Swift Sword is the story of SWORD STAINED WITH ROYAL BLOOD under a disguised name. Why Shaw Brothers and independent kung fu films often do this is not clear to me, since what they are doing is essentially ripping off the original work of authors like Louis Cha, and many local viewers at the time, I imagine, are familiar enough with the story that they can detect the similarities.

Off to a great start, the film soon loses momentum, and the quality of rest of the movie is highly questionable. The main problem is the stiff, expressionless acting. Surely I don't expect much from this type of production, and I am more than used to its standards, but the dialogues are much more monotone than the average Shaw flick. It's like Wong Yue wants to make sure to deliver all his lines in our face.

Crossing dressing is featured prominently in many period flicks, and it's certainly not missing here. Our hero has lived with a family of girls for the past 2 years; yet he cannot detect the feminine qualities of a girl in front of him. It's also more embarrassingly shot than ever: the guy and the girl smile at each other and it's the dorkiest gesture you've ever seen.

On to the good things: it does feature some Beautiful landscape, with a decent amount of outdoor scenes. Also the scene at the beginning expressing Swift Swordsman's agony has great style. But the rest of the film could not sustain the momentum.

[7/10]