Return of the 18 Bronzemen (1976) User Reviews (8)

Carter, the unstoppable martial arts machine.

[BA_Harrison · 7/10 · 4 June 2011]

Carter Wong plays Ai Sung-Chueh, a conniving prince who uses forgery, murder and deceit to become emperor. On hearing that the Shaolin monks are about to revolt, he enrols himself at their temple, determined to learn their kung fu secrets.

My DVD of 'Return of the 18 Bronzemen' describes this film as 'Old Skool Kung Fu'; reading between the lines, this means unimpressive martial arts, bad dubbing, unusually large eyebrows, wobbly music, a woman unconvincingly passing for a man, and lots of crap sound effects. Sure enough, the first half an hour or so delivers this in spades, but once the action moves to the Shaolin temple, where Carter Wong trains as a Shaolin warrior and attempts to pass the bronze-man test, things begin to get a LOT more entertaining.

Fans of creaky kung fu films will have a blast watching Carter as he battles robotic monks wearing gold lamé and cardboard armour sprayed gold, wanders through booby-trapped tunnels, and fights blokes coated from head to toe in metallic paint; I couldn't get enough of this guy as he repeatedly fails the test but keeps coming back for more. Finally, as he looks set to complete the challenge, he is thwarted at the final hurdle, after which the woman who unconvincingly passed for a man earlier in the film turns up once again, unsuccessfully tries to kill him, and the film abruptly ends.

6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

Many reviewers have understandably missed that most of this film is told in flashback.

[PKazee · 6/10 · 29 May 2021]

I watched the English dubbed version released on Mei Ah dvd, and it leaves much to be desired. For starters, most reviewers appear to have missed that a great deal of the film is told in flashback... and this is not at all the fault of the viewer. Incredibly, the blurb on the dvd case also gets it wrong. Plus, I only figured it out after puzzling over several things that didn't make sense, and then watching portions of the film over again. Once you know, however... you know.

What we actually have here is a wraparound story in which Carter Wong plays a Prince who has had the deceased Emperor's Will altered in order to allow him to steal the throne from the rightful heir (presumably, his brother). Worse, he orders the other Prince to be tossed into a dungeon on trumped up charges to await sentencing. Unfortunately, the fate of the brother is left hanging, as he is never mentioned again.

Carter receives intelligence indicating that the monks at Shaolin are planning a revolt. He is counseled to send troops, but says that he will wait until the next day to make his decision.

THIS IS WHERE THE FLASHBACK BEGINS... it is signaled by a screen wipe and a glimpse of a bronze statue that we will see again in the next scene.

While strolling through the village, Carter encounters a monk selling small bronze statues of Shaolin fighters. He inquires about them and learns that students who graduate from Shaolin have a dragon tattoo on one of their arms. He buys one of these statues and thinks to himself: "Hmmmm... I should go to Shaolin to train there."

Carter goes to a cafe and witnesses a cocky and cute (though disguised as a man) Polly Shang-kuan cleverly kicking the crap out of several men. Carter decides he'll have a go at Polly too. The monk from before breaks it up.

Carter continues strolling and helps a pretty girl out of a jam. Smitten, he goes to visit her later, but she is with another man (Tien Peng, who starred with Carter in 18 BRONZEMEN), and this man appears to be good at kung fu. Carter challenges the man to a fight and loses to him, but not before noticing that he has a dragon tattoo on his arm. This, of course, reinforces his interest in studying at Shaolin.

Pretending to be a commoner, Carter goes to the Temple to become a student, but they won't even allow him inside the gate. Eventually, they agree to let him in, but won't allow him to become a student until he proves himself worthy. To do this, he is made to carry water in small buckets, medium buckets, large buckets, and then larger and larger and larger buckets. Also, large bundles of sticks. None of this seems to make any impression, but then he is witnessed eating 19 steamed buns (one more than the number of Bronzemen... coincidence?), and suddenly... he is told that he has been deemed ready.

Where other monks train for 10 years of more before asking to be allowed to challenge the 18 levels of Bronzemen tests, Carter believes he's ready almost immediately. He tries and fails over and over again. Among his challenges are Single Finger Fu, Coin Toss Fu and - in the end - Completus Interuptus Fu! FU THAT, I say!

WE THEN FLASH FORWARD.

Carter is Emperor and his 2nd day on the job begins with Polly Shang-kuan (this time identifying as a woman) trying to kill him in order to get revenge for the murder of her father, a General that we have not seen nor heard anything about. This is probably a reference to a historical occurrence, though it could also be a case of the dubbing simply being incorrect in ID'ing the murdered man as a General (Carter did murder someone in one of the opening scenes, but that person did not appear to be a General).

Carter next receives updated intelligence regarding Shaolin. The monks there have been ordered to attack! Carter asks his court for opinions, learns of a new weapon that can destroy the monks, and orders many of these weapons to be made.

One might expect there to then be a final act in which his forces attack Shaolin, but nope... the movie very abruptly ends there as if it's part one of a two parter. That's unfortunate, had there been more of an ending, and had the flashback been clear, I'd have enjoyed this far more than I did. As is, I'd say it's more fun than 18 BRONZEMEN, but not nearly as fun as one of its two follow-ups, THE EIGHT MASTERS (I've yet to see the BLAZING TEMPLE, the film that came between RETURN and EIGHT. I've read enough about it, however, to know that - as with the other three films - there are no reoccurring characters... just reoccurring cast members).

Just as fun

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 6 December 2021]

Carter Wong may be the star while Tien Peng and Polly Shang Kwan show up - in different roles for each of them - but Return of the 18 Bronzemen isn't a direct sequel to The 18 Bronzemen. Wong is Ai Sung-Chueh, a murderous prince who leaves behind the throne to study the rebels up close by studying at the Shaolin temple. He's at once determined to pass the tests of the temple to gain their skills and to destroy it.

This installment has way less story, but the real reason to watch it is the nearly hour-long sequence where Wong studies and then challenges the Bronzemen. It's literally a movie based around one long fight and it's just as great as it sounds. There's not much more of a story than that. Really, you expect Wong to get some kind of change of heart or become a better person and he never does, which is odd for someone who has devoted three years of his life to being part of the Shaolin.

The titular fighting masters remain the real draw of this film and the scenes where they battle Wong are worth whatever price of admission that you pay. Kuo would tell further stories of the Shaolin and the Bronzemen in another film made in 1976, Blazing Temple.

Carter Wong fights the Bronze Men again in awkward sequel

[BrianDanaCamp · 23 June 2002]

RETURN OF THE EIGHTEEN BRONZEMEN (1976, aka 18 BRONZEMEN 2) is not exactly a sequel to THE 18 BRONZEMEN (listed on IMDB as EIGHTEEN BRONZEMEN) but simply revisits the same territory and actually remakes some of the same scenes. The same three lead actors return, but not in the same roles, and only one, Carter Wong, has a starring role. (The others are Polly Shang Kwan and Tien Peng.) While it boasts some imaginative Shaolin training scenes, the film suffers from the lack of a fully developed plotline and ends abruptly as if there were a sequel waiting in the wings. It's as if a storyteller stopped after introducing the characters and setting up the premise. (The story thread is picked up to some degree in BLAZING TEMPLE, also 1976, another film in director Joseph Kuo's Shaolin/Bronzemen series.)

Carter Wong plays Ai Sung-Chueh, the Fourth Prince, who uses forgery, deceit and assassination to position himself next in line for the Emperor's throne. Strangely, after his accession to the throne, he walks out on the court to go study incognito at Shaolin Temple to gain mastery of martial arts and get a sense of the burgeoning rebel movement. It seems foolish for a new Emperor to walk away for three years from a delicate political situation in which his plentiful enemies (including his brothers and the Emperor's ministers) will have ample opportunity to turn the tables on him and put someone else in power, especially when evidence of his trickery is so easy to turn up. But logic is not this film's strong suit.

The bulk of the film takes place at Shaolin as Carter undergoes three years of training and attempts to graduate by fighting the Bronze Men in a series of contests of strength and skill. (The Bronze Men include men in head-to-toe robotic outfits, more gold than bronze, and men painted gold who fight with swords, sticks and kung fu.) Tien Peng and Polly Shang Kwan show up briefly in separate scenes. Early on, Tien plays the fiance of a girl Carter had rescued and is challenged by Carter to demonstrate his kung fu. Carter's defeat at Tien's hands strengthens his resolve to go to Shaolin to study. Polly, dressed as a man (although not fooling any of her fans), shows up early to fight Carter after an incident in a teahouse and then fights him once again, much later, after his Shaolin training.

The Shaolin training scenes and battles with the Bronze Men take up nearly an hour of the film's running time and are beautifully staged and filmed on elaborate sets. Many viewers may ignore the lack of a strong plot structure and simply concentrate on the fights. Carter, a prolific if underrated kung fu star, is quite good here and the film serves as a spectacular showcase for his skills. He also plays a more interesting character than usual, someone driven to pass Shaolin's rigorous testing in record time, yet also ultimately committed to the Temple's destruction. The implications of these contradictory impulses, however, are never adequately explored. (Curiously, he never actually witnesses any evidence of rebel activity at Shaolin.) A Hong Kong import DVD offers a more complete version of the film than a widely available English-dubbed U.S. VHS edition which leaves out six scenes, including the final one.

Challenging the 18 Bronzemen again

[unbrokenmetal · 7/10 · 30 May 2009]

A prince has falsified the testament of the emperor in order to become heir to the throne. However, he wants to learn the secrets of Kungfu and thus become invincible. Three years he is working hard and repeatedly tries to defeat the 18 Bronzemen. When his master realizes the prince is only interested in his personal advantage, he expels him before he had the chance to pass the final test. Now the prince wants revenge and plans to kill the Shaolin monks. Apart from a quick beginning and abrupt ending, the movie consists almost entirely of the training and the challenges it involves. The detailed view on these creative tests is very interesting, though, with a touch of old Fu Manchu serials.

In an awkward attempt to provide a healthy moral, apparently most international versions (in Germany: 84 minutes running time) end with the prince contemplating what he has learned (using a voice-over). Since also the beginning was cut when the testament is falsified, the cut version thus presents the prince as the hero (who legally becomes emperor and will probably forgive the monks), whereas the Hong Kong version (just over 90 minutes PAL) clearly described him as a villain who stole the throne and wants to kill all his enemies. The dark side of his character is hardly understandable in the cut version therefore. So better make sure you get the longer version if you are going to watch this.

More Bronze men (who actually are golden)

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 2 September 2022]

More Bronze men - and better one too. Especially the challenges our main characters have to endure are way better thought of. Even the ones that may seem or feel like copies from the first movie. Which you do no have to watch to understand this by the way. And you do not have to have seen the 36 chambers movie - though it may be an indicator if you like movies like this one of course.

There is more achieve (no pun intended) and it harder to get there. Of course there are some musical cues and there is some punishment or the other if you fail. Overall really nicely done - and I would say a bit better than the other bronze men movie. Of course there are also bronze girls, which I am now curious to see ... which of course will have even less to do with these two movies Kuo made. Love Kung Fu and martial arts in general? Well then do not wait and watch this (included in a Kuo box set in the UK for example)

The emperor enrolls at Shaolin Temple

[ckormos1 · 6/10 · 4 April 2020]

It is well noted this movie is related to another 1976 movie with Carter Wong "The 18 Bronzemen" by title only. My alternative title for this movie is "19 Steamed Buns". Carter not only defeats the 18 bronze fighters, he also finishes off eighteen plus one steamed buns at the table.

In my reviews I have traced the history of the training sequence. I mentioned brief training sequences in 1972 "The Thunderbolt Fist" and 1974 "Ever Victorious Hall". 1975s "Thou Shall not Kill" had a longer sequence plus got into the mental part of the training. Starting in 1974 Chang Cheh's "Shaolin Temple" movies began to establish the training sequence as an expected part of the story. In 1976 "The Himalayan" carrying buckets of water uphill is part of the training sequence. That exercise is used dozens of more times in these movies. Personally, I have lugged water uphill and can confirm it is exhausting.

The movie is a showcase of Carter Wong's skills with a lame story behind it. Literally no one is running China while Carter, the emperor, goes off to play at Shaolin Temple. Unfortunately the movie gets to the point where all the action looks the same, powerful and precise but repetitive and ultimately leaving the viewer with not much memorable to take away.

Cash-in sequel has great training scenes and nothing else

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 20 January 2013]

Slapdash sequel, made directly after the success of the original and even released within the same year, which is unconnected to the first film, despite the return of Joseph Kuo as director and the three major cast members from the first film. There's an undeniable cheapness to the movie which is exemplified by the re-use of sets from the original to a less impressive effect here. The nonsensical plot is basically an excuse for Wong (this time an anti-hero type character who deviously changes the will of the Emperor to make himself the successor, and may be involved in the murder of one of the Royal Court), in flashback of all things, to re-enter the Shaolin Temple, spend tons of time training and once again fight the ever-impressive Bronze Men of the title - and, by God, I swear one of them is played by Alfred Hitchcock!

While the two standard parts of the film that bookend the main backbone involving the golden guys are cheap and crappy-looking, once again the fights with the Bronze Men are impressive and sometimes visually stunning. This time Wong must face a variety of threats, from huge armoured bronze guards, to swordsmen, pole fights, finger-fights, gymnasts, being beaten with metal bars and the ultimate threat, a huge bronze bell which is repeatedly pushed into the fighter's back (!) and usually turns out to be fatal. My favourite test is the one in which the fighter has to sit in the middle of a circle with his eyes closed and identify the direction to which coins are thrown through his hearing alone - if he fails, a huge stone block is dropped on his head!

There are also some cool traps and tricks to be traversed, my favourite being the poles which jut from opposite walls and threaten to crush you inbetween, or maybe the sections of ceiling and wall which drop or close at a moment's notice. Wong is an unlikable hero but proves himself worthwhile in the martial arts sequences, which unfortunately come too few and far between for this fan. As for Peng and Kuan, their appearances are a bit of a mystery considering they occupy so little screen time and amount to little more than cameos.