PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *sociological*
There's a reason hardly anyone has reviewed this Taiwanese "gimmick-socky" online, because the way the script introduces characters makes it almost impossible to follow. I suppose the dubbing could be at fault but I have a feeling that director Kao Pao-Shu wasn't very invested in the material.
I know that it's another Ming Dynasty fantasia, in which various factions are struggling for power when a new heir ascends to the imperial throne. The main menace to the country is a female martial artist, Shu Shen (director Kao) who maintains her own estate with numerous acolytes. The one online review says that Lin (Lo Lieh) is one of her allies and that they're trying to steal a vital map from the noble highwayman Jade Fox (Tien Peng). Somehow a female martial artist, Zheng (Lung Chung-erh), gets mixed up with these characters, and she's got some little boy following her around, though I couldn't tell if they were related or if she'd informally adopted him. There are a lot of energetic fights, particularly with Zheng, which are the only reason to watch, though no single fight is a standout. As for the gimmicks, there are a few items like poison gas sprays but the main device is seen both at the beginning and end, in that Shu has a special palanquin she rides in that can sprout spikes and iron cage-bars.
I suppose Jade Fox is the hero but both Tien Peng and Lo Lieh are dull, which is really a rare thing for Lo Lieh. Lung Chung-erh's lively kung fu is the main attraction, though her character is wildly inconsistent. Probably FOX is most significant for being one of the few female-directed chopsockies. Kao Pao-Shu has a long list of acting credits going back to the 1950s, and I suspect she got into kung fu films as a latter-day career move. Of the eleven movies she directed, I did see one other, a Hsu Feng vehicle called WIN THEM ALL, and since I didn't think that was hard to follow, I tend to think that FOX was just another tossed-together trifle
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