The Moon Warriors (1993)

Is there anything Andy Lau can't do??? I don't think so!!

I am a huge Andy Lau fan! I just discovered him a few months ago when I became aware of the excellence of Chinese cinema and music. I have many Andy Lau movies, music videos and cd's. Andy Lau can do absolutely everything and do them perfectly! He can sing beautifully, dance like a professional dancer, play a killer, a romantic hero, a geeky guy, a feudal fighter, kung-fu master and swordsman. He can ride a horse most impressively, make you laugh and cry with his superb acting talent and the list goes on and on. In this movie, he rides a whale! Yes, it's really him and he's really riding, swimming with and hugging a whale! America has no one who comes anywhere close to being his equal when it comes to talent. He's a genius in so many different areas. I sometimes wonder if Chinese directors and movie moguls realize the extent of his greatness or, because he does everything with such ease, they just take his talent for granted? This particular movie is a great adventure/love story. I won't describe the plot, etc. because other reviewers have done that. I just want to bring your attention to the multi-talent genius of Andy Lau. Check out some of his other movies, and you will soon understand why I am such a huge fan. September 27, 2007

Action director Ching Siu Tung and the stunt doubles make this a very fun film

Directed by Sammo Hung who has one of the best eyes for action in all of cinema, and overall an unbelievable team of directors that also includes Corey Yuen Kwai. In 1982 Ching Siu Tung made his directorial debut and also choreographed the action for 'Duel To the Death', a movie that broke new ground for wire fu. Since 'Moon Warriors' was made 10 years later, big improvements were expected and he does not disappoint. There are times when 2 actors are fighting for up to a minute not showing eithers face, and it is still totally believable. If anyone has seen 'Death Duel of Kung Fu' with John Liu and Don Wong Tao (and many other movies also), then you know that stunt doubles just aren't filmed correctly sometimes. In 'Moon Warriors', the stunt doubles are the reason the action is so thrilling. Add in Ching Siu Tung's use of trampolines and wires, and the result is pure magic. He is truly a master. Ngai Sing I would have to name star of the movie since you can clearly see his moves when doubling Andy Lau and others. I also spotted Hsiao Hou and I think he doubles Maggie Cheung.

The story is not memorable, but very well done. There is an awesome cast, including a killer whale! The action is definitely the reason to see this. It doesn't get much better than watching Chang Yi think about what to do when 20 or 30 swordsmen are coming at him. So what does he do? Charges right back at them of course!

Old school fans, and I mean really old school fans will recognize Chang Yi from the famous Shaw Brothers swordplay 'Bells of Death' made in 1968. He looks better than ever wielding a sword in this! I wish I knew the secret of not aging. And I had to point out the great Chang Yi since there is literally only a couple of words spoken about him in the commentary.

3.5/5

If you like this movie, it would be best to get the Hong Kong Legends version. There are more special features and most likely it is presented in the proper widescreen format. The Tai Seng release is acceptable, and for a budget release, I loved it.

The back of the DVD case says it's letterboxed, WRONG!!!! It is cropped, but still widescreened good enough. Sound is very good with DTS(it says Cantonese DTS, but I don't have the capability to test it), 5.1 English and Cantonese, and a mono Mandarin track. It also has a mono Cantonese track which I usually prefer, but this doesn't sound like the original.

Special Features include an alternate closing credits that shows Andy Lau training with the killer whale.

Other special feature included is a commentary with Frank Jane and Ric Meyers. I list Frank Jane first because Ric actually lets him talk! The best part about havin Frank Jane helping Ric out is that Ric keeps his incorrect information to a bare minimum. I think it's the first ever commentary where I didn't hear Ric Meyers make any errors! Frank Jane does make an odd comment at the start saying he heard that this film inspired George Lucas to write 'The Phantom Menace'. The problem with Frank's comment is that it's very well known that the action choreography in this movie gave Lucas inspiration, but I have never heard that this is where he got the idea for the story. I am sure a Star Wars fan will rip him to shreds, but maybe not (that is a big maybe though). Other than that, the commentary is very good since they focus on Hong Kong movies. You could call Frank Jane a real Hong Kong fim expert when compared to Ric Meyers. So instead of Ric's solo commentaries, they actually talk about the movie! Frank Jane is similar in at least 1 way to me. I can talk up a storm abotu Asian cinema, but tend to keep my comments on American movies much more brief. Ric Meyers can get very annoying along with his constant habit of ALWAYS making mistakes, but Frank Jane keeps a tight leash on him. Great commentary and plenty of info on the movie and all of the more popular actors. March 14, 2007

one of the best

this movie was one of the greatest martial arts flicks i've ever seen. It had every thing one would expect from a kung-fu flick-drama,betrayal,lost love revenge and one of the best swordsplay i've ever seen in a very long time.Kudos to this movie and i highly recommend this movie to any one who craves martial arts as much as I do. October 23, 2006

On second viewing

I watched this recently after a space of about 10 years... the first time i thought it was silly but had great action scenes. Now I think its quite a bit deeper than that. By the way, when Maggie Cheung burns the paper mid-film, I believe they are paper ingots which are burned to give money to the dead in repentence for all the innocent people she's killed... June 17, 2006

A noodle western with a Last Stand that strains credulity

What a disappointment this film was for me!

Let me say first that I have a terrific fondness for good martial arts films, and many of the Hong Kong films of the genre, while certainly showing and revelling in elements that are cheesy, yet succeed in being extremely entertaining. But this...!

I think it's fairly well understood that the Hong Kong martial arts film genre deliberately utilises many American westerns. It's not exactly unusual to see a tumbleweed go rolling across a deserted plain or through a deserted Chinese village, however silly that may seem. But in the case of this film, it went too far. My willingness to suspend disbelief and criticism came to a crashing halt. It began, I'm afraid, with the very opening scene. As soon as I heard the Chinesified western theme (borrowing heavily from the well-known musical theme that you'll recognise the instant you hear it), I flinched and said, "Oh Lord, please let it improve."

The film's score is just a mishmash of inappropriate melodies and songs. Featuring far too heavily are those frankly appalling songs sung with sugary sweetness by Chinese popstars who moo their way through lyrics of awful saccharine fake emotion. Chinese lyrics and poetry can be so delicate and powerful (exciting our admiration especially when they use miniature to create a sense of space), but the flip side is that they can also be horribly vulgar and overly sentimental. This film showed the flip side.

The story is predictable: displaced prince (Brother Yen) wants to regain his throne after travelling like a nomad through the land for years. His faithful follower, a beautiful Chinese girl, turns out to be hired by his evil brother (who usurped the throne), but switches sides yet again (after failing to kill the prince's betrothed) to fight for the prince in the final showdown. A young fisherman named Fei, with fabulous martial arts skills, defends the prince's party in a surprise ambush, and consequently bonds with the prince, falls in love with the prince's betrothed when he's sent to fetch her, and plays artlessly with a large dolphin called Wei. (There's a truly awful song at this point, by the way - it tries to be a lovely innocent "love the environment" song, but oh dear... oh no... it's one of those moments where one cringes and fast-forwards through the embarrassing music.)

Fei hides the prince's party in an underground tomb accessible only by a path which he knows (but that doesn't stop the evil usurper from finding it without difficulty) and also by sea. The final show-down reveals that: a) an evil usurper can generally fight off as many attackers as need be; b) rightful emperors (aka the prince) can be defeated by said pole-bearing evil usurper without difficulty; c) the girl who doesn't get the guy (aka the girl who joined the prince's forces in order to betray him but ended by loving him, even though his emotions were centred upon the daughter of his old friend General NanNing (I think that's the name)) is sure to be killed by the evil usurper, and to murmur, "Even though I could not live for you, I am happy to die for you, my prince"; d) the general's daughter is of course torn between the prince and Fei, loving both of them, and of course she dies; and e) (this one's the killer) it takes a dolphin to kill an evil usurper. Yes, indeed - I joke not. The finale includes Wei surging through the river that leads to the cave in which the underground tomb is built, LEAPING out of the water to whack the evil usurper in mid-attack, and pulling down the entire tomb structure to kill everyone except Fei who finishes the film by looking at the flower-covered ground below which is the tomb, and making a philosophical comment that harks back to an earlier moment in the film.

The film's not all bad. The actors all look fine, and the swordplay is neither better nor worse than most of these types of film. I did become exasperated with some aspects of the fighting, because too much of it was dancing around attacking each other's weapons rather than each other - a big no-no in martial arts. "Have at you, you foul sword of my enemy! Let me beat you, o most hideous polearm of my foe!"... There's a good idea for a spoof there.

The story is, again, neither better nor worse than many another film of this genre - except for the laughable ending.

The cinematography is only adequate, not wonderful. It certainly isn't a patch on some of the magnificent films in this style which have emerged just recently.

The insistence on having the terrible enemy be undefeatable is a peculiarity one often meets with in Chinese films of this sort. I confess I have never become accustomed to it. Why is the hero not able to defeat his evil foe? They are both mortal. They're both skilled. It's clearly a cultural element that is difficult for non-Chinese to understand.

But by far - BY FAR - the worst thing about this film is the soundtrack.

Comparing this film favourably to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "The Emperor and the Assassin", "House of Shining Daggers" and "Hero" is unbelievable. The aforesaid films are not just nice-looking - they're gorgeous. The cinematography is superb. In most cases, the plots are good (in the case of "Crouching Tiger", the plot is superb and intricate). In each case for the films I've mentioned, the acting is magnificent and the fight scenes beautifully done. I'm afraid "Moon Warriors" will disappoint those who expect the same standard.

Recommended only for those who want to collect every film in this genre. June 3, 2006

More reviews at Amazon.com ...