Sword Stained with Royal Blood features a script with enough characters and plot twists to satisfy even a daytime soap opera fan. In the first half of the movie, there seems to be a new character or relationship introduced about every five to ten minutes, nonstop! I tried to just adopt a zen approach and allow myself to not get caught up in all the little details. Actually, if you pay close attention it all makes sense (umm ... more or less).

The plot centers around a constable (Yuen Biao) who arrests princess-in-disguise Cheung Man and takes her to a castle where a number of martial arts leaders have gathered. The castle residents are awaiting an assault by Golden Snake Man (Danny Lee, looking a bit corpulent), for reasons that eventually become clear. I have to wonder about some of the casting in this film. I just found it nearly impossible to take Anita Yuen seriously as the evil "Master of the Five Poison Sect". She doesn't exactly ooze malice, even when she's trying. She can do sweet and cute like nobody's business, but evil seemed a bit out of her reach.

On the other hand, it's not like this is Masterpiece Theatre anyway. There's enough flying people, wacky subtitles, and crazy action scenes to satisfy any viewer. Plus it's got Ng Man-Tat and Tsui Kam-Kong, two of the most over-the-top actors in the business. So sit back, try not to question too much, and enjoy yourself.