Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Tweekums Set in the sixteenth century, shortly after the fall of China's Ming Dynasty, the new emperor has banned ordinary people from practising martial arts. Fire Wind, a brutal warlord, sees this as an opportunity to get very rich killing those who break the new law to collect the bounty... of course he doesn't stop there; his forces kill everybody and claim they were breaking the law. Fu Qingzhu, who worked as an executioner for the old regime has forsworn violence and decides to stop Fire Wind. He warns the people of Martial Village but rather than believing him they try him for his past crimes and sentence him to death. He escapes with the help of the chief's daughter, who he'd previously saved, and heads to Mount Heaven with two villagers. Here they are given seven swords and the help of four students. They return to Martial village in time to stop the first attack but they know that won't be the end of it.If you like martial arts films with plenty of swordplay then this could be the film for you. The opening scene, where we see a village massacred is probably the most disturbing so if you get past that you should be okay with the later violence. While there are plenty of heads and limbs lopped off there isn't too much blood. There is lots of action which is exciting and relies on less obvious wirework than many wuxia films. There are a few twists where we are led to believe that one thing happened but later flashbacks show us what really happened. Director Tsui Hark does a great job capturing the action. The story is relatively easy to follow; the good guys are clearly differentiated from the very villainous bad guys, some of whom look like characters from 'Mad Max' films! Away from the main story there are a couple of romances and the hunt for a traitor amongst the villagers. The cast does an impressive job, both during the fighting scenes and during more personal moments. Overall I'd recommend this both to fans of the genre and to fans of action films in general.These comments are based on watching the shorter cut of the film in Mandarin with English subtitles.

Anssi Vartiainen Seven Swords continues the proud wuxia film tradition by being utterly gorgeous, full of martial arts battles, making little to no sense whatsoever plot-wise, having the actors hamming it out constantly, yet containing subtle philosophies concerning the matter of control versus guidance, the capacity for violence used to protect and vice versa.It's also a rather great adaptation of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, borrowing its central plot, but giving it a more mythical approach and style in a true wuxia fashion.The best part of this film are its production values and art style. The whole film look amazing, but is given a bit more grounded style compared to other wuxia films that are usually awash with colours, loud and bombastic with details. There's still extravaganza, but it's darker, more threatening in style. One of the most enjoyable aspects of this are the weapons, both those used by the villains that are more bizarre and outlandish in design, and the actual Seven Swords from Mount Heaven. They straddle that thin line between being interesting and creative and being just functional-looking enough that you can buy them.The story itself is unfortunately nothing special. It contains some really good moments, but also some really bad moments. The fighting and the emotions are genuine and real, but the clichés and melodrama drag the other scenes down. Seven Swords is worth a watch if you're into wuxia films, or if you're looking for a good fantasy adventure.

kluseba Tsui Hark usually happens to be a solid venue when it comes to direct artistic, epic and philosophic Chinese movies as he proved in unforgettable classics such as "A Chinese Ghost Story" or "Once Upon A Time In China" to only name the most famous movie series he has been a part of.Sadly, in opposition to many favourable reviews, I must say that this movie happens to be the worst I've known from him. The whole story is confusing and not well told. The seven main characters are introduced in strange ways. Some get a lot of screening time, others just appear and are a part of the group without getting any development at all. That's why it's difficult to always understand who is who and who is doing what for which reason. Many useless flashbacks make the whole thing even worse.The battle scenes in this movie are extremely incoherent. Some of them are truly beautiful, well filmed and prove of great aesthetics. The first big battle introduces for example intriguing main villains and a lot of original arms. Other fighting scenes are just overlong while nothing really happens, for example the last fight with the main villain. The movie kicks off very promising and the first fifteen minutes are quite perfect but the film quickly decreases and even the open ending is a letdown.The acting is also strange. Some characters show so many emotions that they don't look profound but like ridiculous caricatures. The scenes with the hysteric Korean woman for example are funny first but get truly annoying after a while. The love scenes and relationship in this movie are all but credible. Many critics say the characters have a lot of depth but apart of the first three or four actors out of seven we're introduced to, this is not true in my humble opinion. Half of the seven main characters are rather faceless, the villagers are too stereotypical and the villains faceless or just out of their minds. The most intriguing character which is the evil woman with the Gothic look, dies way too soon in this movie. I must also criticize Donnie Yen who seems to be the new martial arts star from China. He still has a lot to do to get even close to a Bruce Lee, Ti Lung, Jackie Chan, Leslie Cheung or Jet Li to only name a few. I think he is quite overrated just as the "Ip Man" films with him.The movie also has its positive sides. As I said, the beginning is very strong. The filming is well done as the camera angles are well chosen, the choreography as well as images are very precise and the authentic costumes are flawless. In the beginning, the movie also works a lot with colours, for example by adding a darker tone to the red colours by making the surroundings look grey in the first brutal battle scenes. This stylistic elements fits well to the atmosphere but the movie strangely stops to employ this intriguing technique after a while. The ideas and the precision both decrease after a while even though the whole thing still remains somewhere between solid to good.In the end, the few positive aspects don't justify to watch this film that is a big letdown coming from a brilliant director as Tsui Hark usually is without a doubt. The movie had too many lengths in the fighting scenes but also a lack of depth concerning too many characters. Critics are very controversial and you should be warned before you try this one out but I definitely wouldn't recommend you to watch this mediocre effort.

thisissubtitledmovies excerpt, more at my location - Given Tsui Hark's lengthy CV, expectations are understandably high for any of his films, and Seven Swords is no exception. An explosion of unlikely influences, a celebration of genre, a clash of cultures, it should be a multifaceted film wrapped up in layers of meaning. But whether Hark satisfies the challenge that he has set himself remains debatable.Seven Swords is an admirably accessible beginner's guide to Eastern cinema, but for most, it has opened the doors far too wide and the substance has fallen out. Perhaps original and bold for fearless genre experimentation, and certainly striking for its imagery, it offers nothing to challenge the viewer or even engage them. Placing audiences in an ambiguous position, it makes for uncomfortable viewing - is Hark sharing a story with them, or just patronising them? In either case, more fool him: boredom is inevitable in this painful and over budgeted mess.