Rating: *
Review Date: 3/10/01
Director: Wong Jing
Cast: Aaron Kwok, Chingmy Yau, Gloria Yip, Anita Yuen, Winnie Lau,
cameos by Norman Chu (Tsui Siu Keung), Gordon Liu (Liu Chia Hui), Fennie Yuen,
Loletta Lee, Cheung Man
I should have listened to Thomas Weisser - this film is utterly awful. I generally consider "Holy Weapon" (1993) and "Flying Dagger" (1993) to be Wong Jing's greatest embarrassments, and this film fits in very comfortably with those two. A great looking period film whose visual style is surpassed only by its incredible stupidity. There's not much of a story here - more like a series of disconnected and unrelated vignettes strung together about a young swordsman's (pop singer Aaron Kwok) quest to fight a villain named Flowerless. Thankfully, there are no fart jokes and no talking penises in this one, but it's still full of mind-numbingly stupid slapstick, a couple of dreadful musical numbers, and a cameo appearance by Jesus Christ. There are only two reasons to endure this disaster: 1) The action sequences are super exciting, hyper-kinetic, and extremely over-the-top. 2) Like most of Wong Jing's productions, the women are GORGEOUS. Ultra-cute Gloria Yip, fiercely beautiful Fennie Yuen, seductive and mysterious Chingmy Yau, and the regal and bitchy Cheung Man are all a sheer delight to behold. Why don't these women get to work with decent scripts?