In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

While the Shaw movie machine seemed to be trapped in the 1960's, director Siu-Tung Ching filmed what turned to be the start of the new wave of kung fu epics and the closing of the door of the old wave.Everything is thrown into this film, ninjas, a crazy old master in the Shaolin Drunkard tradition, flying kung fu, Japanese vs. Chinese, chambara, Shaolin monks, a super fighting woman, a puppet show, a talking cockatoo, severed limbs, Chang Cheh style blood flow, King Hu style anti-gravity kung fu. The only thing missing is the 18 Bronze Men. What distinguishes this from the other films from the time is the exceptional quality Siu-Tung Ching put into this film. The photography is really good and the script is much better then I expected. Somehow all the strange things that happen flow with the story instead of making you shake in disbelief.The film is stylistically influenced by Japanese chambara although I would suspect that Japanese martial artists would take issue with the samurai sword work on display. Ballet dancer Flora Cheung throws herself into the fighting really well. The ninja do some very crazy things. The music track is actually good!Highly recommended, this film should be as well known as some Shaw films from the same period.

This was a good martial arts flick. There were good special effects, enjoyable fight sequences and decent acting; moreover, there was something that you don't see the Chinese movies from that era: A sympathetic Japanese character.Not to say that the Japanese champion (played by Norman Chu) is a good person...far from it; but, he is honorable. He is also three dimensional. He is kind to children and not a thug. If you've seen martial arts movies with Japanese characters, you can understand how different this is.If you already like Chinese Kung Fu movies, this one is worth an evening...

The first few Hongkong produced, martial arts movies I've seen were so exotic and so different that I was really astounded simply because they were new to me. Then after watching a few more, and a few more again they started to really be really boring - a hero, some ninjas, more ninjas, even more ninjas, and of course the final showdown with an evil and ugly black character. This movie is slightly different - this time the bias is put on the confrontation of mentalities rather than practical skills. Once a year a great duel is held and two champions - one from China and one from Japan meet. Their duel decides which school of fighting (or rather style) is superior. "Duel to the death" is a great movie to observe (for a non-Chinese or a non-Japanese at least) the subtle differences between the two cultures. On the other hand, this movie is far from being a psychological one, there are a lot of sword fights and a lot of ninjas but the subtle addition of a little bit of philosophy (?) makes the difference. And last but not least, the ending scene is one worth seeing over and over again! Two thumbs up!

Wicked wicked film, if only for the last 20 minutes or so. I really enjoyed this film in parts, it did drag at some points and some parts the film could have done without (The par with the old master and the white cockatoo bird for instance) but as soon as it would feel as if it was getting slightly monotonous there would be a fight scene to liven things up again. Good casting of the main characters and excellent swordplay. I'm not a big fun of wire work in martial arts films but this was done well and was entertaining to watch, pure fantasy and an exciting ending. Are there any other films similar to this worth watching?.