Duel to the Death (1983)

Duel to the Death (1983)
Chinese Title: 生死決
Translation: Life and Death

 

Starring: Damian Lau, Norman Tsui Siu-Keung, Eddie Ko Hung, Flora Cheung, Paul Chang, Kwan Yung-Moon, Casanova Wong, Hon Gwok-Choi
Director: Ching Siu-Tung
Action Directors: Ching Siu-Tung, Lau Chi-Ho

I am willing to wager that the vast majority of Hong Kong cinephiles who joined the club in the mid 1990s when Jackie Chan’s Hong Kong films started hitting American theaters discovered Duel to the Death the same way: they purchased some VHS release by Tai Seng Video circa 1998 for $19.95, probably Heart of Dragon or Wheels on Meals, and saw the awesome trailer for a movie that involved flying swordsmen and ninja on kites. I know that’s what happened to me. By the end of the year, I put that film on my Christmas list, and lo! And behold! It was waiting for me beneath the tree on Christmas morning. Later that evening, I put the movie on—and my mom entered the room and decided to watch it with me—she made through the second act before she left to visit some friends. The next morning, she informed me that she had nightmares about flying ninja. My job was done.

The film itself is not necessarily a landmark movie in itself, but it does stick out for a number of reasons. First and foremost, it is Ching Siu-Tung’s first directorial effort. Ching had been a fight choreographer since the early 1970s, working on Shaw Brothers films like The 14 Amazons (1972) and Stroke of Death (1979). He even ventured in front of the camera for a few post-Drunken Master comedies, like The Master Strikes. But his heart was undoubtedly behind the camera, where he felt he had more creative expression. In the early 1980s, he began priming his own personal style of action direction, mixing swordplay with wire stunts and other special effects. The movies prior to Duel to the Death that most stick out are The Sword (1980) and Return of the Deadly Blade (1981), where we see the first glimpses of what Ching Siu-Tung would become in the 1990s and beyond.

Moreover, by 1983, the traditional kung fu movie had practically died in Hong Kong. Oh sure, the Shaw Brothers and a few independent studios would continue churning out these movies until the middle of the decade, as did a number of Taiwanese, South Korean and Mainland Chinese studios, but Hong Kong was no longer a big market for them. People like Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung understood, so in 1983, they gave audiences modern day-set action classics like Winners and Sinners and Project A. On the same token, visionaries like Ching Siu-Tung and Tsui Hark had their sights set on the more fantastic, and their respective films, Duel to the Death and Zu: Warriors from Magic Mountain from that same year took the period kung fu piece and changed it into FX-heavy fantasy films, which would pave the way for the wire-fu kung fu revival of the early 1990s.

Duel to the Death is a fairly traditional film in its trappings. During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the Shaolin Temple is secretly raided by Japanese ninja looking for kung fu manuals. They are discovered, but not before they make off with a copy of one such manual. After a brief fight with the monks, they hide their findings and kamikaze the monks with sticks of dynamite hidden in their robes. One of the Chinese fighters involved in the melee is Bo Ching Wan (Damian Lau), a swordsman who has recently been chosen by Shaolin to represent China in a duel against the top Japanese swordsman held every few years. Bo heads off for the city where the duel is to take place.

At the same time, the Japanese are sending their representative, a man named Hashimoto (Norman Tsui Siu-Keung). Hashimoto is determined to win for the honor of his school and sensei¸whom he unwillingly slew shortly before. Arriving in Japan, Hashimoto hooks up with his Japanese contact, a Zen monk by the name of Kenji (Eddie Ko Hung). Kenji is obviously hiding something, which may very well be related to the ninja we saw in the first scene. Hashimoto and Bo meet up at the estate of Master Han (Paul Chang), whose family has organized the duel for the past several decades. Han has a daughter, Sing Lam (Flora Cheung), who seems a bit eager about testing her skills against both men.

Meanwhile, the ninja are back and just as dangerous as ever. This time, however, they are not just out to steal kung fu manuals, but they’re out to to steal kung fu masters as well. This development not only puts them at odds with Bo Ching Wan, but with Hashimoto as well, who only wants a fair duel and nothing else. And when Bo discovers who is in league with the ninja and why, his loyalties shall also be tested in the face of a more powerful enemy.

One may understandably dismiss the story as being your average Chinese vs. Japanese tale, which had been a genre stape since 1970. In many ways, it is just that. Some effort is made to balance out the treachery of the ninja with Hashimoto’s sense of honor and fairness. He doesn’t care about politics and even disagrees with the methods and motives of those he would be serving as a samurai: he was called to represent his country in a fight and that’s what he’ll do. Sadly, Ching did not (or could not) hire Yasuaki Kurata to play Hashimoto, as the two had already worked together in Return of the Deadly Blade. Tsui Siu-Keung plays the role with gusto and adds the right amount of intensity to the character.

Damian Lau’s Bo Ching Wan comes across as a bit more conventional, that is, a righteous swordsman who wishes to withdraw himself from the duel once he sees the corruption (on both sides) behind it. I think it has more to do with Damian Lau’s acting, which is much more subdued and better suited for more modern police roles than as a swordsman. He does fine with the choreography, but he gets out-acted by Norman Tsui easily. The other main actors, Flora Cheung, Eddie Ko Hung and Paul Chang do solid work with their roles, and all the other characters are one-dimensional at best.

Obviously, it is Ching Siu-Tung’s choreography and eye for visuals that separate this film from others of its ilk. While he had already begin playing around with crazy ninja tricks in Return of the Deadly Blade—one of the highlights of the film being an attack on a boat by ninjas on skis—this film afforded Ching an A-level budget, and thus more money for special effects. The créme de la créme on the effects front is a scene where a Shaolin monk is approached by a ninja that stands about twenty feet tall, a product of forced perspective. It then splits into six normal-sized ninjas (via cell animation), who attack the monk while burrowing underground like Bugs Bunny(!).

More memorable than that, however, is the penultimate fight sequence set in a forest, where our two protagonists take on the evil ninja and their leader. People explode, are sliced in half, and emit geysers of blood when stabbed. Ninjas are able to disappear into puffs of smoke and reappear as if via a teleportation machine. Dozens of shuriken are thrown with in a couple of seconds with a few swift arm movements. All this and some fine swordplay choreography by the standards of 1983 make for some great shinobi lunacy.

The final fight has the most amount of wires in it, and ends on an extremely gory, if fitting, note. The setting, a cliff overlooking the ocean, is memorable as the two fighters constantly defy in gravity in a futile attempt to determine who’s better. An earlier battle between Bo, Master Han and Sing Lam has some very intricate and satisfying weapons choreography. Fans of old school kicking will enjoy watching Korean actor Casanova Wong in a cameo as a fighter invited to witness the big duel. He gets attacked by a trio of ninja flying on kites, whom he dispatches with his legwork, before getting mobbed by dozens more.

By no means perfect, Duel to the Death is still fine slice of 80s ninja entertainment and a solid example of Ching Siu-Tung doing what he does best. His action choreography would win him a nomination for the Best Action Design Award at the Hong Kong Film Awards—Ching’s first of many nominations and wins—but would ultimately lose out to Sammo Hung’s Winners and Sinners. Considering he got the nomination for his first film produced after said award was created, it represents an auspicious beginning to an extremely prolific career.