Don't listen to the negative reviews

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

KILLER CONSTABLE is a Shaw Brothers martial arts outing that offers something a little different for the seasoned fan. For a change, it wasn't directed by Chor Yuen or Chang Cheh, but rather Kuei Chih-Hung, who made his mark directing a number of supernatural epics for the studio, most notably HEX. This is a dark and downbeat story about an imperial policeman's job to hunt down gold which was stolen from the treasury.This film is a vehicle for the excellent and underrated Chen Kuan Tai, who makes for a fantastically brooding hero. The story is rather ordinary, but this is a visual experience in which the emphasis is on what's on screen rather than the intricacies of the narrative. Chih-Hung is careful to supply excellent framing shots and shoots a lot of his action in dark or dreary conditions, giving this a look of doom that reminded me of Bergman and Kurosawa in places.Given that this is a martial arts production, there's plenty of action here, and it's of a very good quality. It's also incessantly gruesome and nihilistic, even more so than in a Chang Cheh film. Wounds are show in excruciating close-up detail and there's always some novel way to destroy the human body. The choreography is excellent and the performers are all up to the job, including such reliables as Jason Pai Piao, Dick Wei, Yuen Wah, and in particular Ku Feng who has a really meaty role. Things build to an incredible climax which has to be seen to be believed. KILLER CONSTABLE is a stark and shocking surprise and a highlight of Shaw's 1980s output.

Brilliantly shot, competently edited. Incredibly gritty and "unclean" compared to other very stylish and smooth martial arts films. I mean this in a good way, something feels very raw and pure about this movie. Plus an interesting and flawed main character and bad-guys who aren't inherently evil, something you NEVER see from this genre. Probably one of the gorier martial-arts movies from this genre, if not the most brutal, but it isn't over done like some martial-arts movies today are. Decapitation is used sparingly, and when it happens it takes you off-guard. The best scenes are during the night, and the lighting here is astounding, the director uses the dark to the advantage of the fighting, and it creates a very interesting dynamic. In fact every fight that takes place has some sort of element to it.I would have to take off 2 star though, the fighting choreography isn't as well done as many other classic martial arts films, and that is one of the main strong points of the genre. The other reason is that this movie would have been better if it had been extended. We have an interesting character, and an interesting plot.If the movie was extended by perhaps 30 or so minutes to expand on some character and story elements it would be maybe one of the greatest martial-arts film of this kind.While this came out in 1980, which isn't exactly the golden era for movies like this, I think you will be hard-pressed to find a single movie of the genre as good and mature as this one. It's a perfect blend of the good Chinese elements of filmmaking and some western-influenced techniques.

I remember watching this movie as a kid and being quite impressed because I found it so bloody. I often remembered this movie and so I was really happy to find this now in a second hand video store after all those years. Of course I'm not that impressed nowadays - but it's still a very cool swordsplay-movie. I has a lot of great fights with some splatter pleasure like extremities being chopped off. Ohh, and it's no kung-fu- or karate-movie, don't know why they named it "Karate Exterminators" or "Lightning Kung Fu", maybe this was more popular at it's release-date. My german video-release is called "Der gnadenlose Vollstrecker" which is a title that totally fits. Really outstanding is the atmosphere. You have fights in pitch black, in the water and marsh, with fire and so on. And there is a lot of rain. You know, rainy, dark atmosphere, desperate and already injured heroes with long wet hair in the face standing counterpart ready to die. - Cool! And the hero is no real hero because he's a total cold-hearted, bougeois executioner. But there's some development with his character during the story which is quite realistic. And the end is very surprising and radical. So, the movie-makers are not just martial-arts- and swordsplay-professionals, they also knew how to develop a storyline and built some great atmosphere. For me this movie is a hidden treasure of all those kung-fu and swordsplay-movies of the 70ies & 80ies. 7 out of 10.

I saw this film under the title of "Lightning Kung Fu," which is strange because it deals with neither lightning or what most people may consider to be Kung Fu action. I propose the the new title be "Chop Chop Constable in a Dark Room." This is not to say that the film is entirely unworthy of being viewed. It follows a darker story than most Hong Kong films from the late 70's and early 80's with the main character killing every criminal he's sent to find without remorse. The most interesting scene is a battle and chase that takes place almost entirely in the dark. It's very difficult to see and I wonder if it was a bold decision by the film team or merely the product of a low budget and no lighting. However it is realistic in it's pitch black chaos. Altogether this film suffers from some confusing developments (such as the constable not feeling any effects from a certain dart), and weak characterizations. Not my first choice when it comes to swordplay movies.