Tsui Hark's "Seven Swords"
06-30-05, 09:59 AM
#1
DVD Talk Hero
Thread Starter
Tsui Hark's "Seven Swords"
Anyone heard of this before? It sounds promising.
http://www.donnieyen.com/films/2005_sevenswords.htm
In the early 1660’s, the Manchurians took over the sovereignty of China and established the Ching Dynasty. With many pro-nationalist revolts occurring, the newly set-up government immediately imposed a ban on the study and practice of the Martial Arts; forbidding them altogether in an attempt to gain effective control and order. Fire-wind (Sun Honglei), a military official from the previous dynasty, sees this as an opportunity to make a fortune for himself by helping to implement the new law. Greedy, cruel, and immoral, Fire-wind ravages and ranges across North-western China with his next goal to attack the final frontier; an intransigent and hold-out town known as the Martial Village.
Fu Qingzhu (Lau Kar Leung), a retired executioner from the previous dynasty, feels a moral obligation to try and put a stop to this brutality and decides to save Martial Village. He convinces Wu Yuanyin (Charlie Young) and Han Zhibang (Lu Yi) from the village to travel with him to the far away and mystical Mount Heaven in order to seek help from Master Shadow-Glow (Ma Jingwu), a hermit who is a master of swords and leads a group of disciples with unimaginable swordsmanship. Master Shadow-Glow agrees to help, and orders four of his best disciples to go. Together with Chu Zhaonan (Donnie Yen), Yang Yunchong (Leon Lai), Mulang (Duncan Chow), and Xin Longzi (Tai Li Wu), their heroic journey begins. Representing heroism and goodness at its finest, they come to be known as the SEVEN SWORDS. Returning to Martial Village, they soon decide for safety’s sake to move and lead the entire village to a safer place. Soon confusion reigns as they discover that their food and water has been poisoned, and that all of the escape routes have been marked with signs leading the enemy directly to them. They realize that there must be an undercover spy in their midsts; but who is it? The SEVEN SWORDS must identify the mole before Fire-wind’s army gets to them; otherwise all will be lost. With so many things going wrong and stuck between a narrow gap of life and death, the situation is further complicated by the emergence of an unexpected and unwelcome love triangle……
Fu Qingzhu (Lau Kar Leung), a retired executioner from the previous dynasty, feels a moral obligation to try and put a stop to this brutality and decides to save Martial Village. He convinces Wu Yuanyin (Charlie Young) and Han Zhibang (Lu Yi) from the village to travel with him to the far away and mystical Mount Heaven in order to seek help from Master Shadow-Glow (Ma Jingwu), a hermit who is a master of swords and leads a group of disciples with unimaginable swordsmanship. Master Shadow-Glow agrees to help, and orders four of his best disciples to go. Together with Chu Zhaonan (Donnie Yen), Yang Yunchong (Leon Lai), Mulang (Duncan Chow), and Xin Longzi (Tai Li Wu), their heroic journey begins. Representing heroism and goodness at its finest, they come to be known as the SEVEN SWORDS. Returning to Martial Village, they soon decide for safety’s sake to move and lead the entire village to a safer place. Soon confusion reigns as they discover that their food and water has been poisoned, and that all of the escape routes have been marked with signs leading the enemy directly to them. They realize that there must be an undercover spy in their midsts; but who is it? The SEVEN SWORDS must identify the mole before Fire-wind’s army gets to them; otherwise all will be lost. With so many things going wrong and stuck between a narrow gap of life and death, the situation is further complicated by the emergence of an unexpected and unwelcome love triangle……
06-30-05, 10:18 AM
#3
DVD Talk Hero
Thread Starter
Thanks. Heading there now.
06-30-05, 11:50 AM
#6
DVD Talk Hero
Thread Starter
Well it looks interesting but I wish there were a better version of the teaser, as it was hard to make anything out sometimes.
07-01-05, 12:30 AM
#8
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Hong Kong
Posts: 3,797
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
SEVEN SWORDS is the Opening Film of the Venice Film Festival... which overlaps with Toronto Film Fest. But let's just say that you shouldn't count it out either.
07-01-05, 12:40 AM
#9
DVD Talk Hero
Thread Starter
Two film festivals I'll never make it to. 
I hope it gets good reviews and a US release. If not, I hope it gets good reviews and I'm able to import the eventual DVD.
I hope it gets good reviews and a US release. If not, I hope it gets good reviews and I'm able to import the eventual DVD.
07-09-05, 08:58 PM
#11
DVD Talk Hero
Thread Starter
Those look great! 
07-17-05, 08:17 AM
#12
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: WV
Posts: 3,178
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Final trailer download:
http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/002785.html
http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/002785.html
Last edited by fryinpan1; 07-17-05 at 08:23 AM.
07-17-05, 09:41 AM
#13
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Minding the precious things in the Local Shop
Posts: 4,106
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The posters look much better than the movie, sadly. I just watched the trailer and was left with a kind of...meh about the whole thing. Now with Legend of Zu, the trailer was pretty awesome, and then the movie sucked so maybe, we're getting an early heads up?
07-23-05, 09:40 AM
#14
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: WV
Posts: 3,178
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
1st English Language Review:
http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=20804
http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=20804
07-23-05, 06:40 PM
#16
DVD Talk Special Edition
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Thoradin
Posts: 1,468
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Well it opened to some press screenings here and been panned.
http://board.wu-jing.org/phpBB2/view...hp?p=1019#1019
http://board.wu-jing.org/phpBB2/view...hp?p=1019#1019
07-23-05, 08:52 PM
#17
DVD Talk Legend
It looks, well, boring. The action seems uninspired and the direction looks pedestrian. I know it's hard tell from a trailer, but if that's the best they can offer, this is going to be pretty bad. I did like the chick with the half-shaved head though.
The poster is incredible. If, as one of the AICN commenters said, this guy actually *was* the Chinese Michael Bay, this movie might be a fun diversion, but I doubt it will be.
The poster is incredible. If, as one of the AICN commenters said, this guy actually *was* the Chinese Michael Bay, this movie might be a fun diversion, but I doubt it will be.
