Avenging
Eagle (1978)
Chinese Title: 冷血十三鷹
Translation: Cold-Blooded 13 Eagles
Starring: Ti Lung, Alexander
Fu Sheng, Ku Feng, Johnny Wang Lung-Wei, Eddy Ko Hung, Austin Wai Tin-Chi,
Bruce Tong Yim-Chaan, Lam Fai-Wong, Dick Wei, Huang Pei-Chih, Peter Chan Lung,
Yuen Bun, Chui Fat, Jamie Luk Kim-Ming, Cheung Kwok-Wah, Shih Szu, Yue Wing,
Tong Gaai
Director: Sun Chung
Action Director: Tong Gaai,
Huang Pei-Chih
Sun Chun was one of the more versatile and talented directors to come out the Shaw Brothers. While the Taiwanese auteur dabbled in martial arts early in his career—his first film with the Shaw Brothers was The Devil’s Mirror (1972)--up until 1978, Sun worked focused in other genres, like adult films (Sugar Daddies; Dreams of Eroticism), horror (Cobra Girl), crime (Godfather’s Fury and The Criminals Part II), romantic comedy (Cheeky Little Angels) and exploitation (The Sexy Killer, a remake of the Blaxploitation classic Coffy). From 1978 until 1985, Sun’s output was largely based around kung fu, with his last film in that genre being The Master Strikes Back (1985), simultaneously one of the last movies produced by the Shaw Brothers. He closed out his career with a pair of thrillers (Angel Hunters and Lady in Black) and a single foray into the then-popular “Heroic Bloodshed” genre: City War (1987) with Chow Yun-Fat and Ti Lung.
Avenging Eagle was his first real kung fu movie since The Devil’s Mirror and bears the hallmarks of a classic old school film: great production values, a solid cast of Shaw Brothers veterans, and powerful fight choreography. It also has a strong story and compelling characters, thus making it one of the all-time genre classics. The movie opens with a lone man (played by Ti Lung) riding an increasingly-haggard horse through the desert. The man, Chik Ming-Sing, eventually faints from heatstroke and dehydration, alone in the wasteland. Before he die from thirst or exposure, another lone rider (Alexander Fu Sheng) happens to pass by and offers some water to Chik. A newly-refreshed Ming-Sing steals the stranger’s horse and rides into small oasis valley inhabited by an abandoned house and an apparently poisoned spring. When the stranger finally shows up with Chik’s horse in tow, Ming-Sing returns the man’s rations and thanks him for the charity.
The next day, the oasis is visited by a trio of assassins, members of an notorious band of killers known as the 13 Eagles. They are looking for Chik, who is apparently a deserter from that same band. Chik doesn’t want to go back and a fight breaks out. With the Stranger’s help, the three men are killed. They are beset shortly thereafter by four more members of the 13 Eagles. At this point, it becomes clear that Chik is wittling down the band so that when he decides to get revenge on his master, Yoh Xi-Hung (Ku Feng), he’ll have an easier time doing so without 12 of the greatest assassins in the land attacking him simultaneously.
Now, why does Chik Ming-Sing want revenge? To make a long story short, Chik was injured and left for dead during an assassination attempt gone awry. A nice stranger found him and nursed him back to health: his first encounter with kindness and human decency. During his convalescence, Chik fell for his benefactor’s sister (Shih Szu in a cameo). Unfortunately, when Chik made his way back to his master’s place to ask for his blessing to retire, his master did not take kindly to it. In fact, he sent him on an assassination mission…to the man who took care of him. But by then, Chik’s cold-blooded ways had been replaced by love and compassion, which does not bode well for a band of trained killers. Chik is forced to prove his mettle by participating in the wanton slaughter of an entire family, including a pregnant woman (Jenny Tseng in a cameo). By that point, Chik has had enough.
Avenging Eagle is a compelling tale of revenge and redemption, told from the point of view of a man who was raised to know nothing but violence and murder. Ti Lung gives a masterful performance as Chik, a powerful fighter who wants to put the killing behind him, but has no choice but to step into the bloodbath in order to put an end to his past. As he tells his traveling companion, even if he dies in the attempt, he will be able to rest in peace knowing that he did his best to put an end to the 13 Eagles. And as his master has a virtual army at his disposable, even in the absence of the 13 Eagles, Chik knows that it is a suicide mission. But he goes forward with it anyway, to atone for his crimes, avenge himself against his mentor for having made him commit them, and try to guarantee that these crimes will cease.
Complementing his performance is Alexander Fu Sheng as Cheuk Yi-Fan, a happy-go-lucky wanderer with a secret. Despite his jokey exterior, we see the pain and anger on his face as Ti Lung tells his story, foreshadowing the revelation of his identity later in the film. We the viewer understand early on that their interests are bound to come into conflict, although when that happens, it does not quite resolve itself the way you might imagine. Rounding at the cast is Ku Feng as the sadistic psychopath that runs the Iron Boat Gang that includes the 13 Eagles. Johnny Wang Lung Wei and Eddie Ko, who play two senior members of the gang, play their roles in a similar fashion. These are people who have been taught to relish violence and do so with the utmost of joy.
The fight choreography, brought to us by Tong Gaai and longtime collaborator Huang Pei-Chih, is some of Tong’s best work of the 1970s. Tong Gaai, who seemingly preferred the more fantastic wuxia films to the more straightforward kung fu movies, had a knack for exotic weapons. One of the best decisions was to give each of the Eagle’s his own unique weapon—compare with the 1993 remake, The 13 Cold-Blooded Eagles, where everyone fought with a broadsword. Ti Lung fights with a three-section staff; Wang Lung-Wei uses an iron hoop; Eddie Ko fights with a pair of short tridents; and other Eagles (including Chui Fat[1], Yuen Bun[2], and Austin Wai) fight with weapons like meteor hammers, rope darts, machetes, hatchets, and other weapons. Alexander Fu Sheng, while fighting with his fists in many of the fights, also has a pair of blades hidden in his shoes that he can fix to the leather bracers he wears.
The choreography is complex and dynamic, never allowing itself to slow down like so many technique-oriented films of the period. In fact, one of the fastest fights is a duel between Ti Lung and choreographer Tong Gaai, who cameos as a master of the Golden Spear. The movements are impeccably performed and extremely fast as the two men go at it. The best, however, is saved for the protracted finale, which goes on for nearly fifteen minutes. Our two heroes storm the villain’s base, facing off with an army of henchmen armed with spears. They then have to face off with the last surviving Eagles: a pair of one-armed nutcases who complement each other by wielding a buzz saw and a shield, respectively. The two men fight in tandem and our heroes struggle to find a strategy that will keep them apart long enough to kill them individually. They face off with Ku Feng, who wears a pair of bronze gauntlets with claws at the end of each finger. Loyalties are tested as the fight progresses, leading to a bloody resolution. With such a great series of fights capping off 86 minutes of strong plotting and well-developed characters portrayed by some of the Shaw Brothers’ greatest performers, it is little wonder that the movie is considered to be one of the best.
No comments:
Post a Comment