Two Champions of Shaolin (1980)

Chang Cheh and three of the Five Venoms bring on the bone crushing, blood spurting violence in this kung fu fight fest. It's Shaolin vs Wudang and in this ruthless battle few winners emerge.

I found the story tedious as there was very little emotional depth to any of the characters. The good guy Shaolin disciples were laughably gullible and the Wudang bad guys were ruthless to the core. The only glimmer of an interesting story to me was Chin Siu Ho's character who was caught in between the two factions, always trying to do the right thing even when he wasn't sure what it was. The movie felt like it was three hours long. I kept checking the clock to see if time was slowing down as I watched it.

The poor Shaolin fighters sported bad Bruce Lee wigs with a long braided ponytail like a bad mullet gone even more horribly wrong. Aside from the two female characters I don't think anyone was on makeup duty for this movie either except to apply "blood" where needed. Chang Cheh had a reputation for being cheap and it showed in the sets and costumes as well.

Chang also had a reputation for bloodiness in his movies and he fulfilled that as well. One person was killed by having his family jewels ripped out, another had blood spurting out of his head. The body count was high in this one. The only positive for me in this movie is there were very intricately staged fights, often among numerous participants with fists and a variety of weapons. Chiang Sheng, Lu Feng and Philip Kwok choreographed some very creative fights. Lo Meng is the bigger fighter and he relied on his power while Chiang Sheng is smaller and more acrobatic. Having said that, the fight scenes felt more like a dance routine with lots of posing and not a lot of connections with fists or feet.

I would have rated this movie lower except that I was impressed with the work and coordination that went into the duels and three ring brawls. In the same way the kicks and punches never seemed to connect, this movie didn't connect with me either.

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