Artivels Undescribable Perfection

ScoobyMint Disappointment for a huge fan!

Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Scott LeBrun Martial arts icon Jackie Chan stars in this period piece as Lord Ting Chung, a Kung Fu expert who is hired by a young woman to protect her and her supposedly sickly brother as they make the journey to a distant city for medical attention. Chung decides to do the job free of charge, bringing along other companions played by James Tien and Bruce Liang. Naturally, the entourage will face all manner of human adversaries on their journey - and they will be in for some surprises, as well.Jackie may be top billed in order to help sell the movie, but in truth this is just as much Tiens' and Liangs' movie as it is his. It certainly does contain some comedy, but not to the extent that would characterize Jackies' best known vehicles from this period. Of course, it would probably play a fair bit better were it not for the cheesy dubbing and dialogue in the English language version, rendering it rather goofy much of the time. The fight scenes are fairly breathless and numerous - but the movie does focus on plot a substantial amount of the time. Viewers can take some amusement from the fact that this is pretty violent, with some priceless, tacky gore as faces actually get sliced off. The production does look to be on the cheap side, but the widescreen photography of some very nice scenery still works pretty well.Jackie shows off a natural, easygoing charm, although, as said, he doesn't get THAT many opportunities to strut his stuff. Other performances are similarly engaging.I'm guessing that the film was picked up by 20th Century Fox for distribution in America, which may account for the liberal use of John Williams' classic "Star Wars" soundtrack. Since this music is so intimately connected to that Hollywood blockbuster, it merely becomes distracting after a while.Overall, this is decent enough entertainment, but it gets kicked up another notch for the hilarious, twist-laden climax.Six out of 10.

InjunNose It is a pervasive feature of the written history of Chinese martial arts films (from CFW's long-extinct periodical "Martial Arts Movies" to the pioneering coffee table book "Martial Arts Movies: From Bruce Lee to the Ninjas" by Ric Meyers) that Jackie Chan languished in a series of both artistically and commercially disastrous films before attaining stardom in 1978 with "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow". The general idea is that Chan was being held back by his director/mentor Lo Wei, who was such a humorless square that he saw no merit in Chan's comedic aspirations and insisted on trying to sell the young actor as the new Bruce Lee in a series of straight dramatic roles. This contention has been repeated so often that even today it is uncritically accepted as fact. Well, guess what? It's a bunch of baloney. In the first place, Chan starred in only one Bruceploitation film: "New Fist of Fury". Thereafter, he was cast in period costume productions (in contrast to Lee, who never made a period film). Secondly, some of these movies--like "Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin" and "Spiritual Kung-Fu"--featured comedic elements. Thirdly, Chan almost always did a respectable job when assigned a dramatic role. Finally, while there's no doubt that comedy kung-fu made him a star, it's debatable how good films like "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow" and "Drunken Master" really are. They were wildly popular, certainly, but unless you consider slapstick the highest art ever achieved by human civilization, they're pretty cringeworthy. "Magnificent Bodyguards", neither a deadly serious dramatic picture nor a screwball comedy, stars Chan alongside James Tien and Leung Siu-lung (Bruce Leung); they are martial arts experts who have been hired to escort a sick man on his journey to see a physician. Along the way they fight off bandits, hostile Buddhist monks and an assortment of other characters. Based on a tale by Taiwanese wuxia novelist Ku Lung, the film is not a classic by any means, but it's watchable. There are lengthy, entertaining fight scenes and Chan does just fine in his non-comedic role. (Bizarrely, the movie was shot in 3D, which is why there are so many kicks and jabbing weapons aimed directly at the camera.) Further putting the kibosh on the myth that Chan's early films were all unmitigated disasters, "Magnificent Bodyguards" was a success at the box office. Don't believe everything you read!

ckormos1 Here is a movie filmed in 3-D and now it is about 40 years later and I am watching it at home in 2-D in about VHS resolution with dual Chinese and English subtitles. As bad as this movie is the 3-D badness is all I can focus on. Kicks, spear points and even bell clangers are used to take advantage of the 3-D effect but now all these shots seem out of place and jarring. I refuse to believe that years ago these odd angles and objects suddenly stuck in front of the audience face did anything to improve the action. I like old Viewmasters but otherwise 3-D is the worst idea in movies. When I watch terrible movies like this I try to find a "moment". Even the worst movie can have a special moment, not necessarily scripted, that hits a nerve, sparks a memory, or just creates something special out of the nothingness. Not all movies have a moment but this one does. At about 47 minutes James, Bruce and Jackie are standing next to each other thinking. Then James gets this expression on his face "What the heck is going on here?" and he walks off. Then Bruce does the same thing, then Jackie. Yes, that was the defining moment of the movie – what the heck is going on here!- then they all leave!

ProgressiveHead This was one of many Jackie Chan vehicles made around this time when he was not yet a huge star. He had just made "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow", and "Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin". The mega-hit "Drunken Master" would follow. Unfortunately this doesn't compare well to those.Chan is asked by a young, wealthy lady to take her sick brother to a specialist doctor. To reach him, Chan and a handful of traveling companions must pass through bandit-infested wild country. They encounter and kung-fu-fight several gangs of thugs along the way.Some minor interest is maintained as there's a quest involved, and the group journey through some nice locations. Also, the musical score has a surprising range of dynamics.On the downside, the version I saw was poorly dubbed and the script had a lot of problems. None of the many fight-scenes reach the heights of "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow", "Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin" or "Drunken Master" (Jackie Chan vehicles made immediately before and after Magnificent Bodyguards). Also, there is a twist near the end which I felt was a cop out and undermined the nature of the film, but by that point I wasn't too bothered anyway.I would recommend this to die-hard Jackie Chan fans only. The casual fan would do well to stick with his 80s and 90s output (with a few exceptions).