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Swaps out the bulk of the original's rousing individual spirituality in favour of a legacy built on the backs of those who have come behind you (A One-Armed Arm-y, if you will).

But more than makes up for it on the strength of its veritable merry-go-round of sprawling fight set pieces. With Chang Cheh seemingly taking on the role of juggler from the sky. From where each limb-littered habitat can add more impossible elements to the mix while forever keeping tabs from the all-watching eye up above.

Plus, a pleasantly surprising deal of splatter to boot, more holes being poked through bods than the smelliest of smelly cheese factories. To turn the bluest of seas red with what remains. Spoiler…

Review by Gregor Kreyca ★★★★ Liked

This is a very strong sequel to the original One-Armed Swordsman that, when it comes to tempo, action, choreography and sheer entertainment value even sures its famous predecessor. This time, the story is much simpler and only there to provide a good construct for the numerous action/fight sequences.

Jimmy Wang Yu is in top form and the movie is stacked with an impressive ing cast. Colorful characters, various weapons and buckets of Shaw Brothers blood make sure that this sequel never once loses its momentum.

The film of course was not as fresh and visionary as the original but in my book it is just mandatory a watch for fans of the genre. Many viewers, like myself, will probably be even more entertained by it. It simply is one of director Chang Cheh's best and most entertaining movies.

Review by 𝕭laze the 𝓐ction 𝕵unkie ★★★★½ Liked

Without an origin story to introduce our hero, this one steps right into the action and steps up the violence. I do think I'm more entertained by the lightning-fast Japanese style of martial arts swordplay more than this methodical swing by swing Chinese choreography of the era, but that really doesn't impact how bad-ass and blood-soaked this one is. I don't think I've ever seen a film with more sword play, and I've seen many many more than what I've ed on this site since 2019. Regardless of how shallow the plot is or how aged the choreography, or how bland some of the acting is, this one gets top marks for being little more than a martial-arts extravaganza showing…

Review by Gentry ★★★★½ Liked

“Nobody can be the reigning, single master.”

🗣️ Watched with audio commentary by writer and film historian Samm Deighan

This is why I could never be a card carrying member of the martial arts world—there’s always a bully blade king demanding fealty, insisting I cut off my sword arm or watch as my imprisoned master is tortured to death. As Samm notes, this is every bit the up-the-ante sequel one could hope for, with a stacked cast and the now domesticated Fang Gang (Jimmy Wang Yu) being coerced to come out of retirement and take on an Enter the Dragon-style tournament of fighters. The original will always be the catalytic new wuxia blueprint, but Return is the more entertaining film. More thoughts back here.

Review by Joe ★★★★ Liked

Live in the Chang Cheh universe and want a quick death? Be a bad guy - chances are, unless you're one of the supreme villains, you'll just get hit with a sword or some other bladed weapon and go down after a quick blood gush and maybe a grimace on the way down. If you're a hero, you're more than likely going to pay for your moral peace of mind with extreme suffering, a lingering death while you fight, fight, fight until your last drop of blood hits the ground. You might even be forced to do yourself in, a sword through your stomach to take out the bad guy behind you, or slicing your own arm off in order to make some kind of persuasive point. Anybody can do the right thing when it's easy - what do you want, a medal?

Review by Gentry ★★★½ Liked

“One person getting fame for thousands of dead bodies!”

One Arm vs. Eight Kings

Master Fang Gang is a grizzled young vet in the sequel to the smash success, The One-Armed Swordsman. We meet up with Master Fang (Jimmy Wang Yu) eight years later, now living a peaceful, secluded life with his not-yet-impregnated wife, Xiaoman (Lisa Chiao Chiao). The idyllic life is disrupted by a visit from the Black and White Swordsmen, who invite him to a mandatory King of the Fighters tournament; everyone who uses swords must be in attendance.

The tournament, of course, is a violent charade, with any masters not killed, imprisoned as ransom—any students who wish to free their masters must cut off their sword arm…

Review by Justin Decloux ★★★★

Director Chang Cheh is still relying a little too much on Japanese action iconography, but you can feel he's figuring things out, and making it extra weird as he goes. There's very little one-on-one action, but RETURN does feature a hundred colourful martial arts masters cut down in a splatter of blood.

Review by comrade_yui ★★★★ Liked

has one of the most sadistic and evil female villains in any hong kong film i've seen, she just goes around feigning a sultry appearance while silently murdering every single one of jimmy wang yu's comrades in the middle of the night, she even poisons the well that they're drinking water out of.

her crazy part in this is a microcosm of this sequel as a whole; the first one-armed swordsman is a classical tale of chivalric vengeance told with chang cheh's usual hyper-masculine ferocity, but this movie is just a crazyass vulgar cartoon that ditches any notions of character development or emotional depth in favor of more fighting, more crazy weapons, and wayyyy more GORE. dudes get stabbed in…

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Trades the gravitas of its predecessor for non-stop sword carnage. I do not have one complaint. Nowhere near as iconic, compelling or well-written as the original, but to compensate, the action choreography is nothing short of phenomenal, a major step-up in that regard, and if that wasnt enough, its also constant throughout the runtime. I shit you not, every 10 minutes someone is fighting hordes of enemies. And Ti Lung and David Chiang have early ing roles. With Jimmy Wang-Yu in his prime (he was a piece of shit in real life, but man was he magnetic on the screen). Lord have mercy.

I love Chang Cheh. I love wuxia.

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Jimmy Wang Yu's Fang Kang storms back onto our screens with Return of The One-Armed Swordsman. He reluctantly teams up with a local school to take on the Eight Swords Kings clan - 8 deadly mercenaries with distinct fighting styles and weapons. This film has a wonderfully bloody body count; fight sequences are sporadic throughout the film but consistently entertaining, thanks to Liu Chia Liang's sword action choreography. The distinct fighting styles and weapons of the 8 are great, if not sometimes difficult to distinguish between. One weapon, in particular, seemed like a rudimentary precursor to one of my favourite kung fu films- The Flying Guillotine.

Review by Filipe Furtado ★★★½ Liked

More splatter and more tortured. Everything here doubles down on the original, so many villains, much more plot a moodier direction. It lacks the early film charm but makes up for it with pain and masochism.

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Chang Cheh at his best: A furious, no-nonsense, over-the-top and soaring swordplay saga full of fast paced and creative action setpieces, drenched in splattering gore, sadistic mutilations, people fighting with weapons sticking out of their bodies and a variety of colorful villains that our hero must defeat. It may not have the slow burn melancholia and dramatic tone of the first film, structurally more closer to a classic action movie, but its so much crazy fun, a film that shows Cheh in full confidence of his vision. Where good is white, evil is black and all of them get chopped up into a crimson river.