七剑下天山

[Ian_Lee]

Taipei Times film review praised "Seven Swords" in par with Kurosawa's Seven Samurias:

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2005/08/05/2003266569

[skylee]

The photo in the Taipei Times review is korean actress 金素妍, not Charlie Young.

I have read some other positive reviews. They make me wonder what I have missed watching the film. I did not/do not think it is good. Maybe I should see it a second time.

[skylee]

I saw it again today. It seemed better. But on the whole I would 維持原判.

[Ian_Lee]

"Seven Swords" has grossed nearly RMB 80 million in Mainland's Box Office:

http://www.grrb.com.cn/news/news_detail.asp?news_id=233953&type_id=25

[tluroc76]

I think the box office success is largely due to the director - Hark Tsui and his cast. I can't comment on the original story line since I have never read the novel. The movie plot, however, it's mediocre at best.

Fight scenes are so-so, maybe I've seen too many Jet Li's earlier films. Another thing, did the movie actually end? One general down and there are still others, plus the prince that imposed the martial laws. Michael Wong appeared for all of 3 minutes. What about the sword he discovered? Perhaps there will be a sequel?

[Song You Shen]

So I just watched the movie last night. The DVD that I had was pretty poor and a ton of the english subtitles were missing. The story seemed interesting, but in the end of the movie I really didn't have a clue what the heck was going on. I guess I should read the novel to fill in all the gaps.

The movie did not flow at all, and many of the scenese looked like they were just cut and pasted to together. For example, it doesn't show how all of the 7 swordsmen meet up. The characters don't flow together either. The movie was very gritty and there wasn't a lot of clear shots like the still-screen advertisments would suggest. I guess I'll have to watch it a couple more times to understand it.

Youshen

[skylee]

Youshen, it is not that bad. Your impression might have to do with the quality of your DVD.

Perhaps there will be a sequel?

yeah it seems so. or at least there might be a fuller version.

[Song You Shen]

I would agree skylee. I'm hoping that when I watch it again, it will make more sense. The quality of the DVD didn't really bother me as much as not have subtitles in a number of places. It was hard to follow what they were saying.

I heard that the movie was 4 hours in length, but was cut down to 2 1/2 hours. Tsui Hark said that there would be up to 6 more sequals (depending on how well it does in the box-office), but he wasn't sure if he'd work on all of them. So it seems that there, indeed, will be sequals. (information came from monkeypeaches.com).

Youshen

[Ian_Lee]

The TV drama series, which was produced simultaneously with the movie by Tsui Hark, debutted on CCTV last week.

I heard it got much better review than the movie and rating is really high.

Has anybody watched it?

[lpascoe]

Haven't seen the CCTV series. Only just got around to renting the DVD of the film last week, but couldn't make it past the first 15 minutes. I was too bored. Not to mention grossed out by decapitations.