Flag of Iron Review-A Fights/Weapons RetrospectivePart 1

This was a long Review so I decided to break it down into parts.  I Hope you enjoy it. Please leave a comment below.

Much Love,
~Lady Cao Feng

Flag of Iron Review

Director: Cheng Cheh

Action Choreography: Lu Feng, Kuo Chui, Chiang Sheng

Starring: Lu Feng (Iron Tiger), Kuo Chui (Iron Leopard), Chiang Sheng (Iron Monkey), Wong Lik (Fierce Eagle), Lung Tien-Hsiang (White Robe Rambler), Yu Tai Ping (Flying Eagle)

Summary: Two rival clans trying to run the town. The righteous Iron Flag Clan’s heroes would like to eliminate the immoral Eagle Hall. Iron Monkey and Iron Tiger cause trouble at the brothel while saving a young lady from prostitution. Here they meet the White Robed Rambler and his very interesting and large back scratcher. The Iron Flag Pair have fun at the expense of the brothel manager at the gambling hall. Iron Leopard and Monkey briefly clink swords with Fierce and Flying Eagles before Iron Tiger puts a halt t the display. Which clan will survive?

“Don’t you realize there’ll never be any free lunches? You can’t leave here today. Attack and don’t let anyone leave here.”

The first major fight of the movie takes place at Eagle Hall between the Iron flag Clan (Chief Tieh, Iron Tiger, Iron Leopard, Iron Monkey and the 4 senior flag bearers) and Eagle Hall members (Chief Mi, Flying Eagle Chen Xiang, Fierce Eagle Gao Deng and the 14 Eagle Henchmen). The Flag Clan arrived unarmed as not to arouse suspicions of Eagle Hall so they are bare-handed. However, the Eagles are using swords to stab and slash at our heroes and not landing any blows.

The White Robed Rambler crashes the party bringing arms to share in the form of miniature silver spears that he conveniently carries on his back as a bag. He only has enough to share with the Chief, Tiger, Leopard and Monkey. The flag bearers have to make due with the nearest pieces of furniture. Flying and Fierce Eagles fight briefly with Tiger and then The WRR before they make a hasty exit stage left with knowing smirks on their devious faces.

These mini spears are quite handy and lightweight. The hero clan members are wielding them with one handed ease as they slice through the 14 Eagle Henchmen quite quickly 2 at a time. Chief Tieh is about to put a serious hurting on the Eagle Chief when mysteriously he is pierced by the tip of a mini spear of whom we do not know as no one is close enough to stab him. Tiger and Chief Tieh poke well placed holes in the chest and back of the Eagle Chief, killing him. Come to find out, the spear tip was shot from the mini spear with spring action. This is a secret only the Rambler knows. Could this handy dandy mini spear have more hidden abilities? Dun dun dun!

“Run when you meet The Iron Axe and Silver Spear..... man with three kids smiling treachery.”

One of our heroes, Iron Leopard, is sent away as the fall guy to take the blame for the loses suffered by Eagle Hall. During his time hiding out as a waiter in the Lok Tai Inn, he encounters the 10 assassins of a famous poem:

1. Iron Axe attacks Leopard from behind with his famed ax only to be denied the kill by Leopard’s quick thinking. Leopard must hear his approach or sees a shadow. Before the ax can connect with our hero, chopsticks become a deadly weapon as they are thrust into the Iron Axe’s midsection and hammered through with deadly force by a tray.
2. The Deadly Fortune Teller asks Leopard to guide him down the steps using his sign pole, which doubles as a spear. At the bottom of the steps the secret is revealed and Leopard is forced to grab the nearest sign to defend himself. Leopard jumps and spins out of harm's way. He jumps onto a roof forcing the fortune teller close to the building. When he descend the roof he is behind his adversary. Leopard using both feet causes his foe to crash awkwardly into the wall. The Fortune teller’s feet get caught and he is speared to death by a piece of wood.
3. The Butcher tries to assassinate the Leopard using his large meat cleaver. Fortunately, Monkey is nearby and continuously hands over bamboo poles Leopard uses to defend himself. Kuo Chui’s pole work is pretty basic with no extra flourishes. The butcher slices the poles into little stubs rapidly but falls over, skewered by the bamboo poles.

4. Iron Abacus carries a very larger version of his namesake weapon. He unlatches the top bar and hurls the beads of the abacus at Leopard, who tumbles out of his room. He protects himself by grabbing the blanket that covers the doorway in one swift motion. The remainder of the abacus turns into a nunchucks type weapon except the wood is square, not round. Leopard jumps on tables and tumbles around the floor to avoid the nunchucks. He ends the fight by piercing Iron Abacus with a piece of broken plate.

5. Naughty Kid is an interesting young fella with an equally interesting sword. When the sword is first unsheathed, it is comical and puny, almost like a child’s toy. But with one click of a button there are two points on either side of the blade. Now the sword is fit for a proper swordsman. The Kid doesn’t use any spectacular moves in his assassination attempt. Leopard, in typical Kuo Chui style, brandishes a stool as his weapon. He jumps on and off tables before trapping the Kid’s feet under a stool. The Kid takes a swipe at Leopard who uses another stool to bonk the Kid in the head. Leopard does a tight flip to land on the sword trapping it on the stool he was just standing on top of and uses the broken stool’s legs to kill the Kid.

6.- 10. The Old Man with Three Kids Smiling of Treachery had been lurking around as Leopard’s coworkers. They employ cool weapons in their attempt to kill our hero. Their sword of choice is a sickle/scimitar type blade which they combine with a short rod with a handle. The cool trick is the pole fasten together creating a square to trap their opponent. This trap keeps Leopard contained for a small bit of time. He flips out of the square but the quartet are easily able to contain him until the WRR intervenes by deploying his speartip into two of the kids. This maneuver reveals his secret but also allows the Leopard to dispose of the last two easily by flipping and hitting the scimitars perfectly causing the would be assassins to fly through the nearest wall. Killing both of them.

Stay tuned for part 2................

Flag of Iron is available at iTunes * Amazon Prime

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