36 Crazy Fists

Before I put on my reviewer's hat I'd just like to say that the DVD coner for 36 Crazy Fists (aka The Blood Pact) is a large collection of lies. The front cover features a large and recent picture of Jackie Chan striking a cool pose. This is a lie because the film is from 1977 and does NOT star Jackie Chan. Chan does (I believe) direct it however. It's actually hard to establish what is true and what is false because the DVD cover contradicts itself and the movie in many places. But I digress.

36 Crazy Fists is a martial arts/comedy movie and features some of the worst dubbing I've ever seen. I'm sure you've heard THAT before but I'd just like to point out that there would never have been a village in ancient China where every resident had a cockney accent. But it's not just the dubbing, some of the dialogue appears to be quite poorly translated. But whatever right? It's a martial arts movie not fucking Amelie, the dialogue is hardly the point. All that matters is that it's funny and the fighting is cool. Whilst this is not the greatest martial arts movie I've ever seen it certainly delivers some decent fighting and chucks in some reasonably funny jokes. For a little while at the films beginning I was a little concerned that this would be another Princess Blade; failing to deliver on what it promises. But after about 10-15 minutes of patchy storytelling the movie picks up and the choreography kicks in. Again, it's decent but nothing you wouldn't have seen before. Perhaps the most enjoyment to be gotten here is found in the age of the film itself. It's about 30 years old, lacks visual quality, has a pretty shitty story that is only worsened by the choppy translations. These may sound like bad things but in a way it's kind of endearing. It has an oldschool charm to it. You may be underwhelmed but then you remember that this was before special effects and there is not a stunt double to be seen. In a way it's kind of hard to say what I thought of this movie. For every good point there's a bad one, but I still managed to enjoy it.