Chin san chuen suet

There were some nice fighting scenes.

The filmmakers made some inexplicable choices.

There was some fun dialogue, but for some reason the sub-titles I had changed the main character's name to Philip.

What was up with Sea-Wayne?

The only reason I rented this was due to the fact that Maggie Cheung was in it, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a very enjoyable film. All the good guys are like-able and the bad guy is a right b******!! Excellently choreographed fight scenes, great cinematography (especially the scenes with the Fei and the killer whale Hai Wei(sp?)), and an extra bonus surprise about a third of the way into the movie - Anita Mui!!

The ending shocked me somewhat, but didn't detract from my enjoyment the movie in any way. Well worth checking out.

When Crouching Tiger,Hidden Dragon came out,critics fell over themselves praising it as being new and fresh. Whilst it is undoubtedly a good film,the fact is that they had been making films like that in Hong Kong for many years,with warriors jumping around the screen in tales of romance and honour. Moon Warriors is a good example. It has it's flaws,with one element rather laughable,but it still demands quite a bit of respect.

The action is really as good,maybe it's a bit more obvious the characters are on wires,but in terms of martial arts skill it's actually better, and just as visually great to watch. Highlights include a display of kites that suddenly somehow turns into a ninja attack,a possibly Macbeth-inspired 'moving trees'sequence,and gorgeous Hong Kong babes Maggie Cheung and Ania Mui battling it out with swords.

Despite what you may have heard about films like this,it certainly isn't all fighting. A great deal of time is given to the love element,and there are perhaps too many montages to the sentimental theme song {as usual,the translated words on the subtitles don't really work}. Howvever,the film retains that melancholic romantic feel present in many other Hong Kong fantasy movies of the time {such as The Bride With White Hair and Saviour of the Soul}.

Unfortunately there is a subplot of a WHALE which is the hero's best friend,and it's just laughable. Some versions of the film even have outtakes at the end of star Andrew Lau with the thing. Still,there's plenty in the film which is worthwhile. It's really quite extraordinary what Hong Kong filmmakers used to conjure up on what were usually tiny budgets and rushed productions.

Sammo Hung has an impressive record in front of the camera, but here shows his equally praiseworthy directorial skills.

Hampered in his filming by the fact that some of the cast were available for short periods (Maggie Cheung was only on set for 2 days!) meaning that there there is only one brief scene where all 4 main cast members are together on screen is an achievement in film-making. Arthur Wong is the cinematographer and deserves a lot of credit for the beautiful images captured on camera, in my opinion not matched in the genre apart from Hero (2002). With no CGI the frequent - but not excessive -wirework had to be shot in way so that the wires were not visible and this is pulled off extremely well. The action itself is very creative which is no surprise when you have Sammo Hung, Ching Siu-Tung and Corey Yuen (known as Yuen Kwai in some of his earlier films) who are widely recognised as three of the best action choreographers in the business. They manage to make Andy Lau et al. convincing action actors despite their lack of formal training.

Andy Lau plays the hero and makes a good job of it, though his killer whale sidekick is cute but ridiculous. As filming with the killer whale took place at some aquarium/theme park if you look closely you can see the 'rocks' are made of plastic! The late lamented Anita Mui, along with Kenny Bee and especially Maggie Cheung provide excellent support in a complicated love triangle subplot.

The music appears to have been given more attention than some other films in the genre and the songs sung by Andy Lau and Sally Yeh compliment the story perfectly. The other music is by the late James Wong whose work will be familiar to many Hong Kong action film enthusiasts and includes The Swordsman, Iron Monkey and the Once Upon a Time in China series.

One minor criticism is that though the storyline is epic in nature, the film is hampered somewhat by armies being made up of about a dozen extras, reducing their impact somewhat. This is no surprise considering the small budget of the film (particularly Hollywood standards). The film is also a little short, but tight scripting by Alex Law manages to largely overcome this flaw.

Overall I would highly recommend Moon Warriors, a film that is largely forgotten, but deserves more recognition as although it has several flaws, including a ludicrous scene with a plastic killer whale, there is much to enjoy here if you are a fan of the wuxia genre.

very well done period swordplay fantasy film.The fisherman in his simplicity is a true hero.The unrequited love that dominates throughout is well executed.Maggie Cheung and Anita Mui can duel all day long..Awesome.The villain is well played his skill is evident.musically the score is great..definitely worth seeing love,honour,pace..and great wire work must definitely put this film up there with the better made one of the genre..All hail King Sammo....