The Deadly Duo is with right to be called a kungfu classic. So what is it that makes this one stand out?
Ti Lung, David Chiang, Bolo Yeung for starters. But mostly because this Shaw Brothers production delivers almost non stop action. And everything is in function of that action. It's fast paced and doesn't waste a minute of celluloid. Like it should. No comic relief (at least intentionally), not too much drama, simply heroic stuff and lots of fighting. If there is one point of criticism that could be made is the lack of one on one battles. But seriously how can one on one battles be more awesome than two men fighting hundreds and hundreds of men that keep coming and coming?
And I want to point out the fact that this film is produced in 1971. An old film that still holds up due to high quality production values overall. This is what you can achieve if you invest and use the budget properly. These days you can do so much more with just a click on your computer (so to speak). But somehow big studios in Hollywood still manage to screw up things, by being too fancy for their own good and resorting to new technology that may seem impressive at the time it's developed, but very quickly can look outdated. CGI can be nice but practical effects beat it every time. But on top of that you can tell that the actors are truly skilled in the martial arts they are displaying. No quick cuts or super fancy editing techniques. Some scenes even look like long takes which is very impressive. So definitely one to watch!
Ti Lung, David Chiang, Bolo Yeung for starters. But mostly because this Shaw Brothers production delivers almost non stop action. And everything is in function of that action. It's fast paced and doesn't waste a minute of celluloid. Like it should. No comic relief (at least intentionally), not too much drama, simply heroic stuff and lots of fighting. If there is one point of criticism that could be made is the lack of one on one battles. But seriously how can one on one battles be more awesome than two men fighting hundreds and hundreds of men that keep coming and coming?
And I want to point out the fact that this film is produced in 1971. An old film that still holds up due to high quality production values overall. This is what you can achieve if you invest and use the budget properly. These days you can do so much more with just a click on your computer (so to speak). But somehow big studios in Hollywood still manage to screw up things, by being too fancy for their own good and resorting to new technology that may seem impressive at the time it's developed, but very quickly can look outdated. CGI can be nice but practical effects beat it every time. But on top of that you can tell that the actors are truly skilled in the martial arts they are displaying. No quick cuts or super fancy editing techniques. Some scenes even look like long takes which is very impressive. So definitely one to watch!
Underneath a music video I made of an own produced track. Very mistakenly I was under the assumption this was the public domain title called Deadly Duo without the "The". Forgive my poor editing skills at the time. I have improved them considerably.
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