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JUDGEMENT OF AN ASSASSIN (1977) is a moderately intriguing wuxia entry that could be considered as a forerunner of the director's masterpieces.

An ambitious evil leader of the 100 Poison Clan has secretly planned to reign the martial arts world through a devious plot. Aided by his powermad uncle, an evil swordsman-turned-hermit called the Bloody Devil (Chen Hui Min), who is also planning for a vengeful return, he launches a campaign of treacherous terror to turn clan against clan, systematically eliminating the stronger cliques before controlling the weaker ones. However, two of the many clan leaders have sensed the plot and assigned their young, skilled and intelligent swordsman - the Swift Sword (David Chiang) and a swordswoman (Ching Li) to uncover the truth. Fearing his plot will fail, the 100 Poison Clan leader hires a deadly assassin Mai Ta Ying (Chung Hua) to protect his interests.

When the truth is revealed, all hell breaks loose at one of the clan leaders' headquarters, culminating in a duel-to-the-death showdown between the Swift Sword, his teacher, the swordswoman and the last evil mastermind standing- the fearsome Bloody Devil, who possesses a staggering level of invincible skills, making even our heroes fight blood and thunder to defeat him!

Sun Chung's directorial flair can be seen throughout this 91-minute wuxia extravaganza: sweeping long shots, innovative angles, appropriate outdoor locations, superimposed and fade-to-black scene changes, and even a bit of slow motion captures.

Most of the fight scenes, choreographed by Tang Chia, are fast, energetic and bloody; mostly involving weapons like David Chiang's unique baton, Chung Hua's spear-headed iron chain, and Chen Hui Min's iron bangles, among others. Sun Chung seems to be following Chang Cheh's style of depicting pain and violence in the way he employs blood during fights.

The visual characterization of the lead villain Chen Hui Min, with his bald skull cap bordered with long black and strands of white hair, his raised eyebrows and long falling mustaches, creates an extremely sinister-looking villain worth noting.

The low point, while not many, is the lack of plot twists (an absolute no-no for a wuxia film).What we get instead is a sort of straight forward plot.

Though not as exciting as HUMAN LANTERNS, or as interesting as RENDEZVOUS WITH DEATH, or as dazzling as THE AVENGING EAGLE, this is still worth collecting for wuxia fans, especially those of the director's.

A solidly good, but not especially great film. The brilliant (and unique) opening of the film does a great job of grabbing the audience, but then the film itself gets mired down into a tale of clan politics with healthy doses of action. The whole thing feels like it should have had another round of editing at the script stage, because there are story elements (like the seductress) that just walk on and off the stage for no particular reason. It's chock full of neat ideas, and there's a good twist at the end that makes it worth seeing, but overall it can't quite reach the heights it's aiming for.

The other reason it's notable is for its direction, the director really comes up with some brilliant shots that help to keep this film visually interesting even while the story is muddled down. I'd recommend it for students of cinematography as well as Shaw Brothers fans.

Judgement of an Assassin is a must-watch not because of David Chiang's atrocious hairdo, but because it's Sun Chung's first wuxia film. It might not have the same edginess nor playfulness as his next features, however, still a stand-out film to see despite the plot sharing a fair share of similarities with so many other Shaw Brothers period action flicks.

Sun Chung is one of the lesser known of the Shaw stable of action directors. Many of his films are unknown outside of the local Chinatowns in the US. The only one that seems to have been dubbed was the excellent "Avenging Eagle". Fortunately as the Shaw library is finally being remastered and released on DVD we are getting to see Sun Chung's filmography.

This film is an entry in the "martial world clan" genre where various clans fight it out for control. Here one clan is accused of massacring another clan and is brought to trial at a tribunal of all the clans. Meanwhile two "lone wolf" assassins (played by Diavid Chiang and Ching Li) are sought out to do some behind the scenes intrigue. There are a number of characters in the story but they are all clearly defined and it's easy to follow the complicated plot.

The standouts are the artful yet strong direction from Sun Chung and the excellent battle scenes and martial art choreography from Tang Chia. The fights are really well shot and edited. The Shaw regulars do their usual good job acting and moving.

This is a strong recommendation, check the DVD out. It's a bloody devil of a film.