646f9e108c The martial world is now awash in one-armed knights, who aren&#39;t inclined to make any permanent alliances among themselves. I rented a copy of this one from Netflix – big mistake. The DVD version titled &quot;The One-Armed Swordsmen&quot; was produced by madmen who thought that the fighting sequences would be appreciated better pasted all together in one big chapter thanpart of a consistent, sequential story. Some of the story was left in separate chapters, which you can select from the main menu, but the DVD is still a mess. Don&#39;t rent or buy it. Not that there was anything wonderful about the original story, an absurdly complicated piece of nonsense. MuchI liked seeing Wang Yu in his prime again after all these years, this one is an utter waste of time. I&#39;ve had dish detergents that made a better film than this. What the chopped-up DVD version shows us is that no matter how silly a Chinese script may be, you have to see some sort of story to care about how the fighting sequences turn out.<br/><br/>But &quot;The One-Armed Swordsmen&quot; does offer you do the chance to see both Wang and Shaw Brothers stalwart Lo Lieh beating up smirking pretty boy David Chiang – it&#39;s always a pleasure to see that happen. Lo plays a sort of second-string villain here, and servesa prime example of why some people really need orthodontists. he film is also graced by the participation of Taiwanese actor Chang Yithe magistrate. <br/><br/>Another comment above mentions the obligatory fight-in-the-inn scene (there are two, in fact) where Wang and Chiang are attacked by a pack of comical barbarians using what look like cavemen weapons, making Bruce Lee noises while they fight. None of this makes any sense, but that&#39;s okay if you&#39;re not expecting any clarity or common sense. It was fun to watch anyway.<br/><br/>Another peculiarity of this production is that there are no significant women characters. There are a couple of female roles, but they play no serious role in the action or the plot.<br/><br/>If you can find a copy of the original Shaw Brothers One-Armed Swordsman movie, the one which explains why he has only the one arm and why he uses a broken sword, go for it. Now, before we start, I must stress that if you want to enjoy this film in any way, it is an absolute prerequisite that you are a kung fu movie aficionado! Otherwise you will dismiss itcrap and the film&#39;s novelty will be wasted on you. This movie is awesome! There are so many factors that combine to make the movie an enjoyable watch. the plot itself seems simple enough: who is the mysterious one armed bandit killer? Just look for the guy with one arm, right? Wrong! The countryside SWARMS with one armed men (OK, there&#39;s only four, but all in the same town at the same time! What are the odds?)and better yet they&#39;re all first class fighters! And so, through a process of elimination (and fighting!) and detective work by one of the one armed men accused of murder, we find out who the villain is!!! Some great fight scenes here, especially in the pub where two one armed guys take on a marauding horde of barbarians (one looks like he was dressed by the Flintstones!) In my humble opinion this film is better than its sequel, THE ONE ARMED SWORDSMAN vs MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE.<br/><br/>As I commented earlier fans of kung fu will enjoy this flick, so get some mates together, sit back, crack open a cold one, spark one up, relax and enjoy the madness!
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295 weeks ago