Xiao ao jiang hu: dong fang bu bai
Tags: good versus evil, tragedy, cult, violence

Plot synopsis:
Linghu Chong, Yue Lingshan and members of the Mount Hua Sect are planning to retire from the jianghu (martial artists' community). They learn that Dongfang Bubai has seized control of the Sun Moon Holy Cult and is secretly plotting with some Japanese rōnin to rebel against the Ming Empire and dominate China. Dongfang Bubai had castrated himself in order to master the skills in the Sunflower Manual, and his appearance has become more feminine, even though he is now a formidable martial artist.
Linghu Chong meets Dongfang Bubai by chance without knowing his true identity, mistakes him for a beautiful young woman, and falls in love with "her". Dongfang Bubai knocks out Linghu Chong while he is not looking and imprisons him in an underground dungeon. In the dungeon, by coincidence, Linghu Chong meets Ren Woxing, Ren Yingying's father and the former leader of the Sun Moon Holy Cult. They escape from captivity together. One night, while Linghu Chong is distracted by Dongfang Bubai's lover Shishi, Dongfang tracks down his Mount Hua Sect fellows and kills them.
Linghu Chong brings Yue Lingshan, Ren Yingying, Ren Woxing and Xiang Wentian with him to confront Dongfang Bubai at Black Woods Cliff. In the ensuing battle, Dongfang Bubai apparently dies after refusing Linghu Chong's help and falling off the cliff. Ren Woxing regains control of the cult and starts killing the traitors who defected to Dongfang Bubai. Linghu Chong and Yue Lingshan secretly escape with help from Xiang Wentian and Ren Yingying because they know that Ren Woxing cannot tolerate them.

Review: many of the previous comments have cited this film as one the best in the martial arts genre.
it is also, arguably, the central question of Chinese Buddhism.recall that the film premises on the withdrawal of Jet Li's character and his clan from the world of martial arts (the uniquely Chinese, "Jiang-Hu").
the events of the movie--Jet Li's involvement with Ying Ying, the rescue of Ren Woxing, the appearance of Dong Fang Bu Bai, the brutal slaughter of the Hua Mountain clan--all serve to problem's the possibility of exiting the world.Linghu Chong's (Jet Li's) conversation with Ren Woxing captures this conflict in these immortal words (my translation): "you (Linghu Chong) know so little about the world.
This one packed the best of all that kept HK's movie industry at the forefront of the action/ martial arts genre.
the guy's surname is Dong Fang, which is a normal chinese surname, means "the east", he call himeself Bu Bai, coz he has not, did not, and thinks would not be defeated, so it means The Undefeated.I know translation is a tough job, no matter how good you think you did, you still cannot transform all the meanings, undertones, indications in a culture sense.
This is a very beautiful movie, all the lines, the scenes, the costumes, all very authenticly chinese, and stunning.
And the poems recited in the movie, and the haunting song...hate to see all of these been ruined by the rediculous translantion.You know, many things are just not meant to be translated, many words in chinese, they just can't be properly translated, such as "tian xia","qian kun", they are somewhat close to the meaning of "the world", but never is in the same sense of it.So, for those who deminished the plot of the movie, I just wana tell you, it was based on one of the best selling Wuxia books in China, and the lines, they are very beautiful, in chinese.
Wiring doesn't neccesarily mean it's not googd KongFu, This movie has some of the best fight scenes I have ever seen, wiring is only a basic requirement for action fantasies, but the thing they did with the fight scene, that's art, man.
You have to be a KongFu master and an artist at the same time to be able to design, to creat such beautiful things.In short, advice for people from America, Europe, Africa...no-china£¬If you wana have a better understanding of the movie, READ THE BOOK FIRST,  and before that, LEARN SOME CHINESE!
The costume, fight scenes and compelling cast all add up to an excellent and engrossing film.
The story revolves around swordsman Ling Wu Chung (Jet Li) who on his way to retreat from the martial arts world, having to rescue a kidnapped leader of the Sun Moon Sect and confronting the powerful Asia, a person who have master an invincible form of martial arts, but at a terrible price.
Yes, the plot is complex but is far more interesting than the simple and cliche "you kill my master, I want revenge" plot we get from some other martial arts films.
The brillant colours and thrilling action scenes are also well-made and serves to grab and hold the attention of the audience until the very end of the film.
Those who thought "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was the best martial arts will have to see this film..
The plot is completely confusing, but it helps if you've seen "The Swordsman", the first movie in this sequence.Don't worry; you won't be paying too much attention to the plot, because if you do you'll get a headache.
(The Wachowski brothers worship Jet Li.)As in "The Swordsman", I appreciated the fact that there are a number of strong female roles in this film.
Hollywood doesn't allow many women action heroes, and this film shows how women can knock your socks off, if given the chance, in the fighting sequences.Assume movie essence absorbing stance!.
Having been a big fan of Hong-kong fantasy action movies(chinese ghost story 1,2,3..and etc..) especially I completely captivated by this one.
this movie was brought a great popularity and main stars Brigitte Lin and Jet li became household name in here, South Korea.
I still remember when these two stars visited here to promote, Brigitte Lin had to escaped from being run over by her fans in Korea.She plays "Asia the invincible" who's gave up his manly symbol to become the best sword man.
Jet li plays another great sword man who's pure, sincere to his belief.
In fact I think this made this movie more unique, and sensual, joyful to watch.Striking, powerful performance by Brigitte.
can't believe she was almost 40 when she did shoot this one.The early Jet li so cute, and I really admire his martial arts skills( although most of his martial arts here are computer-generated or wire actions ) I can't count how many times I've seen this movie.
Provided you are slightly interested in fantasy, horror, and a little kung-fu, this film is the best in the genre.
Great choreography and music, ok humor, very good lighting, nearly perfect sound (unlike many fantasy flicks), a very good story and colorful and dynamic cinematography (Lau Moon Tong) that surpasses even Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (Lee, 2000) sometimes though it is nine years older.
:-PIn Asia Jet Li is very famous and most Chinese who are interested in movies will probably have seen this already.
In the rest of the world this is probably only seen by people who liked Evil Dead (Raimi, 1982), Chinese Ghost Story (also directed by Siu-Tung Ching, 1987) AND at recently CTHD.
Featured are Recoiling whip, Flying bomb, Rotation of the stars (massive action scene with 6 swordfighters), Essence absorbing stance, Invincible Dawn, Kiddo and Scum Bag (last two are characters).
The action scenes in CTHD may be shot beautifully and without many cuts, but Swordsman 2 definitely has more fantasy and the director isn't afraid of showing blood like Ang Lee WAS unfortunately.
Swordsman 2 tries to embed the story in Japanese civil war and therefore the film starts with Japanese swordfighters (speaking Kantonese though) and Japanese music.
Swordsman 2 (haven't seen part 1 yet) is NOT over-rated with 8.6 (211 votes), and provided you liked Iron Monkey (Woo-Ping Yuen, 1993), this one will blow you out of your socks and chop you in half.
The manic pace of this film never lets up, the assault of flashing swords, flying bodies, snakes, needles, throwing stars, whips, needles and kitchen sinks (all right, not really, but I think you get my point) is almost too much to absorb all in one sitting.
But what really makes the film is the striking performance by Brigitte Lin as the villain.
For fans of HK fantasy/action films, this is very much worth your while..
Ling Wu Chung (Jet Li) is a great young swordsman with a big problem: the question on which side he shall fight means only choosing the lesser of two evils.
On the other hand, there is Asia (Brigitte Lin), a wicked, mysterious woman of great beauty who hides many secrets from Ling and cannot be trusted.
The movie has many wild, over the top action scenes from the director of "Chinese Ghost Story", but it was impossible to find a happy ending for it.
My only little grudge is that the characters in the first Swordsman movie were more sympathetic than here in the sequel..
If you've seen Swordsman 2 or any of the very best Jet Li films it is very difficult to be impressed with knocks offs done with bland actors like Keanu Reeves and Chow Yung Fat. I anxiously await the day that a picture this exciting and/or sexually provocative gets a release in this country..
The color is dark sometimes, the plot is odd to some extent, but the movie is great after you understand the meaning of every scene.
This movie is much better than the original novel in which "Asia the invincible" is a man.
She is a woman falling in love with Jet Li when they met the first time.
How can a powerful body works with a peaceful mind?It's a movie designed for Chinese or East-Asian culture.
The fights are just badly filmed, and since thats all this movie has going for it...
Breeze smile, flowers are falling.People laugh, even no anger no hate no cause.The film, about is how valuable a free and had free access to how difficult it is, even if is a Kong fu master, invincible, but always involuntarily.
If you want to see where 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon' and some of the fight effects in the 'Matrix' series come from 'Swordsman 2' is certainly one of the original sources.
It is not a bad film at all, there is good camera work all over, characters have structure and are different one from the other (even for an Asian film seen by European eyes) and all seems authentic - but I know little about the history of the area in the past times, unfortunately.
If you are going to have a plot this stupid (see 'man turns into woman to become all-powerful then falls in love with Jet Li') you best have some great fighting to go with it.
I'm a big Jet Li fan and this is a great character for him.
Simply put and without undeserved hyperbole, this is one of the greatest fantasy/action-adventure films of all time.
Should be seen many times to truly appreciate the amazing action sequences by Ching Sui Tong, Hong Kong's best action choreographer..
I got the fact that Jet Li's clan was looking for there master who had been locked up in a woman/man's dungeon, but apart from that I was completely lost.
Once again, there's loads of flying action with people fighting in mid-air, which I found a bit ridiculous but the various characters made the movie watchable, even though I didn't know what was going on half the time.
I couldn't believe that none of the characters didn't know that the man was a woman because she really did look like a man.
Average!Round-Up: Why do these oriental film makers have to make there movies so confusing when the concept is about different clans.
Also, I'm getting really fed up with these flying on strings and fighting in mid-air action scenes.
Most people who are into there Kung Fu movies, prefer the old ones which didn't have this flying in the air rubbish.
Jet Li puts in a good performance, alongside the different characters in the film but I'm yet to see a performance from Jet were he isn't flying in the air.
Hopefully I will see a more realistic action movie from this fast fighting actor, when I watch the earlier movies.Budget: N/A Worldwide Gross: HK$34.5millionI recommend this movie to people who are into their Jet Li movies about a clan who are looking for there master whilst fighting against different clans.
It was a superb piece of work, strikingly photographed, brilliantly choreographed, and, more importantly, written and acted with a depth and subtlety that did full justice to its possibilities.This version with Jet Li has many excellent qualities, but the limited running time necessary for a theatrical film, plus the unnecessary addition of the Japanese story, robbed it of the ability to develop the psychologically and dramatically fascinating story to anything like its real potential.
(I can't see the smallest relation to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which it seems to me is an entirely different kind of story.) For a Jet Li fan, this is one of his more interesting films, but anyone interested in the adaptation of this classic novel into a truly superior dramatic version should seek out Laughing in the Wind..
I have watched a lot of kung fu movies lately, and this one, from 1991, is nowhere near groundbreaking.
No one who's watched the good stuff from the '60s and '70s can claim that there is much originality in Swordsman II.This movie disappointed me because it was too ridiculous.
But the story and the effects never really worked that well, and as someone else has pointed out, the English subtitles are really, really terrible.So on a scale from one to ten, I can only give this movie a 5, but I will raise that to 6 because of the attractive women in it.
Not only Brigitte Lin, but Rosamund Kwan and especially Michelle Reis (who's got some great fight scenes here, unlike in Fong Sai Yuk, where she was just helpless) are a big bonus for this movie, and makes it well worth watching.Thus: 6 out of 10..
(in full disclosure, I wrote this when I was a dumb 17 year old, I remember enjoying the movie and recommend it, so that's all that counts): Tonight I saw this movie, a unusual Chinese action movie with a plot about a guy who has a sister and brothers and they get entangled up with fighting people who want to take over China.
The rest of the movie consists of action scenes that may or may not have been sliced off of the deleted footage of The Kentucky Fried Movie and the sound effects sound like bites from he Crippled Masters.
I'm not biased by his hyper-use of wires in his films (although I wished more of his action scenes would be like Blacksheep Affair).
There are a lot of great visual ideas in this film, but they are shown in one scene, and that's it.
As with most Ching Siu Tung movies, the action scenes are too short.
although many who did not know much about ninjas believed that they had mystical powers such as flying, running so fast that they could not be seen, invisibility and so on.
This is one of a kind and belongs up there with "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" This is one movie I recommend.
Although The Kung Fu Cult Master is my favorite movie, this is a wonderful movie, and anyone who likes the Fantasy genre should watch this imidiatly!
People may call me weird, but I actually wanted Jet Li to get together with Brigdet Lin in the movie.Plus, like the Kung Fu Cult Master (Nowhere near as good, but very good) this movie also had everything, Action, drama, A funny love triangle, sex (Jet Li's first on-screen sex scene.
It may not be all that great but It's believable) and of course, Jet Li's cute little face to light up the screen!.
Ching Siu Tung, Jet Li, Brigitte Lin, and more exploding bodies than you've ever seen..
Swordsman 2 begins with Brigitte Lin as Asia the Invincible flying through the air and, with greater ease than it takes most people to put on their socks, ripping off a rivals head.
In the first thirty minutes of Swordsman 2, we see characters flying, running across the top of wheat stalks, horses and people getting ripped in two, scorpion fu, snake charming fu, and ninjas that glide across the air on big shurikens as they battle.
are jammed with delightful trickery and steady pacing that wont leave the viewer bored.Brigitte Lin plays one of kung fu filmdoms greatest villains, Asia the Invincible, who gave up his manhood in order to become the most powerful figure in the martial world.
The rest of the cast is great too, but it is Lin and Jet, who command the film.Easygoing Ling and his Wa Mt. students rendezvous with their friends in the Sun Moon Sect (friends with names like Black Tooth, Smart Ass, and Scum Bag), but find that the clan has been overtaken by Asia's Highlander Clan, witch is aided by some nasty Japanese ninjas.
This is a nifty little martial arts film, that has some great supernatural elements, with a good story and solid fight scenes!.
This is a nifty little martial arts film, that has some great supernatural elements, with a good story and solid fight scenes!.
It was cool to see Jet in a different type of film, and I thought the fight choreography was just great, plus it's very bloody and violent as well.
It's very well made and written and I thought Brigitte Lin was quite menacing as the main villain, plus while I thought Yee Kwan Yan was a bit too OTT as the psycho Master Wu,but he still gave me the creeps especially near the end!.
This deserves it's 7.4 rating, and I thought the ending was really cool, plus Rosamund Kwan had a great and very mysterious character!.
The final fight is extremely good, and it had some cool emotional moments as well, plus I loved Wu's evil laugh!.
This is a nifty little martial arts film that has some great supernatural elements, with a good story and solid fight scenes, I highly recommend this one!.
Siu-Tung Ching and Stanley Tong both do a great job here with very good camera work, excellent angles and keeping the film at a very fast pace.
Brigitte Lin is great as the evil Asia, she was quite sexy and was wonderfully evil, she played the perfect villain, I loved her!.
Yee Kwan Yan is a bit too OTT at times, but he still gave me the creeps, as he was quite menacing as Master Wu, I also loved his evil laugh!.
I won't throw out any spoilers, just assure you that this is a great classic of fantasy martial arts films.
If you find yourself unable to follow the story or action, just rewatch it a few times.
The only regrettable thing is that different actors play the same characters (Only Blue Phoenix is played by the same actor in both films).If you enjoy complex plots, scheming factions, dreamlike landscapes and outrageous martial arts all tied together in a whimsical Daoist song about the transient comedy of life, the Swordsman series is for you.