The Killer Meteors (1976, HK/Taiwan)

Starring: Jimmy Wang Yu, Jackie Chan, Lan Liu-li. Directed by: Lo Wei

"The Killer Meteors" is a movie that has, in the various Western video and DVD releases, been marketed as a movie with Jackie Chan as the main star. This is not exactly true. Jimmy Wang Yu is actually the star of this movie and Jackie was given a secondary role since Wang Yu was one of the big martial arts movie stars in Hong Kong at the time and "Jacky" (as he was known at the time) was still struggling to get his career going.

In "The Killer Meteors", Wang Yu plays the Killer Meteor Mei Sin Her, who is a master of both kung fu and the Killer Meteor, which is a weapon well-known and feared all over China. Master Mei is so feared that men get down on their knees, cut their fingers off, and beg for mercy just so he will spare their lives!

Jackie (in a rare villainous role) plays the Immortal Meteor Wa Wu-bin who believes his wife has poisoned him. He needs the antidote which, unfortunately for him, is in the hands of his scheming wife. Getting the antidote from his wife is going to be no easy matter because she has four kung fu masters serving as her bodyguards and the Immortal Meteor is in no condition to take them on. Therefore, he must get a little help from the Killer Meteor......

This movie is the big-screen adaptation of a novel from famed wuxia novelist Ku Feng, who is also credited for writing the screenplay for the movie. As is the case for the novel, there are many plot twists and turns and get ready for those before watching this movie! In fact you'll want to pay very close attention, especially at the end.

Also in a supporting role in this movie are Phillip Ko as Go Yuen So and Sit Hon as the Lightning Swordsman Wan Fong.

All in all this is an excellent old school kung fu/wuxia movie....as long as you keep in mind that it's a Wang Yu movie and not (quite) one starring Jackie Chan. As a matter of fact, Jackie only has one fight scene in the whole movie! Apart from this, the cast pulls the movie off very well and Wang Yu is in his prime as the Killer Meteor, who can kill his opponents (and "friends") with no mercy and do a bit of womanizing afterwards! This is a must-see if you are a fan of Wang Yu or Jackie Chan!

Also known as:風雨雙流星/Feng yu shuang liu xing (original Mandarin title-HK), Fung yu seung lau sing (original Cantonese title-HK), Wind, Rain, Two Meteors (literal English title-HK), Jackie Chan Versus Wang Wu (VCD title-Thailand), Tiger der Todesarena (West Germany), Anikitos aetos tou karate/Oi ongolithoi tou kung fu (Greek VHS and DVD titles respectively), Meteoro inmortal (Spain), Karate Death Squad (bootleg title-US)

The Flying Guillotine (1975, HK)

Starring: Chen Kuan Tai, Ku Feng, Wei Hung. Directed by: Ho Meng-hua

There is only one word to describe this movie: awesome! This is the first of the movies the Shaw Brothers made about the infamous flying guillotine, and one that is atypical of the usual Shaw Bros. flick.

In "The Flying Guillotine," the tyrannical Emperor Yung Cheng orders a new weapon devised to excruciatingly kill his enemies and install fear in the heart of his allies. One of his advisors creates the Flying Guillotine: a weapon sort of like a Frisbee on a chain that can be thrown over the head of a person and rip it right off. The Emperor orders his advisor to select a small group of his most elite, trusted soldiers to be trained in the use of the Flying Guillotine and sends them to work.

After several assasinations, some of the soldiers have an attack of conscience over what they're doing and who they're killing for. They decide to flee, but only Chen Kuan Tai makes it out of the Emperor's palace alive. After that, he must do whatever he can to stay alive since the Emperor's armies and assasins will not stop looking for him, and eventually he must also do whatever he can to keep his new family alive. But can he take on all of his former comrades by himself? Also, can he use the Flying Guillotine again to protect himself and his family?

There is a lot of roof-crawling and jumping (a la "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Iron Monkey") in this movie and a bit of regular kung-fu thrown into the mix. This makes the movie a sort of combination of kung-fu and action movie.

All in all this movie is a fairly darker movie than most fu flicks, but it's an excellent one! If you happen to stumble across this one, be sure to check it out!

Also known as: Xue di zi (Mandarin-original title), A Guilhotina Voadora (Brazil), La ghigliottina volante (Italy). Also released in the US in Oct. 1981 and in Germany in Nov. 2009 at the Munich Asia Filmfest.