Duel to the Death

 

Duel to the Death
Release Date - 1/13/1983
Country of Origin - China
Directed by Ching Siu-tung
Starring - Norman Chu Siu, Damian Lau, Flora Cheong-Leen, and Eddy Ko

When you’re a kid you sort of fall in love with the different types of warriors. Knights, pirates, Spartans, etc. However I think I speak for a lot of us when I say that while those were cool, every kid on the friggen planet loves and is obsessed with ninjas and samurais, ninjas more so. Whether it’s by the Ninja Turtles, anime, cheesy action films, or Power Rangers/Super Sentai, we all catch the ninja bug at some point and become infatuated with them.You also tend to fall in love with martial arts due to stuff like Power Rangers or watching films about them. This rings especially true for those that come from Hong Kong and China. Whether it is wuxia tales or just plain old down and dirty fighting, martial arts films also tend to play a role of infatuation for us former kiddies (and still do for some of us). So what happens when you take ninjas, throw in some wuxia heroes, and top it off with some rather interesting scenes? You get Duel to the Death.

Released in 1983 Duel to the Death saw the directorial debut of acclaimed action director and wireworker Ching Siu-tung. Ching would later go on to direct the beloved film A Chinese Ghost Story, the Swordsman series, and multiple other films. Since its release the film has garnered a fan base and for some is one of the best martial arts films to have ever been made. Dr. Craig Reed has even listed it as his number eighth pick as the best of that genre of film. So there is a bit of a pedigree to the film. Does it deserve it? Am I ever going to think of another way of phrasing to jump into these films that have some positive feedback? Who knows, but I can get to actually reviewing this picture and offer my two cents.

Every year China and Japan meet, they sending off their best swordsman to face each other in a match to determine which country houses the best martial arts and for the honor of their country. This year China is represented by a man known as Lord of the Sword; Bo Ching-wan (played by Damian Lau), a student of a Shaolin temple who is ready to showcase his skills and to prove himself. Representing Japan is Hashimoto Kada (played by Norman Chu Siu Keung); a samurai who also has some training in the art of ninjutsu and is honored to be given the task by the Shogun.

The two head out and meet at the selected battle ground; a school led by a once prestigious clan of swordsman in China. However while the two men act very pleasant and respectable to each other it appears as if there’s some espionage going on that threatens to change the course of the duel. Adding some extra intrigue to the events is the daughter of the House of Swords master (played by Flora Cheong-Leen) forming a relationship of sorts with Ching.

What exactly is the purpose of those looking to undermine the customs of the duel? Which country will prevail? The only way to find out is to draw ones sword and fight until they no longer can.

Looking at Duel to the Death’s story reveals one that is simple yet kind of complicated and crazy. The setup is simple and the film stays this way for the majority of the running time. It isn’t really until we get close to the end that it begins to get a little labyrinthine. This comes from the motivation of the villains of the movie. Without revealing too much, there is something the two villains want that the other has, so they form an odd alliance to get what they both want. It comes out of nowhere to a degree and on one end makes absolutely no sense and could have been handled in a simpler manner. I wish I could go into more detail but that would involve spoiling a chunk of the movie. If you watch the movie you’ll see what I mean. Still while the ending gets a little confusing the stuff before it is easy to follow. I do wish it had some more meat to it, and there is stuff that just isn’t explained (such as why Ching is staying in the Shaolin temple but doesn’t have to shave his head or dress like the others). Really there isn’t much to it and save for the ending (and needing a bit more to it) it provides a simple but nice story with a few bits of poignancy. Overall some fairly decent stuff with a few moments of what the hell.

Obviously the story being pretty simple means that the characters are in the same boat. All but Hashimoto though. Strangely this Hong Kong film about China VS Japan actually gives a lot to the focus to the Japanese character and even gives a bit more time to the other Japanese characters. I say this is weird because in films like this the Japanese characters don’t really get a lot of development or are handled in a way that makes them out to be inferior, with a lot of this coming from Japan and China’s estranged history. Yet Hashimoto has the most development of the characters and comes off as a very likeable and sympathetic character. Norman Chu Siu Keung as such steals the show acting wise and delivers one of the best performances I have ever seen in a martial arts film (and thus one of the best characters). This is honestly one of the highlights of the movie. I just wish I could say the same for the rest, as the characters themselves are very simple and while the acting isn’t bad, nothing is all that great. I would say Damian Lau is the next closest to being a standout performance but suffers from only really showing off one side of the character, and while done well the other sides just aren’t showcased that well. In the end, much of the acting and characters are on cruise control, but Keung’s acting and the overall way Hashimoto is written provides one of the best characters you may ever see in a kung fu film.

This brings us to our technical side. It is here in which the film really begins to shine out in all aspects. Starting with the cinematography we are given very beautiful and well shot visual. I’ll admit some of the darker interior and night scenes can be a little sketchy, but they aren’t all that bad, with one of them being one of the best shots of the flick. However whenever we are greeted with a scene set in the daylight and in one of the many forests or at a waterfront is when the cinematography really shows. These are some amazing visuals and are up there as some of the best I have ever seen. The movie does have some grain to it, but to its defense it is a film from the early 1980s and while some films from the era can look beautiful when remastered, this one does appear to have either been remastered from a bad print or just without a lot of attention. But even with the grain the shots still look great and I think it adds some character to the piece. Another beautiful aspect comes with the music and boy is it wonderful. The best way I could describe it would be that it sounds akin to music you’d hear in a spaghetti western or a giallo. The score invokes a lot of atmosphere and emotion and is placed quite well within the scenes. But what about the fighting? It’s good…nothing that great but it’s good. A lot of the fighting in the early bits of the movie is just sort of a paint by the numbers affair (which is odd to say considering we have ninjas fighting Shaolin monks). However once Hashimoto and Ching reach the House of Swords we start seeing an improvement in quality. However they don’t get that great. A lot of this to me is due to the wirework and how over the top it is. While this is common in wuxia movies I think it goes a little overboard here. The best fight in the entire movie to be frank is the one that doesn’t utilize wirework that much, and in fact involves Hashimoto. As for the titular duel to the death it is good, but still doesn’t really reach any levels of amazingness, again mostly due to the wirework. When it doesn’t rely on it there are some great moments and the outcome was a bit of a surprise. Overall the technical side isn’t bad, but when you’re a kung fu film and your action isn’t that impressive, your film gets dragged down quite a bit.

So at the end of the day, what we have in Duel to the Death is pretty much the definition of average. Now don’t get me wrong, there are some decent parts to the movie. Some scenes are handled very well (especially one between Ching and Hashimoto in which they talk about what is to come), the music is fantastic, and Siu’s acting is very good and the character of Hashimoto is one of the best developed characters in a martial arts film that I’ve seen. But sadly aside from these cases everything else is just rather dull. The plot takes turns which are too complicated and head scratching, the rest of the characters are just sort of there with acting that doesn’t help, and the fights, rather disappointingly try to be so flashy that they kind of fail and come off as boring (save for the previously mentioned solo Hashimoto fight). While martial arts movies won’t always have great stories or great characters, the least they can do is offer entertainment value in the fights, but Duel to the Death doesn’t really do that. And with all the other issues it becomes a giant pile of bleh.

When it comes to kung fu films you never truly know what you will get. Sometimes you get gold and sometimes you get not even a medal. It’s just one of those things you have to accept when being a fan of any genre. Where does Duel to the Death fall? Sadly I have to say it doesn’t even place for a bronze. It just comes down to the fact that the story while interesting is just weak in execution and drags down most of the characters with it. The music and cinematography almost make up for it but are then brought down by how lackluster most of the fights are. I definitely wouldn’t call it one of the best kung fu films of all time or even one of the best of the 80s. Sadly I find this to a film that is simply overhyped.

D +