Magnificent Butcher

Rating:
Summary: Great Kung-Fu entertainment.
Review: Sammo Hung in "Lin shi rong" is one of Sammo's most entertaining Films;(Directed by Woo-ping Yuen,Director of "Tai-Chi 2","Twin Warriors","Iron Monkey","Dreadnaught","The Buddhist Fist",e.t.c). The action hardly gives up,and most of the fighing appears to be well choreographed. Sammo blends his usual agile skill,and speed,with some genuinely funny comedy moments.I think this Film works well,and rates higher among the usual mediocre kung fu Films in the Eighties,for these reasons; it blends the small amount of comedy very well,into a more serious story,with better than average acting.You will find the scene involving a paintbrush(!)fight between the two School Masters an example of these things.This is one of times when you'll reach for the remote,not to fast forward to look for the next good fight;but to rewind! EYES:Correctly framed in the 2.35:1 Scope Ratio,the picture suprised me,i did'nt think it could be as sharp as it was,and this is maintained,throughout.Only the occasional dot or speckle of dirt was apparent.I noticed 1 scratch,it lasted about 3 seconds!Overall,an excellent Job has been done.Not Enhanced for 16X9 Televisions. EARS:Great,for once,virtually no hiss,distortion,or background noise.And i did not have to turn up the volume to hear the speech,and down again when there was a fight!The English Subtitles are not very well done!They are not bad,but some words are missing a letter,and some sentences are incomplete,this is not a common occurence,and did not spoil my enjoyment. Overall,i really liked this Film,Sammo was funny,almost every fight was memorable,especially the paintbrush one!If your'e a Martial Arts fan,i'd recommend you buy this one,without renting,you'll want to keep it!

Rating:
Summary: Great Kung-Fu entertainment.
Review: Sammo Hung in "Lin shi rong" is one of Sammo's most entertaining Films;(Directed by Woo-ping Yuen,Director of "Tai-Chi 2","Twin Warriors","Iron Monkey","Dreadnaught","The Buddhist Fist",e.t.c). The action hardly gives up,and most of the fighing appears to be well choreographed. Sammo blends his usual agile skill,and speed,with some genuinely funny comedy moments.I think this Film works well,and rates higher among the usual mediocre kung fu Films in the Eighties,for these reasons; it blends the small amount of comedy very well,into a more serious story,with better than average acting.You will find the scene involving a paintbrush(!)fight between the two School Masters an example of these things.This is one of times when you'll reach for the remote,not to fast forward to look for the next good fight;but to rewind! EYES:Correctly framed in the 2.35:1 Scope Ratio,the picture suprised me,i did'nt think it could be as sharp as it was,and this is maintained,throughout.Only the occasional dot or speckle of dirt was apparent.I noticed 1 scratch,it lasted about 3 seconds!Overall,an excellent Job has been done.Not Enhanced for 16X9 Televisions. EARS:Great,for once,virtually no hiss,distortion,or background noise.And i did not have to turn up the volume to hear the speech,and down again when there was a fight!The English Subtitles are not very well done!They are not bad,but some words are missing a letter,and some sentences are incomplete,this is not a common occurence,and did not spoil my enjoyment. Overall,i really liked this Film,Sammo was funny,almost every fight was memorable,especially the paintbrush one!If your'e a Martial Arts fan,i'd recommend you buy this one,without renting,you'll want to keep it!

Rating:
Summary: Old School
Review: Sammo once again shows his old school roots in this film based (sort of) on an actual historical figure known as the Magnificent Butcher (Sammo), who was a student of the real life Wong Fei-hung, the character played most recently by Jet Li in the Once Upon a Time in China Series. A comedy of errors involving kidnapping, duels between rival kung-fu schools, murder, revenge, and good vs bad, it's classic HK cinema. It's martial arts are reminicent of the 70's Shaw Brother films, but with largely better kung-fu that's more fluid and less mechanical. While the film probably has very little historical accuracy, the superior vintage pre-wire kung fu martial arts performed by Sammo, his opera-school classmate Yuen Biao, and several others really make this movie worthwile.

Rating:
Summary: five great fight scenes
Review: The best sammo hung movie ever there is five great fight scenes.
All of them are long and outstanding and features my favorite
yuen biao fight scene of all time. Very original fight scenes
some the fighters in the movie are a man that fight with a fan'
another guy uses a monkey pole technique and another fighter
uses a monkey kung fu style also climbing up poles and there is
a great first fight featuring two men using paint brushes and the
last fight scene with sammo hung and the main villian is a knockout samo hung can't do much better in the final brawl.
The picture and sound is perfect it features widescreen that is the best this movie kung fu perfection. Run to a store or order
it now you will not be dissapoited i promise.

Rating:
Summary: Great movie, but buyers beware!
Review: There's not much more I can say that hasn't already been said about this movie. It's a great film and it's got Sammo Hung--enough said. The first copy I received (Tai Seng) had severe read problems from 3/4 to the end of the movie and it was unwatchable. Amazon replaced my DVD and I was able to watch the movie in its entirety. I placed it on a shelf for six months and one day I decided I'd watch it for the second time. The same problem cropped up! Either there is a problem with the process they use to make this particular DVD or the CD's they're using are flawed. I've not had any other problems with Tai Seng videos, so I am assuming it's a glitch in the copy process for this particular movie. Beware and check your DVD frequently, play it multiple times if you have to--to ensure yours won't go bad before the 30 day replacement/refund period. I'm resigned to the fact I'll have to order another copy. Don't let the fear of a bad DVD make you pass up this movie though. The picture and colors are wonderful--much better than any other Sammo Hung film I own. Buy it and enjoy. :o)

Rating:
Summary: Great movie, but buyers beware!
Review: There's not much more I can say that hasn't already been said about this movie. It's a great film and it's got Sammo Hung--enough said. The first copy I received (Tai Seng) had severe read problems from 3/4 to the end of the movie and it was unwatchable. Amazon replaced my DVD and I was able to watch the movie in its entirety. I placed it on a shelf for six months and one day I decided I'd watch it for the second time. The same problem cropped up! Either there is a problem with the process they use to make this particular DVD or the CD's they're using are flawed. I've not had any other problems with Tai Seng videos, so I am assuming it's a glitch in the copy process for this particular movie. Beware and check your DVD frequently, play it multiple times if you have to--to ensure yours won't go bad before the 30 day replacement/refund period. I'm resigned to the fact I'll have to order another copy. Don't let the fear of a bad DVD make you pass up this movie though. The picture and colors are wonderful--much better than any other Sammo Hung film I own. Buy it and enjoy. :o)

Rating:
Summary: Wow. Aren't you a big pussycat?
Review: This is a fantastic movie. I am not a big Sammo Hung fan in terms of martial arts, but I do enjoy the energy he brings to the screen. He is also very under rated in terms of being funny on the screen, at least compared to Jackie Chan.

Woo-ping Yuen directs this masterpiece. As you would expect the story is pretty good (but very strait line), the characters are well developed, but what you came to see (the chorography) is fabulous. Usually in martial arts movies the bad guys martial arts skills aren't a main focus. When you watch a Woo-ping Yuen film, which is not the case.

Woo-ping Yuen utilizes two great martial artist as villains in Fat Chung (Deadful Melody, Mr. Vampire 2, Prodigal Son, and The Victim) who plays Cat, one of the best villains ever, along w/Ching-Ying Lam (Mr. Vampire I, II, III, IV, V, The Victim, and Bruce Lee's Game of Death). Ching-Ying Lam has a fabulous fan fight scene; it is done to perfection, and couldn't have been choreographed any better.

Yuen Biao (Prodigal Son, Deadful Melody and Once Upon a Time in China) is also involved in a great fight scene that includes Ching-Ying Lam. I was disappointed his character was not better utilized, or at least more involved. However, his character did not figure prominent in the story, so he was only in one main fight sequence.

Wong Fei-Hong (the character from the Once Upon a Time in China series, along w/the kid from Iron Monkey character) is the master of Butcher. He is very serious in this movie, and strict. His training takes you back to Drunken Master (also Wong Fei-Hong). Once again, the scene w/the blind guy, talk about laugh out loud hysterics.

This movie is a must have in your DVD collection. I liked 7 Grandmasters better, but Magnificient Butcher is definitely a top 10 martial arts movie. Don't be foolish and leave this out of your collection.

Grade: A-


Rating:
Summary: Simply Amazing !!!!
Review: This movie is great ! The fight scenes are really defintally worth it ! One of the better Kung Fu movies that I have seen .... I defintally reccomend you get this movie and be amazed as I was !

Rating:
Summary: The Word "Magnificent" Could Not Be Used Any Better
Review: Wow! You will find yourself thinking this quite often as you watch this great movie. I bought this without having seen it before based on some of these reviews and seeing it on some listmania lists as a great kung fu film. This was also the first Sammo Hung movie I had ever seen. I could not be more satisfied. I admit I was a bit skeptical, but after the first half hour I was thinking of how I had really scored with this one.

First off, Sammo Hung blew me away! I had no idea how quick, agile, and fast he was. His kung fu is flawless. Well, Yuen Woo-Ping doing the choreography certainly helps. Sammo does around six different styles himself and the other actors throw in about six more. Some unique ones are monkey pole and wild cat styles. There are plenty of fight scenes to keep the pace of the film high and always moving (probably one every ten minutes, sometimes even sooner). This movie also has good comedy for an old kung fu flick, not just silliness. The story of the movie is basic but still good. It is about how butcher Wing(Sammo Hung) gets into trouble when his master, Wong Fei Hung, is away and he must deal with it on his own. He is framed for a crime and must prove his innocence while trying to constantly defend himself from attempts on his life.

Well, the movie has no flaws so how about the DVD itself you ask. It's perfect. This is an extremely good digital transfer of the film. I am speaking of the Fox/Fortune Star version. I do not know about the HK version. The sound is excellent, Dolby 5.1 with no background noise at all(the english dubbed version that is). The voices for the dubbing are still the old original ones but they have a high sound quality. And contrary to another reviewer's statement, the picture IS in anamorphic widescreen(enhanced). Maybe they were referring to the original chinese DVD. Nearly all of Fox/Fortune Star DVDs are in anamorphic widescreen. Some other Fortune Star reccommendations are Jackie Chan's The Young Master, The Prodigal Son or Knockabout both starring Yuen Biao, In The Line Of Duty 4 starring Donnie Yen and Cynthia Khan, and The Duel to the Death.

If you are still questioning yourself whether to buy this or not I will help you out, Buy Magnificent Butcher, It Is Awesome!