Great movie

Rating: Null/10 (15 December 2000)

No, it's not the movie of the year. But it is a very captivating story, and the fight scenes are definitely the best I've ever seen. Whereas I am used to Hollywoodian (i guess) fight scenes where the camera angle changes 3 times per second, keeping you from really seeing anything, I was delighted to see pretty good shots of both fighters at the same time actually throwing and blocking attacks. The choreographies were remarkable.
Only 2 negative points: 1- the characters (a peaceful warrior who just wants to rest, a strong female warrior who represses her emotions, an evil witch, an aristocrat with an adventure-loving alter ego, a poor gentle boy who has to act tough to survive) are kind of stereotypical, or at least you've all seen them before in medieval litterature. It doesn't really make the story predictable, but the writers still could have surprised us a bit.
2- Some characters who know the secrets of Wudan, well they can fly (or float or whatever). This is interesting to see for a while, but then about halfway through when you realize they just keep on flying, you just aren't impressed anymore, and it gets a little bit annoying, and you get some weird Sailor Moon impressions... Solid 8/10