One of the best directiorial efforts from the legendary Liu Chia Liang (aka Lau Kar Leung) and perhaps the last great Shaw Brothers film. This film is intensity given image...even after one viewing, it's dark tone and brutal battles will stick with you for a VERY long time. Absolutely required viewing for any Hong Kong cinema lover.

It's a truism that those involved in the Hong Kong film industry are tight-knit...close friends and family work together to produce their films. The themes and story of EIGHT DIAGRAM POLE FIGHTER are bleak enough; when Alexander Fu Sheng (THE CHINATOWN KID) died in an automobile accident during the filming of this movie, it's said that his death hit virtually everyone involved in this movie very hard, from Liang on down, and the atmosphere of this film's themes of loss, loyalty and revenge gained a new context as the director and actors carried on with filming. There was genuine grief here, I have no doubt of that, and that makes the performances reach a power that literally grab you by the throat.

Gordon Liu is Fifth Brother (of seven brothers and two sisters) of the Yang family. The Yangs hold a well-renowned loyalty to China, which is threatened by the Mongols. Pun Mei (Ke Ming) -- the Yang's right general -- with jealousy and ambition, lures the father and his seven sons into an unwinnable battle against the Mongol hordes. They all die except for Fifth Brother and Sixth Brother (Fu Sheng), who both escape...but circumstances force them to take separate paths. Sixth Brother returns home, driven insane from watching his brothers die, to bring the bloody news to his mother (Lily Li Li-Li), Eighth Sister (Kara Hui Ying-Hung) and Ninth Sister (Yeung Jing Jing). Fifth Brother, narrowly escaping a second attack with the help of a hunter (director Liu Chia Liang in a blistering cameo), finds refuge in a Shaolin temple where he must bide his time, hone his skills, and wait for the right moment to seek vengeance.

The action scenes, virtually all of which involve pole fighting (one exception involves Kara Hui gracefully using a sword against her adversaries), are spectacular. From the bloody opening battle to the defanging of the wolves (you have to see it to believe it) to the equally bloody finale (where some REAL wolves get defanged!), no holds are barred in what can only be described as the best pole-fighting movie ever made. (It sounds dumb, I know, but someone had to say it.)

And did I mention the emotional intensity? Gordon Liu, Fu Sheng, Lily Li, Yeung and especially Kara Hui give their very best. This is especially true after the most critical scenes had to be rewritten after Fu Sheng's untimely death. In fact, in the climax, when Kara Hui gives the traitor Pun Mei a hellstare that literally blows away equivalent looks that could kill from both Brigitte Lin and Yukari Oshima, you know damn well there's real pain and rage behind it. Try not to hide under your sofa.