There is no doubt that The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter is a great film, but I can't ignore the glaring narrative issues caused by the tragic and untimely death of Alexander Fu Sheng, nor is it as epic as The 36th Chamber of Shaolin or as elegant as Dirty Ho. Ok...that made it sound like I don't like this film, but far from it. I love this film, I'm just trying to explain why I don't think of The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter as one of Lau Kar-Leungs absolute best. Get it! Watch it! The best release at the moment, for those of us in Europe, is the 88 Films release, but the US Arrow release that has just come out should be just as good, if not better.