Bao chou

Vengeance gets off to a bloody, visceral, frantic, and amazing start. The way it cuts between the stage show and the violent fight scenes - just great, effective editing. And I also loved how cold and brutal the main character was straight away, when his quest for vegetable began. Plus a lot of the fight scenes are shot in a very intimate, in your face kind of way, and it made the already quite gory action have even more of an impact.

Things slow down in parts of the second act, as they often do. I also wasn't really sure about the romance aspects of this movie, and didn't really feel it, but at least it's brief.

But what matters most is that the main premise, while simple, is executed fantastically. David Chiang is also great in the lead role (he might be becoming my favourite of the regular Shaw Brothers actors) and the action - much of its relegated to the opening scenes and climax - satisfies. It's in the upper echelon when it comes to classic martial arts movies; that's for sure.