San shao ye de jian

It's always a treasure to find a martial arts film adapted from a novel, because for once the story and dialogue are extremely solid and taken care of in advance, freeing up the producers to focus on what we really showed up to see: High flying, fast cutting, Martial Arts action.

And the action in DEATH DUEL is almost non-stop, as Derek Yee (Tung-Shing Yee), playing the former Champion of the Swordplay World now renounced and resigned as the "Hopeless Ah Chi" struggles to carve out a quiet life as a wanderer as old rivals turn up to claim the fame of defeating him.

And by God, Derek Yee, probably has his best ever performance here. You truly feel Ah Chi's distress, and this film required a strong lead for such an emotional narrative direction.

Likewise, the film seems very much intent on keeping things dark. A lot of the scenes take place at night, and there's even a fight where two characters are deliberately knocked into ceiling lanterns just to darken the room. Maybe there is a symbolism here, or a contrast that is supposed to highlight when the characters are finally out in the sun, or in the sunset. Interesting to observe.

The world in DEATH DUEL, the way of the wandering swordsman, and the pursuit of fame within the martial arts world, it's all brutal, and it's one where you don't really want to imagine being a part of. But no matter, you enjoy and still watch because it really feels like true hearts and souls are on the line. That is what a good martial arts movie, a dramatic story itself, should set out to be.

Score: 10/10