		Year: 1993 Director: Sammo Hung Starring: Ti Lung, Cynthia Khan, Ngai Sing, Sammo Hung Genre: Action/martial arts Literal title translation: 'One Dagger Collapsed City'

The black flag troupe of China plan to attack a Japanese munitions cache. They manage to destroy the cache but also destroy the troupe, except for Brother Wong. Years later, Tan (Ti lung) and his servant (Cyntia Khan) save some townspeople and are joined by the blacksmith who is in fact brother Wong. However, their newly found friendship is strained when Tan is framed for treason by the governor and Wong is forced to fight Yuan.

Right from the outset 'Blade of Fury' contains one of the most impressive opening sequences in Hong Kong movie history. The brilliant score perfectly matches the visuals and the use of lighting filters. The leader of the black flag group is seen delivering a blistering sword form in front of his students and the scene itself is breathtaking both from a martial artists or filmmakers point of view. From here on you can tell that you are watching a quality production. However, for some reason the film doesn't quite stand up as a whole. Particular sections are very effective such as the drunken sword form and Ti Lung's trial. Sammo's cameo is also very good and he exhibits some lightning fast sword techniques. The action, though well choreographed, seems to be too sped up and this detracts from the skill of the actors. It is a shame that the story is not so well thought out and this patchy film only occasionally seems to really cut loose. That said, when it's good it's really good. The end confrontation uses so many shots that it must of been a real task to film and Cynthia Khan in particular shows that she is indeed ready for A-list roles. Ti Lung too displays his usual screen presence and is allowed to give his role real depth. Unfortunately Rosamund Kwan's role seems a bit of an afterthought and her scenes match the film visually but seem tagged on with little or no narrative purpose. Perhaps they just wanted to use her name above the title. One thing that director Sammo is good at is including little motifs into the narrative and these are also present here.

Definitely worth watching as there are some classic moments. But bear in mind that this is the kind of film you will watch again in sections only (I've seen the opening sequence a countless amount of times!) It would also benefit from an engaging sub plot between the action sequences. Visually, this film is very good and a lot of money has obviously been spent on the production design. But as mentioned before it does not make a completely coherent whole.