Chin san chuen suet

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.

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?

I remember this being quite a good, mature kick flick, but there is one scene I must have watched 20 times now, undeniably the best death in any movie. A servant reports his failure to his Overlord, whereupon the lord cuts his head off with the string of his bow, flicks it up in the air, shoots an arrow through the head whilst it flies through the air, sending the impaled bonce across a line of torches, setting fire to it. The head embeds itself on a wall, spelling out the Overlords name in fire. At this time the overlord runs across the burning torches, somersaults over to a chessboard, slams a piece down and cries - Checkmate! Has to be seen to be believed.

Moon Warriors is a beautifully filmed period kung fu drama starring handsome Andy Lau as the rural and naive yet impeccably good and incorruptible (not to mention invincible) hero, who befriends the rightful crown prince who's trying to regain the throne from his evil younger brother. Of course, both brothers and everyone they associate with are over-the-top kung fu masters... :-)

The story is not very nuanced, nor very original, nor particularly good - but it is saved by the excellent actors, the excellent action scenes, the cool kung fu, and, yes, the whale! Andy Lau's character, Fei, is friends with a small orca that he plays with in the water and who saves his bacon in some crucial scene towards the end. The whale scenes are beautiful and totally feel-good! It's made even better by the extra scenes on the DVD, where the whale's good nature is highlighted in scenes where it, for instance, waves to Andy with one flipper as it swims by. Clearly, all involved had a great deal of fun!

My rating: 7 out of 10.

Sammo Hung is one of the VERY few actors who is a joy to watch in front of the camera AND he's a pretty damn good director as well. This well done period/fantasy piece is no exception. Andy Lau (another favorite foreign actor of mine) is Fei, a common fisher-man who falls in love with the Emperor's daughter, who is bethrothed to the King. The king is secretly loved by his adviser who was sent to kill him. It's a tad convoluted, yes. And the part with the whale is rather silly. But all in all, it's pretty good. Not among the best of these type of movies though.

My Grade: B-

DVD Extras: Commentary by Hong Kong film expert, Ric Meyers; 'Alternate Ending' (which really is just the same ending, but instead of fading to black for the credits, it goes to whale outtakes); Cast Filmographies; Trailers for "Dragon Inn", " Duel to the Death", "the Master Swordsman", "the Duel", and "My Schoolmate, the Barbarian"