Holy Flame of the Martial World

Having watched many a Shaw Brothers, there are some I love for the action, some for the choreography, some for the story-telling and some for the humor; but this this I love for being their version of 'Plan 9 From Outer Space'.

HOLY FLAME OF THE MARTIAL WORLD (1983) is a Shaw Bros. martial arts fantasy spectacular in the vein of ZU WARRIORS FROM THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN (1983) and BUDDHA'S PALM (1982, also reviewed on this site). Characters don't so much walk as fly and don't so much deliver punches or kicks as shoot powerful supernatural rays from their swords, fingers or palms (depending on how well cultivated their "inner powers" are). There are probably more special effects per foot of film than in the two earlier films I cited. The action introduces eight major characters and at least that many minor ones and throws the fantasy martial arts action at us at such a furious pace that by the time it all ends at 85 minutes, we're immensely satisfied but still a bit greedy for more.

The plot has to do with two siblings, a boy and a girl separated as babies when their parents were killed by two villains and then raised by two rival martial arts masters (including one of the killers) and trained for a duel--to be conducted when the children reach the age of 18--to see who gets control of both the Yin and Yang Holy Flame Swords. The boy sibling, played by young Max Mok (of ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA 2 & 3 fame), is raised by Phantom (Philip Kwok/Kuo Chui from the Five Venoms), whose chief weapon is his "ghostly laugh," while the sister (played by fighting actress Yang Ching Ching from EIGHT-DIAGRAM POLE FIGHTER) is raised by Jin Yin of the Erh Mei clan (played by Liu Hsueh-hua). Interestingly, the Erh Mei sect is all female and is stocked with some of the most beautiful starlets seen in HK film. Actress Liu Hsueh-hua, who plays the aged, white-haired, but still-powerful Grand Master of the Erh Mei Sect, was all of 23 at the time of filming.

Max Mok's love interest is a young woman he saves from an attack and who practices a form of "snake bladder" kung fu. She is played by Mary Jean Reimer, aka Weng Ching Ching, a cute and perky actress (who was 18 at the time) who provides some of the film's best comic scenes. Another great HK actress of the time, Candy Wen Hsueh-erh (so impressive in SWORDSMAN AND ENCHANTRESS) appears as the mysterious black-clad Golden Snake Boy who pops up to help the good guys from time to time. Also on hand are kung fu vets Jason Pai Piao (as Monster Yu) and Chan Shen (as the head of Shaolin Temple), in addition to Philip Kwok.

The film was directed by Lu Chun Ku, who also directed SECRET SERVICE OF THE IMPERIAL COURT (1984, also reviewed on this site). It's a little lower-budgeted than usual for Shaw Bros. costume spectacles but more than makes up for it with an abundance of sheer imagination. Based on a Hong Kong comic book, it has all the color, flash, action, and fantasy-style violence of the best comic books. If you've seen and liked BUDDHA'S PALM and ZU WARRIORS, or Chor Yuen's lavish swordplay adventures (THE MAGIC BLADE, CLANS OF INTRIGUE, WEB OF DEATH, et al), then you're ready for HOLY FLAME. Just don't forget to practice your "ghostly laugh."

What initially introduces itself as a classic Shaw Brothers revenge style film quickly deviates from that to become something altogether different in a way that's unexpectedly good.

I'll start by saying that this movie is wuxia through and through and though, so if you don't know the genre, it's extremely confusing. However, that's not to say most people who do know the genre would be able to call it all the way through, as even though the broad strokes are familiar, the execution is unique; and while it initially feels like a film made after they had everyone together for another film to reuse actors and sets and costumes, there's enough to keep it interesting all the way through.

The overall tone of the film is pulpy and comedic in a way that's just short of being actually funny without being so committed that it offends you when it fails and so it's instead charming, like someone giving you a badly made gift that obviously somehow shows more obvious skill and effort than if it were "well made."

Great things about it: -Predictable but in a comforting way -Most powerful martial artist in the film's world is a woman (very forward!) -Passes the Bechdel test (kinda) -Bright colors and weird, characters -Doesn't take itself seriously -Despite being filmed in shots that are obviously constrained to specific sets and lighting, this ends up adding excellent variety with distinct feel in each spot.

Bad things about it: -Story dead ends some characters yet they still stick around -Some of the characters don't have clear motivations as to why they do anything -Features a wide variety of martial arts sects but they all act and fight the same way -Special effects budget is essentially the whole budget -Abuse of wires

Weird things about it that are so bad it's good: -They spent way too much money on exactly 2 skeletons and so they reuse them again and again, even to the point where one of the bad guys goes, "HAHAHA, GRAB THE BONES!" as an obvious inside joke.

-The director and writer knew their tropes well enough that they openly and hilariously subvert tropes regarding "magic" and "vampires" and "dual cultivation," etc.

-The tone of the film shifts wildly from the open all the way to the close.

-Certain characters show up and are introduced as if they'd fill certain roles only for those roles to be completely changed in hilarious ways.

Overall, the film feels almost like you suddenly landed half way in a series with no formal prequel or sequel but is rich enough that it's still enjoyable, like being handed a slice of cake with something written on it and being unsure if it's for a birthday, holiday, retirement, or professional event but still enjoying it because it's surprisingly good cake. Just like that cake, I'd recommend this as a fun watch, especially if you have friends to riff on the film with at home.

Because of some of the plot beats present in Holy Flame of the Martial World, you might expect it to be a straightforward martial arts movie. This is because it contains main characters who are out for revenge, a magical object/MacGuffin that many of the characters are after, and people needing to participate in training montages around the halfway point in order to be stronger for the final action scenes.

However, the way Holy Flame of the Martial World plays out makes it very much unlike your average martial arts movie. It has some wild fantasy elements, it doesn't take itself very seriously at all, and it's all edited and paced together in a way that's so quick I sometimes felt overwhelmed. It feels like the horror-comedy Hausu/House if it also had action sequences, with frantic and very goofy scenes that make for great entertainment.

If anything, it might have been too much of a sensory overload for me, but I wasn't expecting it to be so crazy. If I'd had known, I probably wouldn't have watched it right before bed. Being a little more alert might not have made it make perfect sense (maybe it's not supposed to), but it might've helped a little.

Oh well. It was still a very fun watch, and certainly one of the crazier martial arts movies I've seen during my latest binge (might even be more flat-out ridiculous than Super Inframan, but I also don't find it quite as charming as that sci-fi spectacle).

A latter-stage fantasy from Shaw and it's a real hoot. A youthful Max Mok plays an upstanding hero raised by Phillip Kwok, playing a legendary figure with an impressive "ghostly laugh" technique. There's plenty of back story in the tale of separated siblings, rival clan leaders, power-hungry megalomaniacs, revenge and magical weaponry. The pacing is super-fast and this one's chock-full of wacky special effects and even crazier fight scenes that take wirework to the next level. It's cheap at times, extremely cheesy and thoroughly cheerful with it; what's not to love?!