Okay early Chan starring vehicles; very heavy handed, with little humor; a lot of training sequences, more than usual for the genre at this time - these are more realistic than similar training episodes of the period, but they lack of any inherent interest, perhaps for that very reason. The fight scenes are well-choreographed, largely because Chan is clearly choreographing himself. The actual 'wooden men' sequence is unconvincing; this particular legend was best presented by Joseph Kuo in "The 18 Bronzemen," where Kuo presents the Bronzemen as men in bronze paint, rather than the robots or spirit-possessed statues of other films. Here they are rather ungainly robots, and not very threatening, to be honest.
The big plus of the film is the relationship between Chan and his teacher, who is also the lead villain - that double identity gives the film its real weight, and the resolution of this relationship in the final fight is almost carried off - enough so to leave the fan of such films of its era satisfied.
The big plus of the film is the relationship between Chan and his teacher, who is also the lead villain - that double identity gives the film its real weight, and the resolution of this relationship in the final fight is almost carried off - enough so to leave the fan of such films of its era satisfied.