O Destino de Lee Khan

What a glory of DVD's advent that allowed us reach at ours hands gems from overseas like this, in my first experience watching the cult Chinese director King Hu, better fully restored over a mid-ages tale where Kubai Khan's heir in Yuan dynasty ruled China with iron hand, in 1366 Lee Khan and his sister laid hold of a net of spies cross country to stifle rebellion in provinces, so he got a copy of map of plan from a rebel's traitor and travelling to there to pick up it by himself escorted by bunch of soldiers, meanwhile the rebels to get ready the forthcoming clash at famous hostel.

The first half part exposes many characters at a crowded hostel that hired four beauty girls with shady past by a wiser lady owner, in this louder ambience many costumers come in and out upon a gambling and whispers forbidden invitations of the young girls around and even a singer appears in humor oriented, then reaches an unknown quiet man, actually the final rebel member to gathering them, so finally enters triumphant the evil Lee Khan and his entourage, so it became a high tension environment upon the violent ruler, it's a matter of time to start a so awaited acrobatic fightings on the large sound stage.

The cunning director inserts many costumers that seemingly are just guests, however it's a decoy, later the audience will slowing understanding it plenty, moreover every single character has a true meaning on the plot, the final showdown at desert area is the pinnacle of this struggle between the slavery carried out by the Mongol invaders and a freedom of Chinese people, actually this picture inspired many filmmakers likewise Tarantino as Inglorious Basterds in the famous inn's scene.

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First watch: 2025 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 8.

King Hu is so in his wheelhouse here that The Fate of Lee Khan is sure to provoke feelings of deja vu for anyone who's seen a handful of his greatest hits, but he did this kind of thing undeniably well. There's intrigue and characters all being very shady, mostly confined in a single location that builds suspense, punctuated by brief but satisfying bursts of action throughout, all leading to an inevitably entertaining finale.

But as far as his "deep cuts" go (basically anything that's not Dragon Inn or A Touch of Zen, and even then, those are arguably underrated in the overall scheme of things), this one's good. Some of his more out there films have bored me a little, but this one's solid. Nothing being reinvented and little by way of surprises, but it's a satisfying and well-made martial arts movie nonetheless.

This early hong kong flick is an enjoyable lark. While the fights and effects are sometimes laughably primitive by today's standards, they are nonetheless well-choreographed. The story is pretty intriguing, the intentional humor hits the mark, and, the acting is actually surprisingly competent for the genre, which can tend to be hokey and melodramatic.

All in all, worth seeing for fans of Bruce Lee, John Woo, and "The Matrix," all of whom are obviously influenced by movies such as this.

There are many interesting facts (like Bruce Lee apparently visiting the set and so forth), that depending on what Edition you bought (or if you watch it digitally), will be included. Now generally speaking, I am quite biased towards movies of this type. So if you are not a fan or have cherished Shaw Brothers movies or eastern action flicks, you may feel "betrayed" by my score.

Having said that, the movie is nicely set up, with the action almost entirely playing in one location. The shoot must have been nice and also cost effective one may think. While this is a drama, this has a lot of fights and action scenes. The biggest one at its climax. Now some may think or question why it took so long - but you wouldn't do the movie justice with questioning things like that. Also you want to have fun, don't you? I would think the answer is yes to this.

So sit back and enjoy a hand to hand combat, but also quite nice swordplay. I was not too aware of the director of this before I watched it (never read too much about things I'm going to watch) or how generally praised this is - again we're talking about a certain community and fan base of course. If you're not included in that, it doesn't mean you are wrong or right. It's just not your thing. If it is, you're also not right or wrong, you'll just enjoy and cherish it, is all

Angela Mao stars as a pre-Ming dynasty (or around that time) restaurant waitress. The restaurant seems to get one bad customer after another while something clandestine is going on with the restaurant. It's being used as communication post for the Chinese rebels. They use coins to indicate that one's an agent. Soon, Lee Khan the Mongol lord himself shows up at the restaurant.

The production company says it's Golden Harvest, but it looks awfully low budget for a Golden Harvest production. Maybe there was a collaboration between Taiwan movie studios. The shooting style is not like that of Golden Harvest either. There's no dynamic close up shots during the fight scenes like you see in their production. Actors are all Hong Kong actors (except Angela Mao, who's Taiwanese).

The movie is pretty one dimensional, and although it was shot at the height of Angela Mao's beauty, it didn't capitalize on her fabulous kung-fu skills or on screen presence. It's best to look for other Angela Mao movies to get the best of her actions.