. The action was not hard to follow. I knew who was getting decapitated, or dismembered. Anyone tells you that the action is weak, is also referring to before mentioned films also. Bridget lin is so beautiful, WOW!


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