Noigwon

A monastery holds four books containing the secrets of its powerful martial arts techniques. Everybody wants to get their hands on them, including a band of local evil types. The abbot is killed, and the head students begin to argue over who should keep the books safe.

Starts out slow, the first 20 minutes are sort of dull, however this competent Kung fu drama progressively gets better. It's quite serious toned touching upon the theme of revenge and honour. It's a familiar tale of a bad guy - Hwang Jang Lee - taking over a Kung fu school and the hero -Dragon Lee - gets trained by an expert Kung fu monk before taking on the bad guy, but it's quite watchable and has some fine display of fighting and sword play.

This movie is yet another Godfrey Ho-directed Whang Jang Lee kick-fest designed to display his astonishing martial arts prowess. It starts pretty boring with the usual clichés of the martial arts genre. Basically a bunch of cockfighting along the lines of:"your style of fighting sucks! Prepare to die!". Business as usual. NO, it's towards the end things really pick up as Whang Jang Lee breaks out all the awesome moves we love him for. Although some of it wire-assisted, it looks totally awesome just the same. Solid entry in the genre that will make you want to kick some light-posts after-wards.

Apemolecule

I initially got this video in the early 90's - a period of my life where any and all kung fu movies where like gold to me. I had seen its main stars in a couple of flicks before, but wasn't all that clued in on Asian cinema as I am today.

Back then, I enjoyed 5 Pattern Dragon Claws. It's very much the cliché kung fu film with an evil kung fu tyrant, stolen books, revenge and all that nonsense...

Watching it again today for the first time in 25 years, I was surprised to find just how much fun is actually still is!

While not as polished or modern as much of the classics coming out from Hong Kong around the same time - mainly from Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers - the film still delivers on kung fu action with some fantastic kicking, wonderfully choreographed fights and a mental end battle that totally impresses.

Most fans of kung fu cinema will recognise the majority of the cast, mainly South Korean actors - but of course its the wonderful Dragon Lee and Hwang Jang Lee (Wong Chen Li) who really steal the show. Hwang really needs no introduction as one of the most recognised bad guys in kung fu cinema, the Silver Fox rarely disappoints and treats us all to a flurry of kicks - some of which are highlighted as lightning strikes which is hilarious!

Starting film life as a Bruce Lee clone, Dragon Lee has always been an interesting character to me. His wild, over acting, manic style of kung fu is highly entertaining and I honestly find him a more exciting actor and fighter than Bruce himself. While he looks about knee-high, Dragon Lee is a little powerhouse and beats his way through this 90 minute fight with some great co-stars and rarely a rest.

So much fun!!

Overall: While not a classic, 5 Pattern Dragon Claws delivers and still holds up well today!

This movie is your run-of-the-mill kung fu action flick. No original ideas or concepts just genuine, authentic, no holds barred kung fu with some crazy dubbing thrown in. Worth the watch but you might be disappointed if you paid over £5 for it. Budget buy. 7/10 Gorguruga