Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

ThrillMessage There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Brooklynn There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

MikaOznam Wuxia(pronounced woo-shee-ah)is a genre label of Chinese fiction about the trials and tribulation of martial artists in ancient China. Often Loners, they serve no master, and may hide behind a notorious past which must come to a head at one point so as to realign the universal elements within.Think along the thematic of Eastwood's spaghetti western but far more sublime than that.This is a remarkable cinematic journey - so far, one i took four times with each sitting revealing a deeper message about our own inner struggle with our duality of light and darknessDonnie Yen is a wonderful and very subtle actor. He's got acting chops and even without the choreographed martial arts, he's a delight to watch. Once of his best performance. In this movie, he's the karmic WuxiaTakeshi Kaneshiro, another fine Asian actor, plays the perfect foil, a prefecture detective of the scientific and logical mind caught between his own self righteousness and his admittance that there is no such thing as good men. He's the catalyst to the storm ahead. I've read most of the reviews posted and they are all excellent.All i can add to them is the finale, a brutal battle royal between the head "demon" of the clan and his offspring no longer under his spell, is simply epic and unforgettable and will surely have your heart pounding on an adrenaline high till the denouement. One of the few movies IMHO that deserve a 10

thegunslinger95842 This is not a detailed review, and I am not going to speak to the cultural differences between American story-telling and the various differences which can be found in foreign films generally.This movie has some very Chinese cultural approaches which I appreciate for their differences from the standard American approach.There are many significant themes present in this film. The primary theme is that redemption from past transgressions is never free and can be very expensive.The overall plot and storyline of the movie brought to mind: "Les Miserables", Victor Hugo; and "Crime and Punishment", Fyodor Dostoyevsky.The cinematography reminded me of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". Beautifully done.The martial fight scenes were excellently choreographed and very exciting to watch.The language is Chinese with subtitles, However, when I finished viewing the movie, I actually had to ask myself if there were subtitles because they were totally unobtrusive to the film or spoken dialogue.The story is taken from the point of view of a detective investigating the death of two criminals when they attempted a robbery and murder of the shop-keepers in a small town. The detective is the primary story-teller, and also, the narrator for transitions between scenes. The transition from scene to scene is almost totally seamless to the extent that there is no noticeable break.During his investigation of the two deaths, the detective suspects that the hero of the story is not a common laborer, but highly trained in the martial arts. The story centers on his relentless pursuit of the truth regardless of the consequences to the families and community.I classify this film in the same category of the best Chinese films released in recent years: "Hero", "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", and others I have watched.The only surprise for me was that I haven't found it nominated or receiving any awards in the foreign film category.Respectfully, MJR

thermal_socks Wu Xia (aka Dragon aka Swordsmen) is reminiscent of those classic Shaw Brothers movies that combined brilliant martial arts choreography with compelling characters. The plot is influenced by John Wagner and Vince Locke's graphic novel "A History of Violence" but this is not a remake of Cronenberg's film. With plenty of twists and turns to keep the viewer entertained, Wu Xia is one of the best martial arts films of recent years. Donnie Yen (Hero, Ip Man, Once Upon A Time in China 2) is on top form as a multi-faceted hero with a past. There's a lot of CSI/Sherlock Holmes style narration as the detective, played by Takeshi Kaneshiro ( Red Cliff, Chungking Express, House of Flying Daggers) unravels the identity of the village hero with a past. The dynamic between the rigid detective (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and the reformed criminal turned small town hero (Donnie Yen) is reminiscent of Inspector Javert and Jean Valjean in Les Misrables. Wu Xia is beautifully shot and well acted with great martial arts scenes. For martial arts buffs, Jimmy Wang Yu, star of the 1967 Shaw Brothers classic The One-Armed Swordsman also stars in this movie. Wu Xia (aka Dragon aka Swordsmen) is definitely a movie to add to your Blu-ray/DVD collection.

junktrashgarbage I loved this! Kara Hui, Jimmy Wang Yu and Donnie Yen all give absolutely terrific performances, with Yen's perhaps being the best of his career. Lots of wire assist in the martial arts, but it works in the context of the film, and besides... Hui and Wang aren't exactly spring chickens, so its great to see them in anything, much less doing such fine work in such a fantastic film! Plus, as one or two others have noted, though there are martial arts in this movie, I would not exactly call this a martial arts film. Regardless, it is easily among director Peter Chan's best, Chan - of course - also being responsible for HE'S A WOMAN, SHE'S A MAN / COMRADES: ALMOST A LOVE STORY / the GOING HOME segment from THREE / and Jet Li's THE WARLORDS).The film also stars Takeshi Kaneshiro. He portrays an investigator who humorously refuses to believe that it was simply accidental, bumbling, good luck that allowed Yen's country bumpkin, Jinxi (intentional wordplay?), to win out in a battle with two notorious murdering thugs. Instead, he believes Jinxi is hiding his martial arts skill (much as TV's Columbo would hide his intelligence), though each time he puts Jinxi to a cruel and painful test, the result is the same... Jinxi proves to be less than he seems, not more. But that's when Kara Hui and Jimmy Wang Yu enter the picture, and they too think that Jinxi is hiding his true identity, and they're willing to murder or maim his loved ones in order to force him to reveal his hand. And speaking of hands, there's a very nice homage to Wang Yu's ONE ARMED BOXER and ONE ARMED SWORDSMAN in the final chapter of this funny and dramatic film.