| Moon Warriors credits Sammo Hung as director although in reality, there resides a known truth behind the making of this worthwhile 90s Wuxia piece. That's not to discredit Sammo as the film really employs the correct talent for the correct jobs, most notably Alex Law and Mabel Cheung as directors of drama (Law also penned the script), Ching Siu-Tung and Corey Yuen (action directors), Arthur Wong (cinematographer) and Sammo as chief supervisor of it all. The end result benefits unexpectedly great from Law's involvement as he gives a decent weight to the story of different social classes uniting in the face of danger and the divided loyalties that play a crucial role in the framework.
The fact that his script is also allowed to dominate for a long period of time without any action is a credit to the belief of all involved in their respective departments. Star-power is also a benefiting actor and Andy Lau, Anita Mui and Kenny Bee all give fine performances, doing justice to the material that, as I should mention, isn't great by character-drama standards but unexpectedly involving for the genre. Maggie Cheung, AS expected however, leads the pack with a spot on performance and Hsien's divided loyalties plays out perfectly with Cheung behind the wheel. Can you believe she only logged 2 days on the set?! The sign of a true pro...
The action has its drawbacks as the undercranking sometimes creates more of a comic feel than that of extravagant and thrilling but most of Ching and Yuen's work come off well despite. The wirework remains fairly well-edited as are the swordfights, mainly performed by the stunt doubles but the actors do shine in bursts when participating.
The Hong Kong Legends dvd does not feature the alternate end credits sequence (added to home video after the theatrical run) featuring footage of Andy Lau with the whale at Ocean Park (accompanied by an Andy Lau song now as opposed to the Sally Yeh song playing over the end credits of the theatrical cut). |
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