Suk saan: San suk saan gim hap

This eye-popping, special-effects-laden Asian fantasy is a real feast for the eyes. It stars Yuen Biao as a soldier who, fed up with the constant and seemingly pointless civil war, deserts his platoon only to find himself caught in another battle. He escapes the battle by falling off a cliff, but descends unharmed into a cave, where he is rescued from an attack by glow-eyed flying demons by a fantastic warrior with a magical flying sword. He goes under the tutelage of the warrior, who is reluctant to take on a new pupil. What follows, words cannot aptly describe. Suffice it to say, it's an absolutely frenzied mix of action, special effects and bizarre, magical occurrences. The action is non-stop and the editing is laser-paced. I was absolutely exhausted by the end of the film. The cast is likewise first-rate. I was impressed especially by Sammo Hung in a dual role: as Yuen Biao's soldier buddy, and as Long Brows, the ancient priest who holds the Blood Monster at bay using his "sky mirror" and magical extending beard and eyebrows...You'd have to see it to understand. Suffice to say that there's many moments in this film that will have you thinking, "I have no idea what's going on, but it sure *looks* cool." Trust me, you won't be able to tear your eyes from the screen.

If you are a fan of Hong Kong action films and you haven't seen this i would suggest you track a copy down right now.

As an opening paragraph it sums up the importance of this landmark title. Conceived by its' makers as a production to rival Western films for technical (behind the camera) as well as beating them technically in front as well.

Although it fails to rival the level of sophistication with its' effects (due to bane of all Hong Kong films, its' limited budget)to match those of Hollywood films of its' time is irrelevant, it looks and feels so Far Eastern as well as using cutting edge (for 1982)it is simply unique.

The story is set in mythical times in China, where constant wars threaten to consume everyone, soldier or otherwise. One such soldier (ably played by Yuen Biao) manages to alienate himself from his commanders and ends up getting lost in the mystical region of Zu, fabled for its' magic mountain.

He becomes embroiled in a quest to find a pair of magical swords to kill a blood demon which threatens the whole of humanity. The blood demon draws its' power from pain and suffering and there is enough in the world to allow it to destroy all mankind.

The film contains so much energy, unparallelled visual flair and a cast which has the skill and experience to make it all work. The directors' vision and imagination are easy to see and appreciate, if you take the time to look. It is too easy to watch the action and miss the subtleties. It is a film which is difficult to describe, but unforgettable once watched.

Hark's action fantasy 'Xin Shu Shan Jian Ke' is a whole lot of fun. Needless to say one can expect lots of extravagant martial arts action sequences which are well choreographed (but some of them are so long that they tend to drag a little). The movie is loaded with special effects and even though they don't look as refined as movies of today, they're still fun to watch. The sets don't look particularly authentic but they hold a certain appeal and I like the way they appeared. The story isn't told in the traditional fashion and at some points question marks will appear in the mind but there's always something happening to keep the viewer engaged. Yuen Biao and Sammo Hung are simply great as they infuse humour and energy into their roles. Energetic, funny, bizarre, wacky, magical...these are just a few words that describe Tsui Hark's 'Xin Shu Shan Jian Ke'. Forget the abysmal 2003 remake. This is where the real fun is.

"Zu Warriors" certainly pushed wuxia to its limits; it has such a relentless air of enthusiasm, especially given its limited budget, that its incredibly easy to dismiss any faults it does have just because of its overwhelmingly extravagant nature. Its glorious, vivid production design and intentionally camp attitude makes it very difficult not to be totally drawn into its colourful images while completely forgetting the film has a plot.

Tsui Hark has included just about everything in this one. The special effects may not be up to much but that is a sideline; the wonderful swordplay starts almost immediately and the films rarely lets up as it jumps from one operatic martial art display to another, helped by an impeccable cast featuring iconic stars such as Sammo Hung and Brigitte Lin.

Unfortuantly it still took some work before films of this sort were appreciated in the west. Despite the efforts of John Carpenter, it still took over a decade and Crouching Tiger to truly bring this wonderful form of entertainment to the masses. There's only so much praise you can give a film before saying it has to be seen to be appreciated fully. This is certainly a landmark in wuxia and an essential showpiece of Hong Kong action at its finest. (A testament to this is the fact the DVD has a Bey Logan commentary.)

This film illustrates the major difference between Western and Eastern fantasy films. A western version of this same film would attempt for some level of realism, some element of grittiness and angst. This film ignores realism entirely. Hey, its a fantasy already! Swordsman and monks float and dive in aerial battle, an old man's eyebrows are deadly weapons, whole armies of guys in brightly colored uniforms run about attacking each other for very poorly explained reasons, and blue eyed jawa clones swoop about the inside of evil temples. Although the ending is almost unintelligible, the first hour of the film is just one cool scene after another. The editing of this film would certainly make an epileptic have a seizure, but after five minutes you stop caring about the plot and dialogue and just start enjoying the wacky surreal action. I wish I could see this one on the big screen.