THE BLADE is a well-regarded Tsui Hark martial arts flick that was envisaged as a remake of the Wang Yu Shaw Brothers classic, THE ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN. It's very familiar to fans of 1990s Hong Kong cinema, full of dark and moodily-lit scenes, hysterical characters and a predominance of action over storyline.
That's not to say that the plotting isn't interesting: this film resembles a western in that much of the action is limited to arid desert villages where gangs of bandits roam and kill at will. Chiu Man Cheuk (THE BLACK SHEEP AFFAIR) is the eponymous hero, a man driven into exile by the machinations of a frustrated girl who finds himself compelled to avenge the death of his father.
I'm no great fan of Hark as a director, because sometimes his films feel bitty and all over the place, and his editing is a little too sloppy for my liking. Still, this is one of his better movies, and the fast, hard-hitting action sequences that dominate the production certainly make it an entertaining ride. It's just a shame that the DVD version I saw had such poor picture quality...
That's not to say that the plotting isn't interesting: this film resembles a western in that much of the action is limited to arid desert villages where gangs of bandits roam and kill at will. Chiu Man Cheuk (THE BLACK SHEEP AFFAIR) is the eponymous hero, a man driven into exile by the machinations of a frustrated girl who finds himself compelled to avenge the death of his father.
I'm no great fan of Hark as a director, because sometimes his films feel bitty and all over the place, and his editing is a little too sloppy for my liking. Still, this is one of his better movies, and the fast, hard-hitting action sequences that dominate the production certainly make it an entertaining ride. It's just a shame that the DVD version I saw had such poor picture quality...