Reviewed by: j.crawford Date: 05/26/2013 Summary: melodramatic wuxia romance B-movie version of classic wuxia popular at the box office in early 90's Hong Kong. Producer Stephen Shin cast some 2nd tier actors [instead of Andy Lau and Simon Yam] alongside some of the top female stars of the time. Shin gets Philip Kwok to handle the Action Direction which is really well done while he gets inexperienced director Yu Mang-Sang to handle the cheesy "romance" and "melodrama" dialogue scenes which fall flat. Some doves from Woo's The Killer [1989] get some work. Kara Hui is quite charming as usual. Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: ewaffle Date: 12/05/2007 "Zen of Sword" has a small cast made up old pros and talented youngsters, a straightforward script that ponders some of the basic questions posed by classic literature, themes that touch our hearts and effective production planning that put most of the limited special effects budget in the last ten minutes of the movie. It has three extremely attractive actresses, two of whom the cinematographer who shot the close-ups (three are credited for being behind the camera) lingered over quite lovingly, some extremely evil villains and some unbelievably good heroes. There is even an apotheosis tacked on for those who are unhappy with the idea of every one of the characters being dead before the final credits role. It starts with a bang--literally. As the Princess and her bodyguard flee, the General fights a rear guard action against evil flying monks who have iron hoops and chains to catch him with and who pepper him with explosives. But while the monks outnumber the General, they aren't eager to close with him and actually fight it out, keeping a safe distance from the point of his spear. He is finally defeated when an explosion smashes him into the side of a mountain, knocking him unconscious. We can tell right then that the General is a hard man indeed—the force of the explosion that planted him in a crater that exactly outlined his body. Even though one might be reminded of a Roadrunner vs. Wiley E. Coyote cartoon sequence it does show how tough Waise Lee’s General is. But no one can stand up to the persuasive powers of the Master of Yin, the evildoer who dispatched the flying monks. When the General awakes he is tied spread-eagled on two poles over a flaming pit. Given a choice between betraying his Princess and gaining untold wealth and power for himself or being roasted alive, his decision isn’t difficult to imagine. This Hobson’s Choice contains the theme that runs throughout the movie—that moral people will be tempted to stray from the path that they know is the right and proper and only the most noble will be able to make the difficult choices no matter what the consequences. Some, such as Governor Tak Hung, are eager to sell out their principles; others, most particularly the Princess’s bodyguard, stunningly played by Cynthia Khan, aren’t even tempted from their duty. The most fundamental and difficult decision is posed to the Prince—which is most important, love or honor? A conundrum indeed and one that is made all the more harrowing by the way it is posed. His only surviving relative, his aunt, a woman who has raised him and who was cruelly tortured by their enemies, wants the Prince to take vengeance on these enemies. The Prince’s people are among the losers in a vicious civil war and his aunt, memorably portrayed in an over the top round of insanity by Kara Hui, insists that he lead them to reclaim their homeland. She makes the most of an extended cameo as did the costuming department. She is dressed in some really outlandish garb including a huge feathered hat that looks like it could fly away by itself. Backlit and silhouetted against a glowing sky, shot from below, she is fiercely demented and delivers lines (according to the pretty good subtitles) such as “We worship the sword with the blood of virgins” with maniacal glee. The Prince, who seems at least as conflicted as another Prince, this on of Denmark, happens upon a beautiful young woman who lost in the forest. Having been stuck in the same valley for most of his life with little knowledge of the outside world and only his crazy aunt for female company, he falls hard for the Princess. Since she is played by Michelle Reis, she of the huge eyes, perfect lips and cheekbones to die for, his infatuation isn’t surprising. The Princess is the most steadfast of the lot, perfectly willing to either die or kill others to protect a jade flute, the symbol of her royalty, and fully expects others to do the same. Not knowing that the Princess is the sole surviving member of the clan that defeated her family, the Aunt treats her like a common whore, telling the Prince that it is fine if he wants to dally with her for a while but when he is finished it is time to get back to the real work of learning the Nine Stance Sword Position from which he can kill enemies by the carload. The Prince and Princess, who not only don’t hate each other but who fall in love, are one set of paired opposites whose interaction push the story along. Another pair is the General (Waise Lee) and the Bodyguard (Cynthia Khan). She is completely committed to the safety of the Princess as his he until he is turned by the Master of Yin. To complicate matters further they are married although the Bodyguard, once she realizes that her husband is a traitor, doesn’t hesitate to draw her sword against him. A third set is the God of War, a former advisor to the emperor who has gone into seclusion but who returns to the field when the Princess is threatened and Governor Tak Hung, a venal and corrupt official who only wants to line his own pockets and who has already sold his soul in order to do so. Fittingly the God of War dies a hero’s death while Tak Hung’s demise is as tawdry as his life. There are some inept or just badly thought out scenes. One is a love scene between Waise Lee and Cynthia Khan—they are lying on the ground, both dressed in full battle armor—breastplates, gauntlets, sword belts, the whole regalia. Even if Cynthia hadn’t realized that her dog of a husband was just turning on the charm in order to get her to abandon the Princess it still would have been one of the least arousing love scenes imaginable. Another is during the final battle in which the flying monks make their second appearance. They are defeated this time—and it is a thrilling final battle—but they continue to fight after a scene in which they are literally dismembered, almost as if it were put together out of sequence. Overall “Zen of Sword” is a very well done low budget swordplay movie, well worth seeing if you like that kind of thing (I do) or if you are a fan of any of the three actresses. Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: CaptainAmerica Date: 06/07/2002 Summary: Watch out for flying evil monks! 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!

Reviewed by: pjshimmer Date: 03/24/2002 I had much expectation for this movie, which I went through hell to obtain (and the best I found: a grainy vcd). Well, that was a mistake. This is what you would consider a "thin" movie. There is a plot, but it's not carried out very well at all. The points are never supported, and the story is extremely unconvincing. Also, I'm not a big fan of the "throw all powers away and just become a regular citizen" theme, which this and many other movies promote. Despite all this, Kuo Choi sure knew what he was doing with the choreography. There are some superb action sequences in the form of wuxia, which is exactly what I want to see, only wishing there were more in this movie. Fantasy martial arts action at its best! [6/10]

Reviewed by: danton Date: 01/08/2002 One of the lesser known HK swordplay movies from the early nineties, shot on a small budget, so most of the scenes take place in a forest, requiring limited numbers of extras and no expensive movie sets. It's a tale of star-crossed lovers, played by Michelle Reis and Lau Sek-Ming, with Cynthia Khan and Waise Lee as supporting characters. The movie has plenty of over the top wire action, flying monks, swords slicing off heads, body parts exploding, and all the other elements that make HK swordplay films such a thrill. And yet, these frenetic action scenes don't dominate this movie, as they are nicely balanced with some quieter scenes depicting the developing love story between the two main leads, who play rivals for the throne who are both exiled and both pursued and threatened by an evil villain. This part of the film strives for a more poetic tone, and while the filmmakers didn't have the budget to make it truly stand out, the result is nevertheless pleasant to watch, especially when one of the two is as gorgeous as the young Michelle Reis. Recommended for fans of the genre.

Reviewed by: jean yves Date: 01/06/2001 Summary: Staying in my collection As others have said, this one has it's flaws. It's really edited badly, and there are some cheesy, WAY too melodramatic moments. However, if you appreciate good looking fantasy wire-work, there are a couple of GREAT looking action scenes. The opening scene of a lone general with a naginata fighting off 5 flying monks is superbly done, as is a later scene of two wizards weilding huge trees in their forest battle. And, there's an awesome scene of beautiful Cynthia Khan chasing, running on top of, and fighting in a field of tall grass against old (but still looking good)Shaw Brother's queen Wei Yin Hung, involving bow and arrows, whip and sword. The romantic elements are a bit too over the top, and there's some gloominess to the whole thing, but this flick still had some worthwhile moments. I think the problem with this movie is that the editor really knew how to edit action scenes--unfortunately he edited the dramatic and romantic scenes the exact same way.

Reviewed by: jfierro Date: 12/21/1999 Some of the cheesiest fight scenes ever put on film. So packed full of cliches, stiff dialogue, bad editing, and incomprehensible action sequences it would be funny if it weren't so painful to sit through. Go watch EAGLE SHOOTING HEROES instead. At least the humor there is intentional.

Reviewed by: leh Date: 12/09/1999 Another swords-and-magic film along the lines of the Swordsman series. Well made, fairly good story. Watch out for the rotating monks!

Reviewed by: MilesC Date: 12/09/1999 Well, here's a movie that made very little impression on me. The movie starts out promising (nice look, some cool flying action) but eventually degenerates into revenge-driven silliness. Not good, not terrible. At least Michelle Lee has some gawk-value, and Cynthia Khan is pretty cool in this movie. Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: hokazak Date: 12/09/1999 Michelle Lee and the young man are the young prince(sse)s oftwo warring realms. Inevitably, they fall in love but fate and age-old hatreds are against them. Cynthia Khan is Michelle's butch-ish bodyguard. Waise Lee is Cynthia's semi-estranged ex-husband...

Reviewed by: spinali Date: 12/08/1999 Summary: NULL In China's dynastic 'dark age', Princess Sin Ling (Michelle Lee) and Prince Ha Hon (Waise Lee) belong to warring clans but soon fall in love. She wants peace, but the prince's aunt presses the prince into vengeance. For long stretches, the filmmakers take this 'Zen' idea way too seriously. Cynthia Khan plays the Princess's cute bodyguard. (2/4) [Reviewed by Steve Spinali] Reviewer Score: 5