Seven Swords

Two-Disc Ultimate Edition (Dragon Dynasty)

Tsui Hark

Roadshow R4

Along with John Woo, Ringo Lam, and Wong Kar Wai, Tsui Hark was one of the most significant figures of 80's and early 90's Hong Kong cinema. They were trend setters and style definers and explored new territory in content and technique. From the mid 90's onwards, their approach to cinema took very different directions. Tsui Hark became more commercial and seemed to leave a lot of his innovation behind. Seven Swords however is seen by many as a real return to style. Rather than following the well worth path of modern Hong Kong cinema with its highly stylized forms of martial arts (as illustrated in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) or the use of over-elaborate CGI effects, this film focuses on what could be best defined as a traditional mythic even fantasy style. It certainly has it share of martial arts, swordplay and action, and there is more than enough blood, however, the mythic storyline really places it within a more traditional historical fantasy vintage.

The story is set in the early 1600’s. The Manchurians have taken over the sovereignty of China and established the Ching Dynasty. With so many pro-nationalist revolts occurring, the new government immediately imposes a ban on the study and practice of the Martial Arts, not only forbidding them by purging all practitioners. Fire-wind (Sun Hong-Lei), a military official from the previous dynasty, sees this as an opportunity to make a fortune for himself by helping to implement the new law, bringing together a motley crew of violent and disturbed killers.

Greedy, cruel, and immoral, Fire-wind ravages and rages across north-western China. The opening scenes of the film show his extreme method as he razes village on village, collecting death tags since the emperor plays him by the head! His next goal is seemingly small village, at the edge of the frontier, know as the Martial Village.

The villagers are tipped off about the impending attack by Fu, who has been taunting Fire-wind by stealing the death tags from the corpses and hence limiting his ability to collect payment.

In order to stand up to the army that's headed in their direction, Fu, along with two other locals Wu and Han head off to seek help from Heaven Mountain. With the aid of four master swordsmen who each have a special sword with unique powers, Martial Village braces for a cunning and deadly assault from the sinister General. Each swordsman has their own tale to tell and has made their own journey to Heaven Mountain.

This is a beautifully made film with a depth of colour and a superb eye for vistas and texture. It combines a fantasy/mythic storyline with great action scenes and swordplay, the characters are well developed and the plot is intricate. There are times when it seems somewhat confused; however, since the original film was some four and a half hours in length, some aspects of the storyline will clearly remain less developed in the final shorter edit.

The DVD edition offers superb clarity with a very high quality print, since this is a film with great variations in colour, textures and shadows, it is a superb edition of the film, the sub titles are clear and easy to read.

This is a nice two disc edition and includes some great extras including the Making of Seven Swords, Behind the Scenes and a comprehensive promotional gallery which includes a range of trailers and TV Spots.