Bandits From Shantung (1972)

A swordsman (Chang Yi) returns to his village to see his family and discovers that notorious bandits from Shantung are planning to ambush a security escort there the next day. He decides to stop them.

There isn't much more to the plot than that, at least in the version I saw, which barely tops 80 minutes even accounting for PAL frame rate. There's no back story, no conspiracies or hidden identities, no betrayals... just a swordsman and some bandits, a bunch of waiting and some fights.

A minimal plot can be interesting if the characters are worth spending time with ... which is not really the case here. Chang Yi was never a charismatic actor and he doesn't instil his character with much personality. Some of the minor characters are more interesting, but none are around for very long.

The film peaks by the middle when various groups converge at an inn and each adds tension, but once the inevitable fight that ensues has concluded the film seems to have exhausted its ideas and drifts along until the final showdown.

Action is alright, but much of it is shot in dark environments that are basically indecipherable on the DVD. An open-handed fight between Chang Yi and Sammo Hung is the most interesting, nodding towards the contemporary shift towards kung fu, but the remainder of the film is firmly wuxia.

I normally rate Huang Feng amongst the best directors of martial arts films in the 1970's, but this film doesn't contribute positively towards that opinion. It's not terrible, but it is completely insubstantial.