Guillotine Movie Reviews

I am a big fan of the classic kung fu movies. However, I found this movie to be extremely cheasy. The One-Armed Boxer, the hero, is from a prior film. This movie fails to offer enough background about the hero, so I found myself rooting for the enemy instead. Additionally, the One-Armed Boxer's missing arm is clearly noticeable tucked within his shirt. It is hard to take him and his fighting scenes serious. Where this film lacks in plot, it makes up for in a multitude of characters and creative fight scenes. You will see where many video games got inspiration for characters and fighting techniques. Instead of this film, I suggest a film with Bruce Lee, the Venom Mob, Gordon Liu, Jackie Chan or the "Five Fingers of Death".

There are two types of classic movies:
1. the "so well made, performed, and executed"
2. the extremely influential or 'cult status' types.

Master of the Flying Guillotine falls under the latter. Influential to video games with its gimmicky fighters, it's flying guillotine, memorable characters(one-armed boxer, blind monk), and various fighting techniques. It has deservedly attained cult status because of these and more. The fight scenes, including a long tournament of numerous(although fairly brief) fights between different contenders is worth the watch alone. Most of the fight scenes are good, esp. for a movie this old. The only scenes that kinda disappoint are the ones that contain the one-armed boxer in them(Jimmy Wany Yu just isn't that impressive in his martial arts or charismatic in his performance, resulting in more than one veiwer rooting for his opponents instead i'm sure). There are some cheesy elements like the dubbing, Jimmy walking up walls(???), some less than convincing decapitations...then again, this movie has flying guillotine-induced decapitations, Jimmy walking up walls(!!!), and classic cheesy 70's dubbing! See, it's all how you look at things or perceive them.

Anyhow, the dvd has a good picture quality, a lot more extras(including audio commentary, deleted scenes, original languge option, etc) than usually afforded to old-school kung fu films, and again a great extended tournament fight that is reason enough to watch if not buy this dvd. I'm glad I have this in my collection anyway. Definitely recommended, just don't expect the first definition of classic.

I have waited for years for this movie to appear on DVD. An American version was released for TV play in the late 1970s, but this version is the original Chinese version. Jimmy is as wooden as ever, but the true star of the movie is the flying guillotine. Cheesy special effects, a hero who defeats his enemy via trickery instead of skill, a villian you end up rooting for and the deadliest martial arts weapon of all time. How can you go wrong?

This movie is for the true fan of the the classic Kung Fu movies. The fighting is sparse and none too impressive. The overall story is good but lacks much of the action to compete with the other classics. The premise of decapitating your foe is interesting at first but loses its luster quickly. Having to wait until the end of the movie for the big fight scene isn't worth it.

It's true, it doesn't have quite the action and hand-to-hand of 'other classics' like, i.e., The Kid with The Golden Arm, but you have to own this title anyways, or you're just posing.
The movie is different from those 'other classics' in that it's hero is more of a 'real' person than the hero in those 'other classics'. He can't kick your head off, and he can't whip his ponytail through your torso (which _is_ a weak point of this movie, I'll grant you), but he loves his wife and son, he's a good, moral man who is deeply disturbed by the situation in which he finds himself.
This movie has extremely rapid plot development, and the viewer can feel how the young protagonist is swept up by the pace of developments - fueled by the impatience of the godlike Emperor. The Emperor summons you to his palace. Of course you go, dropping everything instantly, because this man can have your whole city burned if he had a bad bowel movement that morning.
Your new life is to live at the palace and study to master a new weapon. Should you manage to complete the ultra-demanding training, you will be the Emperor's Special Ops forces, used to kill traitors. It's a huge honor, involves major prestige to your whole family, and mondo cash.
During the blur of the intense training, you are awakened after even less sleep than usual, with a veritable parade of courtiers who convey the will of the Emperor: it's time to put that training to the test.
You hustle off in the middle of the night, and one of you kills the appointed target.
Later, at an interlude in the training, it becomes clear that the victim was a 'good guy'. It must have been a mistake, right? No way the Emperor could be wrong, right? It becomes clear that even such discussion amongst the troops reaches the ear of the Emperor, and paranoia mounts. Disobedience is instant death, the walls have ears, and there are jealousies and tensions as strong undercurrents threatening to destabilize an already tenuous position stressed by a power-mad Emperor.
Another mid-night mission, and the target is another 'good guy'. The fine, upstanding men recruited are morally at odds with the will of the Emperor, and cracks appear in their committment. The troops are divided along moral lines.
Now, one of the evil troopers receives a clandestine mission, and his target is one of the more vocal troops in opposition to the murder.
The pressure is intolerable, the situation explodes, and the hero breaks loose from the now hopelessly corrupt group.
He is hunted, but survives each encounter because he was the best of the group, and because he is helped by a woman who falls in love with him.
They mangage to avoid capture, but eventually are found, and the climactic battle ensues.

I loved this movie, although the score occasionally makes you long for deafness.
Watch it for the history behind the sequel (which is not really a sequel): The Master of the Flying Guillotine, which has none of the plot development, intrigue, or drama, but has the lethal ponytails and blitzkreig action.

Two pillars of the art.