The Storm Warriors

Based on the successful comic book series ‘Fung Wan’, The Storm Warriors is the highly anticipated sequel to Andrew Lau’s 1998 action-fantasy epic The Storm Riders.

While there seems to be a trend in current Asian fantasy cinema that favours style over content, the Pang Brothers (The Eye) have succeeded in creating a sequel that is so overloaded with mind-boggling special effects that it simply distracts from the actual content. And plenty of the latter is to be found here.

Superstars Ekin Cheng and Aaron Kwok reprise their roles as Wind and Cloud – two warriors who possess the power to control the elements. Thanks to the courage, skill and determination of both, peace and tranquillity have dominated the empire for many years. But peace is about to be turned into the opposite when Lord Godless, the evil warlord, sets his eyes on ruling all of China. In an attempt to usurp the throne, he uses a specially formulated poison to subdue the country’s leading martial arts masters, including the legendary swordsman Nameless. To add insult to injury, Lord Godless has attained near invincibility after having absorbed all of Nameless’s powers.

In order to prevent Lord Godless from carrying out unspeakable barbaric deeds in his quest to conquer China, Wind attempts to increase his powers by recklessly submitting himself to the darker side of his mystical fighting arts. Alas, just like in a Faustian pact, there is a price to be paid. The price Wind has to pay is that he is completely overcome by evil as his potency increases. Now it is up to Cloud to master a powerful sword-style fight to defeat Godless, and then to face his ‘brother’ in a spectacular duel to the death.

With visual nods to Zack Snyder’s groundbreaking adaptation of Frank Miller’s graphic novel 300, The Storm Warriors feels as if its directors want to say, “Look, we can create special effects that are just as brilliant or perhaps even better.” The film won the ‘Best Visual Effects Award’ at the 29th Hong Kong Film Awards earlier this year, and that in itself sums up what the movie is about, namely a stunning visual effects ride that has one effect in particular: you’ll find yourself so preoccupied with taking in all the special wizardry, it makes you not really care for the plot anymore. The fact that the dialogue is in Cantonese (with English subtitles) doesn’t help combat the distraction.

Nonetheless, if films like 300 are your thing, then The Storm Warriors – The Ultimate Edition, won’t disappoint. The DVD (there is a Blue Ray version as well) comes with several Extras, including various featurettes and interview gallery.