Battle Wizard (HK 1977)

Rating: **
Review Date: 10/9/16
Cast: Danny Lee, Ni Tien, Chen Chi Lin, cameo by Norman Chu

Yellow Robe Man loses his legs when he fights against a man who possesses the deadly Yi Yang Finger technique. He plots his revenge for twenty years and intends to kidnap his enemy's son, Prince Tuan Yu (Danny Lee). At the same time, the enemy's jilted lover sends her bastard daughter Xiang Yaocha (lovely Ni Tien) into the world of martial arts to become a champion fighter with her fearsome bone sword technique. She also instructs Xiang to kill her ex-lover's wife (who happens to be Tuan Yu's mother). Things get even more complicated when Tuan rescues a snake girl named Ling-erh (Chen Chi Lin) from the Poisonous Moths Clan, and Xiang pledges to marry Tuan after he sees her face. But this can never be because they're actually siblings. Prior to this, Tuan had no martial arts experience, but a chance encounter with the mystical Red Python makes him super powerful. This comes in handy when he has to fight a vicious gorilla at the end of the film. Are you following any of this? Neither am I. Anyway, it's a fun and goofy kung fu fantasy full of wacky characters and outrageous set pieces. Danny Lee makes a good bumbling hero, but it's Ni Tien who steals the show with her fierce beauty and riveting performance.