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Wuxia fantasy as low comedy. Very low comedy...
By Celeste Chang on May 9, 2010
Andy Lau and Brigitte Lin star in this Chinese style sword-and-sorcery movie loosely based on a novel by Gu Long. Both of them were too old to be convincing as 18 year old kids, but that's not so much of a problem (I always enjoy watching Brigitte Lin.) Bigger issues are Andy Lau not being very funny (he tries, but in my opinion he doesn't quite carry it off) and his character not being likeable enough. Ng Man-Tat and Deannie Yip steal the show as Andy's foster parents Big Mouth Lee and Sissy To.
The plot goes something like this: 8 of the 10 Villains (once the 10 heroes until 2 of them went bad and framed the others) were chased to the Villains' Valley (supposed to be a sanctuary for evil-doers) by the head of the Flower Palace sect who happens to hold the current Champion of the Martial World thingy which gives her the right to pursue villains. Her husband (baby in hand) shows up to stop her, divorces her (no lawyers needed!) and fights her off, but is left a vegetable. The 8 villains raise the baby ("Fishy"), training him in "villainous" martial arts, sending him to the once-every-18-years-Champion-of-the-Martial-World tournament. His main opponent is an orphan (Brigitte Lin) raised by the Flower Palace. (For some reason, her name came out as "Eva More" in the subtitles! It actually means "Flawless Flower", with "Flower" as her surname.) Wacky hijinks (and romance and filthy jokes and backstabbing evil and vengeance) ensue.
My problem with this is that Fishy comes off as a lying manipulative jerk, who is perfectly willing to go along with a plan to use a super-date-rape drug and rape his opponent (to spoil his/her reputation and disqualify him/her), and he suddenly has a turnaround and is supposed to be the good guy!
The plot goes something like this: 8 of the 10 Villains (once the 10 heroes until 2 of them went bad and framed the others) were chased to the Villains' Valley (supposed to be a sanctuary for evil-doers) by the head of the Flower Palace sect who happens to hold the current Champion of the Martial World thingy which gives her the right to pursue villains. Her husband (baby in hand) shows up to stop her, divorces her (no lawyers needed!) and fights her off, but is left a vegetable. The 8 villains raise the baby ("Fishy"), training him in "villainous" martial arts, sending him to the once-every-18-years-Champion-of-the-Martial-World tournament. His main opponent is an orphan (Brigitte Lin) raised by the Flower Palace. (For some reason, her name came out as "Eva More" in the subtitles! It actually means "Flawless Flower", with "Flower" as her surname.) Wacky hijinks (and romance and filthy jokes and backstabbing evil and vengeance) ensue.
My problem with this is that Fishy comes off as a lying manipulative jerk, who is perfectly willing to go along with a plan to use a super-date-rape drug and rape his opponent (to spoil his/her reputation and disqualify him/her), and he suddenly has a turnaround and is supposed to be the good guy!
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