Diagonaldi Very well executed

Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

ScoobyMint Disappointment for a huge fan!

Maciej Nowicki The first few Hongkong produced, martial arts movies I've seen were so exotic and so different that I was really astounded simply because they were new to me. Then after watching a few more, and a few more again they started to really be really boring - a hero, some ninjas, more ninjas, even more ninjas, and of course the final showdown with an evil and ugly black character. This movie is slightly different - this time the bias is put on the confrontation of mentalities rather than practical skills. Once a year a great duel is held and two champions - one from China and one from Japan meet. Their duel decides which school of fighting (or rather style) is superior. "Duel to the death" is a great movie to observe (for a non-Chinese or a non-Japanese at least) the subtle differences between the two cultures. On the other hand, this movie is far from being a psychological one, there are a lot of sword fights and a lot of ninjas but the subtle addition of a little bit of philosophy (?) makes the difference. And last but not least, the ending scene is one worth seeing over and over again! Two thumbs up!

gweeboyoda in terms of meaning and epicness, Hero takes the cake, but before there was Hero, there was Duel to the Death. Not a movie with dramatic and emotional epicness but one of the single most INSANE Asian action this world has ever seen. Take the Sky fight in Hero and replace the rain with BLOOD!!!! now throw in a million ninjas doing a million hilarious and SUPER awesome ninja things (i'm talking' flippin' out an' killin' people here). The final duel was superb, intense, and had a fantastic conclusion. Did i mention a guy with fake legs? My home-slices and i watched this on New Years Eve last year (this year? whatever) and in the fight between the Japanese swordsmen and forty ninjas was just one big ball of awesome, something would get everyone going' "WOOAAAAH HOLY S***!!! and then it would top itself RIGHT after, and then it topped THAT TOO!!!! then his head exploded, and then OUR heads exploded there was just so much AWESOME! i suggest this movie for anyone who is, ever was, or ever will be the MAN... freakin' NINJAS man!

Joseph P. Ulibas Duel to the Death (1982) is Ching Siu-tung at his best! Classic Kung-Fu at it's best. See wire work and kinetic martial arts at it's best. The plot is old hat (China vs. Japan) but the action is pure eye candy! Ching Siu-tung went on to become on of the elite action directors in the Hong Kong Cinema (check out A Better Tomorrow II, The Killer and The Heroic Trio films and see why!) The movie was re-released in the United States but it's the cut version. I advise you to seek out the uncut Hong Kong version, you wont be disappointed!You can see that this movie is still very influential. Even to this day film makers such as "Q" love this film.Highly recommended!

Bogey Man Ching Siu Tung is among the most talented "wire fu" action and martial arts directors in the Hong Kong film industry. He has made such classics as A Chinese Ghost Story trilogy, Swordsman trilogy, Witch From Nepal and Heroic Trio 1 and 2 (with Johnnie To). Duel to the Death (1982) is among his very early directorial efforts (as far as I know, this was his FIRST film as a director), and this film shows his great talents and visual eye. The film tells about the traditional sword fight contest in which the best fighter of Japan and best fighter of China duel, and in most cases, to the death. In this film, these two sword masters become friends and soon they have other enemies to fight. The plot is not the most important thing in these movies. The great visuals and cinematic magic are the things which make these Orient films so unique compared to others.The incredible color world is shown for the first time at the very beginning of the movie as the multi colored leaves and trees are in the peaceful countryside and temple. The colors are breathtakingly beautiful and captured very effectively on camera, which Ching is so talented to use. His angles and movements with the camera create a tension and intensity of its own, and just watch a film like Heroic Trio (1992) or Chinese Ghost Story (1987) and you know what I mean. He is equally brilliant as director as a cinematographer, and he works also as a stuntman in his/others' movies, too. There are couple of totally stunning images in this film, and they are as fantastic as in Ronny Yu's masterpiece Bride With White Hair (1993), starring Brigitte Lin. Bride's magic was created by shooting the whole film at night (exteriors) and adding artificial light to create the visuals, but Duel to the Death's magic was created by using natural lights and all the colors of peaceful and pure daytime nature.The sword fight scenes are as great as can be expected by this director. They are very fast paced and use plenty of wires to add to the irrational atmosphere. There are also weird and flying ninjas who can turn into one big human and do things no one can do, so this film is full of elements from fairy tales which don't follow any rational rules. The editing is occasionally perhaps little too confusing and fast, and it is the negative point in these fight scenes. Then again, we must remember Ching was just so young in the directorial field so these little flaws are understandable especially when we remember how professional and great most of his subsequent films are. The impact of the striking fight scenes is heightened even further by the use of blood in the fight scenes little like in the Japanese Baby Cart (1972-1974) films. The fights in Duel to the Death are pretty gory and thus become more fierce and effective in their symbolism. Especially the fights near the end are totally over-the-top with those ultra fierce throwing stars which have to be seen to be believed. The film has great finale which lasts pretty long, but this film is still pretty calm as there are long segments involving something else than just fights, but that is of course allright, if these calm segments are handled with talent and care, like in this film. One Ching Siu Tung film which becomes sadly too slow moving and pointless at one point is his horror story Witch From Nepal (1985, starring Chow Yun Fat) which should not have been so slow and uninteresting in its middle part. After all, Duel to the Death is about the motifs and reasons for these "duels" in which the fighters have to fight at the expense of their own lives. The main characters themselves question why this all has to be how it is, and isn't there any peaceful way to use martial arts and its philosophy. These are the things Bruce Lee knew the answers for. These philosophical elements make Duel to the Death of course more interesting and noteworthy piece of cinema, and thankfully Ching Siu Tung is always willing to discuss some interesting topics in his films alongside their visual and cinematic bravura.I think the negative things in this film are only those in the editing department and that the plot turns don't occasionally make too much sense and some of the characters should have been written more carefully and with little more heart. The film has also perhaps little too striking attitude towards other countries, most notably Japan, but not as underlining as in Tsui Hark's epic Once Upon a Time in China (1991). Some of these historical fight films tend to be little too patriotic and naive, but fortunately Duel to the Death is not so bad, and the final image of the film is very unpatriotic, too. After all, this film has so many positive things and elements, I think this is among the greatest historical martial arts epics made in Hong Kong (of those I've seen) and thus I'm very glad for having the opportunity to see this early film by Ching Siu Tung.Duel to the Death gets 8/10 from me.