EUNUCH OF THE WESTERN PALACE is a nondescript kung fu film shot in Taiwan with a whole host of kung fu stars who don't really add much to the story. The tale features your usual white-haired master with a fine line in evilness who doesn't really do much apart from sit around barking out orders to his men.Don Wong is the erstwhile hero of the piece, travelling around and interacting with various characters, the majority of whom don't really seem to have much to do with the aimless story; the females are particularly poorly served here. Meng Fei is another one who comes and goes without making an impact. Lo Lieh has the best character, a tragic fighter dying from tuberculosis, but again, he doesn't have much to do. The director of this one was none other than Wu Ma, the well known face and personality of Hong Kong cinema.

The movie opens with an unsettling scene about castration, though nothing is really shown. I have to question the inclusion of that scene a it seems unnecessary. Perhaps the makers were going for realism. They seemed to be going for many things to make this movie not your cookie-cutter kung fu movie. The parts fail to add up at the end. Lo Lieh is tossed in for a subplot about honor. Doris and another girl are tossed in to have some female fighters but they disappear before the final fight. Lung Fei is also tossed in and I really don't know what his character had to do with anything other than a kidnapping. Special weapons are tossed in to the fights to make them look different. Some viewers like creative weapons and some, like me, prefer only authentic. In the end it all just adds up to another average movie of the year and genre suitable only for hard core fans to scratch off their list and say "I saw that too".

With a host of kung fu stars and what were obviously intended as decent production values - especially for an independent production of this time - it could have been really good. But the story is weak, not helped by poor editing and dubbing, and confusing with characters appearing and disappearing and scenes shifting suddenly as though a much longer film had been made and then badly cropped. Lo Lieh as the martial arts hero dying of TB is wasted and there is a lot of story with action shoe horned in until the final, rather good fights. Don Wong Tao and Meng Fei never really seem to get into and Doris Lung (and whoever the other actress is) just disappear towards the end, leaving the boys to it. I liked the mad monk fighting with what look like orchestra cymbals and some of the scenery is spectacular. The night scenes are rather dark and confusing, but the best joke must be on the Venom Mob DVD cover 'can anyone stop wang-less Wang'.

An evil Eunuch named Wang in a bid to take over the ruling dynasty in his area strikes a bargain with foreign Japanese allies in an attempt to convince them to help him seize power. Meanwhile a group of resistance fighters secretly gather together in an attempt to bring the truth of Wang's plans to light as they are each entrusted with evidence that exposes the truth about Wang and his traitorous plans, evidence they must get to the Emperor before Wang can execute his plans but it won't be easy with Wang's men blocking the roads and him having spies hidden everywhere.This film is filled with fun characters, each who seem to possess a unique look all their own as well as a unique fighting style and a unique choice of weapons (kind of like G.I. Joe characters. In fact our characters here too would make rather a nice toy set). It helps that these characters are played by faces (Meng Fei, Lo Lieh, Doris Lung, Lung Fei) that should prove most familiar to many Kung Fu fans. That said, this film reminds me of G.I. Joe also in terms of its narrative style. Dealing with so many characters leads to most inevitably remaining less than fully developed and there's a strong focus on having the different characters involved here eventually winding up in some type of showdown between good and evil forces. There's nothing really special or spectacular about the film, nothing which truly sets it apart from the pack so to speak and an even bigger negative is the disgusting and disturbing early narrative explaining the Eunuch history, something which is in fact completely unnecessary. But if one finds enjoyment in comic book style adventure, one could do a lot worse than this film.