pat00139

I read John Wallis's DVD review of Seven Swords at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=26367 and...

I don't know. I'm surprised there are some errors in the review. Especially from Mr. Wallis, this is surprising.

Firstly, Mr. Wallis implies that Time and Tide was released before Tsui Hark's US movies, when in fact it was released a full 2 years after Knock Off.

Secondly, Mr. Hark's 2 previous movies are actually Seven Swords and Black Mask 2. To be fair, though, whatever said about Zu Warriors can also be said of Black Mask 2 because, in my opinion, Black Mask 2 is a lot worse than Zu Warriors.

Also , Mt. Tian actually means Mt. Heaven, but this is a small point, and knowledge of Mandarin is needed.

I do agree, though, that the movie defintely should be longer and the 4-hour director's cut (which was actually promised for a DVD release before the movie was even released in theatres) is really, really needed. That fight scene with Donnie Yen at the end is absolutely stunning, as well.

The thing is that Mr. Tsui has said that he's not so worried about his movie not being his original version because the TV show could flesh out all the parts that needed fleshing out. Also, the movie was apparently the first part in a trilogy, but with Jigsaw an The Eye 3 on Mr. Tsui's plate right now, I don't know when he'd have time to do the two other parts.

CinemaNut

I couldnt get thru this bore of a movie. 30 minutes in and I was FF. I dont care what anyone thinks, Tsui Hark is VASTLY OVERRATED.

Slumbering Fist

First, thanks, and now a little point by point...

Nope, never said any such thing. Thats a little bit nitpicking. Yes, you are right, one came after the other, but I didnt mention dates at all because I was commenting on a general span of his last, lagging, decade of work.

It was so bad, I must have erased Black Mask 2 from my memory. I'll change that bit to read: his last two "hyped films", since there wasnt much expectation for Black Mask 2 to be very good anyway.

Yeah. Looking around I found a handful of different titlings with middling differences, "The Seven Swordsmen Decending from Mount Heaven", "... on Mount Heaven", "... from Mount Tian", and so on and so forth, so I just picked one.

Slumbering Fist

I know you've stated that you don't care, but the man's pedigree is pretty solid. When looking at his impact, its not just about directing massively popular films like "Zu Warriors.." and "Once Upon A Time In China" but his overall output as a creative nuturing producer with his Film Workshop company. Without Tsui Hark, you would not have John Woo's "A Better Tomorrow" or Ching Sui Tungs "A Chinese Ghost Story," just to name a two. And, for instance, unlike a prolific director/producer like Wong Jing, Tsui Hark, at his peak form, was never about capitalizing on trends, he was about making them and, if he did capitalize, it was off something he helped spawn like the "Better Tomorrow" and Ghost Story sequels.