Steineded How sad is this?

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Aiden Melton The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

dworldeater Duel To The Death is my favorite Chinese swordsman/wuxia film(tied with The Bride With White Hair). The film was directed by Ching Siu Tung, who handled the fights as well. Duel To The Death is top notch entertainment and is an action packed visual feast that should please the most fickle fans of martial arts and action cinema. Unlike many other swordplay films, Duel To The Death has a pretty cohesive plot. While there is no love lost between the Chinese and The Japanese and the themes are familiar in Hong Kong/Chinese cinema, it is presented in an interesting way. Damian Lau and Norman Chu are to face each other in a Duel To The Death which takes place every 10 years where China and Japan have their top swordsmen face each other in combat. There is a lot more behind the scenes going on concerning the fight, of which both sides play dirty and temporarily unite both warriors to have a fair duel. The fight scenes are abundant, bloody and super crazy with possibly the best use of ninjas on celluloid. Leading the ninja clan is Eddie Ko and is an excellent performance. In Duel To The Death the kung fu craziness goes way past 11 and the choreography is the best of the best. Ching Siu Tung in addition to being a director is top action choreographer and is responsible for some of the best action movies in Hk(The Killer, Hero, House Of Flying Daggers, etc). Also, what is interesting is the take on nationalism , which puts a much different spin on the topic than many of the right wing action films coming out in the US at that time. Duel To The Death is a well done, highly entertaining and super violent martial arts classic that has a bit of depth and substance to accompany the flying exploding ninjas,disembowlments, decapitations and sick kung fu. Duel To The Death is a true kung fu classic and a great movie to start with for those unfamiliar, but interested in the genre.

Chung Mo While the Shaw movie machine seemed to be trapped in the 1960's, director Siu-Tung Ching filmed what turned to be the start of the new wave of kung fu epics and the closing of the door of the old wave.Everything is thrown into this film, ninjas, a crazy old master in the Shaolin Drunkard tradition, flying kung fu, Japanese vs. Chinese, chambara, Shaolin monks, a super fighting woman, a puppet show, a talking cockatoo, severed limbs, Chang Cheh style blood flow, King Hu style anti-gravity kung fu. The only thing missing is the 18 Bronze Men. What distinguishes this from the other films from the time is the exceptional quality Siu-Tung Ching put into this film. The photography is really good and the script is much better then I expected. Somehow all the strange things that happen flow with the story instead of making you shake in disbelief.The film is stylistically influenced by Japanese chambara although I would suspect that Japanese martial artists would take issue with the samurai sword work on display. Ballet dancer Flora Cheung throws herself into the fighting really well. The ninja do some very crazy things. The music track is actually good!Highly recommended, this film should be as well known as some Shaw films from the same period.

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!

eyesofsociety this movie was very much like i expected it from the trailer. fight scenes were so fast paced and creative. this is a must watch and the ending was excellent. i need to see the director's other movies like chinese ghost story I and II (since i've heard good things about those too)