Review: 10 Magnificent Killers

Cheung Lik and his master are forced to battle the title assassins (one of whom is played by Bolo Yeung), as are another apprentice and master pairing with the two students eventually needing to join forces.

 

Sometimes enjoyable, sometimes confusing 1977 martial arts film from writer-director Yeh Fang (an actor who only directed four films, his next one in 1991!) with a far too abrupt finale. I liked a good chunk of it, just not quite enough of a good chunk to ultimately recommend the film on the whole.

 

I liked the early humour of a master getting continually bailed out in fights by his apprentice. I also enjoyed the ‘Whirling fist’ and the killer who arrives via a coffin and for some reason looks like a zombie. The subsequent fight is bloody good, in fact there’s so much action (almost wall-to-wall) that there’s no time for it to get dull. The downside to that of course is that with such little emphasis on plot and character it’s occasionally hard to find your bearings. So while it’s always on the move, that lack of plot clarity does ultimately bring the film down a peg. This is especially the case with the finale where I felt things weren’t adequately explained.

 

It takes forever for him to show up but there is the interesting spectacle of Bolo Yeung adopting a more fleet-footed Shaw Brothers-esque martial arts style despite being built like a brick shithouse. He’s also sporting a twirly moustache and a sort-of mullet hairstyle. With grey streaks in it. True to form he cheats in his first fight too and is the film’s scene-stealer. I really liked how each of the fight scenes is markedly different from each other. I must say I don’t think these 10 killers can be considered magnificent if they’re pretty much taken out by 3 people and one of them a geriatric. And why don’t they all arrive at the same time and increase their odds of winning? Because there’d be less movie? Fair enough.

 

Maybe you’ll enjoy this film more than me, especially if you can make more sense of the narrative than I did. The action is really good and it’s always great to see Bolo Yeung. Ultimately I just couldn’t quite figure out the details.  

 

Rating: C+