One of the least well-known of the Bruce Li films, DEADLY STRIKE nevertheless equally as good as his more familiar flicks, with good emphasis on character in the supporting roles.
Bruce Li arrives in a small provincial town, he's the new Chief of Police, assigned to bring a criminal gang to justice. Within seconds of his arrival he's having a fist n' foot duel with his lazy and complacent deputies. Realising that most of these guys are not up to the job he decides to enlist the help of some of his prisoners (obviously a 'nod' to 'The Dirty Dozen'), offering pardons to those who survive the encounter with the gang. These include Wang Yung Sheng ( who played the Nunchaku weilding 'Yogi' in Goodbye Bruce Lee and one of the Karate fighters in One Armed Boxer) who's been imprisoned for killing three men who murdered his wife and the ubiqutous Lung Fei as a knife-throwing expert also doing time for the murder of a corrupt magistrate. They both play great parts and turn out to be 'good'-bad guys for once!They are also joined by a pickpocket (who supplies the comic relief) and a young orphan girl out to avenge her parents death at the hands of the gang.
En route to the gang's hideout they are subjected to various attacks by what seems like hundreds of the gang's lackey's, one particular pair of assassins like to stand on each other's shoulders to fight...bizzare. Bruce Li shows a ruthless side when he orders a prisoner to be hanged for trying to escape. The men, both prisoners and jailers ultimately bond together and arrive at the gang's HQ to find the leader; snake-charming Chen Hsing and it transpires that his right-hand man is the orphaned girl's brother, unaware of the demise and circumstances of his parents deaths. You just know this will end in tears....and sure enough after a long and bloody battle everyone lies dead except for Li who lies exhausted and laughing like crazy on the ground.
A tremendous effort by all concerned but especially Lung Fei and Wang Yung Sheng who have never been better as the director gives them sympathetic roles instead of the usual mindless 'heavy' types they've played. I urge everyone to seek out this relatively undiscovered gem.
You won't be disapointed.
Reviewed by Carl Jones
Copyright 2002 Carl Jones and BRUCEPLOITATION