Duel of the Devils is a low-budget Brucexploitation film from Taiwan with schlocky Japanese versus Chinese action and pockets of martial zaniness. It stars superkicker Dorian Tan Tao-liang, who thankfully doesn’t mimic Bruce Lee, but carries on in a plot all too reminiscent of Lee’s movies.

Tan is Lin Yu-sen, a simple backwoods hunter living with his wife Wai Chan (Doris Lung Chun-erh) and her father has his world shattered when several villainous Japanese stereotypes kill the old man and kidnap Wai Chan. Furious, Lin goes in search of her. Along the way, he teams with a rather large and dumb fellow countryman (Cheng Fu-hung) to fight the Japanese in guerrilla-style warfare. He draws the attention of a local Chinese police official charged with arresting him and his sympathetic daughter (Angela Mao Ying) who eventually joins his cause. Lin finally catches up with Wai Chan, who has reluctantly become the wife of a Japanese soldier. A struggle ensues and Wai Chan and Lin’s beefy friend are killed in action. Left with nothing and wanted by the law, Lin is forced into fighting his way through an odd assortment of foreign fighters as he progresses to the top of a pagoda to challenge two Japanese martial arts masters.

This is one of those, “it’s so bad it’s good” kung fu movies. The ultra-low budget is only overshadowed by characters and situations so moronic you’ll either laugh or cry. The feature is actually headlined by top talent including Dorian Tan and Angela Mao. Both are excellent screen fighters, Dorian with his left leg and Mao with her well-rounded kicks and punches. Both actors are also known for playing serious roles as they attempt to do here, which makes the absurd situations they end up in all the more hilarious.

Actually, much of the movie is fairly dull with generic action here and there and too much screen time devoted to stereotypes including a bare-chested and portly Cheng Fu-hung as the fat dullard, Ngai Ping-ngo reprising his Japanese pet ass routine from Fist of Fury, Tan Tao-kung as the pasty-faced “Nancy Boy,” and Lung Fei ridiculously attempting to be an East Indian in face paint and a turban. These caricatures actually make regular screen villain Kam Kong as a Japanese colonel seem almost authentic by comparison.

Doris Lung pointlessly plays two helpless, non-action roles as look-alikes both threatened by the Japanese. Mao partially redeems the film’s female contingent by belting out a few excellent moves while dressed as a man. Her legwork in a scene midway through in particular is worth checking out as she levels one attacker after another in quick succession. Tan is of course one of the top kickers in martial arts film history, but doesn’t do much to impress this time around. He displays more of his trademark moves near the end, but the choreography is generally sloppy and diminishes their impact. As one example of generally bad combat set-ups, “Japanese” fighters surround Cheng Fu-hung with samurai swords drawn in an ambush. But rather than attack him, they immediately drop their swords and then jump on him. Viewers may be left wondering why they ever wielded swords in the first place. The only entertaining scene up until the end battle is a brawl on a moving train as Tan and Mao battle with a mob of Japanese soldiers in tight quarters.

What the film lacks in quality action it makes up for in absurdity in the film’s ultra-campy finale. Having lost their direction after they kill off Tan’s wife, the filmmakers turn to a comical rip-off of Bruce Lee’s Game of Death. Tan works his way through a series of fighters on different levels of a pagoda. It begins with a “gweilo” fencer, who after being beaten when his foil proves to be insufficient simply states, “good Chinese gung fu.” Next up is the film’s funniest scene when Tan takes on two oily Mongol fighters in leopard print undies. The brawl turns into a Three Stooges episode as Tan sets the lumbering oafs against each other, but not before he is literally tossed back and forth between the two like a beach ball. Lung Fei as a whip and throwing dagger-wielding Indian follows. This is definitely one of his less-inspired film roles, but both comical and offensive at the same time. Tan moves through another level populated only by a handful of traps and then takes on one of two Japanese fighters. The first is played by Kam Kong. The highlight here is Dorian’s extended use of a bladed yo-yo to fight him. Yes folks, a yo-yo! It’s fun for a little while but drags on for too long. The last contender is actually a bit of a disappointment after all of this tom-foolery. Tan takes on a standard karate fighter at the highest level of the pagoda. The one bonus is that Tan gets a little more serious with his legwork although the poor choreography and camera work frequently reveals wide gaps between Tan’s kicks and his adversary.

Duel with the Devils is not a good film to see Angela Mao or Dorian Tan at their best. Nor is it good on any other level for that matter. The production is cheap, the story routine and the kung fu is adequate at best. But for a kung fu cheese-fest of colorful villains, the final pagoda challenge is wacky fun.

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