Description

Tien Fung (Jimmy Wang Yu) is a reckless two-armed martial artist. A rival clan run by Master Chao (Tin Yau) crosses the line of civil responsibility and our hero swiftly throws them to the kung fu cleaners. Unable to swallow a bitter pill of defeat, Chao hires a motley crew of Asian nasties from Thailand, India, Japan, Korea and Tibet. These mercenaries dedicate their deadly fists of fury to the eradication of Tien’s clan. After losing his much-prized right arm, Tien is rescued and nursed back to health by an attractive young woman. With nothing to lose but his pride and his left arm, Tien endures any pain to learn the fatal pressure-point technique, an attack no less deadly when delivered by a fighter short a limb or two. How will Tien defeat the Indian fighter, whose lethal technique is an over-the-top moving handstand? Or the Tibetan monks who can inflate their lithe bodies? And what about the barefoot twin Thai boxers, who fighting style echoes a bastardized version of Tony Jaa’s invincible Thai boxing? Will the odds be evened?

Utterly outrageous and definitely more politically incorrect than the classic sequel and Taratino favourite, Master of the Flying Guillotine (Fantasia 1998), this prequel will reinvigorate your taste for crazy retro Hong Kong action. Our one-armed hero is played by none other than HK’s first international male action star, Jimmy Wang Yu (One Armed Swordsman). He left the glorious Shaw Brothers studios and joined rival Golden Harvest where he appeared in classics such as Beach of the War Gods, Man from HK and of course One Armed Boxer. John Woo cited Wang’s charisma as an inspirational blueprint for Chow Yun-Fat’s characters in A Better Tomorrow and The Killer. Wang Yu directs with high-powered energy and an undiluted appetite for absurd characters and situations. Can a one-armed boxer really run on one finger or catch a flying a grenade? Nobody does it better than director/star Wang Yu, who takes a simple genre and spices it with rousing surreal action. To jack up the groovy level, a very familiar blaxploitation tune fills in for the main credits to get things rolling. Watch, enjoy and break a limb!

—King-Wei Chu

Credits

Director: Jimmy Wang Yu
Screenplay: Jimmy Wang Yu
Cast: Jimmy Wang Yu Lung Fei Blacky Ko Tin Yau
Producers: Raymond Chow
Distributor: Fortune Star