It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

I discovered this was allegedly the follow-up to The Magic Sword, which was a bit odd on it own. This movie was far from serious. I actually enjoyed this one far more than The Magic Blade. Fu Hong-Xue (Ti Lung) once more finds himself caught up in a mystery plot just as convoluted as the one in The Magic Blade. It's the 20th anniversary of Hero Baio's death. The owner of the local Kung Fu school, Ma Kong-Qun (Paul Chang Chung) has invited 6 guests to his place in the hopes of finding out which one wants to kill him. Annoying Fu Hong-Xue at every turn is Ye Kai (Lau Wing), who claims to never use weapons yet carries daggers in his sleeves. A few people are killed at Ma's school. Which is strange since they're still walking the grounds. It's discovered by Ye Kai and Ma that the ones walking around are imposters. They are killed by Ye Kai and Fu Hong-Xue. Ye Kai and Fu Hong-Xue are permitted to leave the school but are quickly pursued by assassins sent by Ma. Seems one of them - YE Kai or Fu Hong-Xue, is the son of Hero Baio. Ma knows one of them is out for revenge (your standard plot in one of these films). So, to avoid being killed, Ma decides it's best to kill both Ye Kai and Fu Hong-Xue. There is so much humor (unintentional and purposeful) in this, it reminded me of films Ti Lung has made with David Chiang and Alexander Fu Sheng. Fu Hong-Xue is the straight man to Ye Kai and eventually Lu Xiao Jia (Lo Lieh), whose first scene is a bath in the middle of the street. Lu Xiao Jia spends the rest of the film running around in a robe, boots and his undies. Lu Xiao Jia always takes a bath before killing someone. Lo Leih and Ti Lung switch roles from The Magic Blade, in that this time, it's Lo Leih's character out to kill Ti Lung's and will prevent others from doing it first. Lu Xiao Jia has to keep both men alive until he gets paid for killing them. He does not kill for no reason. The actors from The Magic Blade appear in this film as different characters. Norman Chui, for example, who played chess obsessed Chess Gui in The Magic Blade, now plays dominoes obsessed casino owner Xiao Be-Lei. When you have good people, why not reuse them?Fu Hong-Xue is constantly seen walking from place to place alone to encounter the next assassin or person who has clues about the murder of Hero Baio. He soon discovers he's far from alone. Ye Kai, Lu Xiao-Jai or both always appear at the proper moment to be involved in the fight. Where The Magic Blade had who's the real Master Yu, this movie has are they disguised as the assassins or are they the real assassins? There's a scene where Ye Kai and Fu Hong-Xue pull on each other's face to ensure they're the real deal. There are several humorous scenes usually involving Ye Kai. He comes across similar to many smartass characters portrayed by the late Alexander Fu Sheng.The final fight involves everyone who isn't really dead and the truth about who is the actual son of the dead Hero Baio. There's an interesting issue with a "net" made of blades that entraps Lu Xiao Jia appears and wants paid to kill Ye Kai and Fu Hong-Xue. The baddies aren't about to pay up, so he switches sides and cuts the "net" to free Fu Hong-Xue and Ye Kai.Once all the baddies are dead, Lu Xiao Jia announces he still needs to kill Fu Hong-Xue. Ye Kai points out there's no one left to pay him to do it. Since Lu Xiao Jia doesn't kill for no reason, a contest ensues. Whomever of Fu Hong-Xue and Lu Xiao Jia is left standing, still wearing their pants, is the winner. Fu Hong-Xue easily disrobes Lu Xiao Jia and Ye Kai announces Fu the winner. However, as Lu Xiao Jia points out, he, Lu, isn't wearing pants, hasn't for most of the film, therefore it's a draw. The literal final scene is Lu Xiao Jia turning and walking away from the other two, exposing his naked butt to them.

PURSUIT OF VENGEANCE is a familiar 'martial world' tale from director Chor Yuen, not as complicated as some of his efforts but still fairly hard to keep track of. Ti Lung plays the usual wandering swordsman who gets drawn into a murder plot and finds himself being constantly attacked and assailed by warring factions. Lung has a weak role in this and gets to do very little other than show up and take part in the unspectacular fight scenes.The good news is that the film has a fast pace and lots of twists and turns to keep it moving merrily along. There's also a constant stream of guest roles for familiar faces including Derek Yee, Ai Fei, and Tony Liu. Most of them ending up dying a few minutes after they appear although Norman Chu has a meatier role than most as a villain. Best of all is Lo Lieh who is outstanding as a joker type character who we meet taking a bath in the street! Lieh really shines and ends the film on a high as well. Some of the twists are very bizarre and recall MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE. The fights are average but the film benefits from the usual exemplary production values that makes it look quite amazing at times.

I remember the last days of the Chinatown cinemas here in New York City. One theater, the Music Palace, had a lock on Shaw films and you could almost always count on a double bill with at least one martial art film playing. One of the unique qualities of the theater was that patrons would talk throughout the films, get up, walk around or go and buy one of the numerous Chinese snacks available in the theater. Every now and then I would see a film where you could do this and not lose the story or really miss anything. While I have never seen Pursuit of Vengeance before, this is certainly one of those films.Ti Lung plays a cool fighter who wields an odd tonfa/sword. He resembles the Man with No Name from the Leone westerns in a way. He enters a tavern gambling house and causes a stir by ordering goat's milk instead of wine. Some local ruffians decide to pick on him but are interrupted by a young man who brings a goat in to the tavern. The ruffians turn their attention to the young man who turns out to be a very skilled open hand fighter. The fight finished Ti Lung leaves the tavern but runs into a group of men who demand that he attend a gathering at Wan Ma clan mansion. Ti Lung refuses but the arrival of six coffins destined for the six men invited to the mansion intrigues him so he decides to go. The young man is invited as well. At the mansion they are informed that it's the 20th anniversary of the death of hero Bai and Bai's killer has returned to exterminate the Wan Ma. Among the six is the killer, or is he?A very convoluted plot with lots of characters fighting and dying. The film's pluses are some unique scenes, the opening in the tavern is entertaining, good art direction and interesting main characters with a sense of humor. Lo Lieh joins the cast about half way thru and lends his talents. The drawbacks are some very choppy editing, creaky camera-work and some mediocre fights. Nearly every action scene has dozens of extras running back and forth, in front of the camera! That's not to say that there isn't some excellent fight choreography but choreographer Tang Chia has done better elsewhere. Lot's of unusual weapons although.Fun but not best from director Yuen Chor.