Hong Kong cinema hasn’t been (and still isn’t) very well known for its visual effects. Occasionally, a movie will come out with some decent special effects, but there aren’t many movies where it isn’t obvious that special effects were used. But sometimes, that’s part of the fun. Even when the special effects aren’t the best, it’s sometimes still fun to try and figure out how certain effects were accomplished. It kinda takes you behinds the scenes when you can see a wire or an obvious green screen. Bastard Swordsman is certainly one of my favorite examples of a movie with unrealistic special effects that are still inventive and fun to look at. But there’s another Hong Kong movie that came out earlier the same year that had a lot of focus on the special effects. That movie being the iconic film, Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain.
Di Ming Qi (Yuen Biao) is a soldier during a civil war in China who eventually deserts the army. He later explores the mountains of Zu and runs into a powerful martial artist named Ding Yin (Adam Cheng). Di Ming Qi decides to follow him in order to become his master so he can become a better fighter and bring world peace. They also venture off to see the Ice Queen (Brigitte Lin) who has unparalleled healing powers, and also run into other colorful characters including Yi Zhen (Meng Hoi), one of the Ice Queen’s guards (Moon Lee), and Chang Mei (Sammo Hung). When Ding Yin is taken over by an evil spirit, Di Ming Qi and Yi Zheng must join forces to stop him.
Di Ming Qi (Yuen Biao) is a soldier during a civil war in China who eventually deserts the army. He later explores the mountains of Zu and runs into a powerful martial artist named Ding Yin (Adam Cheng). Di Ming Qi decides to follow him in order to become his master so he can become a better fighter and bring world peace. They also venture off to see the Ice Queen (Brigitte Lin) who has unparalleled healing powers, and also run into other colorful characters including Yi Zhen (Meng Hoi), one of the Ice Queen’s guards (Moon Lee), and Chang Mei (Sammo Hung). When Ding Yin is taken over by an evil spirit, Di Ming Qi and Yi Zheng must join forces to stop him.
Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain has earned the reputation as one of the most insane Hong Kong movies of all time and this movie certainly deserves that title. This movie has people flying around, people shooting lasers, people flying around on stone statues, people with long eyebrows that grab things, and a ton of creative uses of weapons, wires, and special effects. The inventiveness and imagination is really amazing.
This movie really is a visual spectacle thanks to the atmospheric sets, the pretty locations, interesting cinematography, and fun (though unrealistic) special effects from the same people that worked on Star Wars. Much like Bastard Swordsman, Zu Warriors truly is a spectacular film. This movie just looks beautiful. This movie also sounds amazing thanks to the soothing music score.
This movie really is a visual spectacle thanks to the atmospheric sets, the pretty locations, interesting cinematography, and fun (though unrealistic) special effects from the same people that worked on Star Wars. Much like Bastard Swordsman, Zu Warriors truly is a spectacular film. This movie just looks beautiful. This movie also sounds amazing thanks to the soothing music score.
And though this movie definitely hit bullseyes visually, the story is surprisingly lacking. None of the characters have very well defined motives which makes the movie a bit harder to follow. The characters are admittedly fun to watch, but they sadly lack in depth character development. We don’t really know much about them except for either their quirky traits. The story itself can be overly complicated at times when it constantly introduces new characters and different subplots.
The narrative is a mess and is all over the place. And because of that, the story overall is less exciting. Even the ending feels kinda rushed. Very minor spoilers but at the end of the movie, evil is released into the world, a main character sacrifices his/herself, the main characters join forces to defeat the bad guy and save the world, the character fly down to Earth, rejoice, talk to old friends, and fly off again within the last two minutes of the film, excluding the end credits.
The narrative is a mess and is all over the place. And because of that, the story overall is less exciting. Even the ending feels kinda rushed. Very minor spoilers but at the end of the movie, evil is released into the world, a main character sacrifices his/herself, the main characters join forces to defeat the bad guy and save the world, the character fly down to Earth, rejoice, talk to old friends, and fly off again within the last two minutes of the film, excluding the end credits.
But still, when did anyone care about story or characters in a martial arts flick? The nutty action and visuals are both amazing to look at. The insane, exhilarating imagery make this movie incredibly watchable, but I probably wouldn’t say it’s one of my favorites. It lacks an interesting story that are typically found in other swordplay fantasies, but the visuals alone are amazing enough to make this movie worth watching over and over, even if the story is lacking. Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain definitely gets a high recommendation, but if you’re reading this, you’ve probably already seen it.
Images from HKMDb
Images from HKMDb