Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Now first the picture quality. Choy Lee Fat is somewhat widescreened with bad picture. I have seen worse and have to say that personally, I had no problem with it. It is somewhat widescreened and dubbed in English so I don't have to squint to read the subtitles. Tiger's Claw is full screened and picture isn't as bad as CLF. Though I have to say the dubbign is much worse on Tiger's Claw.
CHOY LEE FUT KUNG FU- I will review be reviewing the Rarescope version here since it is much better than the Groundzero version. It is a bit longer on top of other things that make it much better.
Cliff Lok stars as a young man who is taken on secretly by a teacher of Choi Lee Fut. Some practicioners have told me that Cliff Lok was not suited for this role and while he is not quite as fluid as some of the greats his form is still terrific and his acrobatics are very good. The movie starts out showing Philip Ko as the evil warlord who takes down a group of rebels and 2 teachers of kung fu survive, one being a monk. Cliff Lok goes to learn from the monk after he has learned all he can from the first teacher. The movie is just above average all the way through with some good comedy. You will recognize the cross eyed officer form Jackie Chan's 'Young Master'. "Your sword!". He is funny just looking at him. I was rolling on the floor he had his shirt off and asked Cliff to wipe his sweat off for him.
The best part of the movie is when one of the greatest female fighters ever shows up. Yang Pan Pan just starts tearing up everybody. While the movie is pretty good all the way through, it is not great. Luckily the final fight gets is outstanding. It starts off with the girl vs.Phillip Ko and then CLiff Lok. Total of about 10 minutes and some great action going on. The end of the fight is billiant. They shows the various techniques that Lok is doing subtitled on screen and it is slow mo for about three minutes. Truly awesome stuff. 4.5/5
Rarescope has given us this movie fully letterboxed and though the picture is faded and there is noticeable damage on the film print it still looks about twice as good as the Groudzero version. The subtitles can be read pretty easily most of the time. The original Mandarin track is the way to go and has GREAT sound quality. The Engish dubbing is fine though the sound quality doesn't compare a lick to the Mandarin.
Special feature included is a Cliff Lok interview and also he is being intervied form the late great director of the movie- Chan Siu-pang. Lok looks amazing even at being at least 50 and gives a very good interview. Rarescope does a good thing in my opinion and has us waiting for part 2 of the interview when they release Lok's 'Best of Shaolin Kung Fu'. I would be lieing if I said I was not ecstatic about that future release.
There is also a small photo gallery form the movie with some black and white pics. There is also the same Rarescope trailers we saw on their first release. I am waiting anyday now to preorder '3 Famous Constables'(which I heard will come out under another name), 'Ninjas in Ancient China', 'and 'Sword of Justice'. Rarescope(BCI) has proven to be one of the best martial arts DVD companies and I eagerly await more and more.
TIGER'S CLAW-this is your run of the mill kung fu flick. Cliff Lok starts out the movie beating down everyone and then he goes home to rest with his wife. He then hears about this guy who always used to win his fights, he breaks the Tiger-actor Shih Kien(guy with the claw in Enter the Dragon) out of jail and tells him he did so so that they could fight. While I know you are yawning right now, shih kien puts on a very good acting performance that I wasn't really expecting. The kung fu is pretty sloppy but does get pretty good in the final fight. I was told by a kung fu friend of mine that shih kien is using 7 mantis style. I have studied shaolin kung fu and maybe that is why I thought 'Choy Lee Fat'(the movie) was so good, but while the mantis style is used well in this, it is just too sloppily choreographed. But my mantis friend thinks it is great, and I have neevr really tried mantis, so defintely pick it up for his opinion! The end in Tiger's Claw is a little too standard but I enjoyed the fact they actually put real emotions in to it and made it an almost enjoyable story. I give it a 2.5.
So I got this double pack for $4.99 at the used store. I cannot recommend this though becasue rarescope has released this now, but get it for Tiger's Claw if you want, a very good double feature.
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