The Storm Warriors

Such a long wait since the first one. Storm Rider 1 was really good by the way - better story line, better flow, better pace, better romance, better music, more varied scenes(inside castle, forest where two groups of people meet, dragon cave, village, etc), much more character development (ie every characters seem to have decent screen time), adequate CGI - given that was some 11 yrs ago, and better acting - Yes, better acting! ie. Sonny Chiba was unparalleled as Lord Conquer. Even Wind and Cloud had deeper emotions, more expressive then, really.

I would prefer the first one if not for the redeeming factors of Storm Riders 2 - more boastful, refined CGIs, much impressive and intense fighting choreograph which I enjoyed immensely. one battle too long, one ended prematurely if only it balances up a bit.

Some scenes unnecessary, some over dramatized to a point of dragging which make you just wanna scream "just get on with it!". I suppose the script just could have been much better and more varied scenes than just those few bleak boring ones which at times, looked a bit fake. The ladies also don't have much scene impact, a little shallow.

Overall, I don't mind watching it again purely for its fighting CGIs which was sheer indulgence. Everything else, I rather re-watch Storm Riders 1.

Recently seen this film on DVD and to tell you the truth this movie is superb in terms of visuals and martial arts choreography.But story wise,I find this a bit of a let down.Being no fan of the original comic books or the previous feature film(which happens to have the same lead actors),I kinda expect it to deliver more than what I have seen the trailers.Despite the film's bad script and simple execution,I still personally enjoyed watching this movie due to its unique visual feasts(yes, the spectacular fight scenes especially during the films climax) and over the top production which is similar or equivalent to Hollywood productions.Go and see it only if you are a martial arts and love fantasy cum action films!If you are the type who loves watching serious and good movies, I suggest you give this movie a miss.

It has been a long wait, but better late than never. When the first Storm Rider film was released I remembered it caused a stir, for its relatively seamless combination of special effects and martial arts, and for its departure from the established mythos by creator Ma Wing-Shing. Then there is the casting, with popular idols Aaron Kwok and Ekin Cheng in the leading roles, overshadowed by the magnificently charismatic Sonny Chiba! That was some 11 years ago, and given its box office success, a sequel was thought to be expected and imminent, with big name stars like Andy Lau even thrown into the hat at one time as Nameless, but alas the project got stuck in development hell.

It was during an interview session for movieXclusive.com that my friends and I had the opportunity to meet up with Ekin Cheng, and toward the end of the interview he had revealed to us quite candidly that the next Feng Yun film would be made soon, which was why he's keeping his locks after a bald turn in the television serial Huo Yuanjia. We thought he was kidding, or we had heard it wrong, but here we are now, with the Pang Brothers taking over the helm from Andrew Lau, and no, there's no Andy Lau, but long-time-no-see Kenny Ho taking over the role of a pugilist master.

While the Pang Brothers are famous for their horror-suspense-thrillers, they had brought with them those sensibilities honed over the years and tweaked them for this sequel. Gone are colours from the first film, and in comes grittier shades, complete with plenty of metallic clang courtesy of heavy armors, and cloudy shadows possessing powers of sword energy. The story here is pretty straight- forward and had dove straight into the thick of things, with the first film having established the background of the key duo already, and here we see a more mature take probably taking place years where the earlier film had left off.

To get there though, we have to read a lengthy prologue, where Lord Godless (Simon Yam) and son (Nicholas Tse) had invaded China and are seeking the fabled Dragon Spinal Cord (or at least it looked like one to me). They magically managed to capture most of China's top pugilists including Nameless and Cloud, and basically presented a scene to demonstrate just how badass the Godless father and son team can be, which translates to an opportunity to showcase how advanced the special effects have evolved in the Chinese martial arts arena.

Danny and Oxide Pang managed to retain signature key elements from the first film, such as the CG generated, fantastical backdrops in which our heroes do battle in, and little things like the animated opening credits scene. The fights though was a mixed bag, some brilliantly executed though falling for the slow-motion fad, while others succumbed to too quick a cut and too close an angle to make out what's going on between the sparring partners.

Those familiar with the mythos would welcome both Aaron Kwok and Ekin Cheng back into their roles of Cloud and Wind respectively, and frankly I couldn't fathom how anyone else could have stepped into these roles. Simon Yam as Lord Godless unfortunately didn't bring to the table the kind of charisma that Sonny Chiba had, and struggled to fill those shoes, made worst by a very poor characterisation of what's ultimately a weak villain, though one would expect that the combination of Wind and Cloud would render all their enemies powerless against their sheer combined destructive force.

The story here took a chunk out of the fact that Wind turned evil at one point, and thus that actually became the crux of the story, although I felt this was more of a Cloud story than a Wind one because the scenes in which one had over the other, was rather obvious, with screen time significantly devoted to training montages, and rescue missions, versus Wind turning into an incredible hulk through an immersion in evil waters (yes, seriously, he just stepped into a wading pool, and voila!)

So story aside, watch this for some of the mind-boggling action sequences between Wind and Cloud which the trailers had included, and had almost the last 30 minutes solely focusing on some massive action sequences that didn't seem to want to end. One of my favourites was the Battle of the Minds sequence, where no self-respecting martial arts film can find itself shying away from using tonnes of water, though Storm Warriors had a legitimate reason to (with rain the aftermath of a wind-cloud combination). If there's a fight scene that stood out, this was it, other than Nameless Vs Lord Godless which left you wanting for more right from the start.

Alas this film is but half a movie, ending with a literal cliffhanger. But if all bodes well, we should see the next Feng Yun film hit the screens sooner than the 11 year wait that we have been subjected to. It's true about the limited dialogue here (some of which were quite hilariously nonsensical, such as the naming of sword strokes), but hey, one comes with the expectation of a flashy, style over substance sequel, and it duly delivered.

I'm not Chinese. I'm not a Wind and Cloud comic fan-boy. Perhaps these are the reasons that I can offer an objective opinion of this film?

The first Storm Warriors (released as The Storm Riders) excited visually, taking wuxia film to an all-new level of excellence; however, it suffered from a weak, rushed plot, with references being made to characters and events non-followers just found bemusing, proving that there really is no right way to please everybody.

This sequel suffered from the same flaws, only it wasn't so much as the plot being rushed this time around as it was the characters. The problem here is that for those who aren't already fans, nothing is known - and precious little revealed - about each individual, so when it comes time that we SHOULD be caring, it's not possible. But thankfully, the Pang Brothers' beautiful direction makes it something of an over-sight. I'll come back to this in a moment.

The pacing is good for an action film, with no time wasted in getting down to the root of the story, which is basically an average episode of Dragonball Z anyway. True, action/kung fu freaks would likely pine for some more traditional choreography, but the Pang Brothers lift this film out of the chop-socky genre and into that of fine art, defeating art-house kung fu classics, The Blade, and Ashes of Time on style points by unanimous decision.

Watching the film, it's interesting to know just how big a fan of the comic the Brothers are, for each shot is so lovingly captured, at points it almost looks like paintings in motion, and with their panel-by-panel method of storytelling, comics - if well done - could almost be deemed as such. And where CGI and after-effects are indeed the sine qua non for getting their vision of the tale across on-screen, where I may have argued in the past that such techniques "kill the art of film-making", here, they AMPLIFY it, breathing enchantment into every scene, every shot, every second, leaving something of wonder to the memory come the final credits.

I could now go on about all of the awesome techniques the fighters use, and how the cinematography fully captures them - and indeed, they're well worthy of a mentioning - but instead I'll simply point out the obvious issues to address before one decides to give this a view:

• if you're uninterested by "style over substance", you won't enjoy this film

• if you want an involving story, this film is not for you

• if you want Fist of Legend-style kick arse kung fu, watch something else

• if, however, you want to give this film a real chance, you may just come away a little bit richer for having done so... I know I did.

I waited years for this sequel and I finally got it and I am so disappointed. It was basically 300: the martial arts movie. It was so loaded with cgi from backgrounds to character animations. it had a weak story that wasn't endearing like the first, and it was missing the action of the first movie as well as some of the more interesting 'powers'.

the original had the feel of a video game come to life and done very well. This one was like the goth version. it was dark, disjointed and didn't flow the way it should have.

what can I say? the reviewers before me pretty much nailed it and I hate to repeat. So there it is. the third movie is coming, I hope it is better than this one!