I will try to get a copy and see it.
Then comes the critical analysis.
As promised. I bought the VCD and watched it.
It is ok. It is a bit long.
The plot is between the general Feng Huo Lian Cheng and the retired official Fu from the Ming dynasty.
The Qing emperor had a order to ban all MA practice in the civilian circles. Whoever practice MA will be done for or Li Zhan Jue. So the greedy general slaughtered the innocent so as to collect 300 Lian money for each person.
The villiage of Wu or Wu Zhuang was populated with Heaven and Earth society people or Tian Di Hui. The second in command or Lo was a spy for the king. The Korean girl is also a spy for the king. They have army and cannon balls.
The tactics and strategy between Fu and the general Feng were good.
Not able to run with kids and old people, they move and settle in caves to find out who was the spy. They let go of the horses in the hope that the soldiers followed the tracts of the horse.
The Korean girl seduced Donnie Yet or the second brother of the 7 swordsmen from mount Heaven or Tian Shan in the northeast China or Dong Bei.
Each has a special sword and talents.
Donnie went to destroy the Buddha or Monkey figure and tried to steal the money from the general. It was a trap. The general was ready to kill Donnie and yet hurt Green Pearl or Lui Zhu, the Korean girl.
There are several twists of love affairs. Both the general and Donnie like the Lui Zhu and yet she was the people of the king. Lui has feelings for Donnie.
The novel the movie based on was a long novel with several sections of stories lasting 3 generations.
The fight scenes are good. I like the swordplay in a narrow passageway between walls.
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Overall.
It is ok.
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Yeah, the corridor fight was definately worth the price of admission… A princely 8 RMB. 
Hey Gene? You there?
Sorry so tardy, SimonM. I took advantage of Labor Day weekend to go on a work study at Tassajara Zendo. As for your questions above, I haven’t a clue about the answers, I’m afraid. I saw it without the benefit of sound or subtitles, not that it would have helped much. The further I get from viewing this movie, the less I remember, which is always a bad sign in regards to my opinion of the film. In fact, all that really remains in my memory was the lantern fight, the corridor fight, that villainess and how cool Lau Kar Leung is, even when he’s not fighting.
Yeah, I was particularly fond of the corridor fight as well.
PS: Does anyone know Donnie Yen’s Chinese name?
Aaah Venice
In other news, This film opened the Venice Film festival. I don’t know if it won any awards.
Now I do. The golden Lion went to Ang Lee’s cowboy film, Brokeback Mountain. Could he have gotten any further from the Hulk?
I’m reading it now. As is often the case in chinese movies inspired by books, the only real link between book and movie is the name of the characters. In the book, Donnie Yen’s character is one of the main bad guys, Leon Lai’s character dies in the prologue, and Lau Kar-Leung’s character is a refined scholar/doctor type (not the retired executioner of the movie).
In some interviews I’ve read on the net, Tsui Hark has said that the movie was based on the first chapter of the book, but that just ain’t the case. The first chapter has to do with an assassination attempt on a high official in the government by various jiang hu types (which sets in motion the rest of the story).
Check out our new e-zine article by Dr. Craig Reid
Hark! SEVEN SWORDS a Coming was just posted for the holidaze…
Having not read the book I had nothing to base my expectations of the film on. Personally, I thought it was great for what Gene’s article says it should be which is the first of a series. It introduced the characters and gave you just an glimpse into each of them. The cast was good - and forget about it - Lau Kar Leung was as cool as ever hope he is in all of them. Donnie Yen’s fight scenes especially that corridor fight scene was great.
The only thing that was a little much were the weapons. I get the swords being all mystical but for 17th century china the weapons that the armies had it was more like Crouching Tiger meets Bladerunner. Boomerang Shields with knives…
But all in all I’ve watched it 5 times already and I’ve only had it for 2 weeks. So I guess I like it.
Seven Swords - Review
Hey folks,
My search fu is weak as i cannot find info here with a review for this movie. I saw it at blockbuster the other day and hesitated on getting it, so i ended up watching Blades or Glory instead. What did you guys think of Seven Swords?
Lohankuen1
It you put ‘seven swords’ in the ‘search this forum’ box, you get two pages of threads. I’ve merged this to the main one for the film your convenience. Also note, there was a related TV series called Seven Swordsman.
My laziness came into play…
Thanks for the merge Gene. I tried that method and my laziness took over when i saw all those pages pop up.
What put me off this film was the 2.5hr sit time i had to go through and not sure if there would be enough fight scenes to keep me wanting more. I sure didn’t want it to turn into another House of Flying Daggers, which i disliked, or MUSA, which i also disliked. Maybe i wasn’t ready for it at the time and my little pea brain needed more fights to keep me interested.
From the sounds of it, or Gene’s lack of sounds of it:), i may fork out the $6 and rent it to see the final Yen fight, which would be worth the price of admission in its own right. I have always enjoyed Donnie’s fights and his recent stuff is the new breed which all action cheoreographers shoulkd be shooting towards.
Thanks for the help guys.
Check out the Seven Swordsmen TV show instead. It is SOOO much better than the movie.
Personally imho this movie is really terrible to watch. The action was just terrible. The kung fu was terrible. Just terrible.