Scholars of Hong Kong kung fu flicks of the late seventies have seen this movie before in some form or another. The plot is as formulaic as it gets: a badguy is bent on wiping out all practitioners of a particular style of kung fu; meanwhile, an old guy in the woods trains a young nobody in the nearly lost arts, who ultimately saves the day. Most of these films were pretty bad. Snake In the Eagle's Shadow has all the usual weaknesses, including overdone slapstick, but it distinguishes itself from its peers with some exceptional fight choreography and at least two very nice comedic sequences.