Return Of The 18 Bronzemen

Bronzed Expectations

Return Of The
18 Bronzemen
aka Yong zheng da
po shi ba tong ren
Taiwan/Hong Kong 1976
Directed by Joseph Kuo
Eureka Masters Of Cinema
Blu Ray Zone B

Warning: Bronze spoilers leaping at you.

Return Of The 18 Bronzemen is the eighth and final of the films presented as part of Eureka’s brilliant Cinematic Vengeance - Joseph Kuo boxed edition and, wow, what an odd little movie. Dates are sketchy indeed for the original Taiwanese release of this movie but, certainly in Hong Kong, this sequel was released in cinemas a couple of weeks before the first film. Yeah, don’t ask why because I don’t know but I’ve seen this phenomenon happen a few times, especially in countries where the movie didn’t have it’s first release yet (so, for example, Dario Argento’s Deep Red was released in Japan after the success of Suspiria and under the title Suspiria 2, if you can believe that... never mind that, as far as these unconnected films go, Suspiria is a horror movie and Deep Red is a giallo).

But yeah, despite the bizarre release dates, this film is a very strange affair. It starts off with a young prince, played by Carter Wong, who seizes the throne under a ruse and who is shown to be not a very nice guy. Then, when he hears of a revolt in the famous Shaolin Temple depicted in the first movie, he goes into an extended flashback which lasts the majority of the film, to his youth. After getting into a fight which he loses against a kung fu lady played by Polly Ling-Feng Shang-Kuan, who played a different but major role in the first movie (reviewed here), he then comes into conflict with another young man played by Peng Tien, who played the hero of the first movie. This is literally the only scene that Tien is in for the whole film. The prince loses this fight too, which spurs him onto devising a way into the Shaolin Temple and ‘charming’ the monks to allow him to study for three years.

Okay, so most of the rest of the movie (I would guess a good hour) is just him enduring hardships and taking the 18 Bronzemen test three times (it’s interesting that he doesn’t have to pass the tests of the 36 Chambers in this film, as the hero of the last one did). And it’s quite good kung fu action which serves to show off the fighting skills of the lead actor. The Bronzemen challenges are somewhat similar but upgraded somewhat from the first movie and, all in all, the film looks better and the plot is less scrappy than the last one, it has to be said (I think I definitely preferred this one). After failing twice, he undergoes the trials for a third time but doesn’t get the double brands for moving the cauldron away from the Gate Of Heaven as, just as he’s about to pass the very last challenge, the head monk figures out he’s really a prince and expels him after his three years there because, as he says, the monks do not partake in affairs of the state.

Basically, we’re asked to watch a villain in training as the film unfolds... which is an odd one but, of course in a Western film, this would serve to build up the villain’s powers so we can see him defeated against all odds by whoever the hero turns out to be. But, yeah, this doesn’t happen... the flashback ends and, literally within the space of the last ten minutes and now back to being Emperor, he survives a kung fu assassination attempt by Polly Ling-Feng Shang-Kuan in her second and final, short appearance in the movie and then orders his men to go and kill all the monks (as apparently happened in real life) with a new flying guillotine machine... which we don’t see in action although I believe some Shaw Brothers movie have got that one covered. Instead, he gives the order of their destruction and... that’s it. The end of the movie. The villain triumphs over the powers of good and, presumably, Buddha, in a strange twist to the way these things usually go in kung fu movies. Although, of course, this is absolutely typical for the majority of the films in this boxed set, which almost all seem to end in either a pyrrhic victory or, as here, just total failure of anyone with good character. So, yeah, this is a really curious subset of films that Eureka, Masters Of Cinema have put out, for sure.

One interesting point in the movie, when the villain first goes to the Shaolin Temple and is refused, is that he sits in the rain for a few days and waits them out until they accept him. One wonders if the writers of Marvel’s first MCU Doctor Strange movie had seen this or, if not this one (Taiwanese kung fu films seem to be treated as poor, unworthy cousins to their Hong Kong rivals, as I’m beginning to find out), then certainly some other which applies a similar cliché.

And, yeah, another short review I’m afraid but that’s about all I have to say on Return Of The 18 Bronzemen other than, I found it hugely enjoyable with the almost non-stop fighting scenes... even though, it would be true to say, the audience finds themselves in the unenviable position of rooting for the villain throughout the majority of the movie. Which is strange but, hey, that’s the power of the well edited movie, I guess. Asides from the incredibly hasty and negative ending to the picture, this is a nice one to end the boxed edition with, I think.