Jian wang zhi wang

"King of Kings" is a fairly early entry in the career of Joseph Kuo (Kuo Nan-hong), director of the highly-regarded "Seven Grandmasters". Philosophically, this Taiwanese swordplay drama takes a different route than most Chinese martial arts films. Kuo does not skimp on the action (indeed, the fights are superbly choreographed and look at least as good as anything Shaw Brothers were doing at the time), but neither does he glorify violence. Vengeance-seeking is depicted not as a heroic pursuit but as something which diminishes the human soul, and star Peter Yang Kwan has precisely the kind of gravity that is needed to carry off a film like this. Yes, the print that Fusian used for its DVD release is in pretty bad shape...but even so, "King of Kings" is very much worth seeing if you're a fan of the Shaws' late 1960s output or King Hu epics like "A Touch of Zen". Seven and a half stars.

In 1969 the number one plot of martial arts movies - "You killed my master, revenge!" was not yet old. This movie takes that plot to the next level - "blood for blood must end". But what about the action? Just watch the first scene. There is a sword fighting contest and the action is top notch and realistic. The moves in that tournament are as good as any moves in any martial arts movie of any year. For the most part the action in the rest of the movie is top notch too. For the time period this film falls right in between the original 1967 "Dragon Gate Inn" and the 1971 'A Touch of Zen". I would rate it at number three just under those two martial arts classic. I'm glad I read the other review here and bought the DVD. Unfortunately, as already pointed out, it's not what I would really call a "restored" copy but it's still watchable. My DVD always seems to skip when the female fighter enters the inn and I think it's not a skip but missing footage. Anyway, I encourage all fans of the genre (as if anyone else would be reading this, unless you were looking for a movie about Jesus and made a wrong click) to buy it and enjoy a martial arts movie with action and philosophy.