THE ANGRY GUEST is a Shaw Brothers sequel to a film I haven't seen, called DUEL OF FISTS, but the story is so easy to follow that watching the first in the series is not an absolute requirement. It's an irresistible teaming up of the two hottest Shaw actors of the period, Ti Lung and David Chiang, with the director who directed them at their very best, Chang Cheh.
The slight twist in this film is that along with its predecessor it has a contemporary setting, so the story is accompanied by funky music and is chock-full of eye-popping fashions. The action hops from Thailand to Hong Kong and Japan and is always coherent, telling the simplistic story of a couple of good guys falling foul of a Japanese crime syndicate and forced into a battle for survival.
Those looking for depth or insight will find little on display here as this is a straightforward action thriller. I found that it had little of the Shaw 'feel' to it, unlike for example the studio's wuxia epics which bore all their trademarks; this by contrast is heavily derivative of the many kung fu films that came out in the early 1970s when the world was going crazy for Bruce Lee and his peers. Chiang and Lung are fine in their straightforward roles and there are good roles for Ching Li and Jen Tsu Fang as the women of the cast. Cheh himself has a small role as the Japanese crime boss.
The film is light and breezy and full of great action, as you'd expect from Shaw. The fight scenes are of the 'basher' variety but there are some cool stunts involving our heroic twosome, such as leaping through windows or chasing down a bad guy on motorbikes. The climax takes place at a building site and involves some great shovel-fu. Watch out for the ever-hulking Bolo Yeung in one of the henchman roles, while the great Japanese actor Yasuaki Kurata proves a match as the main villain of the piece.
The slight twist in this film is that along with its predecessor it has a contemporary setting, so the story is accompanied by funky music and is chock-full of eye-popping fashions. The action hops from Thailand to Hong Kong and Japan and is always coherent, telling the simplistic story of a couple of good guys falling foul of a Japanese crime syndicate and forced into a battle for survival.
Those looking for depth or insight will find little on display here as this is a straightforward action thriller. I found that it had little of the Shaw 'feel' to it, unlike for example the studio's wuxia epics which bore all their trademarks; this by contrast is heavily derivative of the many kung fu films that came out in the early 1970s when the world was going crazy for Bruce Lee and his peers. Chiang and Lung are fine in their straightforward roles and there are good roles for Ching Li and Jen Tsu Fang as the women of the cast. Cheh himself has a small role as the Japanese crime boss.
The film is light and breezy and full of great action, as you'd expect from Shaw. The fight scenes are of the 'basher' variety but there are some cool stunts involving our heroic twosome, such as leaping through windows or chasing down a bad guy on motorbikes. The climax takes place at a building site and involves some great shovel-fu. Watch out for the ever-hulking Bolo Yeung in one of the henchman roles, while the great Japanese actor Yasuaki Kurata proves a match as the main villain of the piece.
