The Chinese Boxer, also known as Hammer of God, is a 1970 martial arts film from Shaw Brothers, the directorial debut of the studios' long-time megastar Jimmy Wang Yu, notably the last Shaw Brothers movie starring Jimmy before he jumped ship to Golden Harvest.
Set in the 1940s in Japan-occupied China, the outskirts of Shanghai are ruled by triads which are working in league with Japanese warlords. When Lei-ming (Jimmy), a righteous young fighter and the best student of his school, tries to take a stand, the triads immediately hires a group of Japanese experts and murderers - led by Master Kitashima (Lo Lieh, who previously starred alongside Jimmy in Golden Swallow and The Magnificent Trio, this being the first time they play enemies) - to kill everyone in Lei-ming's school, with Lei-ming himself barely surviving the massacre. Recovering from his injuries, Lei-ming embarks on a long, bitter path to revenge.
Jimmy would return to produce and direct a sequel, 7 years later, titled Return of the Chinese Boxer (which isn't a Shaw Brothers production, due to the studios blacklisting Wang-yu by that time). Despite the title, it is a standalone story in which Wang-yu plays a different character named Bai-lung. This time the Sino-Japanese war is in full swing, and Bai-lung has to team up with a kunoichi who opposes the local Japanese warlord for her own reasons.
The Chinese Tropers:
- Arch-Enemy: Kitashima to Lei-ming, the former who is responsible for the massacre in Lei-ming's school and killing off all his friends and fellow pupils. It makes their final battle even more epic when it happens.
- Beat Them at Their Own Game: While the villains are proven to be deadly opponents in their own right with their own set of skills, the movie goes all the way to show how Lei-ming is better than all of them even at their own game; killing Lumura the shuriken-thrower with flung knives, beating and slicing the katana-wielding Kume with a katana, and mortally wounding Kitashima - who's known for killing victims with his bare hands - with his bare hands.
- Big Bad: Kitashima, the main antagonist of the film.
- Coat Cape: Kitashima is shown wearing his yukata over his black karate gi in this fashion when he's not busy kicking ass.
- Co-Dragons: Kume and Lumura, two samurais who serves Kitashima. They're always seen together and fights Lei-ming at the same time, attempting to (unsuccessfully) take him down.
- Dark Is Evil: Kitashima's attire, in every scene he shows up. From his black yukata, to his black karate gi, and his... blood-red karate belt, the only part of his attire which isn't black.
- Dastardly Whiplash: This being one of the few roles where Lo Lieh plays a villain, how does the audience know he's a threatening baddie? Give him an imposing moustache, that's how!
- Driven by Envy: Daio-Erh was one of Master Li's students, but was rejected by Li due to his hot-headed nature. His response is to hire Kitashima and his partners to slaughter Li's school, earning Lei-Ming's wrath.
- Dual Wielding: Lei-ming uses twin knives while fighting off Kitashima's goons in the hedge maze.
- Eye Scream: In the final battle right before fighting Kitashima, Lei-ming gouges both eyes from one of Kitashima's mooks.
- Finger Poke of Doom: The final attack Lei-ming uses to defeat and kill Kitashima, by thrushing both his fingers into Kitashima's midsection. What follows is an exploding geyser of High-Pressure Blood from where the poke is...
- Illegal Gambling Den: Part of the local gangsters' many ilicit activities includes setting up casinos and gambling parlours, overseen by their Japanese hired goons. At least one of Lei-ming's fight scenes involves him toppling a gambling parlour by beating up every henchman in it.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Lumura carries a pouch of shurikens which he can fling with deadly accuracy, notably during the restaurant scene when he had a cage full of quails released, before unleashing a consecutive wave of shirukens nailing all the birds in seconds. Against Lei-ming, however, he ends up having Lei-ming beating him when the latter hurls two short daggers into Lumura's guts.
- Off with His Head!: In the scene where Lei-ming defeats a number of Kume's mooks down to one last man, Kume at this point decides to sneak up and ambush Lei-ming. He only managed to accidentally relieve his last mook of the head with a missed swing.
- One-Hit Kill: Both Kitashima and Lei-ming can kill with a single punch. Provided that they aren't hitting named characters.
- Professional Killer: Master Kitashima and his two followers, Kume and Lumura, who slaughter people for fun and money.
- Rape as Drama: Diao, the traitor, gets to gleefully rape Lei-ming's love interest Hsiao-ling, for no reason other than this trope.
- Training Montage: Lei-ming, after waking up and realizing he is the Sole Survivor of the dojo massacre, and deciding to train himself on his path of vengeance. Which includes punching superheated sand in a burning cauldron and training himself to leap higher. More often than not it becomes a self-inflicted Training from Hell, with the thought of revenge driving him into becoming stronger.
- Wrecked Weapon: After becoming the legendary, feared professional killer known as The Chinese Boxer, Lei-ming, seemingly to intimidate his Japanese rivals, holds a katana he retrieved off a henchman, against several challengers approaching him, and immediately snaps the katana's blade using a karate chop.
Return of the Chinese Tropers:
- Action Girl: The kunoichi played by Emily Chang, who is opposing the Japanese warlord for her own reasons. Nope, she's never named onscreen for some reason.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The members of the La Résistance mounting a surprise assault on the Japanese convoy, early in the film... and failing completely at it. The rebels are utterly massacred and the fight goes to the favour of the samurai.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: Pai Leung, who prefers using his fists in fights, opposed to the other combatants who uses different weapons.
- Meaningful Name: The opponent known simply as Flying Dagger, a dagger-throwing expert with at least forty knives strapped to his body.
- Non-Indicative Title: Despite what the title claims, the protagonist portrayed by Jimmy Wang-yu is not the same one as The Chinese Boxer.
- Samurai: A few of them shows up as Elite Mooks opposing Tsao Pai Leung.
- Stock Ninja Weaponry: Weapons used by the Japanese includes tekko-kagi, kusarigama, shurikens and of course, the good old katana.
- Training Montage: The sequel's opening credits are superimposed over Pai Leung training himself beating up mannequins while avoiding arrow traps in his dojo.
