The ever reliable Joseph Kuo gives us one of the most iconic and trend setting kung fu films in the shape of The 18 Bronzemen, the film that thrust star Carter Wong into leading man status and sits comfortably along side the likes of the 36th Chamber series as a Shaolin themed classic!
18 Bronzemen is one film I would love to see cleaned up and 4K restored in widescreen. I'm a huge fan of director Joseph Kuo. His film career spanned almost 60 films as a director, most of which where very well received and most of which were highly entertaining. 18 Bronzemen is definitely one of his best, and of course most famous - but its not just because of the shiny men in gold. The film is actually very well made.
From the acting to the cinematography, the sets to the nicely choreographed fight scenes, this little gem is a kung fu classic in every sense. In the same year Lo Wei had released 4 Jackie Chan movies, even competing against the Bronzemen with his own version - Shaolin Wooden Men. The mighty Shaw Studios were also dishing out hit after hit of course, so any film from a smaller more independent studio releasing films at this period, certainly had their work cut out for them!
While the awesome 36th Chamber trilogy carried a lot of comedy throughout, the Bronzemen trilogy is a must more serious matter. Running with a similar storyline of Manchurian villains and revenge, there is a fair amount of drama driving the film forward - along with great training and fight scenes of course. But it isn't done in a cheesy way unlike many other kung fu films from that era, it is in fact, very well acted.
Even the original English dub respects it enough not to throw in some stupid sounding voice-actors!
By the halfway point you feel you have already sat through a full film (in a positive way) having had so much happen, but it is at this mark our heroes ( Wong and Tien) get to leave Shaolin and their intensive training to continue their story. Around the hour mark, we get introduced to the fantastic Polly Shang Kwan who helps bring a little more energy to the last 30-40 minutes and at the same time adding to the story.
The film ends in a great climatic battle as Wong, Tien and Kwan put a stop to the bad guys and the film comes to an end with a montage of the friends time together. Classic cliché...
Overall: Well produced, full of emotion, kung fu and great cinematography, this is one of Kuo's finest moments!
