IMDb RATING
5.9/10
1.3K
YOUR RATING
Dynamo Michelle Yeoh stars as a loyalist who attempts to keep the King's empire from being overthrown by a revolutionary group.Dynamo Michelle Yeoh stars as a loyalist who attempts to keep the King's empire from being overthrown by a revolutionary group.Dynamo Michelle Yeoh stars as a loyalist who attempts to keep the King's empire from being overthrown by a revolutionary group.
Tony Leung Chiu-wai
- Meng Sing-Wan
- (as Tony Chiu Wai Leung)
Chung-Hua Tou
- Lui Heung-Chuen
- (as Tsung-Hua Tuo)
Chris Hilton
- Eunuch Tsao
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
- …
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
How can you go wrong when Michelle is at the helm?
Movies that have hit the mainstream like So Close and Crouching Tiger owe it all to cult favorites like this one. This is line jumping and supernatural feats during the core creation. Besides, you'll go crazy trying to figure out how so many people can mistake a HOTTIE like Michelle for a man!
I dare ANYONE to say (and describe) how it was not better than Supercop 2!
Not her best work to date, but well worth the rental. WATCH IT!
Movies that have hit the mainstream like So Close and Crouching Tiger owe it all to cult favorites like this one. This is line jumping and supernatural feats during the core creation. Besides, you'll go crazy trying to figure out how so many people can mistake a HOTTIE like Michelle for a man!
I dare ANYONE to say (and describe) how it was not better than Supercop 2!
Not her best work to date, but well worth the rental. WATCH IT!
A typically over the top, highly kinetic wuxia epic from Hong Kong. This one offers a middling budget and an all-star cast, although it's worth noting that story-wise it's much better when detailing larger-than-life characters than it is bringing to life the complexities of a muddled political script. In essence what you get are a number of main characters interacting and occasionally doing battle with some rival factions who have murder in mind.
Part of the film is an ultra-cheesy romance between Tony Leung and Joey Wang, which is quite fun with a lot of flying around in the woods and sweet moments. It's surprisingly old fashioned but genre fans will be more interested in the high energy action scenes, of which there are plenty. These possess extremely choppy choreography - so much so that it's hard to see what's going on at times - but make up for it by being inventively violent, with opponents literally exploding in two when struck by power sword strikes.
A lot of fun comes from seeing Michelle Yeoh as a striking femme fatale although she's slightly underutilised here which is no surprise given the amount of characters in the movie. Donnie Yen is also in the film but used even less although I was pleased to see that his character is a typical hard man even at this early stage of his career. Although the budget isn't high, the trappings of the wuxia genre - outlandish costumes, outdoor scenery, effective sets - are handled adroitly. Animal lovers should be aware of the real-life killing of a deer which may be unpalatable for some.
Part of the film is an ultra-cheesy romance between Tony Leung and Joey Wang, which is quite fun with a lot of flying around in the woods and sweet moments. It's surprisingly old fashioned but genre fans will be more interested in the high energy action scenes, of which there are plenty. These possess extremely choppy choreography - so much so that it's hard to see what's going on at times - but make up for it by being inventively violent, with opponents literally exploding in two when struck by power sword strikes.
A lot of fun comes from seeing Michelle Yeoh as a striking femme fatale although she's slightly underutilised here which is no surprise given the amount of characters in the movie. Donnie Yen is also in the film but used even less although I was pleased to see that his character is a typical hard man even at this early stage of his career. Although the budget isn't high, the trappings of the wuxia genre - outlandish costumes, outdoor scenery, effective sets - are handled adroitly. Animal lovers should be aware of the real-life killing of a deer which may be unpalatable for some.
I brought this movie as a fan of Michelle Yeoh and Donnie Yen films. I was not disappointed. The choreography was reasonably good. The storyline was also good. Michelle Yeoh delivered an outstanding performance as usual. The comedy provided was also reasonable although not hysterically funny. I don't particularly enjoy seeing blood in films, this film provided enough of it (though not entirely realistic). I enjoy listening to Chinese songs, the theme tune at the end credits was well performed by Yeoh.
My only criticism(s) are that the director Ching Siu-Tung could have taken care with the use of camera angles; the shots in some of the fight scenes seemed almost entirely random, the user becomes confused during the fight scenes. Furthermore, when I watched the end of this film, it seemed to end suddenly without even a proper ending...what happened as soon as Yeoh turned her back to the screen?
My only criticism(s) are that the director Ching Siu-Tung could have taken care with the use of camera angles; the shots in some of the fight scenes seemed almost entirely random, the user becomes confused during the fight scenes. Furthermore, when I watched the end of this film, it seemed to end suddenly without even a proper ending...what happened as soon as Yeoh turned her back to the screen?
Once again I find people making crazy reviews about how good the action is in this film and how it's the best feature of the film, fight scenes which require 300 different shots and constant camera angle changes is not good. I love wire action and fantasy martial arts but this is dreadful the characters for some reason was the only thing that kept me watching, but they were not so good as to make you care about them.
Some one else said that it doesn't show off the capabilities of some of the actors, I would have to agree as the fight scenes are awful I don't know how people can say that they are good. I know everyone goes on about crouching tiger, hidden dragon and I agree I'm pretty sick of it to but there is a good reason for it just compare it to this film. The story line is fully explained you don't get a random scene and wonder what the hell is going on, you don't have to watch it 3 times to get a good understanding of whats going on and much of the fight scenes are not just constant changes in camera angles, the fight scenes are easy to follow no one wants to watch a fight scene made up of bits and pieces of different footage. I realise there is a big difference in budget but even the parts of the fight scenes when people are not flying around and are standing in one place, fighting is still just rapid changes in camera shots. There is one part near the end where they actually speed up the action so much it just looks fake and cheap. Once again as I have said before try and watch this film some other way than buying it so that you know what your getting yourself into if you do decide to buy even if it only costs £5.99 like my dvd did it's still not worth the money except for a good laugh at the film and those who rate this film highly on this site.
Some one else said that it doesn't show off the capabilities of some of the actors, I would have to agree as the fight scenes are awful I don't know how people can say that they are good. I know everyone goes on about crouching tiger, hidden dragon and I agree I'm pretty sick of it to but there is a good reason for it just compare it to this film. The story line is fully explained you don't get a random scene and wonder what the hell is going on, you don't have to watch it 3 times to get a good understanding of whats going on and much of the fight scenes are not just constant changes in camera angles, the fight scenes are easy to follow no one wants to watch a fight scene made up of bits and pieces of different footage. I realise there is a big difference in budget but even the parts of the fight scenes when people are not flying around and are standing in one place, fighting is still just rapid changes in camera shots. There is one part near the end where they actually speed up the action so much it just looks fake and cheap. Once again as I have said before try and watch this film some other way than buying it so that you know what your getting yourself into if you do decide to buy even if it only costs £5.99 like my dvd did it's still not worth the money except for a good laugh at the film and those who rate this film highly on this site.
Confusing at first. It was hard for me to figure out who was on whose side, and the English translations sometimes read as gibberish, but those are petty qualms. The film is really fun to watch. The wire action is cool and over the top. The fight scenes and gore are very indulgent.
The cast are great, especially Michelle Yeoh, Donnie Yen, and Jimmy Lin. This is a hilarious movie. For those into Martial Arts movies, this is worth a look-see.
The cast are great, especially Michelle Yeoh, Donnie Yen, and Jimmy Lin. This is a hilarious movie. For those into Martial Arts movies, this is worth a look-see.
Did you know
- TriviaMichelle Yeoh is dubbed by other actresses in the Cantonese and Mandarin versions of the film but that is her singing the theme song heard under the end credits of each.
- Quotes
Meng Sing-Wan: I didn't come to rob your bounty. Because your head is worth even more!
- Alternate versionsHong Kong version lacks original Taiwan version ending.
- ConnectionsRemake of La guerre des clans (1976)
- How long is Butterfly and Sword?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Butterfly and Sword
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime
- 1h 28m(88 min)
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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