Tiger der Todesarena

This is typical garbage made by Lo-Wei in 70's. Keep Away from this!! This one was made for (Jimmy) Wang Wu, and Jackie played the bad guy - and he appeared on few scenes only.(and he's weak because of his illness).

It's not the best movie ever made, but I recommend this one for martial arts fans who watch their kung-fu for the fighting, and the characters, as I like to sometimes. There is this incredible heirarchy of experts, which gets more compelling as the movie goes on. From the three fighters in the beginning who are good enough to break rocks, to the best fighters in the world, we get a look at the whole gamut. Half of them seem to be better than any fighter from most other movies, and the other half amaze you with how much better than the rest of the people they are!

Most kung-fu movies have one or two really great fighters, and they end up fighting in the end. But this one has a dozen or so, and I really get excited when I think about just how bad these guys are.

Jimmy Wang's movie always seems to have interesting theme to it. This one features a new kind of weapon called killer meteor.

Killer Meteor (Jimmy Wang) is hired by Tiger (Jacky Chan) to steal an antidote for a poison, and kill Tiger's wife who put the poison in his soup. She has four expert kung fu men as body guards, and Meteor has the defeat them to get to her.

The movie is made by Lowe Wei's company. Lowe Wei is the director who directed Bruce Lee's "Chinese Connection", but reportedly didn't get along with Lee, because he was listening in to horse races during production. After the sensation of "Enter the Dragon", Hong Kong cinema had hard time living up to its own legacy of kung fu movie. New actors were working for Shaw Brothers, and they were producing good kung fu movies such as the "Flying Guillotines" and "Executioner from Shaolin". Lowe Wei's production was too derivative, and didn't have the freshness that Shaw Brothers movies had. But this movie is pretty good. There's surprise at each turn of the story. Meteor is set up to be the fall guy, but Tiger, and his wife doesn't know how good Meteor really is.

Solid old school kung fu movie that deserves a viewing.

Not a Jacky Chan film by any stretch of the imagination. The movie had potential with the typical setup of the bad guys and the hero on a mission. It just got so out of hand with the twists and turns and the need to explain them all verbally. Some Kung Fu was present. Some pretty actresses were also in the movie. It's watchable but don't expect a Jacky Chan starring role type film. I'd watch it again, if only to sort out the plot twists.

Ho-hum swordplay drama distinguished only by the fact that it features Jackie Chan in a rare villainous role. Chan was just two years away from superstardom (though from this vantage point, it must have been difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel), while ill-used Wang Yu's career was winding down. His face had begun to look doughy, and his performance as the hero is tired and dispirited. The action is mostly watchable, but the finale relies on a cheap special effects gimmick where good, solid choreography would have served the film much better. Some of the static dialogue scenes could have been trimmed down, too; 104 minutes is a tad lengthy for a low-budget fight flick. Avoid "The Killer Meteors" unless you're intent on seeing every foot of celluloid from Chan's early career.