Reviewed by: Gaijin84 Date: 04/09/2018 Summary: Too many double crosses to keep count... After high-ranking general Chao Ting-Bing (Wang Hsieh) changes allegiances from the Ming rebellion to the Qing dynasty, he decides to go after the remaining Ming rebels. After a group of rebels leaves a Shaolin temple, they are attacked, but not before they split their membership list into three parts and distribute them to the best trio of fighters (Carter Wong, Cliff Lok and Wen Chiang-Long). A series of fights take place, and soon it becomes obvious that people are playing multiple sides in order to consolidate their own power. No one is who they seem to be, and backstabbing can take place at any time and from anyone. In the end, the head of the Shaolin temple has a showdown with the lone remaining fighter to see if the rebellion can be sustained or crushed forever. A decent historical backdrop, but the plot for the film is much too convoluted to be interesting after the first 20 minutes or so. There are too many loose ends and confusing character loyalties to keep track, and the fight choreography is not good enough to make up for this. To make things worse, two of the main forces that attack the rebels, the Six Cymbal Killers and the Six Whips, have sound effects that are too grating to listen to after a few minutes. The start of the film boasts that this was the first movie filmed with Stereophonic sound. I’m not sure what that means, but it couldn’t have been a positive thing when the effects were this annoying. Reviewer Score: 4