The Deadly Duo
1971; directed by Chang Cheh

With a somewhat incomprehensible plot and some unintentional comedy, The Deadly Duo isn't one of legendary director Chang Cheh's greatest movies. But it does feature the "Blood Brothers" David Chiang and Ti Lung kicking a whole lot of ass, so it's still worth your time if you're in the mood for some old-school action.

The movie take on the familiar tale of revolution during the Ching dynasty. Bao (Ti Lung) is a follower of the insurgent Sung family, and is setting out to rescue one of their princes. Since most of the Sungs and their troops have been captured or killed by the Chings, Bao must try and enlist the aid of a mysterious mercenary, Little Bat (David Chiang), whose motives and loyalty are not very clear.

Now, basically the plot is pretty simple when you boil everything down, but one of The Deadly Duo's problems is that there's just way too many characters thrown into the mix. People will come and go, with seemingly no reason. Since The Deadly Duo runs at around seventy-eight minutes, one gets the sense that perhaps some of the characterization was cut out. At any rate, when combined with some scenes that generate laughs rather than the intended drama (specifically a part where people try to cross a rickety bridge), the exposition presented here just isn't very good.

But The Deadly Duo is saved by the action scenes. Helmed by Lau Kar-Leung, the fighting is fast and furious, and like much of Lau's work, there's a nice variety of weapons and styles presented, so everything always seems fresh. Even with the inherent cheesiness of some of the standards of the period (i.e., blood that looks like ketchup) the fight scenes are almost flawlessly technically executed and provide enough excitement to negate the somewhat crappy nature of the scenes that surround them.

RATING: 7