Long Wei shan zhuang

This late 70's kung fu flick from Taiwan is a bit of a mixed bag starring the wonderful Polly Shang Kwan, and Shaw Brothers stars Yueh Hua and Lo Lieh. It carries its routine storyline of revenge, double-crossing and honour between some pretty well grounded and choreographed kung fu, to some outrageous wire-fu at other times. The comedy sometimes comes intentionally, but most of the time, not!

I really wanted to love 99 Cycling Swords. I'm a huge fan of Polly, as well as the brilliant Lo Lieh and even Yueh Hua, but in the end, I would say it does have its flaws. The film is neatly shot and not terribly directed by any means and ultimately, this is all about the kung fu, of which, 99 Cycling Swords does the job. Yes its nothing on what Jackie, Sammo and Lau Kar Leung were dishing out that year, but it does entertain. As mentioned, its grounded hand-to-hand is well done, but the odd bit of wire-fu gets crazy. In one shot, Polly Shang spins in the air while on a dinner plate, before she flicks it out from under her and makes it land neatly on a nearby stack of dishes.

The fight-filled finale, involving a compass, magnets, and rubber masks, is mental fun all the same..!

Overall: Often outrageous, with some great fights, you can't help but like it!