Blade of Fury (Yat do king sing, 1993)
A mixed bag. While lushly filmed and featuring Ti Lung--as regal and beautiful to watch as always--this martial arts epic just feels lacking when compared to its predecessors, which I get the feeling the director (Sammo Hung) was trying to pay tribute to here. For one thing there's WAY too much wire-fu for my tastes. The fighting is beautiful when it stays on the ground, but all the hopping and flying around looks more fake than in any given week's episode of Xena (No, I've never been fond of excessive wire-fu, so keep that in mind). Plus many of the fights are NOTICEABLY sped-up, and Sammo relies too heavily on slo-mo and other camera tricks, making it difficult to really follow and appreciate the beauty of the fights.
The story? Well you've got Ti Lung trying to promote change in turn of the century China, and some nasty Japanese, and some even nastier guys who double-cross him when he goes to present the Emperor with his ideas. I had a hard time really following the story--either due to the script or to the really bad dubbing which was hard to hear clearly and sounded like it was recorded in an echo chamber half the time. It all ends in a big bloody frenzied battle--but not featuring Ti Lung, who really doesn't get to do much of any fighting here. Boo.
Anyway...I'm of two minds here. I'd recommend it to Ti Lung fans because he is wonderful, as always, and I defy you not to get teary-eyed as he faces execution. But whether you enjoy the action depends on whether you like your martial arts more traditionally grounded and realistic or full of 90s era effects and flying about.
SUMMARY:
Overall rating: C+ There was enough to keep me watching, but not really enough to keep me enthralled.
Droolworthiness: B. Ti Lung stays too well clothed!
Slashiness: C, only for a few brief moments between Ti Lung and the guy who played the main martial arts hero of the good guys' school, but beyond that, not much of anything.
Action: A if you like wire-fu, C if you don't.
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