I had heard good things about The 36 Deadly Styles, but what I got was a big disappointment. The story is hardly coherent, and it actually seems like at least two different movies were conflated into one. The fight of the two masters who had waited ten years to settle their score (over a lost book of the 36 deadly styles, which is the sole reference in the entire movie to its actual title) had absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the story.

The first hour and seven or eight minutes were very, very dull, and made all the worse by a really terrible bad guy. There were a couple of decent fights (mostly involving the girl),but nothing to get worked up about. Then, suddenly, in the last 20 minutes, we get a lot of great training and fight sequences. The final battle is passable, but not great. The end is too abrupt.

I rate most of the movie a "3" out of 10, but because of the last 20 minutes, I'll generously award it an overall rating of 5.

After watching one of the greatest martial arts movies ever, 7 Grandmasters, it was very anti-climactic to see the same director, Joseph Kuo, make such a royal mess out of The 36 Deadly Styles. I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that most of the movie was done by some hack, and only a few scenes were actually Joseph Kuo's work.

Wah-jee and his uncle are being hounded by fighters led by Cheung Sze and their battles take them to a Buddhist temple. The uncle dies before a monk named Huang saves them, killing most of their enemies, and putting Wah-jee to work in the temple. But it's strenuous and brutal work doing the chores and he seeks to leave just as Tsu-mun returns with Bolo Leung in a crazy wig and starts destroying his new home.

Pulled away at the last second, our hero must learn the 36 Deadly Styles if he wants revenge for his uncle, his father and his new life.

Cheung Sze is so brutal that a strike from him can poison you for weeks, an affliction that can only be cured with herbal wine. Man, imagine that? Nerve strikes so painful you have to drink to get better!

Obviously, the Wu-Tang Clan loved this movie, what with Kuan-Wu Lung playing a character named the Ghost Face Killer. As for me, I appreciate any martial arts movie that suddenly has Henry Mancini's "The Pink Panther Theme" come on in the middle of what should be a historical Asian setting.

There is some fun to be had from this conventional martial arts film, but with the talent involved it should've be so much better.

The incoherent plot involves subplots and flashbacks, which are intertwined with the main story, but only serve to confuse the viewer. It is advised you sit back and enjoy the action and not worry too much about following the story. Thankfully, there is quite a bit of action to enjoy.

Hwang Jang-lee plays the main baddie, and along with his nasty henchmen (played by a red-nosed Chan Lau, and Bolo Yeung in the daftest wig imaginable!),they cause all sorts of problems for the good guys, hero Wah-jee (Cheung Lik),pretty soy-milk seller Tsui-jee (Jeannie Chang) and Tsui-jee's father (Fan Mei-sheng).

In the tradition of many a kung-fu film, these three must team together and battle the bad guys at the end of the film (but not after the token 'training' scene).

The fighting is pretty good at times and incorporates some interesting moves and styles, although the final showdown is a little disappointing considering the build-up (in particular, the unsporting way Wah-jee resorts to blinding his opponent with smoke in the final battle seems out of place in this type of movie - that's the kind of thing the bad-guy would do!) All in all, a passable affair - if not a particularly memorable one.