When the Americans pulled out of Vietnam, they left behind a massive artillery dump. A group of Asian convicts are sent in to destroy the ammo dump. A Dirty Dozen type war film Sammo Hung which is a bit of a departure from his other kickboxing comedy films of the 80's. I still enjoyed it anyway. I've read complaints about the lack of hand-to-hand fighting, but then again this is a war movie and most of the fighting is going to be with guns. Also some of the violence seems a bit extreme coming from Sammo like violent deaths and maimings, but as I said this is a war movie so it's not going to be pleasant. Don't be discouraged there is some fighting, mostly at the end with Biao, Sammo, Yuen Wah, Billy Chow, Dick Wei, Yasuaki Kurata, and Joyce Godenzi. It was a bit short, Dick Wei should had more fighting time. But the Yuen Wah vs. Sammo fight is pretty cool. Once the movie starts in doesn't stop, something is always happening. There are plenty of cool things, like did you know you can kill someone with a palm tree leaf? Definitely handy. There are some cool moves like Biao's crotch buster kick to Dick Wei, ouch. Plus some high falls like jumping out of trees and Sammo's jump from a cliff down into a moving truck. The action will keeping you entertained. The cast is an all star cast of Hong Kong movies, but there are too many characters. It's hard to get to know the characters when there are so many of them, so when somebody gets killed, you don't really care. Eastern Condors is a good war movie, some stuff that has be seen to be believed. It's something different from Sammo, but somtimes different is good.
As it says above I watched the Universe DVD. It's not bad, but that doesn't mean it was perfect. At the beginning there were a few white specks appearing on the screen, but they soon disappeared and I didn't notice any others during the film. Also, in a few spots the dialogue volume seems to be low and hard to hear, but only in a few spots. The DVD has the trailer for the movie and it contains a few scenes not included in the movie. There are also trailers for The Prodigal Son and Winners and Sinners. The Winners and Sinners trailer seems to abruptly end at around 40 seconds, I don't know if that's what its supposed to do or what. There are also talent files for Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, I was hoping for more like Lam Ching Ying and Joyce Godenzi. But still the DVD was relatively inexpensive at under $20 and if you're a fan of the movie, this is probably the best way to own it.
"Review" by Keith