Brilliantly sadistic fun!!!
Well to start things at the very beginning we have the movies title: MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE. Which certainly gets my vote for the BEST movie title ever - but it hardly ends there.
When watching this wickedly innovative martial arts classic from the mid-70's (an early entry in the post-Lee era), it's apparent from the movies opening credits with it's oddball music selection (Kraut-rock), that it's star/director Jimmy Wang Yu was clearly thinking outside-the-box. "Master of the Flying Guillotine" is the sequel to the "One-Armed Boxer" and it's superior to it's older counterpart in pretty much every way, not that the One-Armed Boxer is bad - not at all, but The Master is an absolute classic of the martial arts genre and once you've seen it you're likely never to forget it.
Basic plot structure revolves around revenge and a certain martial arts tournament and a group of half-a-dozen, vengeful, martial artists from various regions of the East; who along with an old blind priest, who actually is (as it will quickly be obvious) the master of the flying guillotine. They conspire against a certain karate dojo and it's renowned master, the one known as the one-armed boxer. In the first movie titled "The One-Armed Boxer" Jimmy Wang Yu (it's star and director, the same as in this movie) kills two of the masters disciples and when upon finding this out, he seeks to avenge thou who hath slayed his students and what transpires over the course of the next 90 odd (VERY odd) minutes is perhaps the most creatively conceived and most entertaining martial arts film ever made. Starting with Jimmy Wang Yu's stylish sense of direction, Master of the Flying Guillotine works so well in so many ways, from it's tight editing (it's action sequences vantage from this immensely), to it's notably unusual, but totally effective soundtrack (a -Kraut Rock- soundtrack in a -Martial Arts- film was just UNHEARD OF at the time and boy does it work well here), plus there's a great deal of variety among the villainous ranks of evil martial artists, showcasing lots of different styles. The long and the short of it is this, Master of the Flying Guillotine is a martial arts film that's simply exemplary (a one-of-a-kind) with it's combination of style, innovation, humor and creative energy and is often ranked as Jimmy Wang Yu's best film. In fact this great film has SO MUCH style, that it often teeters on the edge of gimmickry, but it never crosses the line, too far, and devolve into a cringe-worthy spectacle. Wang Yu's too good of a director to let that happen and deftly maintains the films plot, purpose and pace near perfectly.
Brimming with no fewer than six individual fight scenes and a lengthy martial arts tournament, Master of the Flying Guillotine has all the action you could ask for (and then some). But with this movie, it's really more about the Quality of such scenes, not the Quantity - though to be accurate it's really both at the same time. LOTS of ass-kicking's are dealt-out in this unbridled classic of martial arts mastery. And as you may already know Kung Fu films are not known for there realistic sound effects (ala kicks and punches, etc.) and Master of the Flying Guillotine has some of the loudest/punchiest, most over-kill sound effects of them all. For instance by merely twitching your wrist left to right a few times, will cause loud and dramatic atmospheric disturbances. The finale is, not surprisingly, between: the one-armed boxer and the master of the flying guillotine himself and let me tell you the flying guillotine is one HELL of a weapon when wielded by the master. A real terror! But our crafty hero is always at least one step ahead and defeats said weapon with wit, wisdom and guile. The fight between these two is epic and sprawling in nature and takes place in no fewer than three different locations - I think you'll find the last locale (that Mr. One-Arm has rigged-up, in advance, with spring-loaded booby-traps) to not only be enthralling, but also wickedly ironic. A ruthlessly intense fight, often in very close confines, finally ending with a POWER PUNCH, which sends us literally THROUGH THE ROOF and then downwards we tumble, head-first, into an open coffin! Sweat is beading on the brow! Yes, there's rarely a dull moment in this one, but Jimmy Wang Yu was considerate enough to include a few slower scenes to his masterwork, which establish a few key plot-points... and let us catch our breath. Ok, so it's not full-speed all the way (what movie is?), but almost.
On the matter of the films presentation.....it would seem as though The Master has been through some rough hands over the years and hasn't aged particularly well. As the film has several minor flaws and inconsistencies in both it's image and sound. But fortunately they are just minor issues and nothing too terribly distracting.
Strong Points: Highly-stylized action and SFX, razor-sharp editing, great soundtrack and sound effects (The Master's an orgy for the ears, as well as the eyes) and an AMAZING finale/fight-to-the-death.
Weak Points: No specifics, other than to say, it's modest budget prevents it from having an overall "oppulent" visual presentation - with more money it would have been even better.
One last thing to mention: It's a fact that The Master has a lofty, A-List ally in the form of director-extraordinaire Quentin Tarantino. He loves this classic of the Kung Fu genre because of it's addictive combination of style and innovation AND lunatic levels of absurdity. Now obviously this doesn't mean you have to like it, but he does.....
Well to start things at the very beginning we have the movies title: MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE. Which certainly gets my vote for the BEST movie title ever - but it hardly ends there.
When watching this wickedly innovative martial arts classic from the mid-70's (an early entry in the post-Lee era), it's apparent from the movies opening credits with it's oddball music selection (Kraut-rock), that it's star/director Jimmy Wang Yu was clearly thinking outside-the-box. "Master of the Flying Guillotine" is the sequel to the "One-Armed Boxer" and it's superior to it's older counterpart in pretty much every way, not that the One-Armed Boxer is bad - not at all, but The Master is an absolute classic of the martial arts genre and once you've seen it you're likely never to forget it.
Basic plot structure revolves around revenge and a certain martial arts tournament and a group of half-a-dozen, vengeful, martial artists from various regions of the East; who along with an old blind priest, who actually is (as it will quickly be obvious) the master of the flying guillotine. They conspire against a certain karate dojo and it's renowned master, the one known as the one-armed boxer. In the first movie titled "The One-Armed Boxer" Jimmy Wang Yu (it's star and director, the same as in this movie) kills two of the masters disciples and when upon finding this out, he seeks to avenge thou who hath slayed his students and what transpires over the course of the next 90 odd (VERY odd) minutes is perhaps the most creatively conceived and most entertaining martial arts film ever made. Starting with Jimmy Wang Yu's stylish sense of direction, Master of the Flying Guillotine works so well in so many ways, from it's tight editing (it's action sequences vantage from this immensely), to it's notably unusual, but totally effective soundtrack (a -Kraut Rock- soundtrack in a -Martial Arts- film was just UNHEARD OF at the time and boy does it work well here), plus there's a great deal of variety among the villainous ranks of evil martial artists, showcasing lots of different styles. The long and the short of it is this, Master of the Flying Guillotine is a martial arts film that's simply exemplary (a one-of-a-kind) with it's combination of style, innovation, humor and creative energy and is often ranked as Jimmy Wang Yu's best film. In fact this great film has SO MUCH style, that it often teeters on the edge of gimmickry, but it never crosses the line, too far, and devolve into a cringe-worthy spectacle. Wang Yu's too good of a director to let that happen and deftly maintains the films plot, purpose and pace near perfectly.
Brimming with no fewer than six individual fight scenes and a lengthy martial arts tournament, Master of the Flying Guillotine has all the action you could ask for (and then some). But with this movie, it's really more about the Quality of such scenes, not the Quantity - though to be accurate it's really both at the same time. LOTS of ass-kicking's are dealt-out in this unbridled classic of martial arts mastery. And as you may already know Kung Fu films are not known for there realistic sound effects (ala kicks and punches, etc.) and Master of the Flying Guillotine has some of the loudest/punchiest, most over-kill sound effects of them all. For instance by merely twitching your wrist left to right a few times, will cause loud and dramatic atmospheric disturbances. The finale is, not surprisingly, between: the one-armed boxer and the master of the flying guillotine himself and let me tell you the flying guillotine is one HELL of a weapon when wielded by the master. A real terror! But our crafty hero is always at least one step ahead and defeats said weapon with wit, wisdom and guile. The fight between these two is epic and sprawling in nature and takes place in no fewer than three different locations - I think you'll find the last locale (that Mr. One-Arm has rigged-up, in advance, with spring-loaded booby-traps) to not only be enthralling, but also wickedly ironic. A ruthlessly intense fight, often in very close confines, finally ending with a POWER PUNCH, which sends us literally THROUGH THE ROOF and then downwards we tumble, head-first, into an open coffin! Sweat is beading on the brow! Yes, there's rarely a dull moment in this one, but Jimmy Wang Yu was considerate enough to include a few slower scenes to his masterwork, which establish a few key plot-points... and let us catch our breath. Ok, so it's not full-speed all the way (what movie is?), but almost.
On the matter of the films presentation.....it would seem as though The Master has been through some rough hands over the years and hasn't aged particularly well. As the film has several minor flaws and inconsistencies in both it's image and sound. But fortunately they are just minor issues and nothing too terribly distracting.
Strong Points: Highly-stylized action and SFX, razor-sharp editing, great soundtrack and sound effects (The Master's an orgy for the ears, as well as the eyes) and an AMAZING finale/fight-to-the-death.
Weak Points: No specifics, other than to say, it's modest budget prevents it from having an overall "oppulent" visual presentation - with more money it would have been even better.
One last thing to mention: It's a fact that The Master has a lofty, A-List ally in the form of director-extraordinaire Quentin Tarantino. He loves this classic of the Kung Fu genre because of it's addictive combination of style and innovation AND lunatic levels of absurdity. Now obviously this doesn't mean you have to like it, but he does.....