Now, this is more like it!
Holy Flame of the Martial World (1983)
Directed By: Chin-Ku Lu
The Prologue
And we have another classic by, Shaw Brothers here today. A film known as, Holy Flame of the Martial World. Yes, apparently it’s not “of the Martial ARTS world” like I had assumed. I double checked with IMDB and Netflix and “Arts” isn’t there, so if you don’t agree with the name please don’t spam me. None the less, it’s a lot of fun to watch. And it’s got a cool little revenge story, that still sticks to the very strict rules of the Asian culture. Well, most of them anyway. If our bad guys didn’t do a little bit of evil things we’d have no point for a film now would we?
The Movie
After a young couple is killed while guarding scrolls that reveal the whereabouts of the powerful Holy Flame, their surviving son and daughter are kidnapped by rival masters who train the orphans for revenge. Years later, the stage is set for an epic battle — one made doubly important by the emergence of a second Holy Flame. Philip Kwok — of the famed Venom films — co-stars and choreographs the nonstop action in this martial arts fantasy.
While it seems with a lot of these movies you get either a lot of action and not enough story. Or you get tons of story and not enough action. This movie mixes those two things together nearly perfectly. You gets tons of action, and on top of that you get a story that isn’t mind numbingly hard to follow, yet works very very well in this setting. Characters are likeable and the settings and all involved does come across as more fantasy than anything else, but it never disappoints from an action stand point either. That is something I can appreciate, as it does seem to get lost in the shuffle in some films.
What was clearly the Shaw Brother’s answer to Tsui Hark’s Zu, Warriors From the Magic Mountain, “Holy Flame”, does things far better than the mentioned film. While effects isn’t one of those things, it’s everything that Zu Warriors isn’t, and that make it the superior film in my eyes and in a lot of other people’s eyes as well. There’s no plot that makes you have to follow every moment in order to stay in the loop, and there also isn’t any unwanted social commentary. What you get is pure fun from the start and it all adds up to a film that any fan of Kung Fu films should see at least once before they die. There’s something here for everyone, and it does things like pacing, action, and even comedy right.
As I said when I did the podcast over this movie, even the film’s ending seems perfect in this film’s setting, as corny as it actually is. As everything that happens from start to that point seems to give an overall rewarding feeling. Almost as if you just saw some epic mission saw through, and while it’s not the most realistic story, it’s for sure a darn good one with a perfect cap off to it. A film like this would probably never work today, it would just be too corny and this one, while a little out there, isn’t corny at all. Cheesy? Perhaps, but well worth seeing regardless.
The Conclusion
If you like kung fu, and you want to see action, fantasy, and an all around great plot, THIS is the film for you. While still a little less bloody and carnage than I normally like with my kung fu films, I’d watch this again sometime soon. Heck, I’d even show this one to my friends, and they are picky! Do yourself a favor and check this one out when you can.
The Rating (7.5/10)
Chucks website
