Swordsman III: The East Is Red (1993)

That was an excellent one.

ridiculous rating

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Since Asia the Invincible (Brigitte Lin) seemingly died at the end of part 2, several impersonators try to rule in her name. When a Spanish conquistador and a masked Japanese warlord attempt to conquer the land during this chaos and confusion, the real Asia returns with a vengeance. It seems at first that a villain of the previous part turned hero for this sequel, but Asia's rage is not under control, she says love is gone and hate is all that remained."Swordsman III" is - even more than "Swordsman II" - a celebration of Brigitte Lin, larger than life, a goddess of war. You find less sense of humor than before in the final part of the trilogy, but a stunning lesbian love scene involving Joey Wang from "Chinese Ghost Story" - actually it's about a woman pretending to be a man with a man pretending to be a woman... read that twice - is thrown in for compensation. The European version is about 10 minutes shorter than the Asian one, and probably one scene was cut for blasphemy when Asia humiliates the Spanish priest, forcing him to worship her instead of their catholic god. I voted 8 of 10 for each part of the trilogy, because on one hand, they all have too many little narrative flaws to get near a perfect 10, but on the other hand, they are all highly entertaining and equally recommendable.

I like everyone connected with this movie, cast and crew - but I don't like the movie.It's not that I can't follow the plot. The problem is that the whole story is symbolic fantasy - or what they called in the Middle ages 'allegory' (i.e., an allegory for the loss of Chinese inner power with the arrival of foreign colonialists). They only recent film that comes close to this in structure is from Japan, Toyko: the Last Metropolis. The most recent western film to approach this kind of story is, possibly, Terry Gilliam's ill-conceived Baron Munchhausen movie. But I liked the characters in those two movies; I don't like any of the characters in this one. Which may be the point, but not any reason to watch the movie again.I should remark that these three movies are all extremely well-made, and all dishwater dull.I'm afraid film is not a medium conducive to allegory. Film seems to work best when the characters remind us of people we've met - or are likely to meet - even if we don't like them much. When actors stand in for metaphors, they can't stand in for people. In which case, why should we care?

I am fluent in Chinese and have watched dozens of Chinese movies, from Taiwan, the Mainland, and Hong Kong. I've watched martial arts movies, love stories, comedies, tragedies, historicals, social commentaries, and "slice-of-life"'s. While this wasn't the worst movie I've seen, I definitely didn't like it. While I don't regret the time spent, I wouldn't watch it again. This featured the worst of HK Action Flicks: too much wire work, too much "magic" force shots that do nothing but spray water or smash flooring, too much triumphant laughter, opaque plot lines, two-dimensional characters.My good friend who lives in Mainland China didn't like it much, either. But my native-Chinese ex-wife loved it. Go figure.

This is one of the most outrageous, totally hyper-kinetic stylish and bizarre (kung-fu fantasy) films I've ever seen. Brigitte Lin is stunning as Asia the Invincible. This is a really beautiful action film. It is unabashedly fantastical. If you haven't seen any modern kung-fu fantasy films from Hong Kong, this will leave your jaw scraping the floor. Super cool.