Return of the Deadly Blade, also known as Shaolin Fighters vs. Ninja, is a 1981 Wuxia film starring David Chiang, Norman Chu, Lo Lieh and Yasuaki Kurata, based on the Gu Long novel series of the same name. It is notably the debut of long time action choreographer Ching Siu-tung (of A Chinese Ghost Story fame), reuniting Tony Ching and Norman Chu from Duel to the Death besides adding a colorful new cast of characters.
The ever-versatile David Chiang plays Siu-wai, a wandering swordsman and mercenary hired by a mysterious woman called the Moon Goddess to find the elusive warrior known as the Deadly Blade, but he ends up crossing paths with a powerful opponent from Japan, simply called the Lonely Winner (Yasuaki Kurata) as well as the warrior Master Lee (Norman Chu) who have his own reasons for tailing them on their quest.
Return of the Deadly Blade contains examples of:
- Action Girl: Yang, the ''kunoichi'' warrior who fights the Lonely Winner a few times in the forest.
- Anti-Hero: The Lonely Winner is the closest this movie has to an anti-hero, who doesn’t always play fair in battle and often gloats over his defeated opponents.
- Battle Amongst the Flames: The battle between Siu-wan and the self-proclaimed martial artist called the God of Fire, whose Tricked-Out Gloves can spew flames causing the entire arena to be engulfed in fire within seconds of their combat and both combatants being prevented from retreating by a Ring of Fire. It ends with Siu-wan hacking off the Master of Fire’s arm, resulting in his flame-throwing projectile turning himself into a Man on Fire.
- Combat Pragmatist: Most of the characters, including the Lonely Winner (who isn’t above stripping his opponents to induce Defeat by Modesty), Master Lee (who sometimes attacks his opponents In the Back) or Siu-wan himself (using ranged projectiles and throwing weapons for sneak attacks).
- Deadly Disc: Siu-wan’s very first fight scene around a campfire had him fighting a trio of Elite Mook warriors who uses razor-sharp circular discs as weapons. With him winning of course.
- Full-Frontal Assault: As detailed below, the Lonely Winner fights a group of thugs while in the middle of his bath.
- Furo Scene: And Walking Shirtless Scene. The Lonely Winner’s first scene is him bathing in a pool inside an underground cave, before being ambushed by several challengers armed with Epic Flail as weapons. Cue epic fight scene where men in white briefs tries to hack each other to pieces.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: The Lonely Winner, after finding out Master Kam, whom he assumed he defeated and killed to earn his position as a champion years ago, is alive the whole time, and that his lover Yang is dead. The next scene he have completely lost his mind,
- Gratuitous Ninja: One of the characters is simply called the Ninja of Iga, who is Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
- Heroic RRoD: The Lonely Winner, after finally suffering a defeat in the hands of Master Kam, who turns out to be alive the whole time and passing out, where in the following scene he ends up a raving lunatic and madman from learning the truth.
- Hoist by His Own Petard
- During the underground pool fight, an unarmed Lonely Winner gets attacked by a horde of flail-swinging enemies, where he tricks them to get their flails all tangled up before dragging all his opponents into the water and tying them up with their own flail.
- Siu-wan’s fight with the God of Fire ends with Siu-wan causing the God of Fire’s own weapon to hit himself, subsequently engulfing him with his own flames.
- Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja
- I Shall Taunt You: The Lonely Winner, during his fight with Yang.
- Just Toying with Them: The Lonely Winner tends to Troll his opponents and screw around with them before defeating them, such as, during the pool scene, tying up his attackers with their own flails while they’re in the pool and then stripping them of their towels and leaving them thrashing naked in the water before getting out and laughing at his opponents.
- Lonely at the Top: The Lonely Winner used to be one of the greatest warriors in the martial arts world, until he’s reduced to being all alone because everyone who knows him wants him dead. Hence his Self-Applied Nickname.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: The Ninja of Iga and the Lonely Winner.
- Mêlée à Trois:
- The battle on a suspended bridge between the Lonely Winner, Master Lee, and the Ninja of Iga.
- The final action scene that starts with Siu-wan battling Master Kam, but the Moon Goddess suddenly showing up revealing she intends to kill both combatants. By the second half of the climax its quite clear neither of the three are aligned with each other.
- Parasol of Pain: The Monk uses a metal umbrella with a spiked tip as his weapon, during his fight against the Lonely Winner and Siu-wan. What eventually took him down is the Lonely Winner leaping over him to attack the Monk from above, and during his moment of distraction as he lifts his otherwise impenetrable umbrella, Siu-wan then sends his sword flung into the Monk’s forehead.
- Sword Fight: Happens throughout the movie. The very last one of these is a lengthy, gravity-defying sword battle between Siu-wan and Master Kam, with Moon Goddess intervening in the last moment.
- Take It to the Bridge: The three-way duel on a suspended bridge between the Lonely Winner, Master Lee, and the Ninja of Iga.
- Taking You with Me: The Moon Goddess attempts this on Master Kam, with Siu-wan’s flung sword still embed in her chest. But Siu-wan interrupts her by leaping at her and pushing the rest of the blade in all the way through her, causing her to crash into a wall.
- "Take That!" Kiss: At the conclusion of the battle between the Lonely Winner and Yang, with Yang defeated and pinned down, rather than of killing her outright the Lonely Winner instead does a Forceful Kiss on her.
- The Man Behind the Man: Or The Woman Behind the Man. Moon Goddess turns out to be the true Big Bad of the movie, revealed in the last 10 or so minutes before the credits.
- Weapon Specialization: Yang's preferred weapon is her trusty whip.
- Wire Fu: Characters can fly simply by leaping, and seems to defy gravity in every single fight scene, especially the final battle.
