Shen ying fei yan hu die zhang

Another day another Taiwanese martial arts film. This one's a wuxia-style swordplay movie about evil Mongolian invaders and the righteous Chinese who stand up to fight back against the oppressors. The main emphasis of the story is on the evil Butterfly Clan who do all kind of sinister things before the good guys team up to take them on.

Sadly this is a pretty nondescript movie with cheap-looking sets and even cheaper action. I don't mind swordplay movies at all but they need good choreography and the fight scenes here are just ordinary. There's a large cast and many familiar faces but most of them are wasted in minor roles while the bland heroes get the most screen time. Look out for Tien Peng, Yueh Hua, Chi Kuan-Chun, Hwang Jang Lee, and best of all Lo Lieh in another typecast role. Most cast members are slashed or stabbed before the credits finally roll on what is an entirely nondescript movie.

the Butterfly Clan is mad evil and powerful. they have wiped out Shaolin and Wu Dang; yet their thirst for bloodshed isn't satisfied.

enter the eagle, as the great Lo Lieh (of like a million movies'fame)teams up with a mysterious stranger and an annoying chi kuan chun in pocahontas disguise to eradicate the oppressors. lots of blood will be shed, lots of slaughtering, lots of (mediocre) swordfighting.

as with most those flicks, the whole plot is very crude and not of any real relevance to the designated viewer anyway. the whole package is sub par with comparable flicks of the time but still fairly entertaining- though it has its downsides: most of the martial action is shot in "weakly illuminated environments". i wanna actually eyewitness the action, not guess it. as always: the dubbing is horrible; so make sure you grab a subtitled copy if you have the choice and don't consider yourself a sub-hater. the acting isn't particularly a bonfire of ambition either.

now for the important part- the martial arts choreography... in the first hour its predominantly one vs many swordplay style manslaughter in the dark. in the last quarter of EAGLE CLAW VS BUTTERFLY PALM they finally engage in some decent hand to hand combat. weapons involved are swords, razor shields, staffs and knives. plus they experiment with drugs that make you sort of braindead but also enhance your fighting skills.

oh yeah, there's a little twist towards the end also, but it doesn't really matter too much. this movie is about revenge, not plausibilty.

3.5/10 from me.