Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

mraculeated The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Keira Brennan The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

a_chinn Shaw Brothers martial arts film that's more focused on story and character than on it is on fight sequences, which left me a little disappointed because I didn't find myself all that interested in the characters or story here. The story is about two feuding clans, which seemed to play out more like a tale of royal court intrigue than your typical you-killed-my-master kung-fu film plot lines, which is probably a good thing in most cases, except this royal court intrigue wasn't all that compelling. The few martial arts sequences present, primarily swordplay over hand-to-hand fighting, are well done, but are far too brief. I was also quite surprised at the amount of nudity in the Shaw Brothers production, which usually shied away from that sort of thing (although brutal bloody combat was perfectly acceptable). I read several other reviews where other reviewers loved this film, so it does have it's defenders, but I am not one of them.

L T This film was adapted from a very dark novel and was "sanitised" - perhaps to make it more family friendly or for those seeking some not- too-intellectually/emotionally-challenging escapism. As such the motives and actions of the characters will not always make sense. Despite the plot-holes, this film was fun to watch. The artificial sets are beautiful to look at and there are clever and creative contraptions in the designs. The leading man and lady lacked "screen presence" in this version. In fact, they were wooden, bland and unconvincing (after taking into account the drastic oversimplification of their characters). The supporting actors did a better job. An entertaining way to pass some time.

Leofwine_draca KILLER CLANS offers something a little different for fans of Shaw Brothers swordplay movies. There's a greater emphasis on characterisation here than action, and the plot is a lot more complicated than most. It involves a couple of rival clans, and associated freelance swordsmen, battling either other in a series of assassination attempts and face-to-face brawls. So far so ordinary, you might think, but this is made entertaining by typical Shaw Brothers production values, i.e. colourful, often splendid sets, and fine cinematography.The action, when it comes, is short and deadly. There's less emphasis here on hand to hand combat than weapon play, and there's the usual fun from intriguing props – poison darts shooting from the wrist, robes that protect the wearer from damage. In the end, as always, technique wins out. The acting is of a higher quality than in many lesser kung fu movies and Ku Feng in particular plays a good, interesting and likable character with much complexity. Not one of the most exciting Shaw Brothers movies out there, but a solid addition to the canon nonetheless.

poe426 KILLER CLANS opens with Meng (Tsung Hua) making short work of a killer known for killing 108 men- thus establishing Meng as one bad mother****er. From a brothel madam he learns of a plot to kill the head of the Lung Men Society, Sun Yu (Ku Feng). Sun's right hand men are Lu Chuan (Yeuh Hua), whose clothes conceal 72 weapons, and the mysterious Han Tang (Lo Lieh), whose face is never seen in public (if it is, he immediately smears his face with the blood of his victim, to hide his identity). Han Tang wields a razor-edged circular weapon hidden in his hat. KILLER CLANS plays out not unlike THE GODFATHER: Han Tang is ambushed and killed (not unlike "Luca Brasi" in THE GODFATHER). Along the way, Sun's son, Sun Chien, is also ambushed and killed (again, like THE GODFATHER). The drunken Yeh (Ling Yun) is almost an afterthought, and dies, too.There's enough action to keep things moving, and enough going on storywise to make it all interesting. Another kung fu keeper.