Hand of Death

Rating:
Summary: Tan Tao Liang!!!
Review: Great film, but a bit misrepresented. This is not a Jackie Chan movie. He is in the film, but by no means is he the star. Tan Tao Liang is the hero. Great villains. James Tien is so convincing with his mini blade. How does he spin that thing?!?!! This is also a rare opportunity to see Sammo Hung as an evil counterpart to Tien in the film. Tan Tao Liang kicks are amazing. This is a a great tale of heroism and patriotism. Sounds strange, but the English voice overs match perfectly with how the characters act. That can be a problem with many martial arts films. Make sure you get the Leg Fighters too!

Rating:
Summary: Tan Tao Liang!!!
Review: Great film, but a bit misrepresented. This is not a Jackie Chan movie. He is in the film, but by no means is he the star. Tan Tao Liang is the hero. Great villains. James Tien is so convincing with his mini blade. How does he spin that thing?!?!! This is also a rare opportunity to see Sammo Hung as an evil counterpart to Tien in the film. Tan Tao Liang kicks are amazing. This is a a great tale of heroism and patriotism. Sounds strange, but the English voice overs match perfectly with how the characters act. That can be a problem with many martial arts films. Make sure you get the Leg Fighters too!

Rating:
Summary: Great fight scenes, some shaky acting.
Review: Hand of Death (aka Countdown to Kung Fu)'s main weakness is that its main character is almost devoid of personality. By contrast, the supporting players are mostly highly watchable, creating an imbalance. Nevertheless, on the strength of tremendous fight choreography and a fairly tight plot, Hand of Death is a must-watch for martial-arts fans.

No surprise about the fight sequences, since the choreographer is Sammo Hung, who's been called "the Orson Welles of action". The various styles of fighting are incorporated seamlessly into the film, and ever-shifting locales keep the fights interesting. Veteran martial-arts actor James Tien steals the entire show as villain Shi Shao-feng, projecting charisma and complexity aplenty, playing a truly formidable opponent. Unfortunately, Tan Dao-liang as the lead character is weak, the character underdeveloped and passive, and Woo himself (under his Chinese name Wu Yu Sheng) doesn't fare well even in a small role as Zhang Yi, the resistance leader who is rescued by the good guys. Good thing, then, that Woo had enlisted Jackie Chan (strangely billed as Chen Yuen-long in the film), who walks off as the strongest protagonist character in the whole film with his athleticism, dogged earnesty, and genuinely charming sense of humour. Hung also has a role as an evil henchman, and his fight scenes are amazing as ever, his unorthodox fighting style always interesting to watch.

Hand of Death is an important and entertaining Woo movie, where he already shows a panache for directing better action scenes than anybody else. Aside from his very '70s, infuriating overuse of the zoom lens, his work on Hand of Death is highly impressive, making this film a good solid entry in his back log.

Rating:
Summary: Great fight scenes, some shaky acting.
Review: Hand of Death (aka Countdown to Kung Fu)'s main weakness is that its main character is almost devoid of personality. By contrast, the supporting players are mostly highly watchable, creating an imbalance. Nevertheless, on the strength of tremendous fight choreography and a fairly tight plot, Hand of Death is a must-watch for martial-arts fans.

No surprise about the fight sequences, since the choreographer is Sammo Hung, who's been called "the Orson Welles of action". The various styles of fighting are incorporated seamlessly into the film, and ever-shifting locales keep the fights interesting. Veteran martial-arts actor James Tien steals the entire show as villain Shi Shao-feng, projecting charisma and complexity aplenty, playing a truly formidable opponent. Unfortunately, Tan Dao-liang as the lead character is weak, the character underdeveloped and passive, and Woo himself (under his Chinese name Wu Yu Sheng) doesn't fare well even in a small role as Zhang Yi, the resistance leader who is rescued by the good guys. Good thing, then, that Woo had enlisted Jackie Chan (strangely billed as Chen Yuen-long in the film), who walks off as the strongest protagonist character in the whole film with his athleticism, dogged earnesty, and genuinely charming sense of humour. Hung also has a role as an evil henchman, and his fight scenes are amazing as ever, his unorthodox fighting style always interesting to watch.

Hand of Death is an important and entertaining Woo movie, where he already shows a panache for directing better action scenes than anybody else. Aside from his very '70s, infuriating overuse of the zoom lens, his work on Hand of Death is highly impressive, making this film a good solid entry in his back log.

Rating:
Summary: Quite Good!
Review: I thought that this movie wasn't bad, but it was no masterpeice. It is a classic Kung - Fu, a Chop Sockey flick full of Shaolin fighters and revenge. Jackie is only in the movie for a small amount of time, but the fights he is in are quite good. Sammo Hung plays the goofy toothed villan, wich is highly amusing. This movie will be enjoyable to the Kung Fu fan, but probably not to most people.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting film but has its boring moments too
Review: The action in this film was very continuous but when there was no action sequences it got kinda of boring. YOu can really see John Woo's style beginning to build up. He clearly is starting his signature characters where they start to bond with brotherhood sacrifice and friendship.

Best parts: Last fight scene was the climax of the film

Rating:
Summary: Interesting film but has its boring moments too
Review: The action in this film was very continuous but when there was no action sequences it got kinda of boring. YOu can really see John Woo's style beginning to build up. He clearly is starting his signature characters where they start to bond with brotherhood sacrifice and friendship.

Best parts: Last fight scene was the climax of the film

Rating:
Summary: Good Kung Fu movie.
Review: This is one of Jackie's earlier movies. This movie also marked the debut for a young John Woo who appears in the movie. Jackie plays a supporting role in the movie. The main star of the movie was an actor called "Flash Legs" Tan who offers some cool kicking technics. The story is about a renegade shaolin disciple who turns on his former Shaolin brothers and disbands them into secret factions who long for revenge. Jackie plays the brother of one of the Shaolin men who is killed by the renegade who joins Tan and a swordsman to take his revenge. Jackie has two fight scenes with a spear that are very good and along with good fight scenes from the others. Sammo Hung is in this one also playing a villain, and also choreographed the fight scene. The story isn't half that bad either, although it does move kind of slow in some parts. I would recommend this to anyone interested in a good old fashioned kung fu movie.

Rating:
Summary: Good Kung Fu movie.
Review: This is one of Jackie's earlier movies. This movie also marked the debut for a young John Woo who appears in the movie. Jackie plays a supporting role in the movie. The main star of the movie was an actor called "Flash Legs" Tan who offers some cool kicking technics. The story is about a renegade shaolin disciple who turns on his former Shaolin brothers and disbands them into secret factions who long for revenge. Jackie plays the brother of one of the Shaolin men who is killed by the renegade who joins Tan and a swordsman to take his revenge. Jackie has two fight scenes with a spear that are very good and along with good fight scenes from the others. Sammo Hung is in this one also playing a villain, and also choreographed the fight scene. The story isn't half that bad either, although it does move kind of slow in some parts. I would recommend this to anyone interested in a good old fashioned kung fu movie.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best plots ever!!! The kung fu isn't bad either..
Review: This is the personification of a Kung Fu film, not your average KF film where the main character has to take revenge for some wrongdoing by the villain, and goes to a shaolin temple or meets some drunken nomad and learns some new Kung Fu technique, and takes his revenge eventually as expected. Nope, alot of twists and turns in this John Woo flick, (which is pretty much his style)Betrayal, sadness, revenge, this film has it all!! Sort of like a Kung Fu fanatics soap opera. The martial arts talent was displayed very nicely by Flash Legs Tan and Jackie Chan, although Jackie wasn't the star of the film and is almost missing throughout half of the movie, his talents were not wasted. The villain, James Tien, who isn't known for his martial arts talent, is actually pretty good in thisfilck. ....