A few days ago I was at the local pharmacy and was looking through a bargain DVD bin of movies that are 99 cents each. I didn't find any kung fu movies or any movies of my fancy, when I found this Saturn DVD titled Equal Against Devils, an obscure 1981 Taiwanese feature starring an all star cast with Champ Wang Goon Hung, Tien Peng, Kam Kong, Chen Sing, Dai Sai Ann, among others. There's no martial arts in this one, but the filmmaking, script, and acting is very well done and pacing is entertaining. It's about a pool shark who gets hired by the triads to do their games, but eventually gets double crossed with the mob friends that hired him through the devious big boss. The acting really suprised me, especially from these stars, who are usually relegated to mediocre scripts and one liners in their low budget Taiwanese kung fu movies. Kam Kong, quite unrecognizable in an elegant Italian suit is exceptionally cool, while the subdued evilness of Chen Sing and Dai Sai An adds color, while the cool professionalism of Champ Wang and Tien Peng, who have this natural chemistry together through working together for so many years, keep the movie flowing. The editing was nicely done, conveying the emotions of the characters and the seriousness of the situations quite well. The riot scenes outside of the pool hall(it's worse than a soccer match or any riot I have ever seen) are unintentionally hilarious and the ending is a non generic VERY well surprise that only a John Woo or seriously talented HK filmmaker could think of and shoot. I was currently out of extra spending money at the time and was very pleased and surprised to find such a neat film this cheap and this available. The version I saw was the Joseph Lai version which is listed as being made in 1985, although the HKMDB lists the original title The Desperate Prodigal as being actually made in 1981. I don't know if Joseph Lai edited the original version for his English dub but it seems to be one complete movie. I had bought two other Saturn discs for 99 cents last year, Street Fighters Part 2 and Fighting Duel of Death, which were competantly made enjoyable Taiwanese triad movies starring the obscure Taiwanese actrors Lyon Chan and Sean Lee, which I have no idea what their real names are and would like to know. I do know that Sean Lee, or the good guy in both movies mentioned did star in the Taiwanese for of Joseph Lai's Ninja Squad which I saw on Telemundo Channel 51 last year. You never know what you can find on tv or in those discount bins. These Taiwanese triad movies try to take themselves seriosly and in the case of Equals Against Devils, the outcome was rather successful given the combined talent that was involved. Not for everyone's tastes, but a nice surprise nonetheless. Buy it when you have the change and the chance. It's a Saturn disc, and should be easy to find. Highly recommended. ****1/2/*****

Frank