Stormriders

I heard about in Kung Fu/Qigong magazine and finally got to see it in 2000. It fully lives up to the hype that surrounded it. Watching this makes you wonder what the Street Fighter movie would've looked like if it were done right. For those of you who prefer American action films because "the special effects aren't cool enough" no longer have a reason to "b & moan" anymore. My main problem is the same as others who've watched this film: sometimes the effects overshadow the fighting. But don't let that stop you from seeing this one. Plus it's nice to see Sonny Chiba again. I wonder if that means there'll be more Jademan Comics adaptations in the future.

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.

This was very entertaining to watch. The special effects are great as fight scenes giving the characters super powers. The story is not hard to follow and the whole concept of fate is key. Conquer (played by Sonny Chiba) is the antagonist who's someone you do NOT mess with. I think it's his deep voice though that gives him that real evil aura. I really didn't find myself disliking his character which, again, is credit to Sonny. He's just a really cool baddie.

Wind and Cloud are really cool to watch. Their powers are amazing to see and they can deal a lot of damage. Interesting triangle involved too. One thing that films like this do is focus too much on the effects and disregard the acting. Storm Riders gives you two great warriors: Wind is strong, but kind hearted and caring. Cloud is unpredictable and has a tough demeanor. Give credit to Aaron Kwok who gives a great performance. His blank look stare totally defines his character. Hey, add Kristy Yang and Shu Qi, you can't lose!!

Definitely one worth watching.

I caught wind of this movie in a hong kong based design mag that ran a feature on it. The stills were amazing, so I did everything in my power to track it down. I'm no stranger to the world of Hong Kong action, but this was something completely new to me. Kinetic swordplay, astounding special effects, great story, great acting. This is the future of Hong Kong cinema. Andrew Lau has really gone the distance here. Aaron Kwok plays the moody and violent Cloud while Ekin Cheng plays the level headed and disciplined Wind. They fight under the guidance of the not-so-nice Lord Conquer excellently portrayed by Sonny (the man) Chiba. Together they conquer all of China with their martial arts might. But if Cloud and Wind combine, fight together and discover the truth about their cloudy pasts, Conquer is screwed. There's really not a bad thing I can say here, maybe the editing is a little liberal during the great fight scenes and really takes away from the glory, but even that's not too bad.

The makers of The Storm Riders took a chance when making this experimental film. They did something that had never been done before by fusing extreme computer graphics into a Hong Kong style martial arts film. Needless to say they were very successful. I have never seen the amount of visual graphics found in Storm Riders in any film prior. With the help of SFX all the characters gain divine fighting abilities. In fact it's like watching battles between gods rather than humans. I enjoyed this film greatly and would have loved to have seen it on the big screen. The story is straight out of Asian folklore and the acting is painless. The only flaw I found in this film is also it's strength. Though beautiful and powerful, Storm Riders relies on SFX too much. There is actually very little fighting skill used. Most of the fights are completely computer enhanced and the actors never truly cut loose. The good news is that the creators of this fine film learned from it and did a little fine tuning in their next attempt, A Man Called Hero.