Good looking movie with good fight but everything else...

Rating: 7/10 (12 November 2005)

I can honestly appreciate a good material arts movie but I can simply not appreciate this movie as much as everyone else seems to do. The storytelling isn't always done in the best way and the movie has a bit too many slow and ridicules moments in it. It's by no means a bad movie, I still rate it a 7 out of 10. This is mainly thanks to the look of the movie. Visually there is very little wrong with the movie. The sets and costumes are good looking and the cinematography by Peter Pau and music by Dun Tan are splendid.
The story didn't quite grabbed me and never really become interesting, tense or surprising. The at times absolutely horrible dialog also didn't do much good to the story and storytelling of the movie. Also none of the actors really impressed me.
The fight are very over-the-top at times and I can't say that I was particularly fond of the whole zero-gravity fight elements in the movie. It was fake and odd looking most of the times and was simply too much over-the-top, even for a material arts movie. The 'normal' fights and mainly the ones involving also weapons were a real treat to look at. They were extremely spectacular and impressive to watch. Yes, it really are those fight sequences that make "Wo hu cang long" an original one of a kind movie, that still remains a must see simply for that very same reason.
I was impressed by the fight sequences, not by the overall movie. I can still recommend this movie to everyone, you'll at least like the fight sequences and perhaps you'll also everything else of this movie. Anyway, there is no reason why you shouldn't watch this movie. You'll either like it (like I did), or love it, like most people seem to do.
7/10
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