Rating: NR
Genre:
Epic
Release Date: 01/16/2007
SubTitles: English/Espanol
Dubbed: English/Cantonese/Mandarin
Sound: DD5.1/DTS-ESM
Run Time: 153 Minutes
Distributor/Studio: Weinstein Company
Tsui Hark (
The Blade) adapted his massive martial arts epic
Seven Swords (AKA
Qi Jian) from
Liang yu-Sheng's ravenously popular novel
Seven Swordsmen from Mount Tian. The story opens in the 1660s, following the implementation of China's (Manchu) Qing dynasty. To quell possible nationalist uprisings, the emperor issues a decree forbidding the use of martial arts, and guarantees decapitation for anyone who violates that order. A class of bounty hunters quickly formed to enforce the law and collect 600 pieces of silver for each violator; the most massive and domineering of the warriors is the bald, muscular
Fire-Wind (
Sun Honglei), a bellicose and volatile creature who lives in an elephantine tentlike dwelling on a hill. This walking terror selects Martial Village, a hamlet in northwestern China, as his next assignment. Meanwhile, in Martial, two young adults,
Wu Yuanyin (
Charlie Young) and her ex-beau,
Han Zhibang) rescue an old executioner,
Fu Qingzhu (
Lau Kar-leung) who foresees the coming wrath and acknowledges the necessity of pulling in the mythical 'Warriors of Mt. Tian' to fight
Fire-Wind and his cronies. The four warriors summoned by
Fu include
Chu Zhaonan (
Donnie Yen), and
Yang Yunchong (
Leon Lai), who dramatically increase the tension and bloodshed when the former develops a crush on one of
Fire-wind's hostages,
Green Pearl (
Kim So-yeon) and decides to kidnap her - sending
Fire-wind through the roof. The critically-worshipped
Hark reportedly cut two versions of this film (including a 2 1/2 hour cut and a 3-hour cut) and demonstrated incredible confidence in
Qi Jian by planning it as the initial installment in a massive series of multimedia sequels, including a 74-part television series, an online video game, comics, and five additional films. The picture itself testifies to this, with the setup for a sophomore installment in its conclusion.
Qi Jian, however, did lackluster box office when it opened in the Far East in July 2005, making the follow-ups less than certain.
~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
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