Xin bi xue jian

The Sword Stained With Royal Blood is one of many Wuxia films that were getting pumped out like crazy in Hong Kong in the early 90's . Most of these martial arts/fantasy films are based on Chinese novels and the story lines are often as insane as the action on screen. The Sword Stained With Royal Blood indeed has both . It does have some flaws ( poor editing , wires can be seen in some scenes and the storyline is sporadic with sub plots galore), but more than makes up for it with an awesome cast and great, bloody flying swordsman action .With a cast of Yuen Biao as constable and lead character , Elvis Tsui as villain and Danny Lee to steal the show as superswordsman Golden Snake Man , you know you will have a memorable cinematic experience. Golden Snake Man and friends definitely deliver and The Sword Stained With Royal Blood is a solid entry to the swordsman genre . I definitely dig it.

Those unfamiliar with the "Martial World" sub-genre of kung fu films will be unprepared for the spectacle about to unfold. Largely based on popular Chinese novels, this genre was very popular in the 1960's and 70's finally dying out with the demise of the Shaw studio. Set in a world far removed from reality these films feature super martial artists and their clans battling for fighting supremacy. Compared to your standard kung fu films, these movies can be impenetrable to non-Chinese audiences. The story was done once before by the renown Chang Cheh but Idoubt that it was anything like this movie.

Yuen Biao plays a constable who gets inadvertently involved in the quarrels of several martial clans while he brings a "thief" to justice. The "thief" is a beautiful princess who had decided to have "fun" pretending to be a thief and getting arrested. Along comes the Golden Snake Man who is slightly crazed and is primed for revenge against the leader of the clans, Lord Wan, who massacred Snake Man's village and stole his wife ten years earlier. A "Poison" clan run by women, a crazy old master who bounces around like a ball, and a Manchurian who seems to have magnetic powers over swords, complete the chaos.

Much like earlier "martial world" films, the parade of characters is dizzying. Familiarity with the novel might help but translations are not easy to come by. The subtitles don't help at all with lots of pronoun mistakes and strange choices of English. And like the earlier films there are lots of incredible martial art feats that require wires and animated rays. Most of the fights are filmed in 1990's style with lots of cuts, wide angle camera shots and movement that doesn't really connect but it goes so fast that it doesn't really matter. The first big scene has a flying log ship, with ninjas riding on top, that swings into the scene and rams into a pagoda. The cables the ship hangs from are very visible and nothing is done to pretend that they aren't there. This sets the tone for the whole film. Watch it but woe to anyone who takes it seriously.

The photography is very good and the actors are all very good given the crazy material. The film is paced very well and never bores. The attempts at melodrama almost work but the craziness surround the drama makes it hard to be involved. There's lots of fun fight scenes but little in the way of real martial arts. The finale is partially shot in an amazing cavern with the actors flying very high over actual rock formations. The two drawbacks are the confusing story and the abrupt ending, but this is very traditional for the genre as well.

Very fun light film watching. Recommended.

Sword stained with royal blood is a movie with a very weird story. The action scenes are numerous but they are far too short to satisfy a swordplay movie fan. And Yuen Biao doesn't even let us the chance to see his martial artist capacities. But the end fight is well orchestrated with the wires as you witness an aerial fight between two men , for real ,without seeing the wires. This movie remains good to rent but no to buy, buy Duel to the Death or Swordsman II for a good swordplay movie instead. 7,1/10

Its taken me a while to see this little gem of a film, and it was not what I was expecting at all...

It felt about 3 hours long, not in a bad way, but just because it had so much going on!

Yuen Biao plays a fast kicking constable who is trying to take n criminal Sharla Cheung Man as the martial world battles around him. With many great faces of Hong Kong cinema portraying kung fu masters, the Sword Stained With Royal Blood becomes a who's-who of cameos and supporting roles that only adds to the madness that ensues!

From the get-go, we soon realise that this is not to be taken seriously, even though for a good portion of it, there is heavy drama, tear jerking deaths and some serious characters, but with that said, this plays like a companion piece to the corny and fantastic Flying Daggers with Tony Leung and Jacky Cheung.

From that movie, we have once again in hilarious form, the incredible Ng Man Tat who provides the most laughs throughout. That's in between all the swordplay, crazy effects, wire-fu and drama.

So yes, I guess at the end of the day, the Sword Stained With Royal Blood is a typical 90's Hong Kong classic, and all fans of Yuen Biao, Danny Lee, and HK fantasy films should really check it out!

Great fun!!

This version of the Louis Cha novel has little to do with Shaw's 1981 film of the same name - the one with the Venoms - which is a shame because that's by far the superior picture. This one is a typically muddled wuxia movie of the early 1990s, with elaborate wirework stunts and crazy practical effects, but it really labours in the confused plotting which'll have you scratching your head throughout. Yuen Biao is the nominal hero, a constable caught up in treachery and double-dealing and accompanied by four women of various hues. Danny Lee plays a magical swordsman and lots of other familiar faces have more minor roles. Good visuals, but they really needed to work on that plot...