Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

ClassyWas Excellent, smart action film.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

bob the moo The film opens with Pai Mei using his retracting groin skills (no – seriously) to defeat a Shaolin master Zhishan, scattering his students. Pai Mei sends his Governor Kao Tsinchung and his soldiers after the students and, while leader Tung Chinchin makes a heroic stand, Hung Hsikuan leads the rest to safety, vowing to return and avenge his master and Tung. Hiding out as a traveling opera company, Hsikuan is leading the students as a master of tiger style when he meets performer Ying Chun, a master of the crane style. The two fall in love and will eventually have a child called Wending, although as the decades pass and Hsikuan trains, both he and Chun know that he must return to face the white wispy haired danger of Pai Mei.Just like the martial arts which Wending will grow up developing, this film is a real mix of things that don't always seem like they should work but generally do. The plot is straightforward "avenge your master" stuff but it is spread over decades and involve several confrontations to good effect. The central villain should be comically silly with his ability to essentially lift his genitals back into his body, but aside from it looking a bit silly, it doesn't affect the tone of the film. At the same time we also have the romance between Hsikuan and Chun, and lots of comic moments as well as moments of death or loss. All told it is a total mix and it could have been that none of it worked but actually it gels very well and at only 90 minutes doesn't feel too long or that it crams things in.The comedy is genuinely cheerful and funny while the romance between the two leads actually works and is quite sweet. The fight sequences are frequent and impressive, with a brutal tone to much of the film which keeps you interested. Chen Kuantai is very good in the lead – a likable type even if he doesn't age particularly convincingly. Li Lily works very well with him – I liked her as I have in other things and the two have a good chemistry. Gordon Liu is a nice find (I get the reference now) and makes a good villain despite the slightly daft special power he has. Chiang Tao is a decent presence but I particularly liked Wong Yue as the oldest version of Wending – he was fun and fitted well into the family of the leads. The sets and direction are roundly good and the film has an enjoyable pace to it which is consistent no matter what is happening.With such a mix of content, it is impressive that it all gels so well and in the end, Hong Xi Guan is a very enjoyable film with lots to enjoy.

poe426 During the opening credits of EXECUTIONERS FROM SHAOLIN, we see the dastardly traitor Bai Mei (Lo Lieh) kill the Master of his Shaolin Temple. The Temple is then burned to the ground and the students scattered or killed. Hong (Chen Kuan-tai) becomes part of a travelling troupe of opera players living aboard a junk, but continues his clandestine operations against the oppressive Manchus. At one point, Hong must forcibly- but humorously- consummate his marriage; foreplay consists of a hand-to-hand struggle on their wedding bed... The junks are burned in retaliation for the troupe's depredations, and many of the rebels are murdered. Hong and his wife escape and, ere long, they have a baby. Hong tries to take on Bai Mei (ignoring his wife's sagely advice to add her crane kung fu to his tiger kung fu), only to find out that Bai Mei is only vulnerable during certain hours of the day... Timing is everything... Hong constructs an elaborate pinball-machine type of dummy and sets out a row of upright sticks to mark the time of day in order to figure out Bai Mei's weakness. (While most men are vulnerable at "6:30"- do the math-, Bai Mei ISN'T...) In some probably unintentionally funny scenes, hands and feet become LODGED in Bai Mei's lower regions, somehow, and our hero is dragged around helplessly.

lost-in-limbo I had only just watched "Clan of the White Lotus" a month or two back, which could be seen (well in my eyes) as a more accomplished rehash of this particular period martial arts enterprise. Nonetheless the similarities in the story's structure (which is hard to pass by) doesn't matter because the Shaw Brothers and director Chia-Liang Liu along with actor Lieh Lo as the Kung Fu Master Pai Mei and minor cameo by Chia Hui Liu makes this one very enjoyable, downright flamboyant and utterly unique cult martial arts feature with a good sense of humour abound and dashing action. Pai Mei had just killed a Shoalin priest and surviving students led by Hung Hsi Kuan (ably acted by Kuan Tai Chen) vow vengeance for their master's death and that of fellow students. And it's no rush either. As Hung happily marries a strong-minded lady (a perfectly pitched Lily Li) who's well developed in the crane-style fighting and has a son while spending many years perfecting the skills and stamina of the tiger-style fighting before taking on master white brow. Cheng Kang-Yeh provides a cheeky performance as one the Shoalin students and Wang Yu is quite good as the grown up son. The pacing can be rather bumpy (especially in the leisured midsection concentrating more on the trivial aspects in the character dramas that hold the narrative), but when it came down to the atypical fighting it was excitingly displayed with verve-like camera-work working around the smooth, but tough choreography with numerous, long encounters. Maybe repetitive but never dull, although the ending is a little disappointing in the way it just seems to finish hastily.

Luke Connelly Thank God for Celestial Entertainment's re-releasing of this classic! Okay, the plot is rather straightforward, and not terribly original (a revenge theme in a Martial arts movie. Nope, never seen that before!) But it is very well acted, very well directed and damn if the fight scenes aren't excellent. Basically, it follows the historic destruction of the Shaolin Temple by the Manchus. The assault is led by Pai Mei, (yup, the same Pai Mei from Kill Bill 2, in fact, Bill even talks about this in that movie) played by Lo Lieh. Gordon Liu who played Pai Mei in Kill Bill 2, appears briefly as a Shaolin student who informs Hong Xiguan (played by Chen Kuan Ti) that Pai Mei killed their master. Gordon Liu sacrifices himself so that Hong and some of the other students may escape.A few years later, Hong, hiding out as a Peking Opera performer, meets and marries another Martial Artist, played by Lily Li. They eventually have a child. But Hong cannot enjoy married life for too long, because he still has to train to avenge his master and his fellow students.A good example of vintage Kung Fu films. Not to be missed by any Kung Fu film connoisseur.