The Storm Warriors

I waited years for this sequel and I finally got it and I am so disappointed. It was basically 300: the martial arts movie. It was so loaded with cgi from backgrounds to character animations. it had a weak story that wasn't endearing like the first, and it was missing the action of the first movie as well as some of the more interesting 'powers'.

the original had the feel of a video game come to life and done very well. This one was like the goth version. it was dark, disjointed and didn't flow the way it should have.

what can I say? the reviewers before me pretty much nailed it and I hate to repeat. So there it is. the third movie is coming, I hope it is better than this one!

The long-awaited sequel to Storm Riders is finally here. The Pang Brothers take the directing chair and turn the sequel into an action-packed filled with CGI effects. The CGI is touted as the best CGI in Chinese movies but it cannot be compared with big budget Hollywood movies. The special effects are incredible as not seen in Chinese movies.

The story: The action starts straight from the first scene. It shows Cloud and Wind not being able to defeat the powerful warlord and flee the scene. They then are trained in different ways. Cloud is taught by Nameless and Wind takes the evil way. With its fast pace, it brings you from one action scene to another without much drag. The special effects increasingly get better and by the time it comes to the last battle, the special effects are at best. With its epic score, it manages to suck me into the fantasy world. Yes, there is a downside since this is a non-stop action movie, its story is kept simple and there are even not much characters' developments.

Overall: If you are willing to watch a heavy CGI movie with no story and just be awed at the action scenes combined with CGI, you would probably enjoy this movie. If you are concerned about characters' developments, it is not for you. This movie is only for the fans or someone who wants to watch non-stop action filled with CGI with no story. There should be a part three and hopefully, every thing is in it with be amazing even its story.

I'm "storm Ridders" comic fans ever since the 1 episode, and i'm very disappointed how Directors Pang brothers has turn this "storm rider" into a completely rubbish !! This movie should be made into a 2 minutes effect show-reel instead of a full feature film !! The worst Chinese movie i ever watched for past 10 years !! Completely no story, poor in every aspect of film-making, especially the directing, acting and story !! Very boring, the movie should end right after the opening title, where after master "no name" launched his "million sword". Watsing my time and money !!

"Storm rider 1" was far more better than this empty soul "storm rider 2". For non-comic fans, the whole story making no sense, and for comics fans, it was completely a disaster !! The Pang brothers has raped all the comic fans, and all comic the characters !!

If there is "Storm Rider 3", please change the directors first !! The Pang brothers don't even know how to tell a simple story !!

Green-screened movies and manga/ anime (graphic-novel/ cartoon) adaptations are a dime a dozen these days-- so what makes "Storm Warriors" (based on a Hong Kong "wuxia" comic series) any different? Well, unlike Hollywood movie adaptations which tend to tone/ dumb things down for wider/ mainstream appeal, or Japan movie adaptations which try to stuff all the original story/ characters in, Hong Kong movie adaptations are generally about entertaining their fan-base-- even at the risk of becoming self-referential/ indulgent "B"-movies.

And the "magic-(kung)fu" style/ stance aptly known as "Mastery of Ten Thousand Swords" shows up right at the beginning, as if Hong Kong/Chinese cinema is staking its claim as the rightful home of "magic-(kung)fu" movies. Jedi Knights can only ape, but never muster up, THIS much style.

That's right, "Storm Warriors" is an unabashed attempt at THE "magic-(kung)fu" comic-book movie-- complete with comically symbolic names and philosophical kungfu-babble, as well as the requisite series of achingly slow 2-minute "power-ups/ stand-offs" followed by dizzyingly fast 2-second "fights/ contacts", etc.. By starting right at the END of the story, "Storm Warriors" shrewdly (shamelessly?) avoids any semblance of story-telling or scale... in favor of merely showcasing the "end-game" battles that are being fought-- with NO explanations for the uninitiated.

And unlike its prequel "Storm Riders", which tried semi-successfully to make a "realistic/ conventional" movie based on an earlier story-arc in the same Hong Kong comic series, this movie simply aims to realize the experience of reading/ re-imagining its "wuxia" battles-- with frequent "fades-to-black", extreme close-ups and closely-edited montages... and once I realized/ accepted I was watching a manga/ comic-in-motion, I actually had fun "interpreting/ analyzing" each "panel".

In other words, just go and do your own research if you didn't "get it"... and if you didn't have fun watching it, you're obviously not its target audience-- "wuxia" fans waiting to see the next stage in the cinematic realization of "magic-(kung)fu" battles (the opening "Mastery of Ten Thousand Swords" is now CANON in "wuxia"-fantasy cinema). Never mind if you missed (like I did) the "magic-(kung)fu" movie craze started by the "Buddha Palm" in the 1960s (filmed in black-and-white) or the "Warriors of Zu Mountain" in the 1980s (filmed with wire-fu)-- thanks to the advances in green-screen and CGI technology, "Storm Warriors" is able to show you some of the wild "magic-(kung)fu" battles envisioned by generations of "wuxia"novelists/artists with all their crazy chi/energy.

Of course, you can fault the directors/ writers for the lack of story/ character development-- or just blame it on comic fans who already know the story/ characters (the comic series ended ages ago), as well as "wuxia" genre fans who will able to figure it out (most of it "wuxia" clichés), or even the investors who wouldn't put up the money for a 9-hour trilogy upfront.... But you can certainly see where most of the money went-- though I wished more of it was spent fleshing out the first half of the movie, instead of endlessly "leveling-up" in the second (where budget limitations really show).

Personally, I admire the producers'/ directors' guts (foolhardiness?) in splurging on the EFFECTS and scrimping on the script (instead of the other way round like most films with a tight budget). Eg. The lighting/ texture of CGI-background/effects matches with the live-action actors so well/ evenly that it usually does NOT distract/ detract from the movie (always the highest compliment for CGI); and the choice/ ability to light/ color the film with "natural/ ambient" light is a welcomed sight for sore eyes strained by heavily color-corrected sci-fi/ fantasy movies (hiding their CGI in "soft sepia", "cool blue", etc.)-- so "Storm Warriors" aimed rather low, and mostly hit its mark.

In short, this movie is nothing if not "pulp/cult", and a "guilty pleasure" at that too-- the story/ characters may not resonate, but the visuals can certainly be relished... depending on how you liked them. For me, there were at least 2 things (no, not the two male leads) that they got right: "Mastery of Ten Thousand Swords" at the very beginning, and "Capricious Dance of the Demons" at the very end-- but there was really a lot of "filler" to get through...

First of all, let me say that I am a fan of the comic book series and really enjoyed the first Storm Riders movie. I can only say that this movie is an embarrassment. If I put myself in the shoes of someone who has never seen or heard of the comic book, I would be completely lost as to what was going on. It is an understatement to say that the storyline is underdeveloped and that there is little character development. I also did not feel that the special effects were up to the standard for the year 2009. If you are a bit brain-dead and not looking to think at all, this movie might be right for you because there is little point in trying to follow any kind of plot and you could just sit there and stare at lots of pretty colours, but even so, I would think there are better things you can watch. I was constantly looking at my watch hoping the pain would end and the $10 cheap tuesday ticket price i paid to watch this could have been better spent too. The female characters in the movie were of no importance, and Nicholas Tse's character was quite pointless too - maybe he will be back in a yet another horrible sequel which will go for special effects over an engaging plot.

In summary, possibly one of the worst movies of all time, because its hard enjoy the special effects and to care for the characters and their battles when you have no reason sympathize with any of them due to the fact that there is absolutely no storyline.