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| Images courtesy of 88 Films |
Hong Kong based action choreographer Tony Ching, later known
for directing the A Chinese Ghost Story trilogy and choreographing Hero
and House of Flying Daggers for Zhang Yimou, made his still studied
and pitch perfect directorial debut in 1983 with the Golden Harvest scope
widescreen wuxia Duel to the Death.
At a time when so many period wuxia audiovisual extravaganzas were being
pumped out by competitor studio Shaw Brothers, Duel to the Death remarkably
stands out brightly apart from the pack as a quintessential offering in the
Taoist fantastical wuxia.
Produced by Raymond Chow and starring Norman Chui and Damian
Lau, this tightly paced and edited epic is most certainly one of the go to
examples of the wholly elegant Golden Harvest Hong Kong magical realist
actioner for both the uninitiated and the seasoned kung fu martial arts movie fan. Defying the eyes as well as logic and reason,
Duel to the Death doesn’t aspire to be more than a thrilling action
entertainment and it more than exceeds whatever new or experienced expectations
one might have coming into this. Picked
up for North American release by 88 Films in a new 2K restoration with
plentiful extras, it represents an indelible masterwork of genre cinema whose
stunningly choreographed and staged battles still dazzle to this day.
The plot is seemingly simple enough: every ten years, in 16th
century China, the most accomplished and decorated swordsmen from China and
Japan engaged in a centuries-old duel to fight to the death. However, the next duel falls upon Japanese
ninja Hashimoto (Norman Chui) and Chinese champion Ching Wan (Damian Lau), two
lifelong arch-rivals who have garnered something of a friendship over the
years. Unmasking a plot to rig the
battle, it emerges ninjas acting on the Shogun’s orders are raiding the Shaolin
Temple trying to sabotage the duel in a plan that’s mutually beneficial to both
sides. Merely wanting a fair fight and
no part of the political chicanery playing out before them, it comes to light
the ninjas aim to steal a sacred kung fu scroll, forcing the two arch-rivals to
fight side by side together in an effort to thwart the rigging and free
captured competitors.
Visually stunning with dynamic scope 2.35:1 cinematography
co-authored by Lau Hung-Chuen and Danny Lee, arresting special effects
sequences including a kind of flying squirrel ninja raid defying the laws of
gravity choreographed by director Tony Ching and Lau Chi-Ho, breathtaking art
direction by Chin Sam and period costume designs by Kung Chuan-Kai and Chu
Sheng-Shi, Duel to the Death is what they call a home run! An out of the gate taut masterwork full of
wild but never wacky vistas, the film while somewhat light on characterization
gives us just enough with each of the two rivals from Japan and China to run
with the briskly paced action. Sure
there’s the element of magical realism but Tony Ching blocks and films it
elegantly and elevates the action to a kind of heightened art form which you’d
see again years later in his work with Zhang Yimou. Norman Tsui and Damian Lau shoulder the film
by themselves despite wading through a number of adversaries and though they
fight evildoers together, they never forget their pledge to have their titular Duel
to the Death.
Classy and handsomely produced and executed, the film was a
sizable hit at the Hong Kong box office while also being met with critical
praise for the action but complaints about the broadly drawn lead
characters. Nevertheless the film was
nominated for two Hong Kong Film Awards and in 2006 the film had a revival
screening as part of the 30th Hong Kong International Film Festival’s
A Tribute to Action Choreographers event. Circa 2014, Time Out magazine further polled
film critics, directors, actors and stuntmen to name their favorite action
films of all time and invariably Duel to the Death showed up on the
list.
One of the very best recent
offerings to come from 88 Films, the Blu-ray disc release comes stacked with
extras including an audio commentary with Frank Djeng, interviews with actor
Eddy Ko and screenwriter Manfred Wong, archival interviews and a wirework
making-of featurette. Housed in a
limited slipcover with reversible sleeve art, Tony Ching’s frankly timeless
wuxia debut is an extraordinary piece of filmmaking and the birth of one of the
action subgenre’s most gifted choreographers and directors.
--Andrew Kotwicki
