BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Konterr Brilliant and touching

SteinMo What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Leofwine_draca THE DEADLY DUO is another splendid production made by director Chang Cheh with stars Ti Lung and David Chiang for the Shaw Brothers studio. Cheh, Lung and Chiang teamed up for over a dozen of these films and rather incredibly most of them turn out to be good if not fantastic, and THE DEADLY DUO carries on that tradition.Things open in a jaw-dropping fashion with some brutal execution scenes and a mass fight between a group of rescuer heroes and the massed forces of evil. The heroes are Sung fighters here while the bad guys are Mongols typically wearing animal pelts. The story gets a little bogged down by telling major action scenes in flashback where I think they would have worked better played out in a linear fashion, but this is only a minor complaint. At around the halfway point of this short film, the main plot becomes clear: the heroes have to infiltrate a fortress to rescue a kidnapped Sung prince. The only man who can aid them is David Chiang, a fighter famed for his light frame.What follows is a bloody and brutal fight in which mass brawling violence occupies most of the running time. Cheh gleefully directs the gory mayhem and the resultant film feels like a comic book at times, especially with the 'five element' henchmen including Tree Man, Mole Man, and the great Bolo Yeung playing the shaven-headed River Dragon! Lung and Chiang bounce off each other well as the heroes and the excellent supporting cast features Chen Sing, Ku Feng and Stanley Fung (best known for playing Rawhide in the LUCKY STARS films) as villains. It's a real treat for Shaw fans.

poe426 The action is fast and furious (and usually involves half a hundred men at a time) in THE DEADLY DUO. Chang Cheh's Dynamic Duo, Ti Lung and David Chiang, are paired up again. While it's not really clear what's going on or who's kicking whose butt, there's a whole lotta butt being kicked, and that's good enough for me. There are a couple of interesting scenes: in one, a raft is dismantled from underneath so that the guys on it end up in the ocean with their attackers. In another, three men try to make it across a bridge spanning a chasm, only to fall to their deaths, one by one. (Why the second and third men try after seeing the first guy fall isn't really clear.) Later, Daivid Chiang, using a hook with a chain attached, manages to get across. The final battle pits Lung and Chiang against a horde of combatants. Chiang allows Lung to escape while he sacrifices himself. The final shot shows the apparently dead Chiang, standing upright with weapon in hand, on the dock as Lung escapes. Solid actioner.

S1lv3rSp33r Like other people mentioned it is always nice to watch Ti Lung and David Chiang playing together. The story is already explained in a early reaction from someone so that I dont have to do anymore :)Anyway go watch it !!! Its worth it !!! ;)

Brian Camp DEADLY DUO (1971) is one of a group of historical near-epics from 1970-73 directed by Chang Cheh and starring Ti Lung and David Chiang. This one's considerably shorter than the others (THE HEROIC ONES, NEW ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN, BLOOD BROTHERS), with less in the way of characterization and plotting and more in the way of fighting, action and adventure. All the fights involve various weapons, mostly spears and swords, but also some pretty exotic ones, such as a pair of lethal cymbals and a container that shoots out incendiary balls. The co-director of the action scenes is Lau Kar Leung (aka Liu Chia Liang) who had a special interest in spear and stick fighting and went on to direct some of the best kung fu films of the late 1970s and early '80s. The plot involves patriots during the Sung Dynasty and their attempts to rescue a kidnapped prince from Ching troops who have invaded the north of China. The patriots are led by Ti Lung who recruits a mysterious but seemingly superhuman fighter played by David Chiang to find a way to cross a perilous bridge to enter an impregnable fortress to locate and rescue the imprisoned prince. The big confrontation at the end involves trickery on the part of the heroes and the self-sacrifice of one of their number as David, who is not known to the enemy, brings in Ti as his `prisoner' to turn over to the Chings, as a way of gaining entrance. Then he cuts Ti's bonds and all hell breaks loose. The fight scenes are generally pretty fanciful but always fun to watch. The patriots' opponents have names like Fire Man, Tree Man, Mole Man, Gold Mongol and Water Dragon. One particularly clever scene finds the patriots on log rafts crossing a river when Water Dragon and his cohorts attack and cut the binding on the logs, causing the rafts to fall apart in the water. There are several underwater action shots here. David Chiang and Ti Lung are both extremely agile and energetic and carry the action forward with great verve. Some good villains are on hand as well, including such dependable players as Ku Feng, Chen Sing, Bolo Yeung (as Water Dragon) and Liu Chia Yung. It's not a terribly deep film, but it's colorful and exciting and plays like a pumped-up swashbuckler. Although kung fu purists may prefer Chang Cheh's later Shaolin series, fans of sword- and weapons-play will enjoy this.