Tsui Hark's Martial Arts Film Seven Swords: Big Budget, High Profile

Not counting the horrible Black Mask 2, Seven Swords represents Tsui Hark's return to the director's seat, a hallowed place the man perhaps doesn't take as seriously as he did back when he helmed mega-classics like New Dragon Inn and Zu: Warriors from Magic Mountain. 

His latest opens on a startling, refreshing note with brutal action segments depicting the movie's villains taking out an entire village of martial artists, practitioners deemed illegal by the remote, anonymous emperor. Although merely glancing at the carnage rather than showcasing a full-on bloodbath, this scene works amazingly well in that it brings back campy joys straight out of the genre's heyday. Even more, the excellent bad guys, resplendent in outlandish costumes and makeup, seem as if from some satisfying mid 80's hack 'n' slash number a la Barbarian Queen or Conan, which of course any whole-hearted action lover will spontaneously warm to. 

Led by General Firewind, the evil-doers move as skull-collecting bounty hunters in a vicious campaign of murder, not even bothering to spare women and children. Delicious! Firewind's by far the film's best character, done by superb Sun Honglei, an always great actor whom we’ve enjoyed before in The Road Home and Zhou Yu's Train. His motley crew of madcap killers provides an abundant source of fun as well, each one deserving a good pat on the back for a job well-executed, pun intended. 

Sadly, beyond this Seven Swords is a bloated behemoth at least fifty minutes too long. Most of it falls into easily avoided traps, consisting mainly of mainstream sword action, too many characters for its own good and the usual focus on virtuous-righteous heroes winging in to save the day. 

The titular seven swords refer to a league of champions devoted to fighting injustice and protecting poor villagers from Firewind's rampaging force of deviants. Naturally, you can't help but root for the baddies, seeing as these synthetic goodie two-shoes have none of the amiable quirks that made us sympathize with, say, Korusawa's Seven Samurai. The side of goodness here is just annoying.