This is the sequel to Water Margin and if seen together, truly does feel like an epic story. Although this film differs greatly from its predecessor.

The story of the 108 heroes continues with a new nemesis, an Emperor of a well guarded city. The biggest difference to me is that while in the first film the heroes were unbeatable no matter what odds, here most of our heroes die in bloody battles. Of course this comes after the fallen one would first kill about 40 enemies singlehandedly. A much tighter story than in Water Margin with not much in the way of any sub-plots. Also there weren't tons of new characters being introduced for no reason at all.

David Chiang continues to ham it up while inexplicably Ti Lung's Character gets almost no screen time until the end. One performance did stand out for me. That was given by Fan Mei Sheng as the Black Whirlwind. While I found his character annoying in Water Margin I enjoyed his role here.

Action sequences and fight scenes were everywhere. Mostly consisting of 1 or 2 heroes killing dozens of enemy troops with ease only to finally fall in the end to one of the Emperor's Generals.

A decent film put on a broad stage. This is a story I would love to see made today with a little more in depth story-telling. Shaw Brothers fans put this on your must-see list but try to watch Water Margin first with this soon after if not immediately so you can get the full story effect.