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Butterfly and Sword

Butterfly and Sword

List Price: $29.95
Your Price: $26.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent! Among the best of Yeoh!
Review: Excellent in action, acting, direction, screenplay... I can't remember how many times I have watched it.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: comet, butterfly & sword
Review: First, I'm not good in English. So please arrange my sentence.

This film is remake of "killer Clans" which was made about 1977. Based on the Chinese Chivarly novel. Original film is very good but new movie is disappointed.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Senseless plot, frenetic editing--for meth addicts only
Review: If you're not on speed, good luck staying with this one. Yes, there are countless sets and stages filled with beautiful imagery. Yes, the actors seem to be thoroughly in character. But don't expect to get absorbed in even the smallest bit of story. This isn't a movie. It's a bloodsoaked, fly-through-the-air-while-decapitating-your-enemy music video.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: hidden gem
Review: It is one of the better wuxia pien's I have seen. Very good acting and an exciting story. I liked the fight scenes a lot too.
Definitely recommended if you like Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Michelle Yeoh and Joey Wong, even Donnie Yen is less annoying than usual in this one.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: GREAT MOVIE, WILL ENTERTAIN
Review: Its got enough inventive and dizzy action scene choreography to keep a kung fu fan entertained. The characters work well and the story doesnt really let things drag. You cant ask for much more out of a kung fu movie. While it may not give viewers the same enthralling rush that Fist of Legend and Bride with White Hair did, it still is a slightly above average kung fu movie and worth watching.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: ALL DRESSED UP WITH NOWHERE TO GO
Review: Lots of nice costume design and a good fight scene with a kwan dao as the primary weapon, but beyond that, this film is more form than substance. It has a decent number of fight scenes but most of these, with a couple of exceptions, are uninspired and mechanical. Donnie Yen puts on a typically nice display of skill and Tony Leung shows a few nice moves, but overall. after watching this film, I couldn't help but feel that I had been left hanging. It does have some of the best stars of Hong Kong Cinema including Joey Wong (possibly one of HKC's most beautiful stars), Tony Leung, and Michelle Yeoh, but not much to offer beyond that. It's not unwatchable, but you could do a lot better for a martial arts flick.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Entertaining, but confusing, very wishy washy
Review: Normally after watching a movie like this and having the feeling I had when it was over, I would think a lot of the movie was edited out. However, I have the import version, which was obvious. The English sped across the screen so fast; I could not keep up half the time.

Even when I could keep up, the story was all over the place. What was the deal w/those bad kids? Was their situation ever resolved? I thought not, and they seemed like they would be a bigger part of the story (like the runts in City of God), but they weren't, and never figured back into the story.

Action wise the movie was very solid. Donnie Yen and Michelle Yeoh were very good in this movie. Nevertheless, Tony Leung Chiu-wai stole the show from them in my opinion. His fighting scenes were awesome, can't miss action scenes. He alone almost made me give this movie 4 stars. Too bad the story is so weak.

Action: 4 stars
Story: 2 stars

Therefore, the movie gets 3 stars.

Grade: C+




Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good fighting scenes. Love story with twists.
Review: The fighing scenes are fast, furious and violent. For example, in one scene, a fighter pushed his sword and his whole body completely through the chest of his oppenent.
The love story has some twists. What looked like the love between a sister and her younger brother turned out to be more than that.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: interesting movie
Review: the plot is a bit hard to follow in places. otherwise a typical over-the-top kung fu movie. The ending theme song is wonderful though. If Michelle ever gives up acting she still has a career as a singer.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: donnie yen and michelle yeoh are the only good things...
Review: This film cannot be categorized as a martial arts film. Unlike the recent released Iron Monkey, Butterfly Sword's action scenes are so chaotic and confusing that you cannot really tell whether a person is fighting a deadly opponent or is simply twisting in the air for fun. With body parts flying everywhere, you wonder if you are watching a horror film. It is not a fantasy film either. There obviously is no ghost or gods, and supposedly people in this film don't really possess supernatural powers. Therefore, the action scenes can only be said to be insulting to either genre.

Despite a strong cast and beautiful scenery, the movie ultimately disappoints. One saving grace for this film is Donnie Yen. Though his great talents were wasted in his fight scenes due to over-use of wires, poor camera work and disastrous editing, he managed to compensate by putting more heart and warmth into his character, the ever serious but sincere Yip, who is the only likable character in the film. Too bad we have not seen Donnie Yen as often as we see Jet Li or Jackie Chan. A much better actor than Jet Li and extremely gifted in martial arts, he exuberates a certain charisma that simply draws people to him, either in a major role or a supporting role. Michelle Yeoh on the other hand is marvelous. She conveys emotions just as effectively as she does swirls and kicks. The scene where she glides through the air between two bamboo trees is one of few good action scenes in the movie, but it perhaps is one of the most graceful and elegant scenes I have seen in any martial art films.

Two stars for Michelle and Donnie.


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