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Andy Lau is Fei a happy-go-lucky boy from a fishing village is is
content with his existence. However, he is unwillingly drawn into
the battle between the prince (Kenny Bee) and his evil brother.
Promisingly to help the Prince in any way possible Fei is asked
to escort his bride to be (Anita Mui) to a safe haven. However,
after first arguing with the price's fiancé Fei discovers
that he has developed feelings for her. But there is no time to
resolve this as the evil forces attack. This all ends in a battle
for love, betrayal and honour.
For me this film contains something that I really like. The story
is extremely compelling with some wonderful pieces of dialogue and
I found myself really caring about the characters. There are some
nice little visual touches too with the addition of Fei's pet killer
whale and a marvelous kite flying sequence. Nothing is here that
doesn't need to be and the fighting sequences (although wire based)
are very effective and give the film a unique fantasy feel. The
real surprise though is the ending. This has got to rank as one
of the most surprising and well thought out conclusions in Hong
Kong film history. Everything ties up brilliantly and this is one
film that you will stick in your memory. Rumour has it that this
film was completed by a number of different directors, all I can
say is that this is not evident in the final cut as the film has
a visual style all of its own, hampered only by some occasional
bad lighting. Also, at only eighty five minutes it is quite short
but this is a minor criticism.
If you like new wave fantasy films with an excellent romantic story
and hard hitting fight scenes then this is the one for you. Watch
it once and enjoy it - then watch it again and see something you
missed out on the first time.
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