Starring: Charlie Young Choi-nei, Lu Yi, Donnie Yen Chi-tan, Lau Kar-leung, Leon Lai Ming
Director: Tsui Hark
Category: IIB (Putonghua and Cantonese)
The strengths and weaknesses of director Tsui Hark are on view in this grand, flawed martial-arts epic. Based on the novel by Liang Yusheng (filmed in 1959 as Seven Swordsmen Descend Mount Tian), the movie is unmistakably a Tsui production in its sweep and ambition to break new ground in the wuxia genre. Although visually impressive, the script (adapted by Tsui, Cheung Chi-sing and Chun Tin-nam) suffers from a trait in common with much of Tsui's work - a difficulty in recounting a cohesive and involved story.
And a complex narrative it is, with a septet of mystical swords and the swordsmen (and woman) who wield them in an attempt to save their people from annihilation. The setting is mid-17th-century China, with the newly installed Manchu emperor banning martial arts and authorising monetary rewards for the murder of its practitioners. In the nation's vast northwest, a particularly obsessive bounty hunter, Fire-Wind (Sun Hong-lei), embarks on a genocidal wuxia rampage, and the inhabitants of a village seek the legendary warriors of Mount Tian to protect them from the impending holocaust.
Despite a running time of nearly 21/2 hours, one leaves the cinema without a distinct impression of many of the major participants. Of the seven swordsmen, Charlie Young (the only female member of the septet) and her would-be lover, played by mainland star Lu Yi, are more interesting because they're provided with a background story, but the development is too disjointed to make the characters affecting. Village leader Lau Kar-leung and Dragon Swordsman Donnie Yen come across forcefully, though Leon Lai's Transience Swordsman is pale to the point that he fades into the background. The two remaining swordsmen (played by Duncan Chow Kwun-tat and Tai Li-wu) are so sketchy one is barely aware they're there. The result is that we care little about these heroes and their fates. Fire-Wind and his rebellious Korean prisoner, Green Pearl (Kim So-yeun), are more successful at grabbing attention, but are too one-note to be truly mesmerising.