Average
Summary
A sort of by-the-numbers (almost literally as it deals with dwindling numbers) chop sockie mystery, To Kill a Mastermind has plenty of fights, mostly one-against-many encounters as the plot is all about a bunch of guys turning against someone in their midst who they think is a traitor but insists that he’s innocent. This ploy is repeated several times throughout the movie until the final two-against-one fight at the end goes over the top with nutty slow motion wackiness involving trickery and sneaky weaponry.
Plot: Two clans duke it out, but one is cleverer than the other and ensures that they make the other clan fight amongst themselves first.
Review: The Qi Sha clan is feared and respected amongst all other martial arts clans: These dudes are the badasses, the villains, the enforcers that make all others tremble. Their numbers continue to grow and expand, but their leader is a mysterious, hidden figure whose orders are delivered by a small orb that drops into their hideout. The members are more or less equal, but they are all beholden to the orders from the orb, which they follow without question or delay. Another clan of warriors has long followed the Qi Sha’s lead, but this clan is comprised of guys of peace, law, and order, and they come up with a clever plan: They will plant a spy within the Qi Sha and feed that clan with false witnesses and subterfuge. It works! Soon, the Qi Sha warriors and enforcers are turning against one another, killing each other like wolves sensing a traitor or a weaker link, and soon their numbers begin to dwindle. The Qi Sha becomes weaker as a result! But this method of treachery will only work for so long and a new method will need to be thought of before the remaining Qi Sha warriors figure out that they’ve been deceived. When the mastermind of the Qi Sha drops the orb with final special orders, the last three enforcers will be stunned when it is revealed who the mastermind actually is!
A sort of by-the-numbers (almost literally as it deals with dwindling numbers) chop sockie mystery, To Kill a Mastermind has plenty of fights, mostly one-against-many encounters as the plot is all about a bunch of guys turning against someone in their midst who they think is a traitor but insists that he’s innocent. This ploy is repeated several times throughout the movie until the final two-against-one fight at the end goes over the top with nutty slow motion wackiness involving trickery and sneaky weaponry. Some of the fighters use outlandish weapons (one guy has a metal glove for a hand like Freddy Krueger), which makes the movie stand out a little bit, but otherwise this one is sort of hokey pokey, and they all fall down. A Shaw Brothers production, directed by Chung Sun.
88 Films has just released To Kill a Mastermind on Blu-ray(it’s #42 on the spine as part of their Asia Collection line), and it comes with a slipcase, four art cards, and a nice new HD transfer, with a reversible sleeve with alternate artwork.