Genre: Martial Arts

The film may be spliced together from three other features, but it somehow manages to find just the right mix of cheese and top-notch action to make it more than watchable.

If you have a strong stomach for bad cinema or are just a sucker for films from the IFD era then it may well be worth adding to your collection.

If you’re happy to laugh along with it then you’ll still find something to appreciate, but a kung fu classic this is not.

Although the plot may be somewhat lacking, ‘Ninja Vs. Shaolin Guards’ remains a very entertaining outing thanks to a wealth of well crafted kung fu fights.

No doubt those who need oodles of story/plot/narrative to justify enjoying a film will grumble (yawn!) but on the whole this is a superior sequel and a super-charged martial arts film.

There may not be much here that we haven’t seen before, but it’s certainly been a while since we’ve seen most of it done so well.

It’s far better than other American style martial arts movies such as ‘China O’Brien’, ‘American Shaolin’ and the like, showing what can be done if a little extra time is taken over the choreography.

Surprisingly, for an American film, there are some well executed and imaginative fight sequences predominantly showcasing the excellent kicking skills of Avedon.

Plenty of fight sequences, which are high-tempo, well choreographed affairs, if a little short by Hong Kong standards.

Anyone searching for a traditional kung-fu flick that is filled with sublime choreography need look no further than this.

Perhaps not what one might be expecting from all those involved but nevertheless ‘Ode to Gallantry’ is another solid Cheh flick buoyed by a fantastic lead performance from Philip Kwok. 

‘Of Cooks and Kung Fu’ does feature some inventive action and a star in Jacky Chen who is adept at acrobatic fisticuffs.