Yet another “girl with sword” martial arts movie, a wuxia film directed by prolific actress and director Pao-Shu Kao, who became one of the few notable female directors in the genre.
Lily Ho stars as Feng Fei Fei, a woman in ancient China who must avenge her sister after she is assaulted and killed by a bunch of nasty villains. However, things get complicated when she finds out that her fiancee is responsible for the attack, making her revenge more tricky than expected.
With a lot of high energy and lots of typical martial arts film techniques, this directing debut delivers the goods you can expect from a Shaw Brothers production. Lots of really quick cuts that make the battles truly dynamic, swift, exciting and fun. We also get some inventive directing and blocking, striking a good balance between alternating set pieces, particularly effective during the first big fight. The rapid zooms are also very well used, kind of what you would expect from the routinary wuxia film but this time they are used effectively to convey a character's intense stare and focus during battle, as well as a way to signal their incoming attack.
Great choreography and entertaining sword fighting sequences. The plot is somewhat predictable but it's well executed and developed, it's always interesting due to the way things unfold, always with a creative twist. However, I do believe the final battle could have been better because the very last fight seems like an added-on sequence that isn't very organically included into the story. Not to mention, the action girl doesnt get to deliver the final blow herself, leaving it to an old guy. What a shame.
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| A mothers fury vs a woman's search for justice. |
Nonetheless, I do think this is a solid addition to the asian swordswoman genre.
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