Legend tells of countless treasures buried somewhere deep in the cold earth. The secret to finding this treasure is contained in an iron box, guarded by master swordsman Hu Yidao (Yijiang Wu). Self-proclaimed Emperor Tian Guinong (Gang Wang) has set his sights on this treasure, and comes up with a plan to use his villains to trick Hu Yidao into facing off in a duel with his equally-skilled rival Miao Renfeng (Mark Cheng). The two men fall into the trap, both are killed. But before Tian Guinong and his men can get their hands on the iron box, it disappears. The villains keep searching until the iron box finally reemerges 10 years later, and they get their hands on the map to the treasure.
However, the quest will take these eight villains deep into the dangerous Feihu Mountains, which is home to a mysterious swordsman known as The Hidden Fox—the reincarnation of Hu Yiadu—who only preys on villains. It is said that no one has ever left the mountain alive. Heading up the group is Tao Baisui (Ray Lui), though none of these villains really trust one another, especially Baoshu (Shanshan Chunyu), who is a rival of Tao Baisui. Whoever finds the treasure first will given title of Marquis, so everyone is really out for themselves. Each of these villains also has some secret ability they have kept hidden from the others, and this is what keeps them from mutual destruction—the villains don’t know what one another are truly capable of. All of these assassins have martial arts skills, and wield their choice of deadly weapons—for young Guiyu (Huawei Zhao) it’s a pair of massive swords, for Qingwen (Yusi Chen) it’s a chain whip, Zhou Yunyang (Yi Yang) carries a sharpened bow, Butler Sai (Zichong Zhao) a bow and arrow, and so on. Rounding out the villainous team are Zheng Sanniang (Zihan Chen) and Yinji (Jia Fu).
As the villains make their way through the forest towards the treasure, loyalties come into question, they face dangerous environments, deadly hidden talents, and a mysterious swordsman hiding in the wings, ready to take them out one by one.
The Flying Swordsman is based on the 1959 wuxia novel Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain by Jin Yong. I really enjoyed this movie. There are lots of unexpected twists and turns to the story, with allegiances constantly coming into question, and characters being not quite so honest about their motives or who they really are. There is a lot of exciting martial arts action with the assassins wielding a variety of weapons, throwing kicks and punches, or defying gravity as they fly across the screen to attack one another. As the characters face off against one another, they start to reveal their hidden talents, which usually have some sort of fantastical element.
The film makes use of an interesting flashback storytelling technique. As the events play out, we’ll see the characters get stuck in some dangerous or deadly situation, and then the movie will jump back years, months, days or just a few hours to show what really happened, reveal some big truth, or demonstrate what actually led up to the current predicament. There is a lot of fun misdirection in the writing, with the flashback showing that things are not quite what you would have guessed or led to believe, leading to some surprising reveals. Over the coarse of the film, we see each of the villain’s unique power revealed, which they either use on one another, or to try to take down the mysterious flying swordsman. This leads to some very creative and visually stunning fights.
Well Go has only released this movie on physical disc in DVD format, though it is also available in HD on digital. The DVD picture looks surprisingly solid, and the effects blend in seamlessly. It just lacks that little bit of extra sharpness and clarity of an HD release. The film has some very creative shots, such as in the opening prologue when the two rivals are facing off, and it makes use of a Western-like split screen. The fight sequences are also really well framed and exciting to watch. The audio track is only offered in its original Mandarin, though the English subtitles are well-written and easy to understand, and there’s English text on the screen to denote the flashbacks, locations, and other items. The audio track makes nice use of the surroud track to provide an immersive ambiance. This is especially noticeable in a flashback when we learn of Guiyu’s origins as a young man forced to work in a gold mine, or as the villainous group is surrounded by hyenas in a cave.
The DVD is barebones when it comes to bonus material, just offering the film’s trailer and trailers for three other Well Go releases. The DVD disc comes packed in a standard DVD keepcase. There is no digital copy, but our review copy did include an embossed slipcover.
What’s Included:
Film: (1:43:31)
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DVD:
- 480i / Anamorphic Widescreen 16:9
- Audio: Mandarin Dolby Digital 5.1, Mandarin Stereo
- Subtitles: English
Extras:
- Trailer (1:28)
- Previews (4:26)
Trailers for Wolf Pack, The Wandering Earth 2, and Eye For An Eye: The Blind Swordsman.
Final Thoughts:
The Flying Swordsman is a really entertaining film, with some great martial arts action, and really entertaining twists and turns. It makes clever use of misdirects and flashbacks leading to some surprising reveals. While this film only received a physical release on DVD, Well Go’s disc still looks and sounds great. This is an easy recommendation for those looking for a fun martial arts movie with a clever and interesting story.
The Flying Swordsman
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