(China/Hong Kong) Directed by Tsui Hark, Starring Andy Lau, Li Bingbing, Deng Cao, Carina Lau, Tony Leung Ka-fai. Category IIB.
Reviewers’ Biases:Loves: Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam and Johnnie ToHates: Johnnie To, Ringo Lam and Tsui HarkThree directors working on a film is rare, but three directors working on a single narrative? That’s as common as three critics writing the same film review.
(Hong Kong). Tsui Hark’s (Seven Swords) latest film is receiving a lot of pre-release buzz because of the groundbreaking underwater filming technology employed, as well as the location where the movie is filmed (at Japan’s Yonaguni Island where mysterious megalithic structures were found in 1986). But that’s all there is to this disappointing outing by one of Hong Kong’s more illustrious film-makers.
In 17th century China, the greedy Manchurian leader Fire-wind seizes an opportunity to rule the land as absolute leader. From the first frames, the mission for his bloodthirsty punk-savage followers is clear: chop off heads and rack up as much bounty as possible. And so they do and so Tsui Hark's near masterpiece "Seven Swords" begins.
