One thing up front: This film does take place in Ku Lung's dilligently
created martial arts world, a world with a logic and laws (including laws
of nature) often quite different from the real world. Some things
will not make too much sense in my writing, but they do make sense in the
film ...
Some time long ago: The five big clans - the Gold River Clan, the Green
Wood Clan, the Spirit Fire Clan, the White Water Clan and the Black Earth
Clan are fighting for supremacy in the martial arts world, which was ruled
for the past 5 years by the Purple Robe Duke (Yueh Hua) of the White Water
Clan. But at his birthday party, the Duke is poisoned by the mysterious
Samurai Killer, but since he has given him a very slow poison, the Duke
decides to hide from his enemies in a diving bell and send his brother
Baoyu (Liu Yung) out to get him the antidote from the Green Wood Clan,
residing at the elusive Huanha Palace.
Baoyu is accompanied by the mysterious Little Princess (Cecilia Wong
Hang-Sau), whom he has fallen in love with at first sight, but their path
is perilous, since the Enemies of the White Water Clan want to find out
where the Purple Robe Duke is hiding at any cost, while Baoyu doesn't even
know who the enemies are or where his brother is hiding. Soon enough, the
enemies have poisoned Little Princess and lure both of them off to Heaven
Scent Forest for the antidote ... where Baoyu is attacked and drugged with
a truth serum - but since he won't (can't) talk, he and Little Princess
are eventually released.
On the path to Huanha Palace, Baoyu and Little Princess are sidetracked
more often, and upon reaching the Palace, Baoyu even has to fight the
Green Wood Clan's master Leng Bingru (Goo Goong-chung), because Leng
Bingru makes the White Water Clan responsible for his sister's death, who
was once married to the Purple Robe Duke. But ultimately, Leng Bingru
doesn't only give Baoyu the sacred water tht would cure his brother but
also teaches him a few techniques to fight villains like the Samurai
Killer.
Only upon their journey home is Baoyu again lured to the Heaven Scent
Forest, where he is again drugged, and he learns that Little Princess and
her father, the Lord of the Black Earth Clan and an old drunkard, are in
the employ of the enemies of the White Water Clan, who turn out to be the
Gold River Clan and the Spirit Fire Clan, who figure without the sacred
water, Black Robe Duke would be done for and their supremacy over the
martial arts world would be undisputed.
At the next gathering of the leaders of the martial arts world, the
leaders of these two clans, the Gold River Queen and the Fire Demon God,
claim supremacy, to find to their greatest surprise that Purple Robe Duke
is still alive (since meditating in the diving bell for days has
significantly prolongued his life) and even puts up a fight ...
In the meantime, the old drunkard from the Black Earth Clan and the
Little Princess have found their conscience and set Baoyu free while even
the Leng Bingru of the Green Wood Clan, who has sworn to turn his back on
the martial arts world, has decided to intervene on the side of right and
justice ... and need I say, after a giant martial arts battle that also
involved some magic tricks (including flamethrowing and instant-freezing),
evil is defeated and good prevails.
As pretty much all of Chu
Yuan's Ku Lung adaptations, this is a great piece of
otherworldly martial arts cinema, made in a time before unusual
storylines, weird gadgets and over-the-top effects became genre
staple. Also, the film (like most of the series) pays remarkably little
heed to genre conventions, instead tells an outrageous tale that
incorporates elements of the mystery-, the espionage- and the adventure
genre with the greatest of ease. That Chu Yuan's direction is as usual
flawless and he once again manages to use the artificial studio sets to
the film's advantage of course doesn't hurt either.
Simply put, watch it, it will leave your mouth agape.
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