Deadly Duo (1983)

The Action Mutant…
doesn’t like to be confused!


Deadly Duo (1983)

review by Joe Burrows


Perspective:
So, I’ve been trolling free domain movie sites lately to find new content to watch because A) I like to be entertained and B) I’m cheap. FreeMoviesCinema proves to be a decent site to check out, as it has such pleasant surprises as this! However, there was plenty of confusion as it pertains to my first review from something off of the site. The 1983 Kung Fu film Deadly Duo caught my eye but after watching it, I noticed it didn’t fit the plot description below it. Easy (but not readily apparent) answer: the plot description was for a 1971 film of the same name. Since the ’71 film is much more known, it turns out there isn’t much to go by when it comes to THIS film. How so? Well, the credits only list two actors and a director…no studio…no year…nothing! I eventually confirmed the film’s year of release from a review on a Finnish site, no less! Here is the link for the film, just to show I was not smoking up at the time (well, maybe I was but you can’t prove what you can’t see!).

The Plot, as it was:
Some old guy wants a list that contains the names of local rebels (for some reason unbeknownst to us). A group of freedom fighters want to keep the list out of the old guy’s hands so they try to recruit their friend to help them. Only he wants to live a decent life with his girlfriend. So, they send a deadly assassin dressed in silver to convince him otherwise. However, when their friend turns up supposedly dead, the troop and the silver assassin decide to storm the old man’s fortress (which includes an obstacle course that looks like something straight out of TV’s Ninja Warrior…only with explosives.).

Don’t shoot me…I’m only the reviewer!:
This standard Kung Fu saga isn’t great but it isn’t terrible, either. It has all of the trappings of bad Kung Fu (comical looking sets, trenchant dubbing, stale dialogue, etc.) but if you’re looking for an inoffensive 90 minute time waster, there’s worse than Deadly Duo. Granted, the filmmakers try to make the plot needlessly complicated and some things just really don’t make sense (like, why would they get their friend to join up with them by getting the assassin guy to beat him up?). There’s zero characterization here; it’s mainly fight after fight after fight. Based on that logic, the film works as the fight scenes are fairly good and have some fun moments. Oh, and that 1971 film sounds decent, too.

Body Count/Violence: 41. This one’s fairly violent and bloody, with most being done in by stabbing, sword slashing and pummeling. There are a few novelties, mainly within the climactic obstacle course, such as people being speared, impaled, being hit with giant ninja stars and blown up. My favorite is the main lady fighter driving pocky sticks through a table and into a guy’s chest, then kicking another fighter into a sword blade that’s already jammed into said table.

Sexuality/Nudity: None.

Language/Dialogue: None. Not even “bastard”!

How bad was it?:
The film’s so obscure that I found no reviews or user feedback. View at your own risk, I guess.

Did it make the studio’s day?:
Studio? I assume a studio made it. And according to hkmdb.com, the film made $525,201 at the HK box office for…the studio.

Film: *1/2/*****
Entertainment value: ***/*****

Copyright 2007 The Action Mutant.