But, if it were that short, there would be no point to type this review. To start, let's begin with how the movie is marketed. It is supposedly the sequel to the 1998 HK movie The Storm Riders starring Aaron Kwok and Ekin Cheng. However, in reality, this is the sequel to the first series in the Storm Riders Series. So those who do not watch the first series or have a knowledge of the comic book, they will be lost and confused.

So if this is the sequel to the first series and not a movie, what is it? Well, this is the second series of 30 episodes crammed down to a 109 minute "movie". What does this mean? Choppy editing, plot confusion, and most certainly characters coming and going.

The basic plot for this "movie" is even a bit messed up. The plot describes Wind and Cloud joining facing each other after their duel with Lord Conquer 12 years ago. The world is thrown into turmoil when everyone is fighting for seven powerful weapons. Wind and Cloud must fight each other to shape their fate and save China. While the seven weapons are featured, they have absolutely nothing to do with the actual plot. The actual plot is this. A mysterious man named Dai Sik Tien is in China and is the leader of the Heaven Clan. He makes Wind and Cloud angry and the two of them are trying to kill him. Along the way, the seven swords are introduced and Wind and Cloud meet a man who knows the past of Dai Sik Tien. The last 12 minutes is different from the stated plot. It involves one long fight with Wind and Cloud against Duen Long (who for some reason is named Wave). I'm sure the plot is much more interesting than this, but this is a condensation of the series.

What I found odd was how this was advertised on Wind and Cloud having troubles acting as one to destroy the menace. In reality, they only had two fights against each other. One was when Wind was blinded by ignorance and didn't listen to Cloud and when Wind was evil for a brief moment and attacked Cloud. Neither had problems with each other as it was evident that they practically loved each other.

Seeing as how this is a series trimmed, you will be easily lost. Characters come in and then disappear. Events happen out of the blue. Questions will be burning your mind if you know nothing about Storm Riders. You will be annoyed at the pacing of this "movie". Wind will be in a room one minute and then the mountains in the next shot. One character will appear and then be gone and never explained who they were. They also don't explain a lot of events. Why does Po Kwan attack Wind? How did Wind's wife die? Why did Dai Sik Tien ressurect her? Why in the world did Cloud join Dai Sik Tien? Why did Dai Sik Tien HELP Wind, Cloud, and the other warriors slay the dragon? WHY IS WIND BALD?! These are just some of the questions that are burning my mind.

Despite this being named Wind and Cloud, this "movie" is more focused on Wind. Cloud appears a bit in the beginning, disappears in the middle, and shows up in the end to help fight Dai Sik Tien. Wind, however, helps save a girl, deals with his evil side (which only shows up in the first 10 minutes), deals with his wife, and fights a couple of different people. This should just be called "Wind: The Storm Rider".

After all of the negativity, it's time to go to some lighter things.

The action is phenomenal. When I say non-stop action, I mean non-stop action. There are fights every 10 minutes and they do not disappoint. People fly, throw energy attacks, and there is a lot of swordplay. While you could tell the effects are low-budget, you are not bothered because they are subtle. Most are simple flashes of colored light and they work very well. The wirework is typical HK wirework.

Some say Ho Yun Tung is terrible as Cloud. In what I've seen of him here, he isn't that bad. He doesn't have many lines, but his facial expression is of a lonely type. Chiu Man Chak also recieved criticism for his portrayal of Wind. I admit, the parts with his evil side were laughable and he made Wind waaay to naive, but he was tolerable. The best actor in this whole "movie" is the actor who portrayed Dai Sik Tien (unfortunantely I don't know his name because it wasn't subtitled). He showed his goofy side and that was great. He had the voice and body movements that made you believe he was a wiley, evil, villain.

In the end, you should only buy this "movie" if you can't obtain the actual series. The only reason to buy this and highlight that saved this from a lower rating were the awesome fights. Other than that, find the actual series or just avoid this all together.