The Brave Archer 3 (1981)

Sadly Over-hyped

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

THE BRAVE ARCHER 3 is the third instalment of the four-part series from the Shaw Brothers studio and the last with any real continuity. Alexander Fu Sheng and Niu Niu return from the last movie as the titular character and his bride, but the story immediately digresses and barely features any of the other characters from the previous movies. Niu Niu is injured by a vengeful Lo Meng and the pair have to go and see monk Ti Lung in order to get her healed.Watching this, it's immediately clear that THE BRAVE ARCHER 3 is much more of a Venoms outing than anything else. Lo Meng's powerful villain dominates the proceedings and I'm not surprised because he's excellent in the part. The other Venoms, including Wang Li, get to team up as Ti Lung's bodyguard team and all are typically excellent. Most of the film is bogged down in a boring flashback featuring Ti Lung's character, a similar problem that THE SWORD STAINED WITH ROYAL BLOOD had. However, it does pick up for a traditional Venoms fight at the climax, which is the best action scene of the series thus far.

Continuing the Shaw Bros. epic filming of Louis Cha's "Legend of the Condor Heroes," BRAVE ARCHER 3 (1981) follows Kuo Tsing (Fu Sheng) and Huang Yung (Niu Niu), the happy-but-beleaguered couple from BRAVE ARCHER 1 & 2, as they continue their travels on behalf of the Beggars Clan whose chieftainship their teacher (Ku Feng) had bestowed on Huang Yung in the previous film. However, a blow by Iron Palm (Lo Meng) has seriously wounded Huang Yung, so Kuo Tsing seeks help from a reclusive white-haired beauty, "Auntie Ying" (Ching Li), who sends them to Emperor Yuan (Ti Lung) for a cure. But first they must get past the Emperor's followers, a fisherman (Chiang Sheng), a woodcutter (Lu Feng), a farmer (Wang Li), and a scholar (Sun Chien). Emperor Yuan has shaved his head and become a monk and the couple's visit leads to a lengthy side story with detailed flashbacks about the Emperor and Auntie Ying, once one of his concubines, whose affair with "Uncle Naughty"–Chao Pai Tung, an eccentric kung fu master exiled to Peach Island whom we met in the two previous films—yielded a son and a sequence of events with tragic results. (I should point out that the subtitles on the film on the remastered Celestial DVD say "Emperor," while the subtitles on the trailer, provided as an extra, refer to the character as "Duke Yuan," which seems more likely.) As detailed as that is—and I'm keeping it real simple—there's still not as much story as was packed into the first two films. And there's also not as much as action. The endearing young lovers played by Fu Sheng and Tien Niu have to take a back seat for much of the story to Ti Lung and Ching Li whose entire drama takes up a huge chunk of the narrative and recalls a Chor Yuen-directed film the two starred in three years earlier, SWORDSMAN AND ENCHANTRESS (also reviewed on this site). The other sets of characters include the Iron Palm crew led by Lo Meng and the four aides to Ti Lung played by Chiang Sheng, Lu Feng, Wang Li and Sun Chien. Kuo Chui (Philip Kwok) as "Naughty" is seen both in flashback and the present, and joins them all in the final battle which means that all five actors comprising the Five Venoms (from the 1978 Shaw Bros. film of that title), plus their frequent co-star Wang Li (the honorary "Sixth Venom"), appear together in this sequence, making this something of an honorary Five Venoms film. The final brawl comes at 82 minutes into the 92-minute film and represents the only extended kung fu fight in the film. It's a good one, but it was a long wait getting there.While not quite as filled with excitement as the two earlier Brave Archer films, it's still a fun, eye-pleasing costume adventure shot on lavish Shaw Bros. sets and featuring a fine all-star mix of unforgettable Shaw Bros. performers.

The Brave Archer series unites some of the top names of Shaw Brothers cinema. Brave Archer 3 is a good film, but I feel that it does not do as much justice to the actors as it could have. They could have made better use of some of the actors, but in itself the story is good. Fu Sheng puts a good performance, although the Venoms do not really play a prominent role, except for maybe Lo Meng. Overall a good film, but they could have used the cast better.