Watch Duel to the Death For Free

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

DUEL TO THE DEATH is an incredible film. Admittedly, I'm not the kung-fu film expert (gore and sleaze being more my forte...), but I can recognize a great film when I see it...and DUEL is one of the most enjoyable films I've seen in a VERY long time. I don't throw out 10's often, but I really can't find anything wrong with this one.DUEL is about a tournament that's held between China and Japan's best swordsman. Both competitors are absolute experts in their techniques, and hold honor and patriotism in the highest regard. But along the trek to the tournament location, there are numerous hinderances thrown at our "heroes". Flying ninjas, disappearing ninjas, burrowing into the ground ninjas, poison-wielding ninjas (did I happen to mention the ninjas???....) try to trip up our worthy combatants at every step. Throw in the hosting clan's jealousy at not being allowed to participate in the duel, and a plot by the Japanese shogun to rig the fight - and you have non-stop, insane, kung-fu ninja action...The influence that this film has had on other modern martial-arts action films is undeniable. Films like KILL BILL, HERO, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS and NINJA SCROLL give obvious nods to this masterpiece. I really can't rave about this one enough. The cinematography, choreography, costumes, settings, the amazing high-flying acrobatics...everything in DUEL is absolutely top-notch. Being a relatively big Japanese pinky/exploit film fan, I could have used some more nudity and sleaze...but this isn't that kind of film. Judged on it's own merits, DUEL TO THE DEATH is the PERFECT martial-arts film, and deserves a look from any action fan. Highest Recommendation - 10/10

A genre defining movie, a must see for any martial arts or "wire-fu" fans out there.The plot is somewhat simple, but acceptable, for it serves as the engine to get the audience to the incredible cinematography and action. The best swordsman of China and Japan meet to have a legendary dueling competition, while a dubious ninja master attempts to capture all of the skilled Chinese warriors to stack the competition in Japan's favor.Wow. I figured being a 1982 movie that it would not stack up to today's standards, and I was happily proved wrong. Tony Ching Siu Tung proves his early genius, clearly showing why movies he has worked on ("Hero", "House of Flying Daggers") are the stuff legends are made of.Seek this movie out.

I looked this movie up on IMDb and saw some dude's review of it. He is a total moron. He says he "didn't get why it was so fake". This movie is completely rad. I have seen many martial arts movies, and this one is TOTALLY SWEET. My brother's roommate found it for 5 dollars and they watched it, then told me about it. I watched it and was BLOWN AWAY by how RADICALLY AWESOME it was...some scenes were so ABSURDLY killer that actually kept my brain from functioning normally for several seconds; I'm serious, when I see something awesome it makes me "giddy" and I got giddy like TWO times during this movie, which believe me is really good. If you like these movies, watch this, then study it and find out why it works so well. It has awesome visuals and fighting, but also an enjoyable story that isn't overly complicated or simplified...it's also the first movie by the famed action director Ching Siu Tung.

DUEL TO THE DEATH is one of the many "flying swordsman" action-adventures to come out of Hong Kong. If you've seen CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, then you pretty much know what to expect. If not, go into this film with an open mind and expect to get blown away.Hashimoto and Ching Wan are dueling swordsmen. Every year China and Japan hold a great tournament in which each country's best fighter clashes swords with each other. Ching Wan is from China, and he sets out to prove himself to his mentors. Hashimoto is from Japan, and he wants to win in order to make his master proud, who died while testing Hashimoto's abilities. However, something fishy is going on in China. Black-masked ninjas have stolen secret scrolls from Ching Wan's temple and Hashimoto's venomous general, Kenji, seems to have a secret agenda. The tournament is to take place at the home of the beautiful Sheng Nan and her father, but all is not right. Ching Wan's mentor is captured and ninjas try to kill him. Meanwhile, he begins to develop a strong romantic bond to Sheng, who was trained as a martial artist by her father and disguises herself as a man so she can fight. When Hashimoto realizes that Kenji wants to kill Ching Wan himself, he realizes he must go against his general in order to save Ching Wan. It turns out Japan wants the best martial artists of China captured in order to learn their secrets. Hashimoto catches on to this but he realizes that he must go against his country in order to stand up for what he believes is right.And, well, that's the plot in a nutshell. There's not much too it, and those expecting the lyrical romanticism of CROUCHING TIGER will be disappointed. However, DUEL TO THE DEATH makes up for it with some of the most thrilling, bloody fight scenes I've ever seen, including the best wire work next to Ang Lee's film. I guess the thing I love about Hong Kong cinema is that it plays by its own rules. It has its own mythology, its own way of storytelling. Here, the characters defy gravity, jumping from tree to tree like chimpanzees or flying through the air like hawks. The film doesn't play by the traditional Hollywood rules. For example, the ending is ambiguous and surprisingly bleak, as opposed to the usual "happy" ending tacked on to most American films. You would think that Hashimoto and Ching Wan would become friends at the end of it all, but instead Hashimoto does something that seems to negate everything that came before it.And yet, it's the underlying sensitivity of the two leads' performances that makes DUEL TO THE DEATH so compelling. In their respective roles, Norman Tsui and Damian Laui are great and very sympathetic. And the direction and music score are excellent.In fact, my only real complaint with the film is that the fight scenes aren't long enough. They could have been even MORE thrilling, but then again, their sparseness just makes us hunger for the next fight even more. All in all a great movie, and an essential for anybody wanting to explore the mysterious land of 70's and 80's Hong Kong cinema.