Mo gui tian shi (1973) User Reviews

Point Blank meets Martial Arts (once more)

[sabata_87 · 5/10 · 11 September 2011]

With music from "Shaft" and the typical "Point Blank" plot, this Hongkong movie comes along pretty cheap, but entertaining. I liked it after all. So if you are into martial arts films, you might like it too (even though I wouldn't spend money to see it).

The story is the typical "Point Blank" revenge story: At first, the protagonist starts off down the hierarchy, always climbing higher until the final duel against the top gangster boss comes. You can watch the original "Point Blank", the quasi-remake "Payback" with Mel Gibson, or the neo-noir thriller "The Limey", directed by Steven Soderbergh instead. (and I'm pretty sure, that there are plenty of other similar plotted films around) Or, if you like this kind of story, watch all of those movies...!

Anyway - another option is to watch the Shaw Brothers classic "Bao chou", which does not only tell the same story, but also in the same style: with martial arts fights and the Asian setting. But "Bao chou" is for sure much better from a cinematic point of view and shows much more blood flowing; directed by legendary Shaw Brothers director Chang Cheh, it is also quite entertaining.

But maybe "Wu Kung" is even more fun in its cheesiness - so if you are into trashy Asian movies and the typical 70's cinematography from most of the Charles Bronson flicks, you should check this out.

Devil and Angel (Mo gui tian shi) 1973

[jddog130 · 5/10 · 1 June 2015]

The DVD I have is from Germany titled "Wu Kung - Herr der Blutigen Messer" ("Wu Kung - Lord of the bloody knife"), English Dub with a release date of 2010, starring Lo Lieh and Gracy Tong Ka-Lai.

In the beginning we some thugs hiring a guy to make a phone call to report a robbery at a certain time. Then our hero (Lo Lieh) shows up and we soon find him laying in the road to stop a truck carrying money. The truck stops, the men help him up and all hell breaks loose, but our hero gets hit in the back of the head. The cops show up and then we roll into the opening credits.

The credits stop rolling and we start with his release from prison (5 year term), which he heads to his fathers house to be forgiven for the mistake he made. "What the hell just happened"? "Am I missing something here"? and so I thought (and you will too) for a moment. When Lo leaves his fathers, he goes to find his girl (Gracy Tong Ka-Lai) at the hospital (where she works). This is when we find out more detail about what happened, why and how. She wants to know why he kept her waiting for so long (they were supposed to get married) and he explains everything.

Anyway... now that he's out, he wants to seek revenge against the lowlifes that set him up for the fall. Interesting movie, not bad for 1973 and a pretty decent cast.

A mildly diverting contemporary martial arts revenge movie.

[BA_Harrison · 5/10 · 11 March 2018]

Directed by and starring legendary martial arts star Lo Lieh, Devil and Angel is a cheap but reasonably entertaining piece of kung fu cinema, which, as is so often the case, saves the best for last.

Lieh plays a fighter who takes part in a heist, but is double-crossed by his criminal cohorts in the process; as a result, Lieh is arrested and sent to jail. Years later, he is released and sets about taking revenge on the treacherous low-lifes who set him up.

The first few fights are a little disappointing (especially the one in an elevator, the scene taking place behind closed doors!) but the action gets gradually more impressive as the film progresses, with the final showdown against the chief baddie being worth the wait.

Along the way, we get a mediocre fight in a car park followed by rather dull car chase, a romantic montage (Lieh rekindles his relationship with his nurse fiancé, played by Grace Chia-li Tang), some breasts, a fight in a huge cemetery, and Lieh storming the baddies' HQ to rescue his girl.

4.5 out of 10, rounded up to 5 for that crazy out-of-nowhere freeze-frame ending in which Lieh is shot in the back after sparing the life of the main villain.

Nice vehicle for one of my favourite actors

[Leofwine_draca · 7/10 · 31 January 2018]

DEVIL AND ANGEL is a nice, if unknown, little vehicle for Shaw Brothers star Lo Lieh, who appeared in the classic KING BOXER. I love Lieh - he's my favourite Hong Kong star - and as such I enjoyed this movie, cheap though it is. Lieh finally gets a chance to play a hero in a contemporary thriller, and he also writes, directs, and produces. The story begins with some cool spy-infused titles while a riff on SHAFT plays out, while the opening sequence has criminal Lieh betrayed by his gang member friends and thrown in jail. Years later he gets out and goes running for revenge, not letting a romance with the pretty Grace Chia-li Tang (the angel of the title) get in the way. The film's simplistic plot proves a backbone for a series of fun and engaging fight sequences, and a lengthy mid-section car chase which is a lot of fun too. The viewer gets to see plenty of 1970s-era Macao along the way, and Lieh manages to recruit a bunch of Shaw Brothers character actors into appearing, including Tien Feng. Watch out for Michael Chan Wai-Man's random, backside-kicking cameo!