The Legend of the Swordsman (1992)

Perfect cast and a good story

Good concept, poorly executed.

Fresh and Exciting

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

People seem to be divided into two groups about this movie. Those who think it's amazing and groundbreaking, and those who think it's vastly overrated. I fall somewhere in between, tending towards the "overrated". I have watched a lot of kung fu movies lately, and this one, from 1991, is nowhere near groundbreaking. No one who's watched the good stuff from the '60s and '70s can claim that there is much originality in Swordsman II.This movie disappointed me because it was too ridiculous. Admittedly, it was also quite funny, and I don't mind supernatural kung fu. But the story and the effects never really worked that well, and as someone else has pointed out, the English subtitles are really, really terrible.So on a scale from one to ten, I can only give this movie a 5, but I will raise that to 6 because of the attractive women in it. Not only Brigitte Lin, but Rosamund Kwan and especially Michelle Reis (who's got some great fight scenes here, unlike in Fong Sai Yuk, where she was just helpless) are a big bonus for this movie, and makes it well worth watching.Thus: 6 out of 10.

Asia the invincible? what the hell's that? the guy's surname is Dong Fang, which is a normal chinese surname, means "the east", he call himeself Bu Bai, coz he has not, did not, and thinks would not be defeated, so it means The Undefeated.I know translation is a tough job, no matter how good you think you did, you still cannot transform all the meanings, undertones, indications in a culture sense. But not like this one! This is a very beautiful movie, all the lines, the scenes, the costumes, all very authenticly chinese, and stunning. And the poems recited in the movie, and the haunting song...hate to see all of these been ruined by the rediculous translantion.You know, many things are just not meant to be translated, many words in chinese, they just can't be properly translated, such as "tian xia","qian kun", they are somewhat close to the meaning of "the world", but never is in the same sense of it.So, for those who deminished the plot of the movie, I just wana tell you, it was based on one of the best selling Wuxia books in China, and the lines, they are very beautiful, in chinese. And for those who talked about the wire works, hello, this is a fantasy movie, and even with the wiring, have you ever seen body movements as beautiful as this in other movies, say the matrix? Wiring doesn't neccesarily mean it's not googd KongFu, This movie has some of the best fight scenes I have ever seen, wiring is only a basic requirement for action fantasies, but the thing they did with the fight scene, that's art, man. You have to be a KongFu master and an artist at the same time to be able to design, to creat such beautiful things.In short, advice for people from America, Europe, Africa...no-china£¬If you wana have a better understanding of the movie, READ THE BOOK FIRST, and before that, LEARN SOME CHINESE! :)

(in full disclosure, I wrote this when I was a dumb 17 year old, I remember enjoying the movie and recommend it, so that's all that counts): Tonight I saw this movie, a unusual Chinese action movie with a plot about a guy who has a sister and brothers and they get entangled up with fighting people who want to take over China. That is pretty much the basic plot that I could follow. The rest of the movie consists of action scenes that may or may not have been sliced off of the deleted footage of The Kentucky Fried Movie and the sound effects sound like bites from he Crippled Masters. Still, it is consistently entertaining in parts, even if it is unintentionally funny in a lot of parts (the fighters say they're move before they do it in street fighter Super Nintendo style, and the brothers have nicknames like scumbag and smart ass). Li is also pretty good, even if the whole sum of the movie might be a tad lowered. Biggest flaw though, at least for myself, was that not only was there no dubbing, but the Chinese sometimes didn't match the mouths! Oh well, it's worth it. B

Having been a big fan of Hong-kong fantasy action movies(chinese ghost story 1,2,3..and etc..) especially I completely captivated by this one. When I first saw this movie, I was only 14. this movie was brought a great popularity and main stars Brigitte Lin and Jet li became household name in here, South Korea. I still remember when these two stars visited here to promote, Brigitte Lin had to escaped from being run over by her fans in Korea.She plays "Asia the invincible" who's gave up his manly symbol to become the best sword man. Jet li plays another great sword man who's pure, sincere to his belief. On the way to find his men, came across "Asia the invincible" several times. although "Asia the invincible" is a villain who's so brutal when he eliminates his enemy, starts attracted to Jet li. and Jet li does too.But the development relationship between Jet li and "Asia the invincible" can hardly describe. actually both of them are men. It can be called "Homosexual interest". but it doesn't a big deal. In fact I think this made this movie more unique, and sensual, joyful to watch.Striking, powerful performance by Brigitte. she had been my idol for years. it's a really pity that she had disappear from the screen after getting married. it's a role really hard to play. but she's charismatic enough to command the whole movie. her last scene still haunting me. can't believe she was almost 40 when she did shoot this one.The early Jet li so cute, and I really admire his martial arts skills( although most of his martial arts here are computer-generated or wire actions ) I can't count how many times I've seen this movie. action sequences so beautiful and stunning. See this movie. it will be unusual experience!!!