If you’ve been searching for a martial arts movie to fall asleep to then this is it. Mask of Vengeance should be called “Mask of Boredom.” It’s 100 minutes of mind-numbingly stupid dialogue, spurts of bland swordplay action and a plot to drive anyone to drink… or stop drinking as the case may be.
A clan of masked warriors is hosting a “dagger” contest in their city, which draws hundreds of eager hopefuls with various bladed weapons in hand. However, the whole thing is a ruse by the clan’s leader, who hopes to attract his enemy, a blind, crippled and one-armed man. The plan fails but little-known actor Miu Si-shing steps up to win the contest with a goofy little jade knife that we never see again. But before he can accept the prize consisting of a “knife skills page,” he has to agree to track down the cripple. Thus begins a loopy quest as Miu encounters various swordspersons from Nora Miao (Fist of Fury) as an enchanting beauty and Shaw Brothers actress Shih Szu as a cross-dressing heroine who follows Miu around like a love-sick puppy to the bitter, one-armed son of the crippled man and a thug (Wang Ching) intent on getting his hands on the knife skills page.
In keeping with wuxia convention, the plot branches out in complexity as Miu finds the cripple living in an old well. He uncovers the truth behind the masked clan leader’s relationship to the cripple and to his lost father. After having a chat with a tortured hermit (Kam Kong) in a cave who cuts his own throat, Miu returns to the masked clan with various super important figures in the martial world to confront the leader. And now for the big plot spoiler – the masked man reveals himself to be Miu’s father, but not his real father. You see, his real father turns out to be the cripple, now dead, and this whole scheme was to get Miu to help the masked clan leader rule the martial world! So Miu and the bitter one-armed swordsman join forces, with Shih Szu and Nora Miao backing them up, to kill the unmasked clan leader. But that’s easier said than done, for he wields a metallic right hand, you know, like in Army of Darkness. But instead of saying, “groovy,” he just laughs a lot like a maniacal evil villain should.
Making brief cameo appearances as mind-controlled, armored warriors forced to fight for the masked clan leader are indie kung fu stars Dorian Tan, Kong Do and Wong Hap. Yes, “Flash Legs” Tan is reduced to playing a bit part and the only kick he gets to deliver is cut short by the editing. I can cut director Pao Hseuh-lieh some slack for failing to match his previous studio work, but this is too much. In his defense, I can say he gave Tan far better roles the previous year in The Revenger (1979) and especially Blooded Treasury Fight (1979).
Mask of Vengeance has a fair amount of swordplay, wirework and fancy exploding sets. But slow pacing, bad editing and horrible dialogue all stretch the action out awkwardly until almost nothing remains of even casual interest by the most diehard wuxia fanatic. I sense that the movie could have been better or was better before it was remixed for overseas sales. The basic story isn’t much different from many of the Gu Long novels adapted into movies by Shaw Brothers. Pao has definitely shot good stuff in his day, especially while working with Chang Cheh at Shaw Brothers. Likewise, some of his other indie flicks are decent.
What makes this wuxia pian especially difficult to digest is the English dubbing on the available release from Venom Mob Films (aka Crash Cinema). I used to think that the worst dubbing on earth was found on Godfrey Ho’s The Deadly Blade (1978). But at least it was entertaining. On Mask of Vengeance it sounds like they’re just adlibbing filler dialogue, like repeating the same thing back and forth a couple times. In some cases they contradict themselves or change character names randomly. It’s pretty difficult to stay focused. In fact, I’ll be holding a contest to see if anyone can stay focused on this film from start to finish. The winner will receive the dagger skills page and free counseling.
by Mark PollardRelated Topics:
Genre: Kung Fu
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