Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain

I've got to say, this movie delivered exactly what I thought it would when I bought it. And I bought it simply on the strength of the box and how it said something really good about Tsui Hark. Ever since I have unfailingly watched any Tsui Hark movie that has come across my path. I love this movie. It's goofy in the extreme and at many points simply doesn't make sense. Maybe it's because I've been brainwashed by too many episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000, but I love cheesy movies. The fight scenes are excellent, the scenery is superb and the story is spellbinding, (there I think I've but exhausted my list of critic cliché adjectives). It's especially good to watch if you're an enhancement smoker.

This is a visual masterpiece that outdoes the special effects of later movies with sheer artistry, because it is a magical piece.

It is a larger than life movie about a fight against evil. It begins with a "scout" giving two leaders a report. They each give him conflicting orders, and then ask which he'll obey. He says "Both", so they both call him insubordinate and condemn him to die.

He finds himself on the run. This sets the pace for the film, which is nonstop action and breathtaking visuals. It helps that the visuals are perfectly placed, and logical in their Magic.

The scout finds comrades, at first another warrior from an opposing side, and then later some monks who work in a very magical world.

The film manages to be the best of all worlds. In spite of the magic, the comedy of human errors is always there. The characters fly in the air, fight demons, and do outrageous acrobatics, yet bump their noses, can't swim, and get smacked by pretty girls. They engage in battle, but play dead at the first opportunity, only to find dozens of others also playing dead.

It is one of the funniest films of all time, and also one of the most passionate.

This is how to make a masterpiece.

"Zu Warriors" certainly pushed wuxia to its limits; it has such a relentless air of enthusiasm, especially given its limited budget, that its incredibly easy to dismiss any faults it does have just because of its overwhelmingly extravagant nature. Its glorious, vivid production design and intentionally camp attitude makes it very difficult not to be totally drawn into its colourful images while completely forgetting the film has a plot.

Tsui Hark has included just about everything in this one. The special effects may not be up to much but that is a sideline; the wonderful swordplay starts almost immediately and the films rarely lets up as it jumps from one operatic martial art display to another, helped by an impeccable cast featuring iconic stars such as Sammo Hung and Brigitte Lin.

Unfortuantly it still took some work before films of this sort were appreciated in the west. Despite the efforts of John Carpenter, it still took over a decade and Crouching Tiger to truly bring this wonderful form of entertainment to the masses. There's only so much praise you can give a film before saying it has to be seen to be appreciated fully. This is certainly a landmark in wuxia and an essential showpiece of Hong Kong action at its finest. (A testament to this is the fact the DVD has a Bey Logan commentary.)

This film illustrates the major difference between Western and Eastern fantasy films. A western version of this same film would attempt for some level of realism, some element of grittiness and angst. This film ignores realism entirely. Hey, its a fantasy already! Swordsman and monks float and dive in aerial battle, an old man's eyebrows are deadly weapons, whole armies of guys in brightly colored uniforms run about attacking each other for very poorly explained reasons, and blue eyed jawa clones swoop about the inside of evil temples. Although the ending is almost unintelligible, the first hour of the film is just one cool scene after another. The editing of this film would certainly make an epileptic have a seizure, but after five minutes you stop caring about the plot and dialogue and just start enjoying the wacky surreal action. I wish I could see this one on the big screen.

Hark's action fantasy 'Xin Shu Shan Jian Ke' is a whole lot of fun. Needless to say one can expect lots of extravagant martial arts action sequences which are well choreographed (but some of them are so long that they tend to drag a little). The movie is loaded with special effects and even though they don't look as refined as movies of today, they're still fun to watch. The sets don't look particularly authentic but they hold a certain appeal and I like the way they appeared. The story isn't told in the traditional fashion and at some points question marks will appear in the mind but there's always something happening to keep the viewer engaged. Yuen Biao and Sammo Hung are simply great as they infuse humour and energy into their roles. Energetic, funny, bizarre, wacky, magical...these are just a few words that describe Tsui Hark's 'Xin Shu Shan Jian Ke'. Forget the abysmal 2003 remake. This is where the real fun is.