Member Kennedy Il Sung Posted July 8, 2011 Member Share Posted July 8, 2011 Okay, I am rewatching this. But you know all that info they put into the first few minutes of the film from what I understand the Prince in this movie is trying to get revenge on the emperor because his ascension to the throne somehow made his father kill himself. I just don't get how that really makes him a villain maybe I'm just not seeing something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShaOW!linDude Posted July 9, 2011 Member Share Posted July 9, 2011 I only watched this myself for the 1st time last year and reviewed it. But my review doesn't bother to touch on or follow the plot because there's so much intrigue and so many twists. So......honestly I'm no help. Personally the plot really didn't make much sense to me as it got a little confusing. Whenever that happens I just try to enjoy the sets or locations and the cinematography. And the action of course. I've never understood the need for such convoluted plots in a MA movie. Some of them could give M. Night Shyamalan a run for his money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Kennedy Il Sung Posted July 9, 2011 Author Member Share Posted July 9, 2011 LOL, I agree with you. I was asking because at the end of my first viewing I was like why did that just happen, I did enjoy the fighting but the guys who I thought were good were the bad guys. I know know better, it's just i don't really see what make's the villain here so evil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Shawoholic Posted July 9, 2011 Member Share Posted July 9, 2011 Was this based on novel?I found plot quite uninteresting and bit confusing sometimes too.Fighting was excellent although there was not enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member teako170 Posted July 9, 2011 Member Share Posted July 9, 2011 Yes indeed. Adapted from an episode in the book Seven Heroes and Five Gallants (Qi Xia Wu Yi) which is a collection of stories from the Sung Dynasty. I think the SB film "King Cat" (1967) is also based on a tale in this book -- but don't quote me on that. Was this based on novel?I found plot quite uninteresting and bit confusing sometimes too.Fighting was excellent although there was not enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShaOW!linDude Posted July 9, 2011 Member Share Posted July 9, 2011 I did enjoy the fighting but the guys who I thought were good were the bad guys. Ditto. And like Shawoholic, I thought the film needed more fight sequences, too. That's cool that this was adapted from a story in a book from the Sung Dynasty. I did not know that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member The Silver Fox Posted July 9, 2011 Member Share Posted July 9, 2011 Can't really help with the plot as my mind kind of shut off about halfway through the film. I still enjoyed it but I feel this is type of movie where the premise is a lot cooler than what actually ended up on screen. The booby trapped House wasn't that impressive and I was suprised it all looked so cheap. The silly costuming and seemingly endless dialogue knocked it down a couple of notches also. Masked Avengers is a far superior Chang Cheh film.It has a lean,nasty cohesive feel and the villains are menacingly brutal. The bad guy lair is full of traps secret passageways etc. and it is obvious that it had a far superior budget as the sets in this one are impressive. The end battle is ridiculously awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Delirious Posted July 9, 2011 Member Share Posted July 9, 2011 It's been a while since I last saw it, but I'll try: Basically the Current king is a distant nephew of the Prince's father. The Prince's father was a former King. Due to some power struggle within the court, the party supporting the Current king ended up winning. They rid the old king in some sort of fashion, most probable would be poisoning. Then they covered up the whole story. For a commoner, you would not know the conspiracy behind it, that was why most of the guys in the film were oblivious to the Prince's plot. As for the Prince, one day he was a direct heir to the throne, the next day he was assigned to some faraway outpost, he knew right away something is fishy. They could not just kill him, that would raise suspicion, so they suppressed him. The Prince then starts his plotting since then. He uses time to build up trust and gathers loyal supporters for his cause. As for the current King, he has nothing to do with the power struggling. His father involved directly, the current King is just some lucky noble who happens to inherit the throne from his father. I think this was the sort of all the confusion, because the relationship between the current King and the Prince is so distant, and they only mention it briefly in the movie. Gu Long's Before and After the Duel has somewhat a similar background story. Shaw's adaptation of this novel is called Duel of the Century. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShaOW!linDude Posted July 9, 2011 Member Share Posted July 9, 2011 Basically the Current king is a distant nephew of the Prince's father. The Prince's father was a former King. Due to some power struggle within the court, the party supporting the Current king ended up winning. They rid the old king in some sort of fashion, most probable would be poisoning. As for the current King, he has nothing to do with the power struggling. His father involved directly, the current King is just some lucky noble who happens to inherit the throne from his father. I think this was the sort of all the confusion, because the relationship between the current King and the Prince is so distant, and they only mention it briefly in the movie. This makes them cousins, right? If the current King is the nephew of the Prince's father, they're cousins. Which also means that his father was murdered by current King (his cousin/father's nephew) and his father (his uncle/father's brother). Do the Chinese like Country music? 'Cause there's a song in here somewhere, I bet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Eastern Evil Posted July 9, 2011 Member Share Posted July 9, 2011 House of Traps has my favorite English dub because the voice of Bai Yu Tong (<--sic, I think) is freaking hilarious. The kid that played Menfi in 5 Deadly Venoms also has a great part/dub. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Bronx Rican Posted July 10, 2011 Member Share Posted July 10, 2011 According to the intro, Prince Chao's grandfather the Emperor was killed by the Emperor's brother, who then took power. Chao's father De Zhao then killed himself as a result. Chao swears revenge and then builds a House of Cartoon Boobytraps as part of his plot to regain power. Definitely one of those stories where 'good' and 'evil' are ambiguous, although it's clear we're to root for the people working for Judge Bao, simply because whatever one may think of the government, they are on the side of the law. Fighters on both sides are referred to as 'heroes', and they're all willing to give their lives for their cause. As for that militantly awful English dub, I agree its very entertaining: "This must be the Butterfly Killer..." "Why are you helping me for no reason?" "Magistrate Yen will become completely protection-less." "The two culprits who have committed this hideous felony..." "And you... con-niving man..." "We could have GOTTEN it!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Kennedy Il Sung Posted July 10, 2011 Author Member Share Posted July 10, 2011 Thanks for the help guys, after reading some explanations I guess I understood the story better than I thought. As for the dub, I started with it on this time around but I just couldn't make it through with it. It was BAD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member popsjnr Posted October 12, 2011 Member Share Posted October 12, 2011 The story is also connected to Cat vs Rat, as Chin Siu Ho is playing Pai Yu Tang, the character Fu Sheng plays in Cat vs Rat, and at his first meeting with a masked Black Fox (Kwok Choy) asks him wether he is Chan Chao, Adam Cheng's role in the Lau Kar Leung movie, and the other brothers (Chiang Sheng, Tien Chi, Chu Ko, Yu Tai Ping) who join Black Fox in the finale are the other Rats (played by Wang Lung Wei, Chang Chan Peng, Ching Chu, Hsiao Hou in Cat vs Rat) Always thought the story was about the government trying to acquire the name list of people involved in the Prince"s planned rebellion, to get back his fathers throne usurped by the father (and his uncle) of the current emperor. I never thought the movie deserved the reputation it had, mainly due to fat-boy Rick Meyers talking about it in such hushed tones in his Bruce Lee to the Ninjas book-when I finally saw a Malaysian bootleg in 1990, I was a bit disappointed in it, especially as I got Sword Stained With Royal Blood at the same time (which has long been my fave Venoms movie) and it looked dry in comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Apanblod Posted October 12, 2011 Member Share Posted October 12, 2011 I think the only important question concerning the story of the movie is: Who died in the House of Traps? The answer is hidden in the signature below: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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