03-01-2017, 11:00 AM
Very early John Woo film when he first started working for Golden Harvest. The fights are cadenced, as was the norm back then, which makes them a bit hokey at first. But more than making up for this is the long and complex fight scenes, with an amazing amount of hand-switching (which the fight choreographer talks about in an extra feature), and lots of different weapons: straight sword, broadsword, double broadsword, Guan dao, rope darts, chain whips, spear, staff, etc.
As discussed in the bonus material, this was John Woo's "cavalcade of weapons" movie where he just totally went for it with martial arts weapons. Also, the fight choreographer (and one of the villains) discusses the 100-strike orchestrated scenes, and how in one of them they messed up on strike 98, redid it to mess up on strike 30, and so on.
Not a great film, as it meanders into some awkward emotional scenes (a dying mother, a prostitute in love with a drunken hero who only wants more wine) that just don't work. Women are really just furniture here. But the 20-minute battle to enter the lair of the big bad villain (which includes a wonderfully odd encounter with the Sleeping Wizard) is quite impressive and inventive. And then in one of the movie's many twists, there's another long and offbeat battle with the biggest and baddest villain of all.
Worth a gawk.
As discussed in the bonus material, this was John Woo's "cavalcade of weapons" movie where he just totally went for it with martial arts weapons. Also, the fight choreographer (and one of the villains) discusses the 100-strike orchestrated scenes, and how in one of them they messed up on strike 98, redid it to mess up on strike 30, and so on.
Not a great film, as it meanders into some awkward emotional scenes (a dying mother, a prostitute in love with a drunken hero who only wants more wine) that just don't work. Women are really just furniture here. But the 20-minute battle to enter the lair of the big bad villain (which includes a wonderfully odd encounter with the Sleeping Wizard) is quite impressive and inventive. And then in one of the movie's many twists, there's another long and offbeat battle with the biggest and baddest villain of all.
Worth a gawk.