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Review
by Kozo: |
This high-energy kung-fu flick marks the directorial
debut of Donnie Yen. He also stars as Wolf, a war veteran
who recounts the tale of his legendary youth to a young
upstart killer (Edmond Leung). Flashback to a post-World
War 2 time when the young Wolf (Yen) is wandering the
Chinese countryside in search of his missing memories.
He only knows to meet someone at an abandoned temple.
He ends up hooking up with local villager Dayo Wong,
who intends to guide the Wolf to his destination. On
the way, they find the ever-radiant Carmen Lee, who’s
been waiting for Wolf for quite some time. However,
Wolf still can’t remember jack, until the bad guys (led
by Lam Kwok-Bun) come to find him, and they bear the
terrible secret of the Wolf's past.
Unfortunately, that secret
is never totally clarified - but the film makes up for
the confusion with some of the most energetically staged
action around. Donnie Yen shows some powerful moves
as Wolf, though sometimes he’s clearly aping Bruce Lee.
Dayo Wong doesn’t do half-bad himself - who knew the
guy could fake fighting as well as he does in this flick?
True, the narrative is confusing and the drama is sometimes
overdone and clichéd, but overall the strength of the
film is in its adrenaline-kicking action sequences. (Kozo
1997) |
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