| To Kill a Mastermind (1979) |
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| Director: | Sun Chung |
| Writers: | Ni Kuang |
| Starring: | Wang Lung Wei, Fei Ai, Tat-wah Cho, and Kin Ping Chow |
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The Plot: Our film begins by introducing us to a very special cabal of underground martial artists known as The Qisha Society. The leaders promoting this group of leather vested fighters are quite mad, and they lust after money most of all. In our introduction we see firsthand how horrifying this group can be, as they instantly decapitate some poor gent who was brought forth and basically used as fodder for a newly promoted group of psychopaths. Many members of this clan have special gimmicks that make them individually different from one another. One member has a circular saw blade that he wraps around his enemy’s head before yanking it clean off. Then there’s a second man who has giant brass rings up and down his arms. There is a master of blades in the group as well, but all of these individual “chiefs” pale in comparison to their hidden leader: The Mastermind. The Mastermind is the criminal genius who helps plan the Qisha society’s every move, but recently the locals have decided to rebel against them. In order to do this, the locals have united behind Lord Yang who has apparently instilled a double agent inside of the Qisha Society. As the clan comes to terms with the possibility that they have a rat within their core group, they find their loyalty quickly being tested. There is no honor amongst thieves, however, and there also appears to be very little loyalty. |
| The Review |
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The narrative within To Kill a Mastermind is a pretty interesting subject. This isn’t your typical martial arts film, where our heroes are up front and center throughout the duration of the movie. Instead, this is a film where the villains seem to take up considerably more screentime during the majority of the movie. For nearly the entire first thirty minutes of the film, the audience deals exclusively with this rogue group of devils known as the Qisha society. We are not introduced to any strong heroes during this time, but are only given vague reminders that there are good guys somewhere alive in this world. This seems to be a film that takes place in a realm outside of the much more traditional depictions found in The Kung Fu Instructor. There are no well structured heroes who are out to do the right thing. Only bland and vanilla cops who will try to do the emperor’s bidding in the midst of all this danger. There is a point in the film, where the Qisha surround a young man who they intend to kill, and he questions, “where is the law around here?” This is a question that seems to resonate quite a bit throughout the film.
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| The Conclusion |
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