Bullet Points: Duel to the Death (1983)
If I ever got the opportunity to make a film there is a 96% chance that there would be ninjas in it. Those black-clad martial arts freaks were such a part of my childhood that I can remember cutting out the ads in the back of Black Belt Magazine and hiding it in the back of my notebook like I was really going to go live in some ninja training facility. Imagine how much cooler I would be if I had? No matter, I didn’t and here I sit talking about ninjas instead of doing the ninja-ing myself.
Synopsis: The greatest sword masters from Japan and China face off in a duel to the death (TM).
- You’re the best, around: Every ten years, the greatest sword fighter in China meets with the greatest sword fighter of Japan to stake their claim as the best. This year, a Shaolin scholar named Bo Ching Wan (Damian Lau) and a samurai named Hashimoto (Norman Chu) meet to decide the winner of this most prestigious title.
- Contrasting styles: Both of the participants in this years duel are passionate about their abilities. They have trained for many years to get to this point and are beyond honored to have the chance at becoming the best. Wan is a deep thinker. He spends much of the early parts of the film romanticizing his role in the duel and even though this duel is to the death, he believes that dying stifles learning and that a duel without death will teach them a great deal more about themselves. Hashimoto, on the other hand, killed his master before leaving for the duel. Winning is all that matters to him and it’s not even close. The crazier thing is that his master was all too happy to die fighting him. Much like Hashimoto, his journey was meant to end when he found the man who could best him.
- Fightin’ around the world: Both of our main characters may wear their hair like a 1980’s Reba McEntire music video but that doesn’t mean that they have to fight like her. That is, assuming she isn’t a wuxia master? The wire work is so exceptional in Duel To The Death that you’ll forget you’re watching real human beings and not some crazy anime stuff.
- The House of Holy Swords: Bo and Hashimoto finally make it to the place where one of them is destined to die. They tour the grounds. Cruise around the labyrinth of tunnels underneath, carefully reading the names of all of the sword masters who once roamed those very tunnels. Each man is also strictly and acutely aware that something is wrong. The head of the House of Holy Swords and his hot daughter are around a lot but there is something amiss in the place.
- Chicks, man: Bo has a lot on his mind. Soon he’ll be fighting against one of the greatest swordsmen in the world but he still has time to get his romance on with the bossman of the House of the Holy Sword. She’s an expert fighter, too. It’s pretty clear that her daddy wanted her in this fight and she just might be good enough to win it.
- I hope you like ninjas: From their very first moments on screen while attacking a Shaolin monastery, the ninjas of Duel To The Death run away with this film. Every scene is as if it’s ripped straight from the day dreams of my 8 year old self, sitting cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by my ninja action figures and enough weapons to slay a small country. It just might be the greatest ninja movie ever made even though the ninjas aren’t the main character of the film. Each time on screen is like a spoogefest of ninja ingenuity (nin-genuity?) that is all but impossible to describe. I can’t believe I’m saying this but if topless Ninja Voltron doesn’t sell you on this film than I don’t know what will.
- Ninja magic: If ninjas are truly magic then these ones must be played by David Blaine and Criss Angel. The proverbial shit hits the fan as the secret plan to wreck this whole thing gets unleashed and Bo and Hashimoto find themselves fighting alongside one another instead of chopping each other to bits. But like the true warriors that they are, they finish what they were there to do in an epic bloodbath that guarantees to get both men handicap stickers for their minivans. No more parking in the back of the mall parking lot!
The Verdict: Some movies slip by you for decades only to reveal themselves when you least expect it. Duel to the Death might have been my favorite movie EVER if I had watched it when I was 11. That doesn’t mean it isn’t a boss movie at 36, but the use of ninjas and awesome sword fighting is just what I was looking for when I was young. I love it now but I would have been a drooling zombie watching it as a child. It is the epic sword-fighting movie that you imagined when you were playing cross-legged on the floor with your action figures. It has more ninjas, more sweet jumping sword fights, and more crimped bangs than any movie that I can remember. It all culminates with a fight scene that would make two Kryptonians jealous. A scene so loaded with leaping sword-swinging action that it will even make you forget that these two guys had recently gotten their hair done at a mall salon. It’s a film that sat in my queue for far too long and one that I can see myself revisiting very soon. Watch it!
