BlazeLime
Strong and Moving!
RyothChatty
ridiculous rating
Breakinger
A Brilliant Conflict
Afouotos
Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
poe426
A.k.a. SECRET OF THE DRAGON (on DVD), SNAKE CRANE SECRET (vhs) boasts some interesting (and sometimes hilarious) touches: whenever Er Lang (Meng Fei) uses his crane style of kung fu, we hear a crane whoop; when Tai Kung Liang (Tan Dao-ling, a.k.a. "Dorian Tan") uses his snake fist, we hear the hissing of a snake. It would be interesting to find out if this was director Wu Ma's idea, or something thrown in by the people doing the dubbing. The dubbing overall is unusual in this film (the music choices are particularly fun). This is a classic scenario, with Er Lang being raised in a kung fu temple and Tai Kung growing up to become an Imperial soldier. When soldier Kung arrives at the temple looking for the secret kung fu manual safeguarded by Er Lang, Er Lang slips away with it. In town, the Sun and Moon group is hunted by the Chings. Er Lang and Kung meet and scrap, but the manual doesn't change hands. Er Lang moves in with a local pickpocket and gives the beggar a manual- just not the one everyone's after. Hung Kung-shan (You Tian-long), who killed the parents of Er Lang and Kung, kills the beggar. The Sun and Moon group is ambushed by soldiers (led by the scar-faced Shao Tin-san- Dean Shek), but are saved by Hu Quay, Er Lang and Kung's uncle, who, years earlier, had betrayed their father. (To his everlasting credit, he didn't know that the family was to be murdered.) There are some solid action sequences in SNAKE CRANE SECRET and, as already stated, the direction is interesting. Well worth a look.
AwesomeWolf
Version: English dub 'Snake & Crane Secret' is on the better old-school kung-fu movies I've seen. It may still only be worthy of a 5/10, but for essentially $2.50, it is worth it.The plot is fairly simple - two brothers are separated as children after their father is killed protecting the secret Snake & Crane kung-fu book from a bad guy. Twenty years later, the same bad guy is a top man within the Ching-dynasty leadership. A group of rebels (good-guys) need the brothers and their kung-fu skills to stop the bad-guy and free their people.The dubbed dialog is great, and some of the fights (especially the final one) are enjoyable, otherwise it is still pretty still pretty silly: good-guys and bad-guys alike randomly turn up halfway through a fight and join in, and watch out the bad-guy's weakness at the end.5/10
mytoastiscold
I bought this movie at Meijer for $5.99. The plot makes really no sense whatsoever, and the fight scenes are not choreographed well at all. However, if you like cheesy kung fu action, poor cinematography, and ridiculous characters that promise only to do "menial labor," Then you will love Snake Crane Secret. I have seen it many times, and it is a great movie with which to impress a date. The key is: do not take it seriously. It is no Crouching Tiger, but it is a "good" movie in and of itself.
RINGO12147
I enjoyed the movie. The video cost $2.99 so the price was okay. These kung-fu movies often are done in a similar formula. I did not expect anything really new and different. There are some pretty girls in the movie. If you like to watch the martial arts movies on Saturday TV then you will probably find this one worth a watch too!