On their way home a sword master and his daughter encounter the son of a general of the Crimson Charm gang harassing a young woman at an inn. The sword master kills the son which brings down the wrath of the Yellow General and the entire gang. They are protected at one point by Blood Palm master Ling, the son of Bloody Granny who was defeated by the grand master of the sword school. Ling and the daughter have a crush on each other but haven't seen each other for ten years. Back at the school the sword master decides to expel his top student Han (an adopted orphan) before the Crimson Charm gang attacks to protect him from the wrath of the Crimson leader, Lin. The gang attacks killing the sword master and every student of the school except Han who is protected by the mysterious Godly Sword, the sword master's daughter and the top female student, Feng Feng, although her arm is chopped off. In the chaos of the school's destruction, the three are separated. Han is trained by the Godly Sword, Ling takes the severely injured daughter to a cave to treat her and Feng Feng is rescued by the Grand Master of the sword school, an old nun. Got that? And that's the first 30 minutes.
Decidedly old school with lots of theatrical overacting, camera and editing trick martial arts and a convoluted story line. Consistency isn't one of the plus points here as characters demonstrate incredible martial arts in the middle of the film only never to use them again. The villains are a colorful bunch with weird weapons. One guy has an entire skull covering his fist with the spine hanging off, alas he dies immediately and never fights. The fight scenes are dubbed over by what seems to be two guys doing all the death screams and dozens of gang members die! Although she is mentioned a number of times, Bloody Granny is never seen. I want to see Bloody Granny fight!
Despite the drawbacks, this film moves at a great pace and manages to be entertaining the entire length of the film. While no classic it's a good time.
