Achieves such levels of incomprehensibility that even the Chinese in the audience slumped in their seats, defeated. When sickly Chang Mo Kei (Jet Li) is nearly killed by his brother, a flesh-eating kung fu master that rolls around like that huge boulder in Raiders of the Lost Ark not only cures the young man of an illness in flicted by the Solar Stance, but imparts powers that make him invincible. Chang retreats to a cave with comely Chingmy Yau, and love blossoms. In the mean time, armies from all of the kung fu sects (including the Master of the Ming Sect, the Evil Nun of No-Mercy, the Master of the Evil Sect, and the King of the Green Bat -- and then there's a woman who shoots darts on her auto harp, and a pair of villains who freeze their victims with what looks like Xmas tree flocking spurting from under their sleeves) are in a huge battle scene; that is, before Chang reveals that their conflicts are part of a government plot to destroy the influence of the martial arts schools. Whew! The movie ends abruptly, (all the Chinese guys in the theater simultaneously groan a disappointed "Aw..."), which means that part two should be on the way. Or maybe not. Epic battle scenes, scads of fun.

(3/4)



[Reviewed by Steve Spinali]