The Blade

Apparently, this is quite difficult to see in theatres. I managed to, but it is on video. I imagine that on video, the subtitles are as difficult to read as the ones in "A Chinese Ghost Story" (Another Hark title). Many of the fight scenes are, like the other title, shot on a set in near total darkness with some artificial light as "moonlight". Again, on a screen, beautiful, but on video, a bit hard to see. There is A LOT of fighting, chopped arms legs and heads. (What do you expect, with the action centered around a knife/sword factory?) It's so violent that after a while I found myself laughing to relieve the tension. And the spewing blood can be comical. Like many of these movies, even the "good" guys have questionable motives.

I was interested in this because I'd read that Hark stopped production in the middle because of one of the actress's complaints and rewrote it from a woman's perspective. Still, the main female character is whiny, silly and sheltered, little more than a typical HK plot device to get fights going. I found her character very annoying.

Plot: 4 of 10, fight scenes 8 of 10 IF you can see them on a large screen. Subtitles are lousy, but not really necessary.

It's a shame that a wonderful movie such as THE BLADE received so little coverage/attention from the masses. The only time I have heard about it was from a renounced film critic in HK, and he RAVED about it. And he sure was RIGHT! Tsui Hark did an excellent job here. The atmosphere is good, and the characters are real. As for the action, yes, it's a little too fast, but nonetheless beautifully choreographed.

It's rare to see unique perspectives on film during the later '90's. The camera work was interesting. I knew nothing of the director, nor of any of the actors before seeing this movie. Therefore, I "went in blind", with no pre-conceptions. The movie has good action and some gore. Well, ample gore (a plus in my book).

Anyways, some people may find the movie a bit confusing and dis-orienting because the action is fast and furious when it happens. In fact, at times it was difficult for me see who was gashing who. I have to suppose that the camera was speeded up, but it wasn't obvious except that a person should be breathing harder than they were if they were actually moving as fast as it looked they were.

I liked the realistic "gritty" aspects of the lifestyle of the characters that was portrayed in this film. I read in another of the "comments" that the film basically "flopped". Thats unfortunate. People missed out on this one.

I can't comment on the dubbing because the film I saw was in Chinese with English sub-titles, so there was none of that "cheesy voice-makeovers" that usually go on Asian films. Were do they find those voices anyway?

Oh, and the final battle, Excellent!

The greatest Wu Xia Pian I've ever seen in my life (and god knows I've seen a lot). The final action sequence, including Hung Yan-Yan, is now a legend in Kung-fu movies, just like the duel between Jet Li and Donnie Yen in Once Upon A Time in China 2... Tsui Hark's direction is fabulous despite an obvious lack of money. And Chiu Man-Cheuk is a tremendous actor/kung-fu artist, as charismatic as Bruce Lee himself in his quest for revenge. Too bad this actor is now semi-retired from movie industry...

(sorry for my horrible english, but I'm french)

This movie was the one of the first true martial artist films I have seen. Since which I have collected a fine library and yet this one still stands out for the story line. A very impressive movie that managed to keep me in rapture during the whole scenario. I would give a big recommendation to any who appreciate martial artist films or just action films to take a look at this one. Even though the movie as I saw it was fairly dark that is easily looked over as the story line pulls you in.