Pick your Poison!
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There’s nothing quite like a good Martial Arts Film! Unfortunately, this isn’t really one of those. I wouldn’t call it a good film but rarely are exploitation/kung fu films. So I’ll excuse it. But there is also only like one good fight scene in the film. That is kind of tiresome.
Five Deadly Venoms, also known as The Five Venoms, is a Hong Kong film directed by Chang Cheh and is part of The Shaw Brothers line up of films. Five Deadly Venoms follows a young Martial Arts Student who’s master dies but warns him that his five previous students, each with different fighting styles, might use those powers for evil. So the young student must track down and prevent the this from happening. That’s the setup.
The film is one hundred percent not that though. Basically the evil that they might use their powers for, ends up being the fact that there is a hidden treasure and it essentially becomes a Martial Arts version of It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Also, the young student doesn’t really need to defeat them because most of the film ends up being a courtroom drama. The young student finds that the student who studies Toad fighting style is a good guy. Then the rest of the students try to frame him for murder. That’s what most of the film ends up being about. A courtroom drama can be a cool film. But when I walk into a kung fu film, I expect a kung fu film. Not a mistrial and political thriller. Especially with the title Five Deadly Venoms. I’d expect more!
But let’s talk about the Martial Arts, because really if you are walking into one of these films, that’s what you are looking for. And the fight scenes are few and far between. There are a couple that shows off the fighting styles, which really just end up being superpowers. The big one is the Toad’s fighting style which allows him to not be penetrated or really have any weakness. This makes him invincible, which also makes his fight sequences fairly boring. The only real interesting fight scene is at the end when five of the students (one of them died along the way), end up facing each other. That one is interesting but the actual movements and choreography never really changes throughout the scene. Making the scene end up being boring. It doesn’t help that two of the styles, Scorpion and Snake, are essentially the same thing with minor caveats. The final fight goes on for a bit too long then ends suddenly and along with the fight scene the entire film ends. It feels unfulfilling in a way. I wanted the fight sequences to be a bit more. I guess it’s personal preference but I wish the kung fu film had more kung fu and less courtroom drama.
I will say that in a very kung fu film fashion, my favorite part of the film is the dramatic overacting done by the performers. If I haven’t completely persuaded you to not see this film, then one thing I will say in its favor is that those elements to make a few of the scenes fun. How certain elements of the film are shot are also fun. I will say that my experience might have been a little tainted because around ten minutes into the film, a group of people came and sat behind me. This involved them using my seat as a cane and jerked around my seat to find theirs. They then proceeded to grunt and go “oh no” and “oh damn” every two minutes in the film. It was awful and it ruined my mood. So I might have liked the film a bit more if I wasn’t annoyed by them. Also, if you are part of those people, I hope your parents get divorced and you recognize that it’s your fault.
Anyway, not super impressed by the film. Wish it was a bit more fun. But apparently, I might be in the minority as a bunch of rappers have apparently written songs about this film. Which is interesting I guess. So if you are a rapper and are interested in writing a song, maybe this film will be up your alley! Check it out in that case I guess.