Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Leofwine_draca Despite having a clichéd and overly simplistic plot (four brothers avenge the deaths of their three other brothers) which I believe has been the basis for literally hundreds of Hong Kong kung fu flicks, MARCO POLO is a lot of fun, an action-packed and epic tale which is literally breathtaking in places. I'm still a relative newcomer to the whole martial arts genre but if the majority of the films waiting to be seen out there are like this then I'll be a happy man. Although it runs for approximately one hour and forty-five minutes, MARCO POLO is never boring, instead alternating between frantic scenes of action and lots of unintentionally hilarious plot development.The film begins somewhat bizarrely with the arrival of Marco Polo, who is played by no less than peplum legend and all-round action hero Richard Harrison. Harrison immediately befriends the Mongol leader and becomes one of his officers. The bizarre thing is that Marco Polo doesn't actually have anything to do with this movie. He doesn't actually do anything either, apart from passing on some wisdom at one stage. For the majority of the film, although he's on the side of the bad guys, he remains an ambivalent character before revealing his true colours as a force of good at the end of the movie. Now, this double-sided role could have made quite a good character study of a man torn between two sides, but the film doesn't work like that. What's more likely is that Polo's character was simply shoehorned into the plot to a) introduce a Western character to appeal to Western audiences, and b) convince people that the film was some kind of historical epic, which it isn't. Whatever the reason, Polo's out-of-place position in the movie is one of the strangest and puzzling things I've seen in a long time.The Mongol leader needs to pick three new men to lead his guard, so devises a ceremony in which various talented fighters battle each other to find out who the most victorious are (of course, the battle tournament stuff would later be ripped off by Van Damme and all sorts of no-budget straight-to-video action producers in the '90s). After a lengthy display of martial arts combat, the palace is attacked by a pair of assassins out to kill the leader. One of them is bloodily killed outright (run through with a sword) while the other, played by genre mainstay Carter Wong, manages to leap to safety. The reason? Well, he's a pugilist, apparently.Well, the guard (led by Harrison and including Gordon Liu and the beloved Beardy) quickly chase the escapee and manage to kill him (he was a novice, you see). They also butcher his brother and kidnap his wife. Along their journey they meet four peasants who are in reality the brothers of the dead assassins. The men journey together for some time before revealing their true identities and escaping into the night, or rather into a small village where they take up training in the art of pugilism. Cue some very lengthy training sequences in which a quartet of grumpy old men (one of whom spits constantly) torture and beat up their pupils in a bid to make them stronger. Each practises a different skill; one man must jump in an out of a cess pit (!), another must move boulders across a hill, another has to chop down a bamboo forest and another needs to fry grain and smooth a turn stone. Their work is made more difficult as no weapons or tools are allowed in the village, so they have to do all the work using only their hands and bodies.After lots of this training (which does become a bit repetitive, but luckily it's pretty funny to watch so doesn't become boring), the Mongol hordes (consisting of about a hundred soldiers) storm the village, and must face the fight of the four men only. Cue lots of large-scale martial arts battles, as our heroes firstly face down the trio of killer guards in bloody one-on-one combat, and then battle the full force of the army single-handedly. Backs are broken, property is destroyed, buildings collapse, and people are axed in the most gratuitously violent way imaginable; it's great stuff! Things get really over-the-top at the end which is extremely exciting and well worth waiting for, with tons of guards getting brutally killed and bodies falling everywhere. Two characters punch so hard that skin is left behind and hand prints appear on bodies! It's the "iron palm" trick apparently.My jaw was dropping when two of the leading characters get repeatedly impaled and shot through the stomach with arrows, yet still manage to fight on with determination as the blood courses down their bodies and their lives ebb away. Now THAT's willpower! The film is pretty violent of course, with lots of blood spurting from mouths and bones getting broken all in the best possible taste, and this just adds to the over-the-top look and feel. Along with all this, the acting isn't bad either, with the four leads including Alexander Fu Sheng making their characters unique and likable. Richard Harrison is always good value too, although he doesn't really have much to do here other than to stand around and look dashing in his moustache. The spectacularly violent action and hell-raising stunts and impossible actions more than make up for any minor deficiencies, so MARCO POLO gets my thumbs up as a thoroughly entertaining slice of kung fu madness.

Filmfandave During the Mongol reign of China in the 13th century, six sworn brothers of the oppressed Ming loyalists plan a rebellion against the tyranny. When two of them are brutally killed in their daring attempt to assassinate the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan, the remaining four fighters band together to take revenge. But they do not have the upper hand since the Emperor is surrounded by three of his best fighters: Daidalu (played by Liang Chia-jen or popularly known as "Beardy"), who possesses the Fiery Palm technique that instantly kills any opponent who sustains his swift blow, a double-sword wielding fighter who kills by dismembering his opponent's armpits named Abulabha (Gordon Liu) and the arm-locking and waist-breaking wrestler Duilitan (Johnny Wang Lung Wei). Before the four rebels can execute their plan to defeat their much-skilled rivals, they decide to undergo arduous training in special kungfu techniques: Fu Sheng with the Iron Palm technique - which makes him able to release fatal blows through his inner strength, Kuo Chui with the Leaping Kick technique - which makes him able to somersault in the air and land mortal kicks, Yen-tsan Tang with the Super Strength technique - which makes him able to release extraordinary strength to defeat his opponents, and Chi Kuan-chin with the Bamboo Twisting technique - which makes him invulnerable to sword attacks and arrow shots but for one weak spot. Since the Mongols have banned all sorts of kungfu training throughout the country, the four rebels have no other option but to practice secretively under their teacher's guidance only in the small hours for months. Marco Polo, who has been assigned as a viceroy by the Mongol emperor with a priority to thwart these Chinese rebels, eventually sides with the rebellion. When the three Mongol fighters and their troops, with Polo's lead, have located and surrounded the rebels' hideout, they realize that they are facing a fearful four-man army who is prepared for anything that comes their way. The inevitable one-on-one blood-for-blood duel ensues, culminating in a life-and-death showdown that would decide the fate of the four heroes and their force of rebellion.This is not a biopic of the famous Italian explorer. This is a 1975 Shaw Brothers mega-production that incorporates few facts but a lot of fiction into an exciting kungfu extravaganza, which was meant to attract wider international audience by casting American actor Richard Harrison as the title character. Those expecting to see a film on Marco Polo that is historically accurate will be sorely disappointed. The title itself, in my opinion, is rather misleading as the film does not portray the life of Marco Polo himself. A more appropriate title should be: THE FOUR ASSASSINS, which is actually the alternate title, MARCO POLO AND THE FOUR ASSASSINS, or MARCO POLO AND THE FOUR REBELS.Despite that, if you are familiar with a Shaw Brothers film, you will see exciting kungfu training and fighting of the four characters. Unlike the weak fight sequences in HEROES TWO (1974), those seen here are surprisingly well-choreographed, which elevate the tension during the climactic fights.All in all, THE FOUR ASSASSINS comes recommended for those who enjoy watching solid kungfu flicks of the 70's - Shaw Brothers style!

poe426 MARCO POLO gets off to a good start (as one might well expect, this being a Chang Cheh epic), with several martial arts bouts conducted for the amusement of the Italian explorer. Among the fighters is Gordon Liu, wielding a pair of swords. What's unusual about this is that Liu is playing one of the bad guys. The festivities are interrupted by a pair of "assassins" who include Carter Wong. The interruption proves short-lived, as Harrison as Polo leads the government goons after Wong and family. Wong and his young brother are killed. Enter our heroes, led by Alexander Fu Sheng and a baby-faced Kuo Chui (who's "introduced" in this film). Our four heroes (referred to throughout as "assassins") are sent off to train separately (Kuo Chui, as the new kid, gets the short end of the stick: he trains in a pit of feces). (For some reason, some of the fighters are referred to as "pugilists," although none of them practice traditional pugilism.) The direction is top-notch and the action brilliant throughout. Another ten.

Brian Camp THE FOUR ASSASSINS (aka MARCO POLO, 1975) is that rare Hong Kong kung fu film which features a westerner in a pivotal, heroic role. Set at the time of Italian explorer Marco Polo's historic expedition to China, during the reign of Mongol ruler Kublai Khan, it stars American actor Richard Harrison as Polo. Taking considerable liberties with the historic record, the film has Polo turning up as an Imperial Inspector assigned to root out Chinese rebels in the south, but eventually being won over to their cause. As such, it relies on the formula commonly used in kung fu films to depict a much later period of conflict, that of Qing-era Manchu conquerors vs. Ming loyalists.The film boasts a large cast of formidable kung fu players, including, as three of the four heroes of the title, Alexander Fu Sheng, Chi Kuan-Chun, and, in his first film role, Kuo Chui (Philip Kwok, better known as one of the Five Venoms). The villains are portrayed by Wang Lung-Wei, Leung Kar Yan and the normally heroic Gordon Liu. These six actor-fighters are among the top names of 1970s Hong Kong kung fu cinema and any film with such a top-ranked cast involved in such a dazzling array of matches belongs at the top of any kung fu fan's must-see list. Also on hand are Billy Tang as the fourth assassin of the title and Carter Wong as an ill-fated would-be assassin.The film's one serious structural flaw is that it introduces the villains first and follows them around as they are assigned to accompany Polo on his travels and tour of inspection. The four heroes make comparatively little impact because we don't meet them until nearly half-way into the film and then have to wait during their period of training (at mundane tasks designed to mask their outlawed kung fu practice) before the spectacular final series of matches with the villains. Action director Lau Kar Leung ended his association with director Chang Cheh during the shooting of FOUR ASSASSINS (in Taiwan) and thereafter struck out on his own as a director.Marco Polo is played by American actor Richard Harrison, who starred in many Italian films in the 1960s, including spaghetti westerns and sword 'n' sandal adventures (GUNFIGHT AT RED SANDS, GLADIATORS SEVEN). He doesn't participate in any of the fighting here but simply gets to hang around the margins of the action and, ultimately, give advice to the heroes on how best to beat their opponents. Harrison appeared the following year in another historical kung fu film, BOXER REBELLION (1976, aka BLOODY AVENGERS), as a German officer in Peking who is confronted by three of this film's stars. I've also reviewed that film on IMDb and I recommend it highly.ADDENDUM (6/14/11): In October 2005, I acquired the Celestial Pictures Region 3 DVD of this film, under its original title, MARCO POLO, which is both letter-boxed and in Mandarin with English subtitles, two things I couldn't say about the TV broadcast I originally watched for this review. Well, I've finally watched the DVD. The "one serious structural flaw" I cited above (almost ten years ago!) didn't bother me this time. The late introduction of the heroes seemed to make sense now. Also, I feel terribly remiss for not having cited in my review the female lead, Shih Szu. I may not have been very familiar with her when I first watched this. I've since watched her in many films and reviewed several of them here (e.g. LADY HERMIT, THE RESCUE). She was quite an active action heroine in the early '70s. She doesn't have any fight scenes in this film, though, but she gives quite a stirring performance as the widow of a slain rebel and has some touching scenes with Harrison. I'm also impressed with the sympathetic way that Harrison's character, Marco Polo, is handled, He's actually working for the bad guys, the "Tartars," throughout, yet in spite of that, he shows respect for the rebels and they return it. Harrison's dialogue is dubbed in Mandarin.