Da sha xing

Another heroic swordplay drama from Chang Cheh. This was shot immediately after One-Armed Swordsman and contains almost the same cast. Fans of One-Armed Swordsman will appreciate this.

Set around 300 BC, Wang-Yu plays the heroic swordsman who seeks fame and glory by fighting for the better of his country. When the opportunity arises he has to make the choice of whether to pursue his dream of dying with honour on the battlefield or living his the rest of his days with his beloved.

For it's age the action is good, although there's not huge amounts of it. Wang-Yu takes on loads of soldiers, swordsman etc with quite a bit of blood and guts being spilled.

I have watched the celestial remastered version, the sound and picture quality is great. Recommended.

1971 Taiwan with Jimmy Wang Yu and it is not the Shaw Brothers movie "The Assassin" from 1967. Surprisingly the opening sequence with Jimmy looks like it was shot on a Shaw Brothers set. Jimmy even has his pucker puss on like he did on the Shaw Brothers oldies. Next some people need a bodyguard. Jimmy is at the tea house and it seems he got stiffed as he has no money to pay for his wine and has to sell his sword. Some men of dubious integrity are hired as bodyguards. The caravan is attacked and Jimmy enters the fray because he doesn't like to see his old sword being wielded so poorly. He and the buyer buddy up and go to the tea house. The buyer has a big boss and they are using Jimmy for some ulterior motive. For the time being, Jimmy plays along. Whatever they are up to I don't quite get but it seems now Jimmy is hired to kill the wrong people or personal involvement. He has to kill a guy he does not want to kill. He proceeds anyway and seems about to do it when a shadow passes by and kills the guy for him. Jimmy is confused and spends a lot of time thinking and talking to the girl. Yes, it is dragging in the middle. The mystery killer incident repeats in case we weren't paying attention. The bad guys are all traitors working with corrupt officials. The final fight is so-so, far from the brawling fights in other Wang Yu movies. The other reviewer seems to have enjoyed the Shaw Brothers movie from 1967, and I did too, but this link is for another movie, just to clear that up as titles are misleading in this genre.

This is not the Shaw Brothers movie "The Assassin" from 1967. It seems the review written by user fongsaiyuk has this movie mixed up with the 1967 Shaw Brothers movie "The Assassin". That is understandable because of the story similarities. Also the opening sequence with Jimmy looks like it was shot on a Shaw Brothers set. Jimmy even has his pucker puss on like he did in the Shaw Brothers oldies.

This movie was made in Taiwan in 1971. That year Jimmy Wang Yu walked out on his Shaw Brothers contract and made seven movies for various production companies in Taiwan.

It opens with three officers talking about the war. Cut to Jimmy finds the man he was paid to kill. The man is in bed with another man's wife. Jimmy earns his payment before the opening credits roll by. He should have insisted on at least half in advance because he gets stiffed and has to sell his sword to pay his bar tab. It ends up in the wrong hands but he gets it back after coming to the rescue of an escort company under attack.

The middle of the movie drags a bit. Jimmy is hired to kill people and it gets morally ambiguous. Plus he starts talking to a girl. (That would never happen in a Chang Cheh movie.)

Though starting a new career in a new nation, Jimmy sticks with what got him to this point. To be fair, it is typical that when movie people find something that works they beat it to death. Jimmy is keeping his 1960s Shaw Studios persona. That includes what I call his "I just sucked on a lemon" facial expression. Keep tuned fans and watch him change into the brawler. the mad man of martial arts movies, when he makes his flying guillotine movie.

For this movie I can only rate it average for the year and genre. Though it delivered as expected it was minimal meeting of expectations.