Reviewed by: MrBooth Date: 04/10/2022 Jimmy Wang Yu (RIP) gives us his take on Seven Samurai, with heroic and patriotic Chinese fighters banding together to fight off Japanese pirates, rather than samurai. It doesn't have the grandeur of Kurosawa's epic, or the careful characterisation, the psychological insights, the meticulous period detail... the acting... the cinematography... but we already knew Wang Yu was no Kurosawa. What it does have is a 40 minute battle that occupies much of the second half of the film though, where Wang Yu unleashes almost uninterrupted carnage on the screen. Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: dandan Date: 07/03/2008 Summary: no biting... china, towards the end of the ming dynasty. an isolated coastline finds itself prone to attack from the japanese. a japanese force, led by shinobu hashimoto (lung fei), has made solid inroads, but finds trouble in a small village, on the beach of the war gods. a small japanese party find themselves coming face to face with hsiao feng (jimmy wang yu), a fierce patriot and fighter, who was on his way to join the fight against the japanese on the front-line. hsiao kills all but one of the japanese. hearing that the japanese forces are more advanced than he thought, hsiao pledges to save the village and sets off to find people who can help fend off the japanese attacks. he returns with chao the iron bull (sit hon), knife expert leng ping (tin yau), a spear expert (kwan hung) and thunder fist (cheung yee-kwai)... an old jimmy wany yu film which seems to be taking a little influence from kurosawa, with quite an obvious connection to 'seven samurai'. this, though, is a much more simplistic affair, with around two thirds of it being taken up with fighting. character development is minimum, as is the narrative, which only ever strays slightly from its main thrust. the scene is set, there's a build up to a huge confrontation, said confrontation arrives. the end. still, despite this simplicity, there's a pretty nice atmosphere and sense of anticipation running through the film. this, along with some nicely executed street battles and smaller fight sequences, makes for a very watchable and entertaining film. these sequences are pretty good, although i was a little taken aback by a couple of incidents of biting. very odd... good stuff...

Reviewed by: Inner Strength Date: 04/14/2002 Summary: Good Well, as the others said before me, this is an excellent film of it's kind, a true standout to other films like this. But it does take while in the film until things get interesting, but when they do, it stays so until the end. Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer Score: 7

Reviewed by: Sydneyguy Date: 05/03/2001 Summary: I agree with the other reviewers below me!! This is a classic movie. Jimmy Wang Yu fights for 75% of the whole movie!! Ok the plot ain't the best but the action is still good in today's standards!! I don't think you will EVER see another movie where the fighting lasts for SO long!! Virtually the 2nd half of the movie is FIGHTING only!! I great old movie worth watching!! 7.5/10

Reviewed by: pjshimmer Date: 04/24/2001 Summary: Tons of action! Warning: not one single female is present during the entire 100+ minutes of this hypermanly Wang Yu actionaire! It's true, this film is all about being men, about standing up against the evil conquerers - and what a surprise for a Wang Yu film that the Japanese are the evil-doers. Like STSH mentioned, the movie is awfully slow-paced. In fact, so slow that there's practically nothing going on in the first 30 minutes of the film; a bunch of people walk by and some boring talk. Be sure you have your fast-forward button ready. That is, unless you want to watch 4 people conversing nonsense while Wang Yu approaches by from a mile away. There is plenty of action during the second half of the film. In fact, it's one of the longest running nonstop action scenes I've ever seen. The quantity keeps you satisfied, though there's no way anyone could be pleased with the quality. Wang Yu does his usual waving around a couple of times and that's pretty much what the whole film is like. However, I did like the fact that this isn't just about pure hatred towards Japanese. There are many tactics and likable talks involved, and even a tad of humor to keep you going. Overall, a terribly slow but good film, with impressive amounts of action and a new suspense presented every 2 minutes. [7/10]

Reviewed by: STSH Date: 01/14/2000 Summary: Wow ! Surprisingly for a Wang Yu film, the pace is pretty slow to start with. But fear not, once things hot up, you'll be exhausted just watching it. The battle starts a bit before half-way and, from then on, this film jumps from good to superb. Even compared with modern HK action classics, this is surely one of the best (and certainly among the longest) well-staged swordfighting battle scenes ever filmed. Hypnotic, exhausting and simply stunning. Reviewer Score: 10