Saviour of the Soul (1993)

Completely over the top

Set in a futuristic world, Aaron Kwok plays an assassin named Silver Fox. Aaron Kwok's master was blinded by Anita Mui's character while Mui was rescuing a Princess. Now Silver fox wants revenge. Andy Lau also stars and he spends all of his time trying to get Anita Mui to love him.

This movie is so over the top that most people will either love it or hate it. The story was written by Jeffrey Lau (All for the Winner) and Wong Kar Wai (Chungking Express), but it feels like a Wong Jing movie. The thing that makes this different from a Wong Jing movie is that it has so much style. The cinematography is stunning and adds a lot of life to the action scenes. The problem is that there is not nearly enough action.

If you are a huge fan of Aaron Kwok, Andy Lau, and/or Anita Mui, then I can understand why you like this movie, but I didn't like it at all. I hate mindless movies, unless they deliver nonstop action sequences. This movie just didn't do it for me.

1.5/5

The picture quality on the Universal Laser and Video DVD is nearly perfect. The picture shakes a bit and there are a couple scratches, but nothing too distracting. Subtitles are well written for the most part. October 31, 2007

BEWARE!

Picture on item doesn't match the picture here, and it is NOT a region 1 DVD. It will not play in American players. December 25, 2005

Sets a screen on fire

Heavenly King Andy Lau gives a rather corny performance in "Saviour of the Soul", and yet this movie still manages to be striking. An excessively melodramatic romance that proves a typical theme - the one that says, "Love never dies." Another Heavenly King on the screen, Aaron Kwok, is reason enough to buy this film. Aaron plays the "bad guy" - the only "bad" role he has taken in his acting career - and he brings creativity and stirs emotion of the audience through his performance. Why is the word "bad" in quotes? Simply because the film's perspective favors the character of Andy Lau, however if put in Aaron's shoes, he did what he had to do.

This film grips you in the beginning, may get you tear-eyed in the middle, and by the time it's over, you'll be impressed. Even through Andy Lau's solo kung-fu performanes, this movie is not in the kung-fu genre. However, fight scenes were absolutely shocking and extremely original with nice camera angles, sound effects, costumes, and kicks from Aaron Kwok and Andy Lau. Fight scenes could have pleased an audience more by being longer and in more occurence, but like I said, "Savior of the Soul" is not a kung-fu movie. Andy Lau and Aaron Kwok (top performers in Hong Kong) work together again to fill the screen with swords, kicks, romance, tears, and more.

Get this film. You won't regret it. - Priscilla June 29, 2001

Pathetically stupid and disappointing

This sequel of "Saviour of the Soul" will put you to sleep within the first twenty minutes - unless you're a major Andy Lau fan. This movie succeeded in being corny, stupid, and uneventful in every way. The actors failed, using the worst acting I've ever seen, and the dialogue makes the movie even worse because it attempts at being funny. (It fails.)

The plot is completely unrelated to the the first "Saviour of the Soul" (which is much better). While the first movie concentrates on the romance of Andy Lau and his "lover", "Saviour of the Soul 2" completely shuns the female character. She's not even in it. Doesn't make sense, does it?

Bad editing. Bad sound. Bad fighting. Bad dialogue. Bad acting. Bad cinematography. Bad sets. This film asked to be bombed. - Priscilla June 28, 2001

Colorful Waste of Celluloid

One thing "Saviour of the Soul" proves is that you don't need Tim Burton or Joel Schumacker and a million to make a bad comic-book movie. All the things that made a film like "Heroic Trio" such an unexpected joy are missing here. Where "Heroic Trio" had light tone, that didn't take itself too seriously, "Saviour of the Soul" alternates between sorrow and stoogery. There is no coherent story nor reason to care about the characters and no amount of style and can save it.

If we care about Anita Mui's character, it's only because we like Anita Mui the actress. The love story is laughable; there's no reason to believe the characters should be lovers. Andy Lau's character is just a sullen jerk, with good martial arts skills. Each of the stars have made better films.

The fightings okay, but we've seen it all before. The special effects are generally cheesy. And don't get me started on Madam Pet, a ripoff of Brigitte Lin's character in "Zu, Warriors of the Magic Mountain." Life is short, spend it with better movies. May 23, 2001

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