8 Masters (1977)
Review by Doc Ezra
Film:
DVD:

Written by Joseph Kuo
Directed by Joseph Kuo
Starring Carter Wong, Doris Lung, and Judy Lee

Rating: NR, suitable for 13+

Anamorphic: No, appears in 1.33:1 format

My Advice: Pass.

The third installment in Joseph Kuo's Eighteen Bronzemen saga, 8 Masters opens with Chu Sau Cheh's father killing one of the legendary 8 Masters. In order to keep his son safe from their revenge, he sends Chu (Wong) off to the Shaolin Temple to be trained as a monk and kept safe. Fast-forward nearly two decades, and a fully-grown Carter Wong takes the test of the eighteen bronzemen and leaves the temple, hoping to repay his blood debt to the Masters. The 8 Masters are uninterested in anything but Chu's death, and he flees into hiding with his love interest (Lung) and mother. Spending the first hour of the film getting his butt handed to him by various kung fu baddies, Chu finally decides to fight back when his mother is killed. The final thirty minutes shows him taking on the Masters and wiping them out.

This is a confusing train-wreck of a film. While I'm breaking with the vast majority of kung-fu film afficianados, who almost universally praise Kuo's trilogy as one of the finest martial arts sagas assembled, I'm just not seeing it. There is pretty much no continuity in the film whatsoever, and there are plot holes big enough to drive trucks through. The final villain, whom Wong recognizes with shock, is a figure that the audience has never seen before, and the appearance of this character (presumably an important one) in the last fifteen minutes seems a bit jarring, and makes no sense.

The fight sequences are entertaining enough, and there's plenty of them, so the film can't be knocked on its actual kung fu content. Unfortunately, there's no framework to hold anything together, so the movie would have been better off as a series of fight sequences without the attempt at a plot. At least then there would be no failed plot to point to as a flaw in the film.

By presenting the film full-frame, and without the advantage of pan-and-scan technology, many fight sequences are ruined due to having half of each combatant lost off the side of the frame. The print is actually as good as one can typically expect from late 70s kung fu theatre. Sound is likewise poorly mixed and muted, and the English dub is terrible. I'd really like to get my hands on the morons that did voice work for kung fu films up until the mid-80s. A couple of serious Shaolin smackdowns are in order.

Of extras there are none, which is as disappointing as ever, particularly considering that Carter Wong isn't exactly booked solid these days. Of course, I don't think all the features in the world would have saved this one for me, but I'd love to hear someone's explanation as to why this film is considered a classic.

If you're thirsting for kung fu goodness, go grab some Bruce Lee or one of the more recent winners, like Heroic Trio. This one deserves to stay in whatever vault they dug it out of to begin with.