Released in the U. S. as Instructors of Death, Martial Club is from director Lau Kar Leung (The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter) and stars Gordon Liu as Wong Fei Hung, the legendary hero who was also the inspiration for the movies Drunken Master and Once Upon a Time in China.
His father, Wong Kei Ying runs one well-respected kung fu school while the Chan school also provides a good example to aspiring martial artists. Wang Yin-Lin (Te-Lo Mai), a student from the Chan school, has a friendly rivalry with Wong Kei Yung that is tested when a third school - one not as clean-cut - brings a guest martial artist in and convinces them that the good schools are evil and, as they say, hijinks ensue. And seeing as how Master Shan Hsiung is played by Lung-Wei Wang, there is bound to be a big fight between the leads.
The American tagline was "This is a tough school...if you fail, you're dead!" The truth is, while the final fight between Gordon Liu and Lung-Wei Wang down an increasingly narrow room is spectacular, this doesn't have the life and death odds you usually expect from a Shaw Brothers movie. That isn't to say that it isn't fun nor that it's gorgeous from the very first scene, a dragon dance routine at a parade that the new 88 Films blu ray makes look better than perhaps ever before.
His father, Wong Kei Ying runs one well-respected kung fu school while the Chan school also provides a good example to aspiring martial artists. Wang Yin-Lin (Te-Lo Mai), a student from the Chan school, has a friendly rivalry with Wong Kei Yung that is tested when a third school - one not as clean-cut - brings a guest martial artist in and convinces them that the good schools are evil and, as they say, hijinks ensue. And seeing as how Master Shan Hsiung is played by Lung-Wei Wang, there is bound to be a big fight between the leads.
The American tagline was "This is a tough school...if you fail, you're dead!" The truth is, while the final fight between Gordon Liu and Lung-Wei Wang down an increasingly narrow room is spectacular, this doesn't have the life and death odds you usually expect from a Shaw Brothers movie. That isn't to say that it isn't fun nor that it's gorgeous from the very first scene, a dragon dance routine at a parade that the new 88 Films blu ray makes look better than perhaps ever before.