The Three Swordmen
If someone is able to figure their way through
this convoluted and misshapen film, the mythical labyrinth on the island
of Crete should be a snap. This film is an absolute mess from beginning
to end with only sumptuous production values and a few moments of flash
to hold one's interest. I'd like to say the fine cast was a positive, but
they are so poorly used that it made me squirm. The editing is simply appalling
for a well budgeted film such as this - not only in action scenes
that have you scratching your head in puzzlement and annoyance, but the
basic narrative flow often leaves you guessing where the characters are
and what their physical positions are in regards to one another. On top
of this are subtitles that are incomprehensible at times and laughingly
informal at others. Coming near the end of the popularity of the fantasy
flying kung fu films, this one certainly added one more nail in the coffin.
You know you are in trouble when the first five
minutes of the film is taken up by an attempt to explain the characters
and the background of the story - about three minutes into it and I wanted
to scream out "stop, before my head explodes!". Essentially, the film is
about two master Swordsmen - Andy Lau and Brigitte Lin. Yes, that
was swordsMEN as Brigitte Lin plays a man. Not disguised as a man mind
you or a man transmuting into a woman - but simply as a man. Of course,
there is a tradition in Chinese film with having women sometimes playing
male roles (though this came to an end for the most part by the end of
the 60's) - but here it just doesn't work. Brigitte Lin doesn't look masculine
in the least bit - and somehow trying to portray a man makes her very colorless
and bland - a sin in my book. She also has next to nothing to do in this
film but look solemn and the fact that she is dubbed by a man certainly
doesn't help matters (though John Charles points out that she is dubbed
by a female on the Mandarin track!). Andy on the other hand is all phony
charm - looking more lounge lizard than deadly swordsman here.
The plot . . . ah the plot . . . my kingdom for
a plot - I really am not at all sure what it was. Someone is trying to
destroy Brigitte's family and they initiate a plan that first frames Andy
for murder thus hoping to force Brigitte to protect him from the royal
family and leaving her own family open to charges of treason. Tsui Kam
Kong is the honorable lawman (and the third swordsman of the title) who
chases Andy across the region and Yu Li is the member of Brigitte's family
that seems to have an agenda of her own and hair that is as deadly as any
sword.
Some of the action has moments of imagination
- but generally it has such rapid edits and a camera that moves as swiftly
as the actors do that it is nearly impossible to grasp what is going on.
After a while it becomes extremely monotonous and only a great performance
from Brigitte could have saved this - but regrettably she is never given
the chance.
My rating for this film: 3.5
DVD Information:
Distributed by Universe
The transfer is terrific - great colors
and very sharp.
Letterboxed
Cantonese and Mandarin language tracks
Subtitles: Unfortunately, Universe does
an unusually poor job with the subs. There are only burnt on Chinese and
English subs and often they are difficult to see against the background
and at least on my DVD player they occasionally fell below the screen.
Also surprisingly for Universe, there are no
extras - no trailer or previews
There are 8 chapter stops.