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Richard James Havis

Wuxia films ruled Hong Kong cinema in the 1960s, and saw another burst of success during the 1990s.
The 21st century has seen its fair share of effects-laden wuxia films, especially in mainland China, where fantasy sword-fighting movies are often made for streaming services.
Can today’s sword-fighting films live up to the classics of yesteryear? We look back at three high-profile wuxia films made this century.
1. Seven Swords (2005)


How does it measure up? A different kind of wuxia, but very good on its own terms.
Tsui Hark’s grand sword-fighting epic unspools more like a classic American Western than a wuxia film.
Gone are the Confucian codes of the martial arts world, replaced by outright brutality and a survivalist mentality that has more in common with revisionist Westerns like Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch than Shaw Brothers classics.
This is in spite of featuring Lau Kar-leung, the legendary director, actor and choreographer who brought those codes into martial arts films, in a leading role.

The film is an adaptation of Liang Yusheng’s novel Seven Swords of Mount Heaven and depicts a team of swordsmen – and a woman – saving a village from a murderous army of mercenaries.
The idea to adapt the novel, which was first filmed in 1959, originally came from Tsui’s director friend Jacob Cheung Chi-leung, and the two turned the story into a TV series for state-owned China Central Television first.
“I thought about expanding the characters, keeping a lot of the detail but adding to the momentum and scope of the story by expanding it,” Tsui told the Post. “Rather than using effects, you get close to the characters and you let the audience participate in the storytelling.”

The swords used in the film were not props but real weapons manufactured to authentic specifications. The cast, which included Donnie Yen Ji-dan, Leon Lai Ming and Charlie Young, had to study genuine sword-handling techniques to use them, and this resulted in cuts and bruises.
“It was hard work for everyone because I didn’t want the swords just to be props,” Tsui said.
2. Brotherhood of Blades (2014)


How does it measure up? Milder in tone than the classics, but extremely well made.
Hong Kong’s Terence Chang Chia-chen produced this sword-fighting epic, but it is more of a mainland Chinese production.
A well thought out script, magnificent production values, and some nuanced acting show just how far martial arts filmmaking has come in China.
“A top-notch costume action drama, driven by a meaty script and performances rather than by visual effects and star turns,” critic Derek Elley wrote on his Sino-Cinema website.

The storyline, from an original screenplay, is steeped in 20th century director Chang Cheh’s philosophies of brotherhood, loyalty and respect.
But instead of the macho types that populated Chang’s films, this trio of heroes are all sensitive souls who – in spite of being murderous assassins – are kind to those around them.
The story has echoes of Chang’s classic Blood Brothers, which featured a trio whose brotherhood is decimated by the lure of wealth, women and power. But this script, co-written by director Lu Yang, has the brotherly trio of assassins resolutely doing what is best for each other right up to the end.
The story is a rich panorama of palace intrigue, with various nefarious groups plotting against each other and the three heroes. But the interleaved strands are very clearly laid out, and the complicated plot is easy to follow.

“As well as taking an inventive spin on familiar material – heroes battling the Ming dynasty’s secret police, a wuxia staple since Dragon Gate Inn by King Hu – it also has the bonus, for genre fans, of capturing the classic essence of the martial-arts novel, despite not actually being based on one,” Elley wrote.
The Chinese title Embroidered Spring Blade refers to the special swords carried by the assassins, and the sword-fighting scenes, which are mainly one-against-many and feature above-average choreography.
They are certainly exciting, although they do not bring anything to the genre that has not already been tried and tested in Hong Kong.
3. Sword Master (2016)


How does it measure up? Modernises the genre while remaining faithful to its roots.
What begins as a superficial martial arts actioner quickly turns into an intriguing work that ruminates deeply on the world of jiang hu – the underground society of martial artists – and its meanings, challenges, restrictions and freedoms.
“At once an homage to the martial arts tradition of bygone years and a pointer to the state-of-the art technology in today’s cinema, Sword Master is easily one of the best Chinese-language remakes in recent times,” wrote the Post’s film editor, Edmund Lee.
The film was a long-in-the-works personal project for director Derek Yee Tung-sing. Since the 1990s, Yee has been known for directing superior contemporary dramas, but he first became famous as a martial arts actor in numerous Shaw Brothers wuxia classics.

Sword Master is both a remake of the Shaw Brothers film that made Yee’s name, Death Duel (1977), and a fresh adaptation of that film’s source material, Taiwanese martial arts novelist Gu Long’s novel of the same name.
The breadth of the movie, which is novelistic in style, suggests that Sword Master is more faithful to the intricacies of Gu’s novel than director Chor Yuen’s spare and brilliant Shaw Brothers version.
The story stars Lin Gengxin as Third Brother, a swordsman who is regarded as the best in the world of jiang hu. Because of his reputation, there are many who want to challenge him, so he has disappeared from the martial arts world to work as an odd-job man in a brothel.
But trouble seeks him out, mainly in the form of a powerful challenger called Yen Shih-san (Peter Ho Yun-tung).

That is pretty much the full story of the Chor Yuen version, but Yee fleshes it out with a plethora of characters and subplots. The costumes and sets may be garish, to attract a modern audience, but Yee, a seasoned and able humanist, embodies his characters with spirit and soul.
Chor Yuen was a fully fledged auteur who imbued his films with strangeness and mystery, partly because he shot everything inside on sound stages rather than on location.
Yee’s film expresses Gu’s imaginative flights of fancy and also refers directly to Chor Yuen’s mysterious style in some scenes, notably those which are full of nature and forest blooms.
In this regular feature series on the best of Hong Kong cinema, we examine the legacy of classic films, re-evaluate the careers of its greatest stars, and revisit some of the lesser-known aspects of the beloved industry.
Want more articles like this? Follow SCMP Film on Facebook


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Lin Gengxin as Third Master in a still from Sword Master. Photo: Bona Film Group

Donnie Yen in a still from Seven Swords, Tsui Hark’s 2005 sword-fighting epic and one of three notable wuxia films shot this century. Photo: Handout

Martial arts master Lau Kar-leung (front) in a still from Seven Swords. Photo: Handout

Charlie Young in a still from Seven Swords. Photo: Handout

Chang Chen in a still from Brotherhood of Blades. 

Wang Qianyuan in a still from Brotherhood of Blades. 

Peter Ho in a still from Sword Master.

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Gordon Liu in a still from Return to the 36th Chamber (1980).

Gordon Liu in a still from Return to the 36th Chamber (1980), directed by Lau Kar-Leung. Photo: Celestial Pictures

From left: Hsiao Ho, Kara Wai and Gordon Liu in a still from Return to the 36th Chamber (1980).

Martial arts master Lau Kar-leung pictured in 1991. Photo: SCMP

Gordon Liu in a still from Return to the 36th Chamber.

A still from Disciples of the 36th Chamber (1985).

Gordon Liu (left) and Hsiao Ho in a still from Disciples of the 36th Chamber.

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Sam Hui Koon-kit as Ling-wu Chung in a still from Tsui Hark’s Swordsman (1990), the film adaptation of a Louis Cha wuxia novel that launched and era of fantasy martial arts cinema in Hong Kong. Photo: Fortune Star Media

Cecilia Yip Tung as Kiddo in a still from Swordsman (1990). Photo: Fortune Star Media

Lau Shun in a still from Swordsman (1990). Photo: Fortune Star Media

Sharla Cheung Man in a still from Swordsman (1990). Photo: Fortune Star Media

Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia in a still from Swordsman II (1992). Photo: Golden Princess Film Production

Cecilia Yip Tung as Kiddo and Sam Hui Koon-kit as Ling-wu Chung in a still from Swordsman (1990). Photo: Fortune Star Media

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Lam Ching-ying and Sammo Hung in a still from Painted Faces. Photo: Celestial Pictures

Sammo Hung (seated) plays his mentor, Peking opera master Yu Jim-yuen, in a still from the 1988 film Painted Faces. Photo: Golden Harvest

Yu Jim-yuen (front) celebrates his birthday in 1988 with former students including Sammo Hung (front row, second from right). Photo: Sing Pao

A still from Painted Faces. Photo: Celestial Pictures

Alex Law and Mabel Cheung at an interview with the Post in 2009. Photo: SCMP

Buzz Chung played the young protagonist in Echoes of the Rainbow (2010). Photo: Handout

Some scenes in the film recalled a performance by Yu Jim-yuen and his students at the Lai Yuen Amusement Park, in Lai Chi Kok, Hong Kong (pictured in 1972). Photo: SCMP

Cheng Pei-pei in a still from Painted Faces. Cheng had not acted in films since the early 1970s before appearing in Painted Faces. 

Lam Ching-ying (left) and Sammo Hung in a still from Painted Faces. Photo: Celestial Pictures

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Sword-fighting films were popular in the 1960s and 1990s. Tsui Hark and Derek Yee were among directors who reinvented the genre this century


Sword-fighting films were popular in the 1960s and 1990s. Tsui Hark and Derek Yee were among directors who reinvented the genre this century.
