Guest Ivy Ling Po Posted June 14, 2007 Share Posted June 14, 2007 Can someone please review the movie and let us know if it is indeed as good as its reputation and cult status. It may be dated and cannot stand the test of time. The actress playing the Empress Dowager does not have any oomph and it has been said that the one playing the blind girl overacts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest morgoth Posted June 14, 2007 Share Posted June 14, 2007 The blind girl does not overact and the Empress is good in her role and is only in the movie for about 1 or 2 minutes. This is a brilliant film. It has a very dark mood with great acting and a great directing job, very good fight scenes, and stunning cinematography. It has 2 problems in my mind (scorpion dart and Kuan Tai always getting slashed up but never getting hurt too bad), but it is one of the very best shaw Brothers movies I have seen. Kuan Tai is super badass and puts on probably his best performance, Ku Feng has my favorite role from him, Pai Paio is AMAZING!!, and the final fight is one you will not forget. Don't ever read what anyone has to say abotu the final fight, it would totally spoil it if you knew what was going to happen. The end is very good and that is all you need to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Linn1 Posted June 14, 2007 Member Share Posted June 14, 2007 this is one of the top swordplay films the Shaws ever produced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest deliriocaldo Posted June 14, 2007 Share Posted June 14, 2007 KILLER CONSTABLE is definitely one of my favourite wuxia. Didn't find any of the acting cheesy (Chen Kuan-tai was never better), and the outdoor sets were a great diversion from the usual late-70s/early-80s studio sets, imho... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Iron Boat Posted June 14, 2007 Share Posted June 14, 2007 The End Fight...oh yeah.....I have only seen the Brentwood version, can somebody tell me if the celestial is cut or complete? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kungfusamurai Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 The end fight is good, with Yuen Kwai playing the bodyguard. But the ending really sucked (why couldn't he just have....I won't spoil it). Like I mentioned in the other older thread, I didn't like the cheesy melodrama. It just seemed too amateurish and un-chinese (or at least un-chinese-cinema-ish), like the way 'japanese' behaved in the hollywood-made Memoirs of A Geisha. Really overdone. KFS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest morgoth Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 Yuen Wah plays the bodyguard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vengeanceofhumanlanterns Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 Just finished watchin this flick tonight. Last night I drank too hard and passed out before the flick ended. It's true, the score does not help with legitamizing the mellodramatic scenes in this film, but this by no means ruins the intensity of the film. I like what was mentioned earlier about there being an japanese choreographer (fight instructor). He kicked ass in this film. Plenty of blood too. Seeing what actually happens in the dark of night scenes was extremely cool. There are of course improvements which could be made, there always are, but this film delivers on all accounts. Pai Piao ripping off his employer -what an awesome scene. Ku Feng's sincere worry for his blind daughter, the insidious deceit of the officer of royal treasury (or what ever he was). When Chen Kuan Tai first meets Pai Piao (I know there's no action. but the wind blowining debri through the door as Chen walks in -I love elemental embelished scenes, snow falling, rain pouring down, wind howling, the ocean crashing, you name it ambience is everthing in these scenes, I think). Anyways I'm gettin too drunk too continue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest morgoth Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 My favorite shot of the movie is San Kwai sitting on that huge staircase. I want to make a poster of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vengeanceofhumanlanterns Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 morgoth, that is a cool scene and would make a great poster. What a tragic storyline. A very serious and sober look at corruption in chinese politics for that era. Wonderful movie. Not to mention the fight choreographing is superb in this flick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest morgoth Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 I like movies where the hero isn't really that good of a guy. And I thought it was unique that the main characters are Manchus. As for the fight choreography, I still have to see the remastered version. I can't wait to watch those night fights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gfanikf Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 Well you convinced me, my copy is on the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fabhui Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 Watched this one last night and good God, this one not only lived up to the hype, it surpassed it!! Very dark, atmospheric, moody...ah hell, everything about it was top drawer! And I love a bloody good sword fight in the rain!! I reckon this is now in my top 3 Shaw movies EVER! 9.5/10 from me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tino Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 I cant wait to watch this. I'm off work wednesday so I'll finally get to see this in its remastered glory. Working 12hr nightshift sucks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peringaten Posted June 22, 2007 Share Posted June 22, 2007 ASTOUNDING!! OH, AND THAT WASN'T A POISONED SCORPION DART THAT HIT CKT... Don't know how "Lightnin'" plays it, but the Celestial they explain at the time it's not poisoned or a "scorp' dart" - it's a 'throat-piercing dart' that misses its namesake; no poison... FULL MARKS!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fabhui Posted June 22, 2007 Share Posted June 22, 2007 Within a week I've had to go back and watch this one again, simply superb! I'm now giving this one 9.8/10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sevenhooks Posted June 22, 2007 Share Posted June 22, 2007 But the ending really sucked (why couldn't he just have....I won't spoil it). WHAT???! The ending was BRILLIANT! Best part about the whole film IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sevenhooks Posted June 22, 2007 Share Posted June 22, 2007 By the way, now that many of you have finally had a chance to watch this, I have to ask... What do you think about the whole blind girl scene? Definitely lifted by John Woo for later use in The Killer, right? Right?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member bubbabgone Posted June 22, 2007 Member Share Posted June 22, 2007 Wait a minute. This sounds too familiar. Is Killer Constable aka Lightning KungFu? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sevenhooks Posted June 22, 2007 Share Posted June 22, 2007 Yes... To make it even more confusing, "Lightning Kung Fu" was actually the US theatrical retitle for "The Victim". Master Arts Video though, for whatever reason, used that title for their release of "Killer Constable", and even used the "Lightning Kung Fu"/"The Victim" poster art complete with The Victim's cast info on the video box! That whole label was bizarro. Who the hell knows where they got "Death Mask of the Ninja" (Shaolin Prince) from. I've always wondered if that was an actual, separate film. On top of that, they used pics from "Return of the Sentimental Swordsman" on the back of the video box! :b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Robert Ian Teller Posted June 22, 2007 Share Posted June 22, 2007 The "blind girl" character was also used in Love and Sword starring Tien Peng. I thought that film had many elements later to be found The Killer. Maybe it's a common plot device used in a lot Chinese stories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peringaten Posted June 22, 2007 Share Posted June 22, 2007 I'm sure I've seen similar to that blind girl scene in a couple of films... can't place exactly without racking & effort - possibly Deadly Silver Spear? Anyone that ending... Avoiding spoilers. That very final shot will haunt me. So gorgeously composed, beautiful cinematography, with a deep wrench to it - dark and deep and heart-wrenching. Asking seriously now - on an aesthetic and meaningful level - the finest single shot Shaws ever produced? What does anyone else think to that? 2 spring to mind, not necessarily staticly framed, but single shots - "The Warlord" pan from outside to the generals gambling their territory was pretty astounding... and funny enough the snowy raft shot an hour into "Hidden Power Of Dragon Sabre" melted into my brain. But I've never seen any like that final KC shot - lyrical, meaningful - has a hard emotional depth to it - beautifully composed with relevance tied in - REAL emotion. I mean, Jesus man, that f'cking shot! The lighting, set-up, environment, the glow, the framing, the emotional relevance... wooooo... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sevenhooks Posted June 22, 2007 Share Posted June 22, 2007 It's definitely up there as far as all-time great Shaw Brothers endings. Bleak is the word. Also melancholy, sad, haunting, tragic, lyrical and hopeless. All the elements that made 70's cinema in the US so badass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member bubbabgone Posted June 22, 2007 Member Share Posted June 22, 2007 To make it even more confusing, "Lightning Kung Fu" was actually the US theatrical retitle for "The Victim". Master Arts Video though, for whatever reason, used that title for their release of "Killer Constable" Yeah. I have the Master Arts tape. Based on the artwork you can't tell what the hell is inside. The outside isn't even consistent with itself ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Le Peril Jaune Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 I'm sure I've seen similar to that blind girl scene in a couple of films... Invincible Fist and The Killer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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