the hand of death aka countdown in kung fu ( 1976 ) be a vastly underrated early work by director john woo . the film star dorian tan ( tan tao liang ) and feature jackie chan and sammo hung and james tien in significant support role . many people believe and or have be lead to believe by deceptive advertising and that this be a jackie chan film . this be not a jackie chan film and dorian tan be the star but jackie give one of his best ( most serious ) early performance . the hand of death be about a shaolin disciple name yunfei ( tan ) who be send on a mission to assassinate a shaolin traitor name shih xiaofeng ( tien ) and protect a revolutionary name zhang yi ( woo ) . along his journey yunfei meet up with a young woodcutter name tan ( chan ) and a disgraced sword fighter ( chang chung ) know a the wanderer . both men have suffer at the hand of shih and want to take revenge . the three team up to defeat shih and his eight bodyguard and escort the revolutionary to safety . the martial art action be above average under the direction of sammo hung . dorian tan use his trademark high kick very effectively a the northern eighteen style kick along with some southern five style box . sammo hung and jackie chan provide excellent martial art performance as well . james tien be not the great martial artist on the jade screen but do an acceptable job . some of the early fight be a bit slow and seem over choreographed but the final showdown feature chan and tan and hung be very good . director john woo provide plenty of interesting character development in the film and which be refresh . the cinematography by leung wing kat be very stylish and unique and beautiful for a kung fu film of this era . joseph koo music represent a combination of soft flute and 70 shaft style orchestral piece be kung fu cinema at it best . hand of death be not jackie and sammo usual kung fu comedy . hand of death be a serious and straightforward revenge driven story . hand of death aka countdown in kung fu be an underrated classic in the old school kung fu genre . the film be one of the best artistically of it time and a preview of the great thing to come from jackie chan and sammo hung . hung great choreography be put on display here before his directorial debut and chan early charisma and talent can be clearly see . hand of death be a solid and stylish old school kung fu film and a brilliant early work of the legendary john woo . kung fu genre rating 7 . 5/10 wanderer to tan ( refer to his new weapon ) represent the little eagle wing god lance . tan represent just a knickknack .