Zhong yi men

I suppose when you buy a film for £2.00 in a charity shop you can't really expect some long lost masterpiece, and Shogun Saints is definitely no classic.

A textbook example of the word "generic" this film (at least in the version I saw, which is the UK release VHS from the 80s) is dull, predictable and often incoherently edited - though this may be a result of both the pan & scanned picture and possible distributor cuts. The amount of thought that's been put into the western release of this title is probably best summed up by the fact that it's a Hong Kong film that's had the word "Shogun" put in the title.

The plot is the usual "you killed my father, now I'll kill you... blah blah blah" scenario, which it follows through from A to B without much in the way of twists or surprises to spice things up. The fight scenes, though numerous, aren't particularly well executed though, and the odd moment of spurting blood doesn't quite make up for the lethargic nature of many of the show downs.

There are some highlights for the die-hard martial arts fans: a strong female sword fighter character, a comedy fat man being decapitated (and I know there's a niche audience for that out there...), the frequent use of "you bastard!" that's so inexplicably popular in kung fu movie dubbing, and a surprisingly good climax which features the fairly astonishing "spinning cart attack" which I can honestly say is unlike any other fight scene I ever watched.

Not that any of these things should come as much of a recommendation. It's a pretty dull film, and only obsessive fans of Jimmy Wang Yu, or people who really just can't get enough kung fu action should bother with it.