Zu, les guerriers de la montagne magique
Original title: Suk saan: San suk saan gim hap
IMDb RATING
6.6/10
3.2K
YOUR RATING
A Chinese soldier in an ancient civil war flees the battlefield and gets caught up in a fantastical quest to save the world from evil.A Chinese soldier in an ancient civil war flees the battlefield and gets caught up in a fantastical quest to save the world from evil.A Chinese soldier in an ancient civil war flees the battlefield and gets caught up in a fantastical quest to save the world from evil.
- Awards
- 5 nominations total
Fung Hak-On
- Evil Disciple
- (as Hark-On Fung)
Kuang-Li Hsia
- Chi Wu-Shuang
- (as Kwan-Li Shen)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
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.
I've got to say, this movie delivered exactly what I thought it would when I bought it. And I bought it simply on the strength of the box and how it said something really good about Tsui Hark. Ever since I have unfailingly watched any Tsui Hark movie that has come across my path. I love this movie. It's goofy in the extreme and at many points simply doesn't make sense. Maybe it's because I've been brainwashed by too many episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000, but I love cheesy movies. The fight scenes are excellent, the scenery is superb and the story is spellbinding, (there I think I've but exhausted my list of critic cliché adjectives). It's especially good to watch if you're an enhancement smoker.
Because this movie was made in the 1980s, I did not expect the special FX to be the equivalent of anything made in the states, or even up to the level of The Stormriders. However, I found this film a lot more enjoyable than the latter. This film is almost a non-stop ride full of swordfights, optical FX battles, flying people, and it still leaves room for some interesting themes also.
The plot deals with a soldier being disillusioned by the endless civil wars that have been fought. He goes to a mountain where he joins a swordsman, a monk and his apprentice, Sammo Hung, and some lovely ladies in a quest to defeat the Blood Demon, a being of pure evil. On the way, the soldier (Yuen Biao) and the monk's apprentice (Mang Hoi) must find some swords to use in the battle.
The action is nearly non-stop. It first starts out with some basic swordplay. Once Yuen reaches the mountain, than everything shifts into overdrive. Optical FX fly across the screen at dizzying speeds. Humans and demons fly across the screen at dizzying speeds. People get frozen alive. Women fly around with swirling cloth in their wake. Men fly around chained to boulders. Eyebrows are used to contain evil. All I can say is...wow. Only Ching Siu Tung could come up w/ some as imaginative as this.
As I mentioned earlier, there are some interesting themes involved. Tsui Hark seemed to make a statement against world leaders who start senseless wars and kill innocent people. Also, he talks about how battles become futile when people won't set aside their differences for a common cause. If we want to save the world or even ourselves, we all have to work together.
Of interesting note is the International dubbed version. That version makes the film into a dream sequence and turns the war parable into a love story spanning many generations. A lot of scenes are cut and shortened, giving the Zu mountain segment a very rushed feel. Overall, the subtitled version is a lot more preferable.
The plot deals with a soldier being disillusioned by the endless civil wars that have been fought. He goes to a mountain where he joins a swordsman, a monk and his apprentice, Sammo Hung, and some lovely ladies in a quest to defeat the Blood Demon, a being of pure evil. On the way, the soldier (Yuen Biao) and the monk's apprentice (Mang Hoi) must find some swords to use in the battle.
The action is nearly non-stop. It first starts out with some basic swordplay. Once Yuen reaches the mountain, than everything shifts into overdrive. Optical FX fly across the screen at dizzying speeds. Humans and demons fly across the screen at dizzying speeds. People get frozen alive. Women fly around with swirling cloth in their wake. Men fly around chained to boulders. Eyebrows are used to contain evil. All I can say is...wow. Only Ching Siu Tung could come up w/ some as imaginative as this.
As I mentioned earlier, there are some interesting themes involved. Tsui Hark seemed to make a statement against world leaders who start senseless wars and kill innocent people. Also, he talks about how battles become futile when people won't set aside their differences for a common cause. If we want to save the world or even ourselves, we all have to work together.
Of interesting note is the International dubbed version. That version makes the film into a dream sequence and turns the war parable into a love story spanning many generations. A lot of scenes are cut and shortened, giving the Zu mountain segment a very rushed feel. Overall, the subtitled version is a lot more preferable.
"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.)
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 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.
Did you know
- TriviaAmerican filmmaker John Carpenter has stated that Zu, les guerriers de la montagne magique (1983) was an influence on his 1986 film Les Aventures de Jack Burton dans les griffes du Mandarin (1986).
- GoofsDuring many of the actors stunt scenes or where there are arrows flying around, you can spot the cables used by the sfx team.
- Alternate versionsThe international English language version, Zu Time Warriors, includes a 25-min. wraparound filmed in Canada with Yuen Biao as a modern day fencing champ transported via his dreams while in a coma to the Oriental fantasy setting of the film and awakening from the coma at the end. The Chinese version was released prior to this filming despite director's wishes.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Best of the Martial Arts Films (1990)
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- Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain
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By what name was Zu, les guerriers de la montagne magique (1983) officially released in India in English?
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