The Hot, The Cool and the Vicious (1976)
Reviewed by Adrienne (Venomsfreak)
September 12, 2010
I love this movie. The story is very engaging, with an easy to follow plot. Wong Tao and Tan Tao Liang work very nicely together, first as enemies then as friends, very believable performances. The fight scenes are plentiful, the most exciting being the very last one of course.
I didn’t notice any frame cutting, sped up scenes, or wirework, the choreography is very well done. As I said previously all the fighting is good, especially the last fight scene which is excellent.
I’m a huge Wong Tao fan and I think this is his best performance. Tommy Lee was also very good as Mr Lung, and of course Tan Tao Liang looks amazing all the time with his incredible leg fighting.
I don’t know what else I can say about this movie. To me it’s exactly what a kung fu movie is meant to be. Easy to follow plot, lots of action, and lots of Wong Tao.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I watched this the other day and I enjoyed it. Not so much because of the action, it was decent and plenty but not as good as I had hoped. I think the main reason is that the camera work is inferiour. It didn’t complement the movements of the performers one bit and ruined much of what could have been an instant hit. This was 1976 though, and the kung fu genre still had a few years to evolve, so I guess they are excused to some degree. However, the dubbing was hilarious. Every single line was a potential cheesy classic and it made the movie as fun to watch as anything. And Tommy Lee’s character?! What the..? That was outrageously funny. The movie was played out straight and then all of a sudden a kung fu virtuoso “yellow haired gorilla” that talks in echo enters as the main villain. The best fight of the movie was probably the fight he had against Wong Tao alone. I’d give the action a 2.5 or so but the sheer entertainment value a solid 5, simply because it was so unintentionally funny. Hard to give a final verdict.