Duel to the Death

Duel to the Death has such a slight plot that even with a runtime of under 90 minutes, it still feels like it has some padding. There are two people that need to fight, and the movie builds up to that fight. There are a few extra complications introduced towards the end, but it's generally very straightforward. They make up for it with some increasingly wild things that happen throughout, which was appreciated. It feels less and less like a grounded martial arts movie as it goes along, with some wonderfully bizarre stuff popping up out of nowhere at certain points.

And I think it's generally entertaining enough to end up being a solid film. The action's creative and well-choreographed. The score sounds weirdly similar to Gone with the Wind's main theme, though. That was a bit distracting, or it could just be me.

I'll start by saying I'm in no way an expert on martial arts movies. One night I was awake at 3:30 a.m. and happened to catch this movie, that's all. It was part of a martial arts marathon, or something. I was magnetized the entire time, and by the end I realized I had seen a film that was a direct predecessor of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

I must agree with the other reviewer here, who states so eloquently that this movie knows exactly what it wants to do and does it perfectly.

The cinematography is stunning. Almost every frame is beautiful.

It's utterly preposterous, of course, but even that makes it a wonderful fantasy film that actually has much in common with Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" films. By that I mean it's utter fantasy beautifully and meticulously realized.

Put it this way, I'm watching it again right now - about 15 years after I first discovered it, and I'm enjoying it so much I came here to IMDb, just to put SOME kind of review out there in the world for this wonderful movie.

Wherever this movie isn't well executed, it's crazy fun, and vice verse. It's impossible to tell where the beauty ends and the craziness begins, too. Just one of my favorite movies ever - and I've watched a lot of movies.

Ching Siu Tung is among the most talented "wire fu" action and martial arts directors in the Hong Kong film industry. He has made such classics as A Chinese Ghost Story trilogy, Swordsman trilogy, Witch From Nepal and Heroic Trio 1 and 2 (with Johnnie To). Duel to the Death (1982) is among his very early directorial efforts (as far as I know, this was his FIRST film as a director), and this film shows his great talents and visual eye. The film tells about the traditional sword fight contest in which the best fighter of Japan and best fighter of China duel, and in most cases, to the death. In this film, these two sword masters become friends and soon they have other enemies to fight. The plot is not the most important thing in these movies. The great visuals and cinematic magic are the things which make these Orient films so unique compared to others.

The incredible color world is shown for the first time at the very beginning of the movie as the multi colored leaves and trees are in the peaceful countryside and temple. The colors are breathtakingly beautiful and captured very effectively on camera, which Ching is so talented to use. His angles and movements with the camera create a tension and intensity of its own, and just watch a film like Heroic Trio (1992) or Chinese Ghost Story (1987) and you know what I mean. He is equally brilliant as director as a cinematographer, and he works also as a stuntman in his/others' movies, too. There are couple of totally stunning images in this film, and they are as fantastic as in Ronny Yu's masterpiece Bride With White Hair (1993), starring Brigitte Lin. Bride's magic was created by shooting the whole film at night (exteriors) and adding artificial light to create the visuals, but Duel to the Death's magic was created by using natural lights and all the colors of peaceful and pure daytime nature.

The sword fight scenes are as great as can be expected by this director. They are very fast paced and use plenty of wires to add to the irrational atmosphere. There are also weird and flying ninjas who can turn into one big human and do things no one can do, so this film is full of elements from fairy tales which don't follow any rational rules. The editing is occasionally perhaps little too confusing and fast, and it is the negative point in these fight scenes. Then again, we must remember Ching was just so young in the directorial field so these little flaws are understandable especially when we remember how professional and great most of his subsequent films are. The impact of the striking fight scenes is heightened even further by the use of blood in the fight scenes little like in the Japanese Baby Cart (1972-1974) films. The fights in Duel to the Death are pretty gory and thus become more fierce and effective in their symbolism. Especially the fights near the end are totally over-the-top with those ultra fierce throwing stars which have to be seen to be believed. The film has great finale which lasts pretty long, but this film is still pretty calm as there are long segments involving something else than just fights, but that is of course allright, if these calm segments are handled with talent and care, like in this film. One Ching Siu Tung film which becomes sadly too slow moving and pointless at one point is his horror story Witch From Nepal (1985, starring Chow Yun Fat) which should not have been so slow and uninteresting in its middle part.

After all, Duel to the Death is about the motifs and reasons for these "duels" in which the fighters have to fight at the expense of their own lives. The main characters themselves question why this all has to be how it is, and isn't there any peaceful way to use martial arts and its philosophy. These are the things Bruce Lee knew the answers for. These philosophical elements make Duel to the Death of course more interesting and noteworthy piece of cinema, and thankfully Ching Siu Tung is always willing to discuss some interesting topics in his films alongside their visual and cinematic bravura.

I think the negative things in this film are only those in the editing department and that the plot turns don't occasionally make too much sense and some of the characters should have been written more carefully and with little more heart. The film has also perhaps little too striking attitude towards other countries, most notably Japan, but not as underlining as in Tsui Hark's epic Once Upon a Time in China (1991). Some of these historical fight films tend to be little too patriotic and naive, but fortunately Duel to the Death is not so bad, and the final image of the film is very unpatriotic, too. After all, this film has so many positive things and elements, I think this is among the greatest historical martial arts epics made in Hong Kong (of those I've seen) and thus I'm very glad for having the opportunity to see this early film by Ching Siu Tung.

Duel to the Death gets 8/10 from me.

This movie has it all! Fast paced combat scenes, beautiful cinematography, compelling characters, and an epic plot of honor and betrayal. As I watched this movie, it was at once a really cool kung fu film and an intelligently written, acted, and directed film. Trust me on this one! If you're a fan of this genre at all, then check this film out.

Duel To The Death is one of the last old school Hong Kong martial arts epics, made by Shaw Brothers at the tail end of their golden age of production. But there is no sense of a dying fall here, as the film is a fast moving, colourful and extremely enjoyable sword fighting film that, upon its release, was received to high critical acclaim in the east. Its reputation in the west is less widely established - something the recent anamorphic release, with supporting commentary and documentary extras, should go long way to correct.

Based around a familiar rivalry between the respective martial arts systems practiced by China and Japan, Duel To The Death's plot premise is relatively simple, taking place in the during the Ming dynasty. It's a generations-old challenge between the two countries, lately revived and scheduled to take place again in a venerated venue, the Holy Sword House. Japan sends its top swordsman to compete against the representative of its ancient enemy, and this long-anticipated fight will be one to the death. As directed by Ching Siu-tung, the resulting drama, rich in historical recreation and well shot in glowing colours, is spectacular and fairly influential. Enriched by a strong touch of gore and with some inspired wirework - a technique which was to become increasingly prevalent, his work is often cited as having ushered in a new age of Chinese action dramas.

At the heart of his film is the relationship between Hashimoto, the Japanese fighter/ swordsman (Norman Tsui-Keung) primed for the betterment of his lord and country and the young Chinese master, the 'Lord of the Sword' Po Ching-wan (Damien Lau). A subplot focuses on attempts to wreck the fair fight as planned, notably the employment of ninjas to steal martial secrets and abduct leading Chinese martial artists. But these fearsome and persistent ninjas aren't ordinary fighters. They attack while masked, or naked or giant sized; they explode while hugging their foes, fire rockets, drop down to attack from broad battle kites, bounce off trees, as well as flash disconcertingly from visible to the invisible. None of their tricks really distract from the increasing respect between Po Ching-wan and Hashimoto in the meantime, although Po also grows emotionally attached to a female martial fighter Sui Man (Flora Cheung) whose duplicitous father is the Lord of Holy Sword House. The relationship between the two contestants gradually grows more complex but Hashimoto, who eventually has to face the claims of competing loyalties (orders from the Shogun and his own sense of honour) has the most complicated set of decisions to make and his final actions, which attempt to reconcile two irreconcilable strands of tension, provide the most arresting moments in the film.

Ching Siu-tung's most celebrated film in the west is A Chinese Ghost Story (aka: Sinnui Yauman), although most recently he was action choreographer on House Of Flying Daggers (aka: Shi mian mai fu). As has been noticed by others, one of his trademark strengths is to tell a traditional story well, but in a fantasy setting breaking free from the conventions of social realism (a non-naturalistic style which divides those audiences who love and who loathe so-called 'wire fu'). Duel To The Death, his debut feature, already shows this predilection. Another characteristic is his use of multiple setups to film action stunts, before editing the fragments into a whole martial play, a way of working which has also become more current. There's plenty of opportunity to show off moves like this between participants in a swordplay movie frequently contrasting and comparing the martial techniques of two proud societies and their representatives.

Thus Ching Siu-tung's fight choreography includes the varying fighting styles of Japanese samurai (and Ninjitsu) techniques, as well as the Shaolin techniques and swordplay. Those familiar with spaghetti westerns may also find some echoes in his work here, especially when the director films his heroes progressing against barren landscapes towards the start of the film to music which sounds (to these ears at least) vaguely south of the border. He's also not reluctant to add some bizarre touches of his own, such as the slicing into two halves of an evil ninja as required, or the inclusion of an exploding head as part of a climatic encounter. To be honest, once established, the narrative is not that engaging, apart from the increasing suspense as the two young champions look set to face off each other in the deciding contest - which, when it finally occurs, is filmed in the dramatic and expressionistic setting of a rocky coastline. Perhaps he is less successful in suggesting any burgeoning romance between Sui Man and the Chinese fighter but, given the main focus of the narrative, this is not a distraction.