I finally got to see this film, I'd always avoided the original Mei Ah release because I'd read the quality was terrible, it's great to finally see this film as it was meant to be seen.
As a fan of wuxia films, Wong does a really nice job of stamping his style on the genre, I know he's no stranger to the genre but his revisionstic take on it was refreshing. It's a really visually arresting film, Wong really knew how to get the best out of Leslie Cheung, his presence is sadly missed, the rest of the cast was totally solid, Brigitte Lin essentially commenting on the male/female roles she's done in films like Swordsman 2, Tony Leung Chiu Wai bringing a nicely melancholic performance as a slowly going blind swordsman, Tony Leung Ka Fai as the catalyst for most of the drama, Charlie Yeung and Carina Lau both adding some good support.
Although purists complain about the style I thought the fight scenes were nicely visceral.
Really, this is the film that countless others i.e. Zhang Yimou etc have tried to emulate and failed.
As a fan of wuxia films, Wong does a really nice job of stamping his style on the genre, I know he's no stranger to the genre but his revisionstic take on it was refreshing. It's a really visually arresting film, Wong really knew how to get the best out of Leslie Cheung, his presence is sadly missed, the rest of the cast was totally solid, Brigitte Lin essentially commenting on the male/female roles she's done in films like Swordsman 2, Tony Leung Chiu Wai bringing a nicely melancholic performance as a slowly going blind swordsman, Tony Leung Ka Fai as the catalyst for most of the drama, Charlie Yeung and Carina Lau both adding some good support.
Although purists complain about the style I thought the fight scenes were nicely visceral.
Really, this is the film that countless others i.e. Zhang Yimou etc have tried to emulate and failed.
