The Three Swordsman & The Maidens of Heavenly Mountain

[Iron_Leopard]

Can anyone say if these two early 90s Wu Xia movies are any good?

[DrNgor]

Most reviews of The Three Swordsmen suggest it's one of the worst wuxia films of that period.

Said Alex of Alex-in-Wonderland.com:

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What crap. Andy Lau, Brigitte Lin (playing a guy), and Tsui Kam Long are competing swordsmen in the world of martial arts. The entire thing is nonsensical, but it eventually turns out that there's a huge conspiracy taking place to ensure that one of the fighters is awarded the best in the world through treachery and betrayal. Often silly and has WAY too much flying around and arm waving, but it looks great and is full of gorgeous sets and beautiful women. It has a good soundtrack with a couple of silly songs and a couple of really nice moody tracks, but the majority of it was lifted straight from "Akira" (1989). Huh?!?

And Brian of View from the Brooklyn Bridge:

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If someone is able to figure their way through this convoluted and misshapen film, the mythical labyrinth on the island of Crete should be a snap. This film is an absolute mess from beginning to end with only sumptuous production values and a few moments of flash to hold one's interest. I'd like to say the fine cast was a positive, but they are so poorly used that it made me squirm. The editing is simply appalling for a well budgeted film such as this - not only in  action scenes that have you scratching your head in puzzlement and annoyance, but the basic narrative flow often leaves you guessing where the characters are and what their physical positions are in regards to one another. On top of this are subtitles that are incomprehensible at times and laughingly informal at others. Coming near the end of the popularity of the fantasy flying kung fu films, this one certainly added one more nail in the coffin.

You know you are in trouble when the first five minutes of the film is taken up by an attempt to explain the characters and the background of the story - about three minutes into it and I wanted to scream out "stop, before my head explodes!". Essentially, the film is about two master Swordsmen -  Andy Lau and Brigitte Lin. Yes, that was swordsMEN as Brigitte Lin plays a man. Not disguised as a man mind you or a man transmuting into a woman - but simply as a man. Of course, there is a tradition in Chinese film with having women sometimes playing male roles (though this came to an end for the most part by the end of the 60's) - but here it just doesn't work. Brigitte Lin doesn't look masculine in the least bit - and somehow trying to portray a man makes her very colorless and bland - a sin in my book. She also has next to nothing to do in this film but look solemn and the fact that she is dubbed by a man certainly doesn't help matters (though John Charles points out that she is dubbed by a female on the Mandarin track!). Andy on the other hand is all phony charm - looking more lounge lizard than deadly swordsman here.

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Some of the action has moments of imagination - but generally it has such rapid edits and a camera that moves as swiftly as the actors do that it is nearly impossible to grasp what is going on. After a while it becomes extremely monotonous and only a great performance from Brigitte could have saved this - but regrettably she is never given the chance.

 

[One Armed Boxer]

My reviews.

The Three Swordsman -

https://cityonfire.com/three-swordsmen-1994-review/

The Maidens of Heavenly Mountain -

https://cityonfire.com/the-dragon-chronicles-the-maidens-of-heavenly-mountain-1994-review-demi-gods-and-semi-devils/

[Iron_Leopard]

19 minutes ago, One Armed Boxer said:

My reviews.

The Three Swordsman -

https://cityonfire.com/three-swordsmen-1994-review/

The Maidens of Heavenly Mountain -

https://cityonfire.com/the-dragon-chronicles-the-maidens-of-heavenly-mountain-1994-review-demi-gods-and-semi-devils/

Its unfortunate these two movies and many others like it during the same time weren't very good. Especially with the casts involved.

Thanks for the links to your review. I read them both but still haven't decided if I should give them a try. Maybe i will soon if I'm REALLY bored.