Master of the Flying Guillotine

I hadn't heard of this movie before receiving the DVD as a gift, but I'll definitely be showing it to my friends. It's one of those absurdly over-the-top martial arts movies that's made all the more fun by watching it with a group. It's about thirty years old, and that shows in the production value, especially the audio. The sound effects are seriously the worst I've ever heard in an actual film. There are two basic sounds in a fight - either a thwack from a connected blow or a lo-fi whoosh that sounds like someone dropped the microphone when they miss. A lot of times the timing is off, and it can get distracting how bad the sounds are. But that's just part of Flying Guillotine's charm.

The premise is simple - a one armed man killed two fighters who happened to be a blind old man's disciples, and he's after revenge. It might seem like the old man's the good guy, but it's the reverse. He murders indiscriminately while the "One Armed Boxer" runs a dojo and preaches restraint. The title comes from the old man's weapon of choice: a device on the end of a long rope that's lined both inside and out with blades, and can be used to easily remove the heads of the user's foes. It's a silly, creative, entertaining weapon. There are plenty of other characters to, and there's a lot of opportunity for varying fighting styles when the first round of a martial arts tournament plays out to get the ball rolling plot-wise. The fight choreography is really pretty good for its time. It does get fairly repetitive once in a while, especially when both fighters have a standard style with no weapon, and I really thought the last fight dragged on too long, but in general they accomplished their goal of making an entertaining action movie. A lot of the humor is laughing at the movie instead of with it, but that's fine with me. What I found interesting though was that while the One Armed Boxer was supposed to be the stoic good guy, he really was quick to kill and use any cheap advantage he could get, especially against the barefoot guy. I mean, what kind of sissy way is that to fight? Isn't he good enough to win fairly? Oh well.