Reviewed by: mrblue Date: 06/11/2009 Featuring the talents of action director Stephen Tung (responsible for delivering the goods in many classic films like A Better Tomorrow) both in front of and behind the camera, The Mar's Villa isn't anything extraordinary, but it is a solid old-school kung fu movie. Sure, the story is your usual dopey revenge stuff featured in far too many pictures of this genre, but the copious amounts of fisticuffs presented here should keep fans happy. John Liu plays the film's hero, a kung fu master named Tien Lang, who becomes the target of the Kang family's (led by Phillip Ko and Stephen Tung) vengeance after Tien kills the Kan's patriarch in a duel. As per usual for this type of movie, Tien is brought down to almost nothing and left on the brink of defeat, until he goes back to train hard so that he can finally defeat the Kang clan. Perhaps sensing that the script didn't give them much to work with, the film-makers set about to give The Mar's Villa a very epic and sweeping look. Unlike a lot of old-school movies that keep much of the action contained inside of cheaply-made sets, The Mar's Villa uses the Taiwanese countryside and historic buildings to great effect. Combined with some slick cinematography and editing, the production as a whole ends up looking a lot more expensive than it probably was, which really sets it apart from many similar kung fu entries. Fight-wise, The Mar's Villa doesn't really do anything all that unique or mind-blowing, but the action is good for what it is. John Liu, in particular, looks tough and cool as he gets to show off a lot of fierce-looking kicks. One does get the sense that with the talent involved here, perhaps the film-makers should have tried a bit harder to make something that would end up being truly impressive, but overall, The Mar's Villa is worthy enough to satisfy your old-school jones. Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: Frank Lakatos Date: 12/08/2005 Summary: A badly choreographed John Liu Philip Ko movie This movie was actually made in Taiwan and the fight scenes are sloppily choreographed for a movie made during that time. The only interesting things in this movie is Philip Ko's brooding yet silent character in the beginning, that gets knocked off by John Liu. Besides that, Philip Ko's traning scenes, and the effective use of James Bond music scores, this is a poorly made revenge movie. Not only is the torture cage scenes, where Liu has to absorb the clanging of the cage. These are not only painful for Liu, but are painful for the viewer to listen to as well, so the veiwer and Liu suffer and go crazy(especially when your listeningt o these torture scenes with digital earphones at midnight! Well, I recovered my sanity, just as Liu recovered his sanity back, and for such a badly choreographed ending, it wasn't worth to go through the torture scenes. A piece of advice: Watch this movie WITHOUT earphones! *1/2/*****

Reviewed by: pjshimmer Date: 10/03/2003 This incredibly stupid movie has people fighting eachother for the lamest reasons. John Liu is pretty good with his kicks, but the movie is too shallow. [2/10]

Reviewed by: mpongpun Date: 02/18/2003 John Liu plays the title character, Mar Tien Liang, who is the master of the "magic kick". The villain, Fang Kang (Phillip Ko), attacks and breaks up Mar's villa causing Mar to search him out and kill him. That easy huh? No! Fang Kang's brother, Yu Tang (also played by Phillip Ko), and his nephew (played by Steven Tung Wei) set out to make life miserable for Mar. First they kidnap Mar's wife, they kill his wife's brother, they sack Mar's business', and then finally, they capture Mar and torture him until he is insane. After they finish with Mar, they toss him on the streets to let him live like a bum until Mar's faithful servant (Chai Kai) finds him on the street. Mar's servant then helps Mar recover his sanity and then re-trains Mar for the final showdown with Yu Tang.