Mjeteconer Just perfect...

SincereFinest disgusting, overrated, pointless

Alistair Olson After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Leofwine_draca THE MAGNIFICENT BUTCHER is a superior kick-fest that beats any early Jackie Chan film hands down. With the likes of this, THE VICTIM, and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE SPOOKY KIND, I'm surprised that martial arts supremo Sammo Hung didn't earn more respect and international stardom than his frequent co-star. His early offerings provide superior entertainment that do away with the tired clichés and chop-socky action of Jackie Chan's Lo Wei flicks and give the viewer a rollicking good time. THE MAGNIFICENT BUTCHER is an epic kung fu flick which offers everything you could ever want from such a film. There's a complex, twist-a-minute plot, plenty of comedy – of the low-brow, gross-out variety that is nevertheless ten times funnier than any American PIE movie – drama, suspense, horror and, of course, kung fu. As you'd expect from director Yuen Woo-ping, the fights in this flick are outrageously good, always fluid and fast-moving, and best of all, with a minimum of editing; you can actually see what's going on, and that means this film has an edge to all modern-day martial arts films.Sammo Hung is an intensely likable lead, and he admirably holds his own amongst the ensemble cast here. He's athletic, energetic, and willing to take a beating as well as dole one out; he's certainly one of the top five martial artists of all time, and watching him fight is a real pleasure. Lee Hoi San is also excellent as the fleshed-out villain, complete with a 'burning palm' technique that has to be seen to be believed, really doling out the punishment in this one. The supporting cast is chock-a-block with familiar faces: Fung Hark-On, later routinely typecast as a heavy, has his best role as the truly dastardly villain of the piece, whilst Yuen Biao is briefly on hand to show off his acrobatic style. Stealing the whole show, though, is Fan Mui Sang, cast as a drunken beggar; he's a real hoot, funnier even than Sam Seed in DRUNKEN MASTER, and his sheer presence and OTT acting adds to the film no end.Western audiences are often left feeling bemused or annoyed by eastern films, especially on first acquaintance. The eclectic MAGNIFICENT BUTCHER will no doubt confuse some people, mixing as it does solid belly-laughs with moments of high drama and tension that wouldn't be out of place in an adult thriller; for instance, the attempted rape sequence is near the knuckle and pretty shocking. In the end, though, the comedy wins outright, especially with the hilarious sequence in which Hung tries to master the 'Iron Palm' technique – little realising that the instructions he's being fed are for pickling pig's trotters, not a new martial arts style! The highlight of this whole film is the ferocious moment when Hung takes his revenge on Fung Hark-On, in which the screen feels like it is crackling with energy. Watch out for that 'Weird Cat' guy as well – a real psycho.

andressolf Very good movie. Fun to watch. Very funny. Entertaining. Great fights. Really good fighting in this. My only gripe is that there doesn't seem to be enough characters. Perhaps not enough Master Wong. Too much Bum. And....Maybe a few deaths and things I consider unnecessary. Although the fight scenes are good the main reasons for the fights in this movie after the first are weak. I mean....There are so many unrealistic things in this movie to nit pick about. So excuse me for nitpicking because that is all I am doing, and I am imagining it being 'better' or different, but maybe that is not fair for me to do. In any even this movie is definitely not perfect or could be better, but it is fun for me to watch, and funny so I would have to recommend it anyway and regardless of what I consider to be a few flaws in this movie. Pointless fighting, pointless deaths, and decisions by multiple characters throughout the film that do not make sense for them to make at the time. Like Master Wong leaving when things were getting hot. Crazy Cow holding on to a man with a knife and not properly defending himself. Skinny Pig killing such as such in front of many different witnesses and not being reported to authorities. What gives? Is there no law in that town? And the main antagonist is rich but has no guards that can fight better than him? What? That's like a rich man today being the best shot among his guards and only having 2 guards when he can afford 4 or more. This man is supposedly rich yet almost never has an entourage- or at least he does until they get beat up and then all of a sudden they disappear and are never seen again in key parts of the film where he should be protected. It makes no sense. Such a rich man who is a mediocre fighter walking the streets alone and killing alone? It's unlike any other Martial Arts movie in that sense which is both a good thing and a bad thing. Good cause it focuses on individual fights and bad cause it's unrealistic for his character to be alone.

udeaasykle Old school kung fu movie. Can't go wrong with that! That and the fact that it stars Sammo Hung makes this a good movie within this genre. With that said, comparing this to Jackie Chan would be bad, because this is another type of fighting. Here, they don't use everything around them; they only use arms and legs. And this is the type of fighting that seems to be conducted like music. It is in a certain rhythm. It is hard to explain but people familiar with this genre will understand what I mean. This is also kind of a typical martial arts movie when you think of the story. There is always a young innocent man, Sammo in this cause, who has a problem that he has to solve. And in these movies, he has to get help from someone before he is able to do just that. As martial arts movies go, this is quite good. I rate this movie 5/10

Wizard-8 Bravo, 20th Century Fox, for giving this movie a DVD release in North America! And not only with a gorgeous-looking print, but with the option of watching in the original Cantonese with subtitles, unlike other American distributors (coughcoughmiramaxslashdimensioncoughcough).I hadn't heard of this particular Sammo Hung movie until tonight, when I spotted it at the video store. I took a chance, and I'm really glad to have done it! Completely entertaining, and never dull for a minute. The fights are "old school", but they are still pretty swift, and the various acrobatics and moves are absolutely amazing. Plenty of comedy as well, pretty low-brow slapstick for the most part, but won't help but bring a smile to your lips several times. Now, as others have said before, there are some brutal and deadly serious moments, and they will seem out of place to most westerners. But from what I've seen from other Hong Kong movies, this kind of thing isn't that unusual. At the very least, such moments like this just further the ways as to how this movie will be unique to anyone raised on western filmmaking. Don't think this is the cheap kind of martial arts movie you see on Kung Fu Theater or on public domain video labels - give it a try. You won't be disappointed.