Besides my undying fandom of Yukari Oshima and Moon Lee, there are only a handful of ladies I consider standouts among the best in HK films...two of them are the legendary Kara Hui Ying-Hung and Cynthia Khan. I saw this film a long time ago, when I first dipped my toes into the universe of HK movies, and in retrospect now with all of the movies I've seen this film in which Kara and Cynthia costar (they got together again for the action-comedy MADAM CITY HUNTER a year later) ranks among the better films of it's kind...not the best, since it has a few flaws that keep it from being perfect, but I'd definitely rank this with BUTTERFLY AND SWORD (with Michelle Yeoh) as a great swordplay movie.

This was one of the first films I saw Cynthia in (besides the too-bad-for-a-review ANGEL ON FIRE) and the first film I saw Kara and Michelle Reis (I'd see her again in FONG SAI YUK).

The story is surprisingly simple, although some have drawn parallels between this film and the SWORDSMAN movies. Two rival clans are at war in a China in transition...civil war has reduced the nation to near-anarchy, and numerous forces are vying to take control. One of those two clans is led by Reis' character, a princess who holds a seal that confirms her royal station; the other clan is led by a powerful swordsman (Lau Sek Ming). The princess is protected by two bodyguards (Cynthia Khan and Waise Lee), while the swordsman is driven to his duty by Kara Hui's vengeful character. But in a moment outside of the conflict, the princess and the swordsman meet and -- in the tradition of ROMEO AND JULIET -- they fall for each other. But can love overpower ambitions? A third force of evil monks may just take that decision out of their hands!

This movie is played seriously, with a bare minimum of comedy thrown in to lighten the mood up. The mood is also enlightened by the romance of Reis and Lau...fortunately, it doesn't get sickly-sweet or anything, although all kinds of angst is thrown into the pot when the two inevitably discover that they belong to opposing camps!

The production is pretty sparse: tented camps and wildreness pretty much comprise the sets. A lot more money was thrown into the wirework and some very explosive special effects. (One scene in which two enemies joust with trees still stands out in my mind!)

Back to Kara and Cynthia. Cynthia gets the better part of the two as one-half of a husband-and-wife bodyguard team (with Waise Lee, ultimately being a ne'er-do-well as usual) of Reis. It's one of the better roles that she's done in her career and she delivers all of the martial talent and natural charisma she can muster. (Cynthia also looks great in medieval armor!) If you want to see her in an equally-great period performance, see the bombastic BLADE OF FURY. Kara's part, though, is more one-dimensional...she's pure and simple hate on a stick, although she shows some (VERY) tough love to Lau's swordsman!

I got ZEN OF SWORD letterboxed a while back from Tai Seng on VHS...if any of you are interested, they're still offering it in that format. Definitely recommended viewing!