The Blade (product link) Swordplay/Sword(s) / Action/Adventure Like many Tsui Hark films, this is an imbalanced mess from a strictly narrative point of view. Also like much of his work, however, "The Blade" adds up to somewhat more than the sum of its parts. Several of the main characters are unsympathetic at best; the storyline meanders all over, with scant overall structure; the narrative framing by the young girl adds little more than ridiculous and pretentious "epicness"; yet the movie remains one of the most memorable HK martial arts films of the '90s and one of Tsui Hark's most important. Action scenes are few but visceral and involving. The training montage is excitingly original. The male performances are excellent (the female leads less so), and the film's overall setting is rough, gritty, and ultimately groundbreaking.
The film's flaws are manifold. Despite that, it's hard not to strongly recommend it to any fan of HK action cinema.
Shaolin Challenges Ninja (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Among old-school actioners, this is a gem. Action is almost constant, with great choreography and pacing, and the narrative setup allows a satisfying variety of matchups. Despite rating as one of my favorite martial-arts flicks, however, I dock it half a star for the lack of resolution to the husband-wife conflict, the primary storyline of the movie's first half. This could have been a great blend of martial arts action and domestic comedy, like Drunken Master 2, but ultimately falls a little short. It nevertheless ranks as a classic.
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