THE SWORD dvd review

Wow… Breathless…

I just saw a film that literally just took my breath away.

And I can’t find it on IMDB, so it may not be listed, or if it is, perhaps it is under a different title… But WOW.

The copyright at the end of the film states that it came out in 1993. I don’t know who directed it, the title on the DVD is THE SWORD and it stars Adam Cheng Siu-Chow as Li Mak Jan, a wandering Swordsman on a quest to challenge his mettle… to test his powers against a legendary swordsman named Hua, whom noone has seen in 12 years.

Li isn’t a bad man, merely a man seeking glory and adventure… Wanting his name whispered on lips and honored and respected. He saves and aides and fights for damsels in distress. He’ll even fight to save the daughter of the man whom he wants to duel.

The film begins sometime ago in a cave where a sword is being forged into being. I believe it was called the Harn Hsing. The blacksmith has nearly completed what he considers to be his finest and final blade. A young Hua has come to purchase it, and to have the man customize his current blade, the Chi Wu, so that it and the Harn Hsing will be a pair.

The blacksmith picks up the blade, complements the craftsmanship, but is quite startled by what he sees in the blade, not imagery so much, as the impressions of what went into it. "The man who made this blade was full of hatred and spite… It is an evil sword, throw it away or it could possibly destroy you."

After this opening, we cut years and years forward in time to Li and his travels. It seems that many swordsman want to test themselves against Hua. He first talks to a legless Pigeon Express man… That isn’t what he’s called, but basically he relays messages between people via trained pigeons, so he basically knows everything about everyone in the province. Li pays him a great deal of gold and gets a lead on where Hua might be. This sets him out on his adventures…

He comes across a young fiery girl that does not wish to sit at home, instead craving adventures. For some reason there seems to be people pursuing her to either capture or kill her. Li befriends and protects her.

The cinematography on this is top notch… really felt epic and large… In a way it looked like a mid-seventies photographed film… but the movie is definitely choreographed in the last 10 or 15 years I believe. It has that whole soft, filmed through silk romantic look. The score is a haunting frightening melancholy fated them that sometimes recalled the DARK CRYSTAL main theme, but not quite.

This is a SWORD movie, not kung fu… And the version I just saw on DVD is intensely graphic at least with ONE KEY SCENE, WHICH I WON’T EVEN HINT AT! Apparently the version of this film that is available on VCD is not complete and is missing some of the ‘harder’ scenes… But I want to stress… those scenes are NOT what this movie is about.

It is about Li… A man who has given up love, family and duty to one’s town, in the pursuit of fame and glory embodied in a retired old swordsman trying to live out his remanding years in seclusion with his intimate family and friends. He wishes to kill no more.

In a way, I kind of felt like this was the UNFORGIVEN of Swordsman movies. Hua is nice, so is Li. They respect one another, they are traditionalists… But Li is determined to pursue what his idea of destiny is.

The film is dramatic and powerful. The swordfights are intense and some of the ninja tactics involved in a couple of the swordfights by an assassin are just tense and treacherous to an extreme.

But on top of everything, I really loved these characters… the situations involving lost love, ill-fated destinies and just the individual fates of the characters involved.

Every aspect of this film is top notch, from the swordfights and their choreography to the sound design where when these characters are leaping and flying, the cloth of their outfits flap like the sound of wet sailcloth… and just sounds awesome. The acting and characters pulled me into the story.

While the special effects are not as beautiful or intense as CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON, and while that film does have a more accomplished feel… this is one of the best dramatic martial arts films I’ve seen.

Thanks goes out to Stiller66 who sent in this DVD. By clicking on that, you will be taken to his EBAY site where you can find this DVD and many other Hong Kong DVDs at reasonable prices (many going for under $16).

This dvd comes with English and Chinese subtitles. And the sound is an excellent Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround. The menus are in Chinese, but real easy to figure out! A couple of clicks and ya got it down