Last Hurrah for Chivalry is a movie I'd been excited to watch for a while, because I love classic martial arts movies and I love John Woo as an action director. I'd heard this was his best movie made before he started making more modern action movies with gunfights and all, so the prospect of watching a John Woo old-school martial arts movie was always intriguing. Even if the movie hadn't been great, I think I would've just enjoyed the novelty of Woo making an action movie outside what (I imagine) is his comfort zone.

Thankfully, not only is there novelty value here, but the movie is also just a really good martial arts flick. The majority of the action is so well-choreographed and fun to watch, with probably the best fight in the movie occurring around the halfway point - a one-on-one fight in a field, complete with tons of slow-motion and spectacular scenery. It's fantastic, and then the way the climax feels like a video game - two heroes fighting through different rooms and enemies, all the way to a boss fight - is also very entertaining.

Its story is a bit chaotic at the start, introducing viewers to a man who wants revenge, but wants to get other people to do it for him. We're shown a town that's filled with what initially feels like too many characters (and side-antagonists), but I think these scenes generally pay off by the end. The story becomes easy to follow after the first half-an-hour, with at least one fairly clever twist, and characters that you come to care about more than most martial arts movie characters. I think that's what takes Last Hurrah for Chivalry from being good to very good/great.

And not only is the action really well choreographed and shot, but there's also so much of it, with it feeling like 50 to 60% of the movie is just action. It's a blast to watch, is kind of exhausting in the best way possible, and shows that John Woo can do more than just great gunfights and car chases. I'm continually feeling like as far as the action genre goes, maybe no one does it quite as well as John Woo.

Scott is right. The best 2 person sword duel ever put on film is in the middle of this movie. The sword fights with multiple fighters are not the best although quite good. However, the fight in the middle is the best even compared to Japanese samurai movies. Chinese swordplay scenes in my opinion have never surpassed the Japanese in terms of entertainment value. Especially in scenes where one guy must battle a group of enemies, Japanese movies excel, example being the Lone Wolf and Cub series. Even though duels in Japanese cinema last only seconds or a minute at the most, the sheer intensity of those moments made them better. But, this is one example where Chinese swordplay surpasses the Japanese. The scene in the middle of this film was a five minute long fight with the most amazing choreography ever. The other fights in this movie are good too but even if they sucked this movie would get a 7 for that one scene. If you haven't seen it, you have to. John Woo is the man.

Great movie. Love the kung fu and the sword play. Good storyline and a twist at the end. One of my all time favorite movies in the genre. You really cant go wrong with this one.