During the era of the Shopping Malls, there always was a little store tucked in a corner of the giant retail building that promised exotic imports from Asia. While your parents might have been curious about odd furniture pieces and vases, you snuck inside for one purpose: weaponry! This little store was loaded with throwing stars, ornate swords and nunchaku. There were warnings that they couldn’t sell these glorious devices to minors. If you were smart, you could always use the same kid who had the fake ID that was handy for buying beer. Who didn’t want to fling throwing stars on the school bus? It was all fun until someone scratched an eyeball. This probably why these stores shut down before the demise of the mall. Shaw Brothers must have known how popular these places were when they came out with Legendary Weapons of China. This is a cinematic catalog of all the good stuff that hung up behind the counter. The film is legendary beyond its title.
Liu Gung (director and fight choreographer Lau Kar Leung) has broken with his old master. Instead of setting up a school in a distant city, he sent the students home and vanished. Why? We get a hint that no matter how good your martial arts skills, you can’t stop a bullet. This was becoming the preferred way of fighting at the end of the 19th century. The old guy doesn’t want to hear such nonsense, so he recruits prize pupils from his existing schools to track down Liu Gung and kill him. They don’t know what Liu Gung looks like. They have a clue that the man knows how to use 18 different weapons. Among the assassins is Ti Tan (Kill Bill’s Gordon Liu). He has trained his students to be able to take sword blows, but they’re not quite as successful with bullet wounds. Lei Ying (Master of the Flying Guillotine‘s Lau Kar Wing) has the power to control others. Finally Fang Shao Ching (Return to the 36th Chamber‘s Hui Ying Hung) sneaks into the hunt disguised as a man. But are they really going to defeat a man who is so skilled with every weapon?
Alexander Fu Sheng (The Chinatown Kid) steals the middle of movie in two separate fights. The assassins think he might be Liu Gung when he puts on an amazing display of skills while fighting off hoodlums in the middle of the city. He even has his guts yanked out and keeps up the chops while pushing body parts back in his torso. Later Fu Sheng’s character gets possessed by Lei Ying and his to fight while being controlled by a voodoo doll. It’s physical performance that must be enjoyed. The film doesn’t hold back in the physicality of the fights. During an early scene, one of the assassins uses their spiritual powers to force two other fighters to rip out their eyeballs and yank off their junk. You’ll be shouting, “Ouch!” at those visuals. Director Lau Kar Leung goes full throttle on the screen.
There’s plenty of great fight scenes in the film that ends with final reel where all 18 weapons come into play. Legendary Weapons of China ought to be the theme to a season of Forged in Fire. Doug Marcaida would declare that all these weapons will kill. The screen is filled with flashing fists and blades. By the end of the movie, you’ll wish you could drive down to the mall and complete the collection.
The video is 2.35:1. You’ll get to see all the glory of Shawscope on the 1080p transfer. The film really looks great during the training sequences. The audio includes the Mandarin soundtrack in 2.0 DTS-HD MA. There’s also the English dub in 2.0 DTS-HD MA. There are newly translated English subtitles to give you a better sense of what’s being said in Mandarin.
Audio Commentary with Asian cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema get deep into the actors and crew folks. They discuss how the movie has better Hammer look than when Hammer teamed up with Shaw Brothers to make Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires. They also talk about how martial arts films do their best to keep guns out of the formula.
Audio commentary with Asian cinema experts Frank Djeng and Michael Worth. Worth was just in town and joined Frank to record the track. He’s really into the weaponry. The two are making a documentary about Shaw Brothers and had visited the studio in Hong Kong a few years ago. Frank Djeng does a solo audio commentary that even gives more details into the film.
Eighteen Weapons (13:18) has David West discuss Legendary Weapons of China. He believes that director Lau Kar-Leung’s film has fun with the limitations of Kung Fu cinema. He goes into how the fighting while losing your guts scene mocks a fellow director.
Gordon At Shaw (15:09) sits down for an interview with actor Gordon Lui. He appears to be at a festival in France where he’s excited that people enjoy his movies there. He explains the truly legendary weapon at the center of the film. He goes into his time working with Lau Kar-Leung. The two were tight and did numerous films in the late ’70s and early ’80s including 36th Chamber of Shaolin and Shaolin Mantis (coming out from 88 Films on March 22, 2022).
Titus At Shaw (24:33) lets Producer Titus Ho talk about his time at the legendary studio that started in the late ’70s. He started by working on the script for My Young Auntie. Shaw at the time was making 40 feature films a year and the producers were working on 5 or more films each. It was a very busy time. He says Legendary Weapons of China was the Chinese New Year’s release. It was their big hit of the time. He addresses how in the mid-80s, Shaw went from cinema to television production.
Original Theatrical Trailer (3:21) hypes it as Shaw Brother’s New Year Attraction. There’s a promise of all the weapons being brought to the screen in a film filled with action.
Poster has the original release and the new Blu-ray images on either side.
Booklet includes an essay by Andrew Graves.
88 Films presents Legendary Weapons of China. Directed by Lau Kar Leung. Screenplay by Lau Kar Leung & Tai-Heng Li. Starring Lau Kar Leung, Lau Kar Wing, Hsiao Ho, Hui Ying Hung as Fang, Gordon Liu and Alexander Fu Sheng. Running Time: 105 minutes. Rated: Unrated. Release Date: February 9, 2022.
