Os Dez Tigres de Kwangtung

When I watch Kung Fu films I usually like to take off my thinking cap and drown myself in action and cheesy plots. Very rarely do I encounter a Kung Fu film where I find myself confused when the ending comes, and this is exactly where I found myself at the end of Ten Tigers of Kwangtung. This film has one of the greatest Shaw Brothers casts of all time. Ti Lung, Fu Sheng and the Venoms are the lead actors and are all in top form. In case you haven't see it is about a group of fighters teaming up to protect a Ching loyalist. The group of fighters will eventually come to be known as the Ten Tigers and safely guide this Ming rebel to the South to meet with his troops. There are a lot of plot twists and betrayls in between all of this. There are a lot of flashbacks in this film. It starts off in the present time with Ming loyalists trying to kill off the disciples of the Ten Tigers and flashes back to why they want to kill them. The flashbacks show in detail how the Tigers were formed and the film does it's best to develop each character. The knock on this film is that there are too many characters, flashbacks and plot twists. These are the reasons why this film is great IMO and maybe even the greatest. There aren't many Kung Fu films that you have to watch a few times to really understand and the fighting is top notch. If you haven't seen it be sure to watch it and if you have seen it watch again, more than once

This film is supposed to tell the story of real-life 19th century pugilists but, not surprisingly, it doesn't have the slightest concern for historical accuracy. The hairdressing is terrible, to start with. Most actors don't have their hair combed back, let alone shaved pates, and there we have lots of Bruce Lee clones wandering around and even an Elvis Presley in Lung Tien-hsiang. Another disappointment is Beggar So played by Phillip Kwok, which stands far too superficial compared to more down to earth depictions of the character. On the other hand, what gets me really going is the bad guys, Wong Lik portraying a very successful archvillain while Chan Shu-kei appears in the underrated role of a small "death on two legs". As for martial arts credits; although this film has a brilliant choreographers' portfolio, the empty hand scenes are very very average, Sun Chien being even well below it. However, the day is saved by the display of many exotic weapons (concealed, flexible, etc.) including the genuine "femme fatale" Mermaid's Tail, which you won't see much in those films. Nevertheless, I want to emphasise that the cast is magnificent, bringing a distinguished selection of Shaw Brothers martial art actors together and making this film a perfect...8!

1st watched 8/17/2003 - 4 out of 10(Dir-Cheh Chang) Kung Fu fighting from start to finish in this Hong Kong film. So I guess if you enjoy this, then you may like the movie, but I personally couldn't follow who was fighting for who from one scene to the next. From what I could tell this movie was about a couple of rival tribes battle over bragging rights for something(I'm not sure what). There was a lot of interesting props used in the fighting sequences which made it interesting to watch at times with a few bloody surprises thrown in for free. But all-in-all as a movie, this was not that exciting. It was kind of like watching a Kung Fu match with different costumes and in a way and was more like watching a sporting event instead of a movie. With that said, bypass this one if you can.

This is one of those rare times when almost all of the great martial arts actors from the 70s are in the same flick. Great action sequences and a more than passable plot (by Kung Fu standards) make this one of the better kick flicks of all time.

Here in 10 TIGERS you will find almost all of the major Chang Cheh stars, Venoms, Fu Sheng, and the incredible Ti Lung, whom I believe is one of the best actors to ever come out of the East. But all the Shaw Bros great are on display in 10, and director Cheh is able to immediately establish a bizarre juxtaposition within the usual hero-villain conflict. The usual dynamic of the five Venoms is flip-flopped; here, you get to see Philip Kwok and Lo Meng, popular good guys, act like vicious thugs (accidentally), and my personal favorite Lu Feng, always a henchman usually, as a strong hero (all too brief).

The plot is broodingly dark, as a group of young Kung Fu students is stalked and murdered by two Ching assassins. The five students, trying to figure out why, relate the story of their fathers' adventure to save a famous Chinese revoluntionary, years before. Known by legend as "10 Tigers," the students' fathers risked their lives and homes to save the political figure. The two assassins have come to gain revenge for the murder of Wei Pei's government hunter, who attempted to capture the revolutionary.

The final confrontation between the surviving "sons" of this political intrigue is a supremely violent, bloody affair culminating in a gruesome final image. A well-made film, with much humor from Kwok, Sheng and Meng. Though not Shaws' best, well worth seeing.