Just so cool! I had it on VHS and played it until the tape broke and was first in line to grab the DVD. Brigitte Lin is an aboslutely terrific actress, and even with minimal amount of speaking she can carry the entire movie on her back. Every movement of her mouth, eye, nose, body adds to an authenticity of an outrageous character that I don't think anyone else could have pulled off. She is an absolute goddess of the cinema to be revered.

Bonus was Jet Li, the love interest, who was equally talented and his wire fighting style superb. Lau Shun who is never credited much for his roles was, once again, great. Candice as CiCi was a beautiful compliment to Brigitte, and Michelle Reis and Rosamund Kwan did well what their roles called for. Rosamund's onscreen father, their faithful Phoenix (Fennie) all should be credited for their wonderful contribution to this film.

Probably the only thing I didn't understand was how Jet Li just jumps up could spot a fire from the window after his romp.

On technical terms, if you depend on reading the English subtitles it's a fight to the end. I have watched this movie so many times I can recite it by heart in Chinese, but the English subs do not emit the same emotion and rawness that they could (hire me to sub!) There are also major instances of the white screen (especially at the beach with a very beautiful Brigitte) that hinder reading. Hopefully this is one movie that by understanding the basics of what's going on and watching the acting will be enough for you.

After watching this film you'll wish you can pick up a thread and needle--maybe a drop of candlewax to kick butt rather than a sword.

But if you've seen the original Swordsman, this movie will make perfect sense, and all the subtle scenes will evoke your emotions (at least they did for me) as themes are carried through and include: (skip to next paragraph if you never saw either movie yet and don't want an overview) the song "Laughing Proudly at the World," "Tui Chu Jiang Hu" (Retiring/going into seclusion/leaving for peace--basically dropping the swords and rejecting the warrior way of bloodshed), the idea of never ending battles that many warriors get stuck fighting in, struggles for power, the Nine stances of the solitude set, and of course Ling, the "true" hero of heroes who happens to be the greatest swordsman and also the most laid back drunk bum in the film (check his poem- "We are born into a troubled world, and grow older and older as we join the world's troubles, men like to seize their power, but I prefer the solace of a jug of wine.") My favorite scenes from Swordsman I were the boat (were Kuk's friend just died and he is reciting "hero of heroes", the scene were Fung Ching Yeung imparts his wisdom, and those ideas carry through to swordsman II in scenes like the beginning when Kiddo's horse dies and she recites the oath about no everlasting heroes and going into retirement, scene where Ling buried his brothers ("You are already secluded") and Wu's lecture about the martial world.

If you speak Mandarin/Cantonese the movie is much better as the subtitles can lose some poetry/significance/evocative feeling, (sorry non Chinese speakers) if you can speak Chinese, Swordsman I and II are MUST HAVES! If not, well you can still get a general idea from the subtitles and the fight scenes are really cool.