Make no mistake, I suspect many people will go into this film wanting to like it...and indeed this reviewer went in with his most heavy-duty rose-colored glasses...and even then, the film disappoints.

However, when one gets well into the film and realizes that Donnie Yen and Lau Kar-Leung are playing very key dramatic roles, one is given to a rather long (comedic) pause...and indeed one wonders if this is a film that is to be taken seriously...but when one also begins to see sets and scenes of epic scope, including horses (always a sure sign of "epic-ness"), one realizes there was a lot of money spent here (...and parodies are rarely high-budget). Lau is acceptable in his role, playing his usual sifu/wiseman/warrior role (i.e., himself). But Donnie Yen? Donnie Yen is an actor approximately on par with Jet Li...but even Jet has more screen presence than Donnie--replete with his one emote: the scowl. Donnie and his ugly scowl are perfect for playing cardboard cutout bad guys on TVB series, but really has no business playing a dramatic role in a film meant to be taken seriously as a drama. And in fact he not only plays a dramatic role, but plays the primary love interest. OK, so by now you should be laughing out loud...but in fact the love portion between the rather ugly Donnie and the strikingly beautiful Kim Soo-yeon is actully the best part of the movie! Although very comic book in appearance and execution, it was quite beautiful and artistic. And Kim Soo-yeon's performance was, by far, the best in the film.

After seeing her wooden performance in New Police Story, I didn't expect much of Charlie Yeung. Fortunately I was wrong. She was surprisingly good. In fact, at a few points in the film she had the fire of Michelle Yeoh in her eyes. Is it possible that she may have more action films in her future? She appears to be a natural...

Leon Lai was supposedly given top billing, and indeed along with Charlie is the only well-known Chinese actor (whereas Donnie and Lau are actually stuntmen). I enjoyed Leon's moments on screen, but came away feeling he was really marginalized in the film--especially to Donnie Yen. It's rather symbolic that in the closing fight, Leon's character hands his sword over to Donnie to continue (and ultimately win) the fight. Indeed.

All this aside, the problem ultimately resides in the completely empty and incomplete screenplay. One has a situation that just appears out of thin air, very little or no character development, and an ending that either implies bad editing or maybe a sequel...one is left with a strong feeling of "whatever; I am glad that is over!"

Lastly, there is one pet peeve of mine that I cannot get over and that is the use of excessive violence and mayhem. If there is a good reason for it, then fine. But here with a story this empty, the mayhem serves purely as titillation/eye-candy, and I find that particularly tasteless.

Nonetheless, I recommend seeing it once just to see some nice Lau choreography moments (although far from his best work)...just expect the very worst, or make liberal use of the fast forward button--especially past Michael Wong's hilariously pointless cameo...