Fighting Spirit
gussi | Stockholm, Sweden | 10/17/2003
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Basically it's about a bunch of Japanese martial arts experts harassing a Chinese village on the lookout for the sectret 'dragon herb'. The Japs face hard resistance from the Chinese fighters who run a martial arts academy up in the mountains. Unanticipated assistance in terms of fighting expertise, however, comes from a refugee on the run.The fighting scenes are not very realistic but cool anyway. A classic!"
One of the all time great basher movies. And it's widescreen
morgoth | omaha, NE | 02/16/2007
(3 out of 5 stars)
"The Japanese plan on opening a gym in China. While the Japanese vs. Chinese story is nothing new, great acting by Chen Sing really helps this movie out. Like most kung fu movies filmed in the 70's, the Japanese are portrayed as the cruelest people alive and will have a school in China no matter what they have to do. Trust me, 'Bloody Fists' lives up to it's name. The fists cause a good amount of blood to come out of people. Then you have Chen Sing who is Mr. Unstoppable and the Japanese become very worried about him. He is a fugitive but also a good guy and is willing to help the people in a village that he is visiting. When he gets sick, they take care of him. But everybody that helps him out get killed while he is ill. The Japanese are really looking for this special Dragon herb and the villagers don't want to give it up. Once Chen Sing is better and finds out everyone is dead, he goes to take revenge and it gets very bloody. This is a dark movie and is well directed by Ng See-Yuen. Not a classic because of the story but Ng does a good job of setting up all of the fights. It is not one of those movies that was shot in a day and has the hero just walking around and getting into fights. Chen Sing is very strong as the lead role and people should know by now, you don't mess with him! He rarely gets to play the lead role as the hero but used to in movies like this one, 'Heroes of the Wild', 'Shaolin Monk'(he plays Damo), and a few others. He was always a great actor and has extremely powerful fist forms.
You have to love San Kwai also. He is the hunchback in 'The Buddhist Fist' and has sort of an Elvis look going for him in this. Chen Kuan Tai('Executioners From Shaolin' and 'Killer Constable')also has one of the worst wigs ever. With Kuan Tai vs. Chen Sing, you know that it is going to be a good fight. Don't worry, they do finally throw down. And it is spectacular!
All of the fighting is classic basher style. It is from 1973 so don't expect it to be very refined but Yuen Woo Ping does a very good job making everything flow together. Only average action, but still, you will at least laugh out loud a few times. This, and other classics like 'One Armed Boxer' and 'King Boxer' were only the beginning of what kung fu movies would become a few years later. 3.5/5"