The Girl Named Iron Phoenix (1973) Poster

User Reviews

Review this title
3 Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
6/10
Better than expected
lotekguy-126 September 2022
The comic relief bits are, as the other two reviewers (to date) have mentioned, truly lame. And stale. And no incentive to stick around for the predictable ending. But if you approach it as a Judy Lee vehicle, tolerating the flaws along the way, it's not a bad showcase for her skills and personality.

She's an undercover cop assigned to bust the honchos running the docks for their insurance scam of killing off workers in "industrial accidents" and keeping most of the payouts. Perhaps their company's mission statement was "get a piece of the wok". Bad pun, but still funnier than the script.

Back to Judy. The fight scenes are barebones. Few weapons. No wires, and only one gimmicked part of a mob encounter (big burlap bags flying like they shouldn't hadda oughta) in a scene that is otherwise all human-scale kicks and punches, augmented by the usual excessive sound effects on impact. Her character is clearly the Alpha, and she knows it, showing confidence ala Donnie Yen's yet-to-come Ip Man outings, with occasional glimpses of Bruce Lee's cockiness.

It ain't great art, but it adds up to a better package than many of its competitors from that era.
0 out of 0 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
3/10
Cheap Taiwanese kung fu knock-off
Leofwine_draca10 February 2018
Warning: Spoilers
THE GIRL NAMED IRON PHOENIX is one of those cheap Taiwanese kung fu knock-offs that were rushed out to cash in on the kung fu craze of the early 1970s. It's a typical melodrama with a handful of fight scenes including to justify its standing as a martial arts movie. For a lot of the running time, the viewer is stuck with typical lame comedy which seems to have been written for those with few brain cells. Judy Lee plays the femme fatale of the piece and she gets to high kick her way around the sets, but there are never any powerful opponents for her to beat, just extras. Shaw star Tien Feng has a cameo. None of the film is remotely interesting.
1 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
1/10
stinker alert
ckormos14 July 2015
Yes that is Chia Ling and Tung Li starring. Sometimes you just need a paycheck. The movie is also known as "Gril Named Iron Phoenix" so that should be a clue as to how awful it is. It runs a thankfully short 75 minutes and probably took 150 minutes to plan and put on film. The only reason to watch this movie is with beer soaked buddies so you can laugh at how bad it is. Every attempt at comedy falls flat and the martial arts is pathetic. Action director Leung Siu-Chung (father of Bruce Leung) certainly showed up on set drunk that day. The plot is people getting murdered so the bad guys can collect insurance money. I have no idea how that is supposed to be funny. It is also not funny when someone who can't do martial arts tries to do martial arts and fails. The overwhelming stupidity of everything in this comedy is also not funny. Perhaps I need a few more beers or perhaps there just isn't enough beer in the world.
1 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

See also

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews


Recently Viewed