Synopsis: Captain Lau Si Chung (Chi Kuan Chun), realises his kung fu isn't that good when he gets beaten by a weird old man (Cheng Kei Ying). He goes off to a temple to learn from the old man. Once he becomes proficient, the old man tells him that his master was killed by a Bandit known as 'The Red Dart'. Lau Si Chung then seeks vengeance & a book on nerve-lock reverses that was also stolen by The Red Dart. (95 Mins)

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Views: I remember having The Eagle Fist on VHS way back at the start of my kung-fu obsession. It eventually got chewed up by the video-player and I was unable to find another copy for many years. It did get a cheap label DVD release many moons later, as well as a release on Amazon Prime, which was nice to see. It's probably a good 25 years or more since I last saw The Eagle Fist, but I do remember it being entertaining on its first watch and thankfully, it still holds-up today – albeit with flaws that are much more recognisable to me today, now I've been directing for some time...

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The fantastic Chi Kuan Chun plays Lau Si Chung, Captain of a small village police force. While arresting a few rascals one day (one of which is a young Yuen Tak in a fun cameo), Lau gets embarrassed by and beaten by a strange old man who was watching the arrest. Annoyed that his kung-fu wasn't good enough to beat him, Lau sets-out to find the old man in order to learn from him. It doesn't take him too long to find his new master and soon, Lau finds himself being put through some torturous regimes (as well as some daft ones) to prove his worth. As his training pick-ups and he starts to master the Eagle Fist, Lau learns that there's one more final step that even his master doesn't know, due to an old enemy stealing the last pages of his masters book many years ago. In order to retrieve the final pages, Lau must learn the Dying Fist so that he can defeat The Red Dart and take revenge for his masters-master, while becoming a true master of the technique himself!

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If only he had Google.

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The Eagle Fist is listed as an 1981 production, but in a time when Golden Harvest, Seasonal Films, Goldig Pictures, and even Shaw Brothers were delivering such incredible and modern hits, this independent flick feels like it was a decade behind. Kung-fu actor and choreographer Cheng Kei Ying, made The Eagle Fist as his directorial debut after starring in films such as The Owl, Invincible Killer, The Four Invincibles, The Handcuff, and Clones of Bruce Lee – most of which he also choreographed. While sticking with what he knew I guess, Cheng didn't really offer anything new or overly exciting with his first project as director and went on to make a number of features that never really became known as genuine classics, such as Ninja: American Warrior, Death Code Ninja, Satanic Crystals, and the hard-to-find Cat3 film, Rape In Public Sea with Lam Ching Ying, that also features an appearance from my good friend Mike Leeder. While his directing career slowly kicked-off, Cheng would continue to star in a number of great titles including Kung-Fu Zombie and A Fistful Of Talons with the awesome Billy Chong, Majestic Thunderbolt, Return Of The Bastard Swordsman, and The Man From Holland with Philip Ko. In The Eagle Fist, Cheng writes, directs, produces, choreographs, and stars as Chi Kuan Chun's old master – perhaps taking on just a little too much, although still manages to deliver some great moves and fight scenes along the way.

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The wonderful and often forgotten about Chi Kuan Chun does a great job as Captain Lau. Although it's a pretty straight-forward role in a typical old-school story, Chi still delivers working with what he has and shining in the kung-fu sequences. While he had starred in a host of classics prior to this, from his Men In The Monastery debut to Marco Polo, Shaolin Temple, and Showdown In Cotton Mill, The Eagle Fist came in the middle of Chi's career and can easily be over-looked as just another old-school kung-fu flick. It's a shame he never went on to star in many more solid titles throughout his career – with the exception of Drunken Monkey and Seven Swords many years later – as I find him to be a great actor and fantastic martial artist, and would loved to have seen him continue like his Shaw Brothers counterparts Chen Kuan Tai and Leung Kar Yan, into modern Hong Kong action cinema!

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Overall: While nothing new for it's time, The Eagle Fist isn't terrible and offers old-school fans some exciting kung-fu, with a well choreographed finale, surprise twist, and cheap production giggles!