Rating: C-
Dir: Taylor Wong Tai-Lai
Star: David Chiang, Yasuaki Kurata, Flora Cheung, Sharon Yeung
Well, whatever this lacks in coherence, it makes up for in…er, lack of coherence. The basic premise, so far as I can tell, is legendary swordsman Lee Wai, who killed the hero’s father before vanishing. Now, our hero is pretending to be said swordsman, to lure him out for the usual vengeance-based activities. However, there are a lot of other people, such as the Moon Goddess (Cheung), who have an equally keen interest in Lee Wai – mostly for revenge too. Indeed, this may be the most retribution-filled movie I’ve ever seen. Do you think martial arts training involves classes in “holding a grudge”?
Refreshing breaths of air – albeit at the cost of even more plot points – come from the Lonely Winner (Kurata), a wandering swordsman who is cheerful, optimistic…and wanted for rape. There’s no shortage of action, created by future director Ching Siu Tung, and I was certainly impressed by the “cripple” in the flying wooden wheelchair. However, it feels like an entire 26-episode series edited down to feature length. Imagine trying to follow, say, Buffy, if all you saw was the fights, and you’ll appreciate the problems in this film, which may simply be guilty of trying too hard. You probably won’t be bored, but the circuit-breakers in your brain might blow. Repeatedly.