Zan xian sheng yu zhao qian Hua

Warrior's Two is not a sequel to Walter Hill's urban action classic The Warriors. In fact, I think it's just the title, or literal translation of the title. Way before Donnie Yen made IP Man a household name, Warrior's Two is another excellent movie about the fighting style known as Wing Chun. This is a groundbreaking film for Sammo Hung that put his mix of kung fu and comedy and got his fight choreography some series respect The fights are jaw droppingly awesome and really complex, but tightly put together. In the restored version I have, everything looks crystal clear and sometimes I forget that I am watching a movie from the 70's. If you like martial arts movies, this is one you should see as everything done here was done really well.

Sammo Hung's classic 'Warriors Two' features Korean super-kicker Casanova Wong in his biggest role as Cashier Hua (the 'Zhao Qian Hua' of the title), who works in the bank run by Banker Mo (Fung Hark-On). One evening, just as he was about to pack up for the day, he inadvertently hears a discussion between Mo and some of his other employees where he plots to take over the whole town and become the new Village Head by disposing of the current one.

Hua tries to warn the Village Head, but instead falls into a trap where some of Mo's henchmen beat him up quite badly. But Hua escapes, albeit seriously injured, and bumps into Fei Chun (Sammo Hung), who hides Hua in the home of his master, Mr Leung Tsang (the 'Zan Xian Sheng' of the title, played by Leung Kar-Yan), a Wing Chun master and healer.

Mo and his cronies go about trying to lure Hua out of hiding by murdering his last remaining family member (in Chinese customs of the period it was traditional to avenge the deaths of murdered friends or family -- something exploited in a lot of the period kung-fu movies of this era), but Fei Chun eventually makes Hua see sense, that he doesn't stand a chance of avenging death as his fighting skills aren't good enough. That's where Mr Tsang comes in -- but Hua's quest for revenge makes Tsang reticent about teaching Wing Chun to him, as kung-fu (like all martial arts) is not supposed to be used aggressively. Will Fei Chun be able to make Tsang capitulate and become his Sifu?

This movie was where Sammo's early promise as director and action choreographer shown in his directorial debut 'Iron-Fisted Monk' comes to the fore, as he steps up the quality of the fight choreography and overall structure of the film, and came up with a true masterpiece. Sammo's ability to choreograph the performers in such a way that they come across as powerful as they would ever look on-screen is something that fans of his work are used to (even his former Peking Opera classmate Jackie Chan has benefited from Sammo's excellent choreographic genius), and 'Warriors Two' is no exception, with some superbly crisp fights that contain shots where fighters perform well over ten carefully-timed moves before a cut occurs! But what's most amazing is that Sammo has actually managed to transfer Wing Chun to the screen successfully (some arts don't translate that well to the screen without some minor changes due to the limitations of film -- something that Hong Kong film-makers, especially those of Sammo's ability, have acknowledged over the years and allowed for accordingly), and has actually depicted Wing Chun very accurately in a way that you would appreciate even if you're not a dedicated martial artist.

Casanova Wong's acting ability is a bit limited, but in my mind is not enough to completely hamper the film as a whole, and his kicking, combined with the hand techniques his character would learn throughout the movie, is superb. The bit most people talk about is his amazing jump-spinning back kick over a table (in one shot!) which even I rewind and watch again and again!

As Banker Mo, Fung Hark-On gives what I believe to be his best bad-guy role outside of Jackie Chan's 'Police Story' (1985), with a menace he never really matched again. His character even provides a bit of a twist at the end!

'Warriors Two' features an all-star cast including Eric Tsang (who would appear as Roundhead in the 'Lucky Stars' series), Lau Kar-Wing (Liu Chia-Yong; he's the real-life brother of Liu Chia-Liang), Fung Hark-On, the late Lam Ching-Ying, Yuen Biao (who would later co-choreograph the action in 'Shanghai Noon'), Mang Hoi (a.k.a. Randy Mang!), Dean Shek... Oh, and let's not forget Lee Hoi-San as seemingly-invincible Iron Bell fighter Ya Chao!

Being a Sammo film, there are also some moments of broad comedy (some of it dark), but it works within the film, and was still fairly unfamiliar in Hong Kong movies in 1978.

Mark my words: 'Warriors Two' is a cast-iron classic. It doesn't QUITE have the polish of Sammo's other Wing Chun movie, 'The Prodigal Son' (1983), but it's still an enjoyable film in its own right, and is different enough from the other kung-fu movies out there to help it stand out, and it still looks wonderful all these years later.

Once this film gets going it features some of the best kung fu ever filmed. The action is tightly choreographed and the strikes look like they really hurt. It's all I can do to stop myself from spilling the beans on the finale, which sees Wing Chun style up against one of my other favourite styles, which I can't reveal because it would spoil the surprise. The film also has a great "what do we have to do to kill this guy?" type scene in it, which is predictably bloody and excruciatingly painful. For lovers of eccentric training routines there's no need to worry, the wooden men are out in force, and the weasel with the glasses and the crap voice makes his presence well and truly felt. If you're a kung fu fan and haven't run into this one yet: this is "the business", up there with Prodigal Son.

No pun intended - and I know it should be fight the power - but in this case it is about getting ahead and taking a position for the bad guys in this. And Sammo Hung does not only have a major role in this, but did direct it too. And he is able to inject a lot of humor in a quite serious movie.

Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers went head to head for quite some while. I think it helped them make better movies competing against each other - talking of competing, the stunts here are quite something to behold. Really well done and some contact for sure - but also using stuff they learned at Peking Opera (it I am not mistaken entirely) ... so many things and forms to see here.

The movie is a gem for action lovers for sure ... suspend your disbelief and have fun with it - also there is more where that came from!

This is clearly Sammo Hung's tribute to the Shaw Bros. style, which set the standard for Hong Kong film-making for two decades; practically all the great Hong Kong action directors worked for Shaw Bros. at one time, or paid tribute to it in one way or another, up until about 1993. The earmarks of the style developed at Shaw studios include heavy use of elaborate sound-stage exteriors; very steady camera-work with occasional hand-held close-ups for effect, a particularly atmospheric lighting that nonetheless emphasized primary colors. A particular aspect of Shaw narrative style is that the villain would usually be either of aristocratic stock or would have certain aristocratic qualities that would make him admirable if he weren't so greedy or power hungry. The Shaw heroes were always remarkably virtuous, and usually had a side-kick as noble, and sometimes as skilled. The typical Shaw film involved an elder, sometimes of aristocratic background, sometimes simply aristocratic in quality, and usually well-known as a martial-arts master; unfortunately this elder is always doomed to be the villain's chief victim, thus setting the heroes out on their quest for revenge.

All these elements are here - every last one - and accomplished with a high quality professional finesse. with this film, Hung demonstrated his command of the medium as Hong Kong film audiences understood it according to the highest standards held for it at the time. And, of course, it must be admitted that the film is rip-roaring fun for any real fan of the martial-arts genre.

Not necessarily a classic, but certainly looks as good as one!