Audience Member
Cheh Chang and the Venoms martial arts team deliver another solid kung-fu action flick. The story here revolves around a blacksmith who has to facedown all sorts of baddies, each with their own fighintg technique, which, of course, means Chang and the Venoms are once again recycling popular story elements from their excellent film for which they are nicknamed, "The Five Deadly Venoms." Good action, but a very familiar and unoriginal story. Oh, and I do always enjoy when martial arts film reuse the same public domain music that was used in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/31/23
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Audience Member
Life Gamble may be the influence for RZA's Man with the Iron Fists. When a precious piece of jade is stolen by four criminals, a retired blacksmith, police officer, his daughter, an assassin for the gambling house, a thief, a seductress, and a knife throwing expert are all going after it. What ensues is a crazy martial arts tale about honour, forgiveness, and greed. The movie's main plot is pretty much finished by the hour fifteen minute mark, but it keeps going for a less than spectacular finale. I liked the cool weapon designs and the cast, but the film's only weakness is the thin third act. Life Gamble is a decent Shaw bros film, with plenty of star power and style.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/05/23
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Audience Member
I knew you wouldn't give it to me so I helped myself to it
An expensive jade dragon has become available and everyone wants an opportunity to snatch the artifact. A local blacksmith known for his martial arts weaponry craftsmanship becomes the focal point of the would-be robbers. Life Gamble displays how each group of robbers manipulates the others and they never factor in the possibility that they might not obtain the dragon at all...
"What did she bring here?"
"A hand. Your hand."
Chang Cheh, director of 5 Deadly Venoms, Chinatown Kid, Invincible Shoalin, Crippled Avengers, The Magnificent Ruffians, Killer Army, The Kid with the Golden Arms, Ten Tigers of Kwantung, and The Masked Avengers, delivers Life Gamble. The storyline for this picture is interesting and reminded me of a martial arts version of Ocean's Eleven. The cast was solid and contains the majority of the Deadly Venoms and the action sequences were awesome.
"I've ordered someone to get their bodies."
My wife received this picture as a late birthday present from her brother. We are both huge martial arts picture fans and love the Venoms. This picture was fascinating and contained a brilliant blend of martial arts, unique weapons, and a complex robbery storyline. I recommend seeing this picture if you're a fan of the martial arts genre.
"I have to listen to you to survive."
Grade: B
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/19/23
Full Review
Audience Member
This was a beautifully restored dvd from Jade Tiger, which was some kind of branding spin-off Image Entertainment tried to use for some of its Shaw Brothers titles, but only this and Opium and the Kung-Fu Master made it out on that label. The movie stars a few of the infamous "venoms" and Alexander Fu Sheng and is as always skillfully directed by the great Chang Cheh. The plot is pretty complex in its developments compared to other similar movies of the era. It centers around a group of 4 thieves who steal a valuable jade artifact, but none of them think the split earned on selling it will be enough. They decide to gamble over it so just one can claim the item and it's price, so they set up a simple match to be overseen by the King of Gamblers. Well then everyone finds out about this and tries to make a play for the item -- a famous swordsman (Lo Meng), a famous blacksmith in hiding (Phillip Kwok), a lawman (Ku Feng), and others. Fu Sheng's character, an assassin, works for the King of Gamblers and gets caught right up in the middle of it all too. All these stories and characters overlap in at least a dozen ways. There's actually some great acting, some great small stories, and the finale with the flag defense, taken right out of the Peking Opera, was great.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
01/27/23
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