ada
the leading man is my tpye
GamerTab
That was an excellent one.
BoardChiri
Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay
Patience Watson
One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.
a_chinn
Shaw Brothers martial arts film that's more focused on story and character than on it is on fight sequences, which left me a little disappointed because I didn't find myself all that interested in the characters or story here. The story is about two feuding clans, which seemed to play out more like a tale of royal court intrigue than your typical you-killed-my-master kung-fu film plot lines, which is probably a good thing in most cases, except this royal court intrigue wasn't all that compelling. The few martial arts sequences present, primarily swordplay over hand-to-hand fighting, are well done, but are far too brief. I was also quite surprised at the amount of nudity in the Shaw Brothers production, which usually shied away from that sort of thing (although brutal bloody combat was perfectly acceptable). I read several other reviews where other reviewers loved this film, so it does have it's defenders, but I am not one of them.
Leofwine_draca
KILLER CLANS offers something a little different for fans of Shaw Brothers swordplay movies. There's a greater emphasis on characterisation here than action, and the plot is a lot more complicated than most. It involves a couple of rival clans, and associated freelance swordsmen, battling either other in a series of assassination attempts and face-to-face brawls. So far so ordinary, you might think, but this is made entertaining by typical Shaw Brothers production values, i.e. colourful, often splendid sets, and fine cinematography.The action, when it comes, is short and deadly. There's less emphasis here on hand to hand combat than weapon play, and there's the usual fun from intriguing props – poison darts shooting from the wrist, robes that protect the wearer from damage. In the end, as always, technique wins out. The acting is of a higher quality than in many lesser kung fu movies and Ku Feng in particular plays a good, interesting and likable character with much complexity. Not one of the most exciting Shaw Brothers movies out there, but a solid addition to the canon nonetheless.
Chung Mo
Another one of the dozen main character kung fu films that Yuen Chor directed. It starts out confusing as it's hard to follow the crowd of characters parading across the screen but fortunately a number of them are killed off before long and we are down to half a dozen. We also get to spend some time with a few of them so we can start to associate and care about them. A few more characters get introduced before long but it works better as they are in individual scenes.The photography and sets are, as usual for a Yuen Chor film, excellent. The new film transfer is rich and sharp. The action is good although sometimes the actors are off time (reacting to punches that haven't happened yet). The acting is standard Shaw Bros. The subtitles are generally good but some dialog is obscure to non-Chinese audiences.The film is slightly "adult" with some brief useless nudity and sex scenes. The fights are moderately bloody but nothing like some Chan Cheh films.Reasonably good. If you can get through the first half-hour, you'll have a good time.
veganflimgeek
I rented Killer clans just a few days after renting the Heroic ones. Of the recent Shaw Bros re-issues I think that Heroic ones is a better film. Killer clans has a impressive amount of intrigue and swordplay. This classic chop socky period piece that is just a cut above in quality should please all fans of Shaw bros martial arts films. The martial arts are creative and fun to watch.I found some of the plot hard to follow at times. Who was betraying who, that kind of thing. The sets were also neat including the underground tunnels were something I had yet to see in a shaw bros movie.My problems from the movie came mostly from the useless nudity that I felt was just cheap exploitation and the abrupt ending.