Thursday, April 26, 2018

Shatter (1974)

An attempt by Hammer Films to cash in on the early 1970s martial arts craze, Shatter stars Stuart Whitman as Shatter, an assassin who is double crossed when trying to collect his money after a successful hit in Hong Kong. He ends up on the run and being menaced by... basically everyone including the security services led by Peter Cushing.

Along the way Shatter is helped by kung-fu master Ti Lung and love interest Lily Lee through a series of fights (the fights are actually pretty good) until he gets his dollars... or gets killed.

Well the plot isn't very complicated and the story is stretched out a bit but the overall film isn't bad at all though a bit ridiculous. The main problem is Whitman looks too much of a wreck to be a supposedly top-notch hitman who can survive fighting the mob and everyone else (luckily Ti Lung does most of the fighting for him). Still if you can suspend disbelief long enough then the film is enjoyable. The nostalgia for HK is strong with this one.