BRUCE AGAINST THE ODDS (which I saw under the title THE MIGHTY FOUR) gives us Yang ("Casanova" Wong), orphaned by the murderous Ma Sing Ping, who grows to adulthood lusting for revenge. When Yang is captured, he finds himself beaten down by a trio of opponents. He's rescued- by his WIFE- and taken to a cave to recuperate. Seasons come and seasons go (which we know because we see the precipitation outside the cave entrance, which transitions from rain to falling leaves to snow to blossoming flowers, etc, etc); Yang's wounds heal; he trains; the local villains act out... His wife is captured and he and his Master attempt to rescue her. There's an AWKWARDNESS to most of the action in THE MIGHTY FOUR that camera-work just can't hide- and some woefully wonky wirework only makes matters worse. The hero's earnestness near the end is made all the more (unintentionally) amusing by the often just plain inept movie-making. Good for a laugh, if nothing else.

You know that this unconnected sequel to a Bruce Lee flick is going to be a piece of trash when you notice the names of the "unholy trio" appearing when the credits role - I'm talking about Godfrey Ho, Joseph Lai and Tomas Tang, three men responsible for bringing some of the cheapest, tackiest martial arts action to cinema screens. From the opening wannabe tragic scenes to the cheeky message "see you again" at the film's close - and we sure would see them again, thanks to the dozens of ninja movies they made that flooded the world's market in the mid '80s - Big Boss 2 is one big, fantastic spectacle.It doesn't start off too well, with an oh-so-predictable plot line to bore you. A boy's parents are brutally murdered, so as an adult he plans to revenge himself on the villain responsible. He goes in but is badly beaten by the enemy and barely escapes with his life - so enlisting the help of a teacher, he learns the true art of kung fu and returns for a fight to the death. Yadda yadda yadda. Sure, the first half hour of this flick is predictable and uninteresting... but then things start to get good. Events build up to the final half hour, one big long section of martial arts mayhem combining all kinds of fantastic elements to make things stranger and thus more entertaining. This is one of those films where fighters can fly up to stand in tree branches and train themselves by carrying buckets up hills and kicking out candles with their feet.Casanova Wong (GAME OF DEATH) is astonishing as the lead, utilising the length of his legs for some incredible high-kicking action towards the end. My favourite move sees him jump on to two men's shoulders, kicking them in the face and then jump-kicking a third guy, all in one quick fluid take. When some of his kicks are slowed down you realise just how good the guy is, and he's very good. Which is essential because the villains are really sneaky here - they hide in the floor and attack him with really nasty weapons - flails, poles, metal claws on chains, you name it. It may not be pure art, but this film sure is entertainingly trashy and its a hoot for fight flick fans.

An extremely poor 70s Kung Fu film; I'm not sure why it is rated so highly on here, except perhaps for comedic value. Even by chop-socky standards, it's substantially below par. I've heard good things about Casaova Wong, but he looks surprisingly incompetent in this movie. He even walks weirdly. It also has absolutely nothing to do with Shaolin. The original has clearly been heavily spliced and edited, often extraordinarily obviously. The dubbing is awful -- most of the time the character who is supposed to be speaking isn't even moving his or her mouth. The costumes are also ludicrous -- most of the villains look like Indians from a 50s western. All this would be forgivable if the fight scenes were well done but, alas, they are actually the most disappointing aspect. Every scene relies heavily on comically obvious wire-work and ham-handed editing. The only scene it seems anybody bothered to choreograph is the last, which barely rises to the level of mediocre. Even there, it's not at all smooth, and the villains tend to stand still and wait for the hero to get around to hitting them. There are much better examples of genre that are just as easily obtainable as this forgettable trainwreck.

This film is not a good martial arts film. My copy is called Lone Shaolin Avenger. It stars Cassanova Wong. I cannot even remember the plot as it is so bad. The only reason I gave it a 4 out of 10 is that the special effects are so hilarious. The last 20 or so minutes is where it gets humorous. The dummies used in place of people in the fight scenes are not just apparent, but blatantly obvious. It is a lousy kung fu film. But it is worth watching for its great unintentional humor.