fenicks
I'm very surprised by many of the reviews here. Only one mentions that this film is 'unintentionally hilarious', which is exactly how I would also describe it. I went into the cinema expecting a serious kung-fu fantasy, and ended up laughing loudly in my seat.From what I gather, the intent of the film IS to be a serious martial arts fantasy. There are many reviews praising it as such, so I will praise it as I experienced it: as a cheesy, poorly edited and questionably acted drama, complete with a slippery plot and decrepit CGI. The CGI is forgivable as that's bound to age, but other choices of scene and dialogue leave the viewer giggling or just plain confused. One memorable scene features the main female character dancing around her room in loving rapture, with handkerchiefs draped over her head. The editing does a number on the film's pace and tone, resulting in an awkward pace and cuts between scenes that are more funny than tension-building.These are all good things, because the film was very entertaining, just not for the reasons it tries for.
percy_smith3
This is by all time ever... probably the worst movie I have ever seen. Not by script, just by pure bad "something". I sat down in my chair for 2hours and saw the whooole movie without having a clue what the story really was all about. The label of the movie said more than the movie itself. It was so bad I will probably have nightmares for many, many years. Though I still enjoyed watching it... very strange. I will regret saying this, is there another movie like this one? Cause I got kind of stuck in the almighty "forward/rewind kung-fu action, with remarkable good effects for what it seems to be a budget movie I could do on the backside of my house with my buddies and grandmas teeths as sound effects". Sorry to say this, These actors deserves better.This movie will always follow me, as a dark, dark shadow... eeek!
luke
Unlike Hollywood films which use special effects which look out of place this film actually has entire sets which are computer generated and special effects which are needed to create the comic book illustrations and work extremely well when showing the power of the main characters. Both of the main actors play out their roles perfectly and really become the characters. After watching this film I am now ordering the Duel and a man named hero also directed by Andrew Lau
Lester Mak (leekandham)
When I first saw the box for The Stormriders, I had never heard of the comics, let alone the film. But given that this is one of the biggest films, Hong Kong had ever made, I had to watch it for myself.I was, it has to be said, very pleasantly surprised. The storyline was a bit dark (possibly one might say it could have been darker to give it a bit more depth), and some of the martial arts action were brilliantly choreographed. The characters were on the whole well built giving the whole movie an edge.However, the main weakness of the film has to be the discontinuity in many places in the film. It does feel, even with the Directors' Cut, version that I saw, there was too much edited out of the film and it left you slightly disoriented at times. I can't begin to imagine what the International Version must be like as it has some 40 minutes taken out of it.But credit has to be given to the graphics team behind the special effects. They were all discreetly put together into the film, such that it added to the film rather than the film depending on it. The film is already some four years old as I write this, and it seems to not have aged at all.Overall, it is a good film to watch. The box also mentions that it's Final Fantasy HK Style, and though I'd say the story itself might not make a great Final Fantasy game, the SFX do give it that feel. The film isn't perfect, but I have to give it full marks have for effort.
AD
