A group from Japan arrives in China. They arrange a duel between their swordsman and a Chinese swordsman, but other people are trying to influence the outcome of the duel.
There were some good special effects, but the rest was unimpressive. The convoluted plot contained too many characters (surprised?). I think the story of the duel and the characters of the two swordsmen got neglected in favor of minor plot elements like the romantic interest that doesn't work out. The acting seemed professional and very wuxia, not cheezy like kung fu. The subtitles came with this one and worked. I thought the translated dialogue was dull and lifeless. Even the momentary appearance of a comic relief character seemed like dead pan delivery of plot outline writing. Sets and costumes looked authentic, but seemed to be community property with every other Chinese film of the kung fu and wuxia genres. All of the camera-work was very dynamic, to use a positive word. Quick takes, lots of camera movement and quick editing. It wasn't as fast as Chinese Ghost Story, but pretty quick. The actual fights were just special effects scenes with flying people and objects. There was also some prolific stage blood, dismemberment and decapitation. I'm not spoiling anything by telling that the decapitated head explodes. Some of the "flying character" shots were obviously done by a person jumping and grabbing a tree. It looked absurd. The audio was not so great, but not kung fu bad. Someone in the process seemed to be paying attention to sound levels most of the time. The style reminded me of 5 Element Ninjas mixed with Legend of Liquid Sword and Killer of Snakes Fox of Shaolin. IMDB has a listed rating of 7.3/10 and Rotten Tomatoes lists 83% audience score for an average of 78%. I agree completely. It's a regular C+ wuxia because the plot got buried under a load of junk, but the special effects were entertaining. I rate it adequate.
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