Rating: B
Dir:Siu-Ming Tsui
Star: Rongguang Yu, Siu-Ming Tsui, Connie Khan, Pasha Umer Hood
This feels very much like a Chinese reaction to the wave of period kung-fu epics coming out of Hong Kong around the same time – titles like Millionaires’ Express and Project A. Get a Chinese martial artist – in this case, Yu, best know for starring opposite Donnie Yen in Iron Monkey – and have him roaming the Chinese countryside, far enough away from civilization that we can blow stuff up real good, in between the fights. A plot? Well, I guess we could have one of those, if you insist. Things unfold here, not long after the Russian Revolution, when Russian refugees came across the border to China and set up as bandits along the Silk Road. [They weren’t sending their best…]
Tong (Yu) is a guard on a caravan, and after a battle fending off such robbers, he sees the titular vision of an exotic beauty (Hood) shimmering against the sky. Back in civilization, he can’t get her out of his head, so returns to the Inner Mongolian desert to look for her, along with best friend Mao (Tsui). They bring along a convenient restaurant waitress(!), Annette (Khan) as a guide, since she was originally from the area. This allows them to hang out with her relatives for a while, and discover the ancient tribal sport of buzkashi – a game similar to polo, if only “polo” translated roughly as “goat pulling”. [Equine fans are not going to have a great time watching this film either, given its horse-on-horse violence]
It is all a mere prelude, though there’s a steady stream of decent fights, most notably a brawl that erupts at the restaurant, and spills out onto the streets. However, this is merely a charcuterie board compared to the final forty minutes or so, where Tsao finds the woman of his dreams, only for her to be more nightmare fuel, since she is the bandit chief. The finale which results could only have been made in China, where stuntmen are even cheaper than in eighties Hong Kong. To director Tsui’s credit, Tsui the actor is not spared. Indeed, he gets arguably the riskiest stunt, setting himself on fire, then picking up a motorcycle while burning (top), and riding it into a shed packed with explosives.
If the dramatic elements and story-line are nothing special, it seems churlish to complain when multiple people clearly put their lives on the line for your amusement here. It’s hard to tell why this has been almost forgotten, because it deserves to stand alongside the Jackie Chan works of the era, in terms of physical stuntwork. You also get your daily requirement of spectacular scenery, with the broad desert providing an impressive backdrop against which things unfold. It’s the kind of film crying out for a proper, high-definition release, rather than a washed-out (although, at least widescreen) print with burned-on Japanese subtitles, which seems to be as good as it currently gets. The sacrifice, potentially literally, of Tsui and his crew, deserves better.