“The One-Armed Boxer 2” American Theatrical Poster
Director: Jimmy Wang Yu
Cast: Jimmy Wang Yu, Kam Kong, Doris Lung Chung Erh, Sham Chin Bo, Lung Fei, Wong Wing Sang, Sit Hon, Lau Kar Wing, Wong Fei Lung, Chui Chung Hei
Running Time: 93 min.
By Reefer
It’s collapsible design, small enough to fit in pocket, would make it the ideal weapon for self-defense, replacing mace and taser guns forever. Imagine. Your wife or mother never again feeling uncomfortable at night walking to her car or through the neighborhood. Easy to use too. Just pop open (looks like a small umbrella). Listen for the blades to click into place. And throw. A successful toss would land on an attacker’s head. Give the chain a yank and neatly pluck his melon off his shoulders. It may also be thrown with the blades outward, like some kind of satanic yo-yo.
I am, of course, talking about The Flying Guillotine.
This contraption is strangely the star of this film, pitting its violent power against the skills of the One-Armed Boxer (Jimmy Wang Yu). Operated by a quite testy blind monk, The Flying Guillotine repeatedly snatches the skulls of every one-armed fighter he meets. Seems that Wang Yu’s character has killed two of the monk’s followers and, being a somewhat vengeful sort, he goes looking for payback. The fact the he kills a few innocent men because of his blindness fails to ruin his day.
The monk follows Jimmy to a martial arts competition, featuring fighters of many different styles. The tournament really has nothing to do with the story, yet its spends a considerable amount of time there. Yeah, some of the other characters are introduced during the proceedings and this is really the only place in the film that you get to see real kung fu, but it brings the story to a halt. It could have been done in a better way.
Wang Yu plays the famous One-Armed Boxer as a calm, confident teacher who values the spiritual aspects of martial arts but won’t hesitate to bust some ass if her has to. That said, Wang Yu really looks kinda clumsy in his fight scenes. And more than once, he must rely on his wits, like an Asian Macaulay Culkin, instead of his martial arts prowess to succeed. I think that having to brawl with his right arm obviously tucked into his shirt really does not lend itself to the graceful or powerful movements we expect in most kung fu battles. I am not saying the he should have grabbed a hacksaw and went Robert DeNiro in the name of his craft, but where’s the dedication? Hehehe.
Another interesting aspect of this film is that the final battle eventually narrows down to two handicapped combatants. One blind. One crippled. Both powerful. This is an idea that I believe is completely unique to Asian cinema.
Too bad that there is such an absence of plot twists and the characters are not more developed. All that is left is watching the Guillotine do it’s thing. But that is still kinda cool.
Reefer’s Rating: 6/10
By Joe909
This movie has the most bad-ass theme song I’ve ever heard in a kung-fu flick. It’s even better than the theme song from Black Belt Jones, which is the highest compliment I could ever pay a kung-fu flick’s theme song. It sounds like Nine Inch Nails, of all things, only a lot harsher and with whacked-out, Cantonese (?) vocals. I have no idea who performs this song, for as usual no mention of music is made in the credits. I do know that occasionally, back in the day (and today as well, for that matter) US distributors would re-dub the music for chop sockeys, so I don’t know if this song is from the original version or was put on for US/UK release. In any case, I’m glad it’s there.
That being said, maybe I should mention the movie. It’s not bad, and it’s not great. The plot can be stated in the most bare of terms: “One-Armed guy kills government assassins. One-Arm takes his students to a kung-fu tournament. They watch a few fights. Meanwhile, an evil, blind monk vows revenge on One-Arm due to the above killings. Monk comes to tournament, kills a few innocents who happen to have one arm. Then finally One-Arm and monk fight to the death. One-Arm wins. The end.” All of this in a little over 70 minutes.
Wang Yu is the worst kung-fu fighter ever captured on film. David Carradine wasn’t even as bad. So it’s hard to buy that Wang Yu’s One-Arm character is so skilled in the martial arts. Everyone else in the movie is pretty good: the evil monk mostly relies on a flying guillotine, with which he chops off a few heads. The tournament fighters are probably the best kung-fu performers in the movie, including a Thai kickboxer, a Japanese guy who wears the biggest hat ever, and an Indian fighter whose arms stretch several feet, exactly like Dhalsim, in the Street Fighter video game. I would say my only complaint about these tournament fighters is that I wish the Thai kickboxer would’ve cleaned his feet, or at least worn some damn shoes. The guy is friggin’ filthy.
There isn’t much dialog in the film, so there aren’t any memorable lines. The only piece of dialog that made me laugh was when Wang-Yu, watching some dude jump a few feet in the air during the tournament, coolly informed his students that this was an example of “Excellent jumping.”
Like I said, there isn’t much of a story, but some of the fights are pretty good. Even Wang-Yu is kind of okay in his final fight with the evil monk. Using his wits instead of kung-fu skill, he uses a few secret weapons to defeat the monk’s terrible flying guillotine.
All in all, a simple story with some pretty good kung-fu and one hell of a theme song. Not something you want to go searching for, but worth checking out if you happen to come across it.
Joe909’s Rating: 6/10
By Amir
Jimmy Wang Yu stars and directs a film that we are told is a cult classic. The makers of many of the most popular video games of today would certainly agree, for this early 1970s movie includes several characters that are most certainly borrowed by the makers of these games. It is also interesting to note, that released shortly after Enter the Dragon, this has to be one of the first completely Hong Kong produced tournament movies.
As far as the fight choreography, it’s likely the best you’ll ever see in a Wang Yu film, moreover, the star demonstrates a skill for directing that by far surpasses other noteworthy directors of that time. The special effects are also surprisingly good, but if their is one element that makes this Master more skillful than the others is the unique soundtrack which has to be one of the finest music ever composed for a martial arts movie.
Amir’s Rating: 6/10
The theme song is a song by Neu! called Super.