Lin Chung (Tony Lueng Ka Fai- The Lover, Double Vision, Prison on Fire) is an upstanding member of the imperial guard serving under the corrupt and scheming General Kao. Lin Chung befriends a bandit monk, Ru Chi Sun (Elvis Tsui- Sex and Zen, Eternal Evil of Asia), and the two form an instant bond over their love for the fighting arts. However, General Kao's son is a lecherous brat, fondling the local women, including Lin Chung's wife (Joey Wong- Chinese Ghost Story), and after Ru Chi Sun beats up on the imperial idiot, General Kao finds his excuse to begin to rid himself of the incorruptible guard. Despite Ru Chi Sun's urging him to see the light, Lin Chung remains unflappably loyal, even in the face of being set-up, demoted, assigned to the outer territories, and demeaned. It takes murderous betrayal and the loss of everything he holds dear to make him finally strike back.

The Water Margin is a classic piece of Chinese literature and a tale told before in HK cinema with Chang Cheh's 1971 film. This very loose version is definitely a product of its time, the epic tale condensed into a modernized early 90's wuxia film, complete with wirework choreography and crowd pleasing moments of comedy alongside the drama. It is the kind of glaring contrast that HK film used to always dare to try, like in one moment having Gen. Kao's blubbering goofy sexual predator son comically getting beat down, the next moment getting his attendants to help him rape a woman or Ru Chi Sun spouting off one-liners before hacking peoples heads off.

Elivs Tsui's performance is so brash loud that when he's onscreen he pretty much swallows up the other actors whole. He's just so manic and over the top that Lueng's stoic warrior comes across like a real bore in comparison. In contrast Joey Wang is sadlded with being "the wife." Her scenes pretty much amount to, "That's fine honey, go play with your friend."

Crazy Safari director Billy Chan offers up all of the outlandish action one expects, but the schitzo nature of the sometimes comedic-sometmes dour plot overwhelms him making this an average HK action effort.

The DVD: Tai Seng

Picture: Non-anamorphic Widescreen. I remember reading about the HK DVD release having an aspect ratio problem, and I was mindful of this considering that the disc is a Tai Seng product and they are an importer known to just slap a tai Seng logo on their imports of HK DVDs. Well, I cannot say if it is the same transfer, this seems a bit cleaner and less washed out and spotty than a Mei Ah release, but the aspect ratio problem is still there. So, it seems to be a provided source material problem.

The widescreen image is slightly cropped. The print has some white flecks throughout, and overall the image is on the lacking side. It is just a bit too soft and a bit too washed out. It is in rough shape, though, there have certainly been far worse HK import transfers, so it falls into that middle range where fans will turn a forgiving eye but newbies will grind their teeth over the quality.

Sound: Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS, English 5.1, or Mandarin language with optional English subtitles. Here is another case where I scratch my head over adding something like a DTS mix, much less the 5.1 mix. The sound quality is decidedly low rent, clearly part of HK films past days when sound wasn't the first and foremost of their production concerns. Yeah, it may look nice to have 5.1 and DTS on your cover, but the actual tracks don't benefit a whole lot from the modern upgrade. They are still overdubbed, pretty hollow, thin, and what HK fans will find very familiar.

It should also be noted that the subs are, like the image, slightly cut off at times.

Extras: Chapter Selections— Original HK Trailer for the film, plus Tai Seng trailers for releases like Musa The Warrior, Deadful Melody and Kung Fu Master

Conclusion: A pretty average work of early 90's wuxia action along the lines of Swordsman 2, Three Swordsmen and Comet, Butterfly, and Sword. The DVD transfer has some aspect ratio issues that are also present on the import version. So, with no superior edition that I know of flaoting around out there, it may be worth a purchase for hardcore HK film fans, but otherwise the image quality and lack of extras make it more rental material.