Secret Service of the Imperial Court (1984)
Reviewed by: Gaijin84 on 2021-01-28
Summary: Exiting kung fu films on a positive note...
In one of the last martial arts films produced by Shaw Brothers, Leung Kar-yan plays Sgt. Zhao Bufa, the head of the Brocade Guard. The Guard was a secret, ruthless squad that would carry out executions and murders for the Emperor. The Brocade was headed up by Bufa’s father, Zhao Wuyi, who ran the group with a creed of being merciless. Meanwhile, the eunuch Wang Chun (Lau Wing) has manipulated the Emperor’s weakness with a constant stream of courtesans and has effectively taken control of the country’s power structure. The Emperor defers to Chun on every decision, even those about who to punish or kill. Wang Chun uses this new found power to start to clear out rivals and anyone else that can stand in his way. Eventually that means taking over the Brocade and ordering Wuyi to kill his own son for disloyalty to the Emperor. This leads to Bufa taking to a life on the run, until he eventually decides to confront Wang and exact revenge.

It’s hard to believe Shaw Brothers was still putting out kung fu movies in 1984, when Hollywood hit movies such as Sixteen Candles, Beverly Hills Cop and The Natural were being released. I guess the popularity was still there and the numbers made sense. In all senses, it’s a really good kung fu film, albeit one that you might expect to see released 10 years before. Leung Kar Yan is excellent in the lead role, and is bolstered by supporting roles featuring favorites Lo Meng, Ku Feng, Lo Lieh and Lau Wing. Although a bit far fetched in some of the 100 vs 1 fight scenes, you do get excellent face-offs between Leung and Philip Ko Fei, as well as the final fight with Lau Wing in full eunuch-mode. Although not as epic as Eight Diagram Pole Fighter, (also released in 1984) it was a positive way for the Shaw studios to exit the genre and move on to more modern fare as they looked to try and keep up with Raymond Chow and Golden Harvest Studios.
Reviewer Score: 7