PKazee ...so I urge those with a fear of subtitles to "man-up" and make an exception for this film, as watching the dubbed version offers a very different, and inferior experience, to watching the subtitled version. The main issue is with the tone, which is more difficult to nail down with the dubbed version. In fact, Sunny Yuen Shun-yi – despite having no lines - comes off more comic than frighteningly psychotic in the dubbed version due to that version's prevailing tone... or rather, its awkward shifts from one tone to another. Sure, quite a lot of the film is comic, and both versions are hampered by scenes of that wacky cross-eyed pie-in-the-face humor that writer Wong Jing so adores, but still... these maddeningly ridiculous bits manage to seem more like "asides" in the subtitled version, thus allowing for far more successful shifts to the scenes of brutal terror. In any case, though often doubled, its nonetheless great to see Kwan Tak-hing (in his final film appearance) as the legendary Wong Fei-hung, a role he played in over 100 other films! Also, Leung Ka-yan (aka, "Beardy", though entirely beardless here) is as likable as ever, even though he is portraying a particularly trouble-making version of Master Wong's famed protégé, Leung Foon. Highlights include two terrific Lion Dances (the 2nd even more fantastic than the 1st), a classic bout of Tailor-fu (Fung Hark-on vs. Kwan Tak-hing), some very clever Doctor-fu (Shan Kwai/San Kuai vs. Kwan Tak-hing), and Lili Li as the scolding sister of Yuen Biao, who manages to teach him Laundy-fu without his being aware of it, a skill that - naturally - comes in quite handy in a final confrontation between Biao and Shun-yi. Yuen Woo-ping, of course, directs and choreographs the action with an assist from his famed "Yuen Clan". Also starring Philip Ko Fei as Wong Fei-hung's crosstown nemesis

bs3dc Dreadnaught is largely unknown these days compared to 1979's 'Magnificent Butcher" (Lin Shi Rong) despite the fact that they have a great deal in common from the director Yuen Woo-ping and writer Wong Jing, to some of the characters and a number of the actors - Yuen Biao, Hark-On Fung, Kwan Tak-Hing, Mei Sheng Fan and Ching Tan. This is a shame since despite Dreadnaught having fewer fight scenes of the quality of its predecessor, it has many things going for it.Kwan Tak-Hing has terrific presence as Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-Hung and he gets far more screen time than in 'Magnificent Butcher' where he had a memorable role, but barely more than a cameo. He even gets more action in this one and though he is clearly doubled for much of these scenes, his manual dexterity for his age (around 76) alone is a great advertisement for the practising of martial arts to promote health.Leung Kar-Yan is dependable as ever as Wong Fei-Hung's headstrong student Leung Foon. Yuen Biao plays the cowardly 'Mousy' who wants to learn to fight, not knowing that he has been learning a special style of kung fu from his sister at the laundry. This means he does little fighting for much of the film which is not as bad as it sounds since he gets to show off his remarkable athleticism more. Yuen Shun-Yee steals the show as the mentally deranged serial killer and his high energy performance adds greatly to the impact and tone of the film.Yuen Woo-ping and his team have done another great job with the choreography, especially the lion dancing which is the clear highlight of the action. The taut fight scenes are very well done also, especially fitting the psychotic personality of the the main villain.Too many different themes have been trying to be built into the running time - horror, comedy, action and romance - for all to be really successful. It is a pity that the cheesy humour could not have been left out as this would have made a improvement to the atmosphere which is great in periods such as the chilling build-up to the final showdown. Also the romantic theme is dropped long before the end of the film with no real resolution.Nevertheless 'Dreadnaught' is well worth watching for the quality of some of the performances, the kung fu and also for anybody interested in the number of films loosely based around the life of Wong Fei-Hung.

kirkw17 Unusually good kung-fu of the old school. This is characterized by middle shots that emphasize the acrobatic ability of the performers instead of cutting around their short comings with extreme close ups of the actions that, let's say, show a single punch or kick.As others have mentioned the lion dance scenes alone make this movie worth watching. If you have ever had the opportunity to see a lion dance, this one is in a whole different class at least compared to the ones I've seen in Chinatown parades in the USA.Tak-Hing Kwan, steals the movie with his portrayal of Wong Fei-Hong. At the time Kwan would have been 76 years old. He was born in the last years of the reign of Empress Dowager Cixi Tai Hou, that is, before the last Emperor Pu-Yi came to power. Truly a link between the Kung-fu of yesterday and today.All this said, the film is flawed by mixing Hong Kong movie genres. At times it is a kung-fu revenge film, comedy, supernatural horror, master and disciple, as well as a truncated unsatisfying love interest.Still a must see, by any standard.

dubnut This film begins so similarly to Young Master that I almost felt I was rewatching it. However, to my surprise, it matched and surpassed the classic Jackie Chan movie by miles. The Dragon/Lion fight scene is worth the admission price alone, and it only gets better after that. The comedy is almost Martin/Lewis, and the fighting is amazingly choreographed. Anything less would be your standard Kung Fu fare.Highly recommended.