Cast Member: Cheng Miu

It is a diverting 90 minutes with a few well constructed scenes scattered throughout, but this hardly compensates for its waste of potential.

Shen Chiang’s ‘Call to Arms’ is about as dull and listless as they come, never once engaging its viewer even at the most basic levels of entertainment merit.

This is probably one of the most acrobatic Venoms films as they participate in some extremely complicated routines that are brilliantly put together.

‘Disciples Of The 36th Chamber’ is a quality film; from the choreography to Liu Chia-Liang’s artistically composed frames, this is a more sophisticated kung fu film.

Fine performances, good cinematography and a well-paced storyline – despite the difficulty on my part to pick out its failings – will offer most viewers a rewarding 100 minutes of entertainment.

‘Heaven and Hell’ is actually a whole lot more interesting, and engaging, than one would outwardly expect from its (largely) negative reputation.

The director has taken complicated source material and distilled it into something arresting before, but here he finds too many sub-plots to balance and too many characters to accommodate.

‘Heroes Of The East’ starts relatively slowly, but when the storyline develops beyond the basic exposition, this is another kung fu treat from ‘The Pops’.

‘Heroes Shed No Tears’ is the kind of complex swordplay film that was attempted after the demise of the Shaw Brothers movie making empire, but often lacked the skilled control that Chor Yuen offered.

Chang Cheh weaves intrigue into the plot along with a clear sense of humanity and even humour.

I really can’t find much to criticise in this movie. It’s a short, tight story that is well told, well acted, exciting and at times surprising. Good times.

The real draw, and the skill of Chor Yuen, is to make an ensemble of eccentrics, oddball antagonists and superheroes appealing and a means of covering up the unapologetic holes in the narrative.