Tsui Hark's "Seven Swords"

Martial Media, Culture and Other Arts Martial Media and Popular Culture
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This is the next big wuxia movie I’m looking forward to seeing. The casting is pretty good – the stars will be Leon Lai and Donnie Yen (who I think has way more potential than Jet Li).

And MK, I’m sure you are aware of this film by now, but the fight choreagrapher is none other than the legend himself, Liu Chia-Liang (Lau Kar-Leung)! Good to see him back in action – I still have yet to see that Drunken Monkey movie he did for Shaw Bros. back in 2003.

Tsui’s movies are hit or miss for me, although some of his are certainly classics. Anyone else catch the buzz on this one?

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its in the making still isnt it?

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Yeah, Donnie Yen said in an interview 2 weeks ago that he was going back to finish up shooting after the Chinese New Year. I know at least one of the locales they are shooting in is the northwestern region Xinjiang. Here is a link to that article:
http://www.kungfucinema.com/news/2005/011301.htm

And I’m attaching a pretty cool pic I found of Donnie in costume for the movie. Should be good!

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Tsui Hark’s SEVEN SWORDS

From aint-it-cool-news.com

“According to The Beijing News, the original cut of Seven Swords runs about 4 hours, which is too long for being released in theaters. Then Tsui Hark and editor Angie Lam made two more cuts, one is 150 minute long and the other one is 120 minute long. In the end the 150 minute version was chosen as the one to be released in theaters and the 4 hour version will be released on DVD.”

Tsui Hark’s SEVEN SWORDS First Teaser-Trailer
http://www.sevenswordsthefilm.com/traditional/download/SSavers/SSTeasera.mov

some stills from sina.com

another poster for SEVEN SWORDS

At Monkey Peaches

SEVEN SWORDS characters

More characters

a fan site

5

finally

someone besides me, is talking about the latest in ma flicks, i thought i was the only one. have you heard about donnie yen and sammo’s new joint sha po lang, i’ve been waiting for that one to come state side for a while!

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I shall share my source of kung-fu movie geekdom.

http://www.kungfucinema.com/

Use this power only for good, grasshopper.

It has a mention of the 4 hour version in the archives, plus a fairly lengthy article on Sha Po Lang, and probably the largest collection of kung-fu movie reviews I’ve seen.

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Ahhh, it’s good to find people who keep up on KF movie news…

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There is a trailer out for Seven Swords from their website

http://www.sevenswordsthefilm.com/

Hi Res:
http://www.sevenswordsthefilm.com/traditional/download/SSavers/SSTrailerHK768.wmv

Med Res:
http://www.sevenswordsthefilm.com/traditional/download/SSavers/SSTrailerHK256.wmv

Low Res:
http://www.sevenswordsthefilm.com/traditional/download/SSavers/SSTrailerHK112.wmv

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Yes. He made many good CMA movies.

However, there are always graphical violences.

It is too bloody for the general audiences.

:smiley:

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The first Zu movie was not that gory and was rather comical. ALthough you may be correct about the newer stuff such as the blood cloud from the latest Zu movie.

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how come films shot on mainland china always use crappy film? man the film looks like it was shot in the 80’s. lol oh well. at least in hk the films are clear and crisp.

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So…who has the bootleg Seven Swords?

Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain really started the whole Fant-Asia genre back in 1983. I remember seeing it in the theaters and thinking it was pretty cutting edge at the time. I saw soem of it again a few months ago and it looked incredibly dated, not just because the film quality (and this was on a DVD version, mind you) but because it was pre-CGI so the effects were sort of H.R. Puffenstuff, if you get my meaning. But still, and we say that a lot when studying wuxia pian, it’s a very important film in the development of the genre. I can’t wait to see Seven Swords. I’ve always loved Tsui Hark’s visionary cinematography and have been eagerly awaiting something big from him for a few years now. Legend of Zu was beautiful, although vacuous plotwise.

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First in with a revue…

I saw Seven Swords (qi jian) last night off a DVD someone managed to procure off the net. It did not have English subtitles, nor could I get the sound to play on my player. That being said, my opinion is based solely on the visuals of the film, which were very entertaining. It’s cinematography is sumptious in that overblown way that is so characteristic for Tsui Hark. Tsui Hark is one of my favorite directors, but I haven’t really kept up with him since Legend of Zu (I did see Xanda but that was against type for Hark so I’m not really counting it), so I was really looking forward to this film. In many scenes, the film is hyper-colorized, akin to effects used in Schindler’s List and Traffic. Other scenes are panoramic, with expansive vistas and scenery. The sets are amazingly textured, overwhelmingly so. And everyone is illuminated strangly, heads backlit, faces in shadow, which meant since I didn’t have sound, there were many scenes where I had no idea who was talking, much less about what. It’s an innovative vision of Hark, singular, nothing like the eye-candy of Legend of Zu and distinct from the inevitable comparisons of the other ‘artsy’ MA films Crouching Tiger, Hero and House of Flying Daggers. The look and feel of the film is gorgeous and surreal. Love those villains - like a goth medieval comic book characters.

Does it work? Well, let’s just say it’s way too long in between fight scenes. I enjoyed the final fight scene, particularly a corridor fight, but it’s all wire and effects, so I wasn’t as impressed by it as a ‘traditional’ kung fu flick so much. It’s more like seeing a movie made from a comic book, Spiderman vs. Doc Ock, which is cool in it’s own way. I’m told it’s based on a classic wuxia xiao shuo,which are kind of like kung fu comics. Lau Kar Leung plays a great character, but has way too few fights. Donnie Yen is very well showcased, especially in that final fight.

I don’t think this is a spoiler, but the plot is basically a gang of outrageuos villains are terrorizing the people and these seven swords literally fall out of the sky for seven heroes to take on the baddies. There are way too many characters. There’s a lot of subplots, a lot of abused women with issues (the one female hero gets a faulty Darth Maul sword), a very very intense scenes, and way too much Freudian posturing with swords, but it’s relatively bloodless (violence is harsh but implied) and there’s no nudity beyond a bare shoulder. What is it about Chinese cinema and bare shoulders? The film clocks in at 2+ hours and I think I would have been far more satisfied if it were shorter and just got to the fights faster. I doubt I’d make it through the longer planned DVD edition. But it’s hard to say - maybe some of that plot stuff was really intriguing - I couldn’t tell without sound or subtitles. I’m not anxious to see it with sound and subtitles - I can wait until it comes to a big screen (if it ever does out here). My favorite villian died too early. When you see it - if you see it - you’ll know what I mean.

I would recommend the film to my artsy friends mostly because of its novel artistic style. I liked the film visually; the jury is still out on it with sound and better picture quality. I wouldn’t recommend it as a ‘kung fu’ flick because of the long gaps between fights. The final fight is decent, just too long in getting around to it. It wouldn’t work over beer and pizza with the guys. There’s too much plot, too much scenery. Some of the shots were so complex that I couldn’t even figure out what I was looking at. My tiny TV just didn’t do it justice, even in letterbox. It is definitely a big screen experience, if possible.

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Thanks for the preview.

I am into plot/subplot galore.

I think I read too many Gu Long and Jing Yong CMA novels.

7 swordsmen, I have to see it.

:smiley:

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Yes, it’s a definite must see for fans of the wuxia genre…

…have you read Seven Swords? I haven’t (nor do I intend to) but I’d be very curious about how it compares to the books.

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Well, I’ve heard two more reviews from people who got sound…

According to two others who saw the film with the sound, the plot makes little sense. Maybe it would have been clearer in the 4-hour version, but neither of them thought Seven Swords was of much merit. Perhaps it’s better without sound because it makes it more abstract. I had me guessing a lot, assuming that there was something behind everything, when in fact (or at least according to these two other viewers) it was just babble, wasted film. Given this new insight, my suggestion is that if you see Seven Swords, focus on the red lantern fight in the beginning, the villainess, and the final fight in the corridor. The rest might bore you. Or you could turn off the sound like I did (unvoluntarily). Sometimes, less is more.

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Tsk Tsk

Illegal downloading and bootlegging is bad. Ironic you did it from a chinese film.

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The DVD is being hyped in all the DVD/VCD stores in Lishi right now. I’ll pick up a copy tomorow and give it a watch. I’ll tell you all what I think afterwards.

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I just finished the DVD of Seven Swords

Otherwise known as the super-angst friends VS. the evil goths…

It seems to clock in at about 2.5 hours or 150 minutes. A far cry from four hours but still not a walk in the park. Especially since the entire film is in Mandarin - a language that (though I am more versant than the average white North American) I am FAR from fluent in. There were subtitles… In Chinese. Considering my vast knowlege of about 50 characters this was not particularly helpful. :smiley:

Picture if you will watching Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Special Edition, having never read the book and never seen the theatrical release, in a language where you understand one word in twenty and about one complete sentence in a hundred.

That being said I really liked this film. The action was entertaining, the plot seemed straightforward enough (though I am a little bit confused about the wavy sword that was dug up by the bad-guy and then NEVER USED) from my limited grasp of dialogue and rapt attention to on-screen action. The bottle of sub-standard (expensive by Chinese standards) Cabarnet may have helped matters somewhat. :wink:

The film quality seemed just fine in my opinion. I rarely had difficulty discerning who was speaking, just what the h311 they were saying. :smiley: :eek:

It did remind me considerably of another movie. It was the first movie I watched on TV after coming to China. Aside from DVDs I rarely watch TV. I am not overly fond of Chinese television; their :stuck_out_tongue: innovative :stuck_out_tongue: programming was not the reason I decided to come here. However occasionaly I will put on the CCTV movie channel. It was there I saw Kung Fu Mahjong (two hours of my life I will never reclaim) and this other movie. It featured a one-armed fighter, armed with a cleaver on a length of chain who spun (yes, spun) his way through an army of Goths and Road Warrior rejects until he had a rather exciting final battle with a guy whose Dao had about a million and one special features. Don’t suppose anyone knows what this movie was called per-chance…

Anyway, back to Seven Swords…

I mentioned earlier LoTR: Two Towers, SE. This was for a reason. It was of comparable length to the Two Towers SE. Like Two Towers it was comprised of long dramatic scenes punctuated by often extended periods of rather graphic violence. It was a fantasy plot that centered around a battle of good vs. evil that was (yes) slightly murkier than Rohirrim vs. Orcs but still relatively well delineated by prop, costume and character behaviour (Stoic good guys vs. overly emotional and perverse villians). Oh yeah and at one point the (mostly) helpless townfolk hid in an extensive system of caves while the warriors did battle.

Now just a few questions that perhaps Gene can answer…

1: What was with the sword that the villain dug up and then didn’t bother to ever ues in battle?

2: Why, oh why, did Donnie Yen’s character decide to go smash the statue and why in the world did he feel it was necessary to bring his damaged-goods girlfriend?

3: Where can I get a copy of that sword that doubles as a tree-felling axe and a baseball bat. :wink:

4: Will an english-subtitled version ever be available here in the Middle Kingdom or will I just have to learn more Po Tong Hua to make sense of the dialogue in this movie? :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

Ratings:

Cinematography: 7/10
Action: 8/10
Plot: Um… Ask somebody who speaks Chinese.
Music: 3/10 (The la la la on the DVD menu drove me around the twist!!!)

Overall 7/10

Land Sun Cabarnet: Approx 35 RMB per bottle at Kaixingyu Supermarket, second most expensive Wine available. 3/10

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Hey Gene? You there?