Swordsman

Rating:
Summary: Yauk Lee
Review: This was a pretty cheesy movie. The actors aren't that great and the filmography is bad. I can't think of any other reason of buying this than to understand part II --- which is a much better movie.

Rating:
Summary: 5 Stars for Purely Personnal Reasons
Review: While I don't think anyone will like this movie as much as I did, it's still a pretty good film, providing you remember that like the other two films that make up the trilogy (Swordsman II and The East is Red)this is a fantasy epic, not a martial arts movie. And despite what another reviewer said about this movie, the song that's sung repeatedly through the film is only stupid if you have a closed mind. Furthermore, Tai Seng recently re-released this film so now it's actually possible to read the subtitles. About the movie itself, there are several pretty good fight scences, but they're all 99% special effects. If you can live with that, than you'll probably enjoy this film, but if you're more interested in fight scenes reminicent of Iron Monkey or Fist of Legend instead of Japanese Anime, pass this one buy. That being said, it's a very good film with an unusual plot (meaning it's not a revenge story) about the theft from the Forbidden City of the Sacred "Volume" or Scroll that instructs the reader how to obtain arcane and ultimately divine abilities in martial arts. Sam Hui plays the care-free and clownish swordsman Fox, with Cecelia Yip playing his companion, both of whom get caught up between the various opposing factions who are intent on aquiring the scroll at any cost. Fights erupt between minions of the Imperial Court, the "Wah Mountain School", and the Sun Moon Sect, apparently a non-Han group that dress a little like the Shan near Thailand. In one of the more interesting fight scenes of the movie, Yuen Wah, playing the villian as always and fighting with the Chief of the Sun Moon Sect (Cheung Man), meets his demise after getting a bee in his bonnet and is subsequently reunited with his ancestors courtesy of Cheung Man's bull whip. Again, if you're a Hong Kong Cineman fan who doesn't demand the usual martial arts offerings, you'll probably like this film. CLOSING TRIVIA: Yuen Wah was one of Sammo Hung's and Jackie Chan's classmates at the same Beijing Opera School and was known for his almost freakish physical skill. Once while training, after maintaining a handstand for almost an hour, the master told the students to take a break. Everyone came out of their handstand, except Yuen Wah. When one of the other students took a closer look at Yuen, he found out that Yuen had fallen fast asleep while maintaining his handstand.