Because the one-armed boxer (Jimmy Wang Yu) has killed two of his disciples, Fung Sheng (Chin Kang), the blind master of the flying guillotine - a weird spinning device that's attached to a rope and that's capable of beheading people pretty much in flight - wants revenge. So he chooses a martial arts tournament held by Master Wu (Hau Pai Cheng) to try and track down the boxer, since he figures the boxer is much too capable a martial artist to not participate.

The one-armed boxer though does indeed decide to not participate, mainly because he is a man wanted by the law, and fighting at the tournament would attract too much attention. Nevertheless, he lets his students talk him into at least observing the whole thing as a simple audience member, since there's much to learn from other masters. And the fights presented at the event - mostly to the death - are wild indeed, especially a Thai fighter (Sham Tsim Po), a Japanese fighter (Lung Fei) and a Yoga Master (Wang Wing Sheng) attract the boxer's attention - though none of them seems to be particularly keen on the boxer's friendship. Then the master of the flying guillotine attacks rather blindly (excuse the pun) and throws the whole thing into chaos, even going so far as to kill Master Wu.

Master Wu's daughter (Lung Chung-erh) is saved by the Japanese fighter, but he wants to make her his slave, and it's only thanks to teh one-armed boxer that she is saved. Meanwhile, the master of the flying guillotine teams up with the Thai fighter to track the boxer down ...

There is actually not one finale but four in this film, as the one-armed boxer has to fight first the Yoga Master, then take on the Thai fighter - whom he lures into a house with a heated floor which puts the bare-footed Thai at a disadvantage, and finally he is not only defeated but also fried -, then it's the Japanese's turn to try (and fail) to have revenge. Finally, it's the main event, the master of the flying guillotine versus the one-armed boxer - and the boxer has taken a few precautions, like hiding himself in a field of bamboo-logs to render the guillotine toothless or adapt a petstore and a coffin store to his needs. so finally, against all odds, the one-armed boxer defeats the master of the flying guillotine ...

Usually, martial arts tournaments are a rather lame narrative device, as they are nothing more than an excuse to feature much fighting and little in terms of motivation. In this respect of course, Master of the Flying Guillotine is no exception to the rule - and yet the film works better than most, because the fight scenes the audience is presented with are wild, imaginative and inventive, and by presenting many different fighting styles from the traditional to the made-up-on-the-spot, they offer something new almost constantly - and especially the Yoga Master who can superhumanly stretch his arms to double their length is good fun. Plus, the flying guillotine itself is of course a wonderful and bizarre weapon good for many a gory killing. And since director Jimmy Wang Yu keeps the action moving at a very steady pace and hardly ever lets up while still managing to tell a story, this one is an enjoyable martial arts feast from start to finish.

Recommended.

review � by Mike Haberfelner

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