User reviews

Because this movie was made in the 1980s, I did not expect the special FX to be the equivalent of anything made in the states, or even up to the level of The Stormriders. However, I found this film a lot more enjoyable than the latter. This film is almost a non-stop ride full of swordfights, optical FX battles, flying people, and it still leaves room for some interesting themes also.

The plot deals with a soldier being disillusioned by the endless civil wars that have been fought. He goes to a mountain where he joins a swordsman, a monk and his apprentice, Sammo Hung, and some lovely ladies in a quest to defeat the Blood Demon, a being of pure evil. On the way, the soldier (Yuen Biao) and the monk's apprentice (Mang Hoi) must find some swords to use in the battle.

The action is nearly non-stop. It first starts out with some basic swordplay. Once Yuen reaches the mountain, than everything shifts into overdrive. Optical FX fly across the screen at dizzying speeds. Humans and demons fly across the screen at dizzying speeds. People get frozen alive. Women fly around with swirling cloth in their wake. Men fly around chained to boulders. Eyebrows are used to contain evil. All I can say is...wow. Only Ching Siu Tung could come up w/ some as imaginative as this.

As I mentioned earlier, there are some interesting themes involved. Tsui Hark seemed to make a statement against world leaders who start senseless wars and kill innocent people. Also, he talks about how battles become futile when people won't set aside their differences for a common cause. If we want to save the world or even ourselves, we all have to work together.

Of interesting note is the International dubbed version. That version makes the film into a dream sequence and turns the war parable into a love story spanning many generations. A lot of scenes are cut and shortened, giving the Zu mountain segment a very rushed feel. Overall, the subtitled version is a lot more preferable.

Set during a feudal period with many warring clans, Yuen Biao stars as a young warrior who deserts his army and , after falling off of a cliff, finds himself in a magical land in the middle of its own war. The forces of Good, lead by the ancient sorcerer White Brows (Sammo Hung), are at odds with the forces of Evil, lead by the Blood Demon (Corey Yuen). Biao teams up with a group of heroic warriors, including Adam Cheng and Brigitte Lin, to help defeat the evil menace.

Filled with bizarre characters (White Brows fights with his extendable eyebrows!) and dazzling, if primitive, special effects, this film is a non-stop feast for the eyes. It maintains a light tone for the most part, and the choreography, which utilizes a lot of "wire-fu", is spectacular. It has a low budget (for American audiences, anyway) can-do feel, and a lot of the effects are done with in-camera trickery that is quite clever.

The script is convoluted, the way a lot of kung-fu epics are, and there are times when you aren't quite sure who is who and what is what. Some of this I blame on the DVD I watched, a poor quality edition from a Chinese distributor, with a shoddy English-dubbed audio track. If someone were to put this out on a re-mastered Blu Ray, I would buy it in a second. Highly recommended for martial arts fans, and fans of weird world cinema.

To truly appreciate Tsui Hark's film Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain, one must approach the film from a total aesthetic view. The film is really a site to behold, moves at an unbelievably fast pace, and employs some of the zaniest special effects and action sequences ever captured on film. Zu Warriors is also pure Hark: no other director could have crammed 3000 years of Chinese mythology into an 98-minute mini-epic with as much visceral stimuli, humor, over the top action and nuttiness as Hark did. And, only Tsui Hark could make such a convoluted mess of a narrative so much pure fun to behold.

Zu Warriors is the ultimate Martial Arts fantasy. However, Hark uses this fantasy backdrop for politically charged themes and metaphors. The film starts with two rival soldiers, Ti Ming who fights for the "blue army" and East Zu Soldier who fights for the "orange army", trying to escape (quite comically I might add) the absurdities of war. Ti Ming (Yuen Biao) is court marshaled for agreeing with two of his own generals (one wanted to attack by land, the other by sea. They can't both be right, and since Ti Ming agreed with both, he must be wrong) and East Zu Soldier (Samo Hung) is just on the run from the war. They meet up and are soon ambushed by the "green army", the "yellow army" and the "red army". At this point Biao's character declares "what a colorful war this is!" Right before the attack, Ti Ming and EZS share a moment where they discover they were practically neighbors separated only by a river and the color of their uniforms.

All of this takes place in the first 10 minutes of film! Hark clearly shows his hate of war, the ineptitude of the ruling officials, and how underneath petty differences both sides of the battlefield are the ultimately the same and the soldiers really don't want to fight. At this point Ti Ming and EZS decide to try and play dead, but soon discover that over half of the fallen soldiers are also playing dead! They both try to escape but EZS is captured while Ti Ming falls from a top a high cliff and lands in a valley of the Magical Mountains. Here Hark clearly moves into another common theme of his: alienation in one's own country. Although Ti Ming is still in his own world, he has fallen into a place where he feels like a fish out of water, a common narrative thread and real life struggle of those living in Hong Kong – they are Chinese but not really part of China, alienated from their own nationality.

The film now shifts gears into the utter fantastic. Once within the shadows of the Magic Mountains, Ti Ming meets two strong and crazy warrior monks and a master swordsman who controls two magical flying swords. Ti Ming falls out of a war, and into the ultimate war. He soon discovers that the wars on his plane of reality are fought because of the ultimate battle between good and evil that is constantly going on in the dangerous peaks, valleys, temples and shrines of the Magic Mountains. Here Samo Hung turns up again but this time he is White Brows, a priest who fights evil with his animated facial hair and is the embodiment of ultimate good who is battling the Blood Demon, a giant red monstrosity representing not only the ultimate evil, but red China itself.

Although the film is most definitely a wild fantasy, Hark continues to bombard his audience with allegory of his social-political beliefs. During the next hour the viewer is treated to some of the most imaginative visual film-making ever produced. Hark shows giant stone elephants used as projectiles, ghostly figures who attack from giant clay jars, black cloaked demons who multiply and attack with flags, monks fighting with giant flying cymbals, animated skulls, lightening bolts from finger tips, flying swordsmen, a beautiful mountain top shrine inhabited by beautiful female priestesses led by The Countess (the always good looking Brigitte Lin) and a host of other such amazing sights. It is a good thing that the film is so aesthetically pleasing, because ultimately this is really the only level the film truly works on. When it comes to a well-structured plot without the need for the audience to make HUGE leaps in continuity or logic, Zu Warriors unfortunately falls flat. It is just too scatter brained and Hark tried to cram too much into such a short running time.

Although the narrative and characters may be lost and utterly convoluted, what stands out are Hark's message and his energy. The pure kinetic force of Zu Warriors can really be felt oozing from the screen. This is the type of energy typically found in a young director, doing new things, and challenging the conventions and institutions of the day. However, Hark unlike many directors, continued to channel this energy throughout the majority of his career. Zu Warriors may be a narrative disaster but what it lacks in cohesiveness, it more than makes up for in pure excitement and entertainment. ZU Warriors not only launched the entire fantasy martial arts genre (which by the way directly influenced Sam Raimi to make Evil Dead and John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China) but it launched the career of one of the worlds most creative directors who continues to shape the landscape of genre film-making even today. And for this we should all be eternally grateful.

If you are a fan of Hong Kong action films and you haven't seen this i would suggest you track a copy down right now.

As an opening paragraph it sums up the importance of this landmark title. Conceived by its' makers as a production to rival Western films for technical (behind the camera) as well as beating them technically in front as well.

Although it fails to rival the level of sophistication with its' effects (due to bane of all Hong Kong films, its' limited budget)to match those of Hollywood films of its' time is irrelevant, it looks and feels so Far Eastern as well as using cutting edge (for 1982)it is simply unique.

The story is set in mythical times in China, where constant wars threaten to consume everyone, soldier or otherwise. One such soldier (ably played by Yuen Biao) manages to alienate himself from his commanders and ends up getting lost in the mystical region of Zu, fabled for its' magic mountain.

He becomes embroiled in a quest to find a pair of magical swords to kill a blood demon which threatens the whole of humanity. The blood demon draws its' power from pain and suffering and there is enough in the world to allow it to destroy all mankind.

The film contains so much energy, unparallelled visual flair and a cast which has the skill and experience to make it all work. The directors' vision and imagination are easy to see and appreciate, if you take the time to look. It is too easy to watch the action and miss the subtleties. It is a film which is difficult to describe, but unforgettable once watched.

I've got to say, this movie delivered exactly what I thought it would when I bought it. And I bought it simply on the strength of the box and how it said something really good about Tsui Hark. Ever since I have unfailingly watched any Tsui Hark movie that has come across my path. I love this movie. It's goofy in the extreme and at many points simply doesn't make sense. Maybe it's because I've been brainwashed by too many episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000, but I love cheesy movies. The fight scenes are excellent, the scenery is superb and the story is spellbinding, (there I think I've but exhausted my list of critic cliché adjectives). It's especially good to watch if you're an enhancement smoker.

This eye-popping, special-effects-laden Asian fantasy is a real feast for the eyes. It stars Yuen Biao as a soldier who, fed up with the constant and seemingly pointless civil war, deserts his platoon only to find himself caught in another battle. He escapes the battle by falling off a cliff, but descends unharmed into a cave, where he is rescued from an attack by glow-eyed flying demons by a fantastic warrior with a magical flying sword. He goes under the tutelage of the warrior, who is reluctant to take on a new pupil. What follows, words cannot aptly describe. Suffice it to say, it's an absolutely frenzied mix of action, special effects and bizarre, magical occurrences. The action is non-stop and the editing is laser-paced. I was absolutely exhausted by the end of the film. The cast is likewise first-rate. I was impressed especially by Sammo Hung in a dual role: as Yuen Biao's soldier buddy, and as Long Brows, the ancient priest who holds the Blood Monster at bay using his "sky mirror" and magical extending beard and eyebrows...You'd have to see it to understand. Suffice to say that there's many moments in this film that will have you thinking, "I have no idea what's going on, but it sure *looks* cool." Trust me, you won't be able to tear your eyes from the screen.

Well, I must say, I first watched "Zu Warriors" from 2001 over and over again (about 12 times) with my brother, and we both totally love it. After that movie i got interested in the Chinese legend about zu mountain. Therefore I rented this movie, also because it is recommended in many a review. First to say, the story has many details about the Zu legend, which are important. But only that doesn't make it a good movie. I'm afraid, if I hadn't watched "Zu Warriors" first, I wouldn't have understood one inch of this movie and would be totally confused and bored after 3 minutes. Many a scene in this movie simply is so boring and unimportant, it could have been cut out or replaced (also to say, the never "Zu Warriors" from 2001 nearly tells the same story only backwards compared to this). The so-called special-effects in this high-budget Honk-Kong wuxia are honestly said the worst I've seen for a long time in a high-rated a-movie. Also It's still the early '80s, they could have done a lot better with the given budget.

Summary: Only if you are hardcore wuxia fan AND are interested in the legend about ancient china zu mountains!

"Zu Warriors" certainly pushed wuxia to its limits; it has such a relentless air of enthusiasm, especially given its limited budget, that its incredibly easy to dismiss any faults it does have just because of its overwhelmingly extravagant nature. Its glorious, vivid production design and intentionally camp attitude makes it very difficult not to be totally drawn into its colourful images while completely forgetting the film has a plot.

Tsui Hark has included just about everything in this one. The special effects may not be up to much but that is a sideline; the wonderful swordplay starts almost immediately and the films rarely lets up as it jumps from one operatic martial art display to another, helped by an impeccable cast featuring iconic stars such as Sammo Hung and Brigitte Lin.

Unfortuantly it still took some work before films of this sort were appreciated in the west. Despite the efforts of John Carpenter, it still took over a decade and Crouching Tiger to truly bring this wonderful form of entertainment to the masses. There's only so much praise you can give a film before saying it has to be seen to be appreciated fully. This is certainly a landmark in wuxia and an essential showpiece of Hong Kong action at its finest. (A testament to this is the fact the DVD has a Bey Logan commentary.)

This is a crazy film. Trying to understand the plot of this film is like fastforwarding a film and trying to make out the story from it. After a while I just tried to focus on the special effects and martial art instead, but even that became hard to follow during the rapid editing and many dark settings - there is lots of fights during bright daylight as well, but it still didn't make things easier for me, it would be like describing a color to a blind person.

To me, the film felt more like a showcase of what kind of effects could be thrown in, just try it all and put it into this film, no matter if it makes any sense for the film or not. It's a fantasy with lots of lightnings, fire, beams, sparks and what have you shooting out from hands and then a giggling fish too, which kind of just made my brain melt a bit in my head. When you watch a CGI-heavy film today, you can easily lose focus and interest in the characters because you realize how much is not actual real in the film, it was the same here, after a while I didn't care who was who or what they did and if they would succeed. The synopsis says that they're trying to save the universe, but I didn't really get the feeling that it was something that big going on during this film.

I also couldn't help thinking of other films that reminded me of this film, like Krull, The Dark Crystal and The Neverending Story - all of those films having a nostalgic value to many people, and I can see how Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain would be the same - I would probably have loved this film as a child, I would've understood less, but what's not cool about magic sword fights and crazy wireworks with silky robes all over the screen? Like those other films I mentioned, this film is also a story about a journey, but it doesn't have the payoff that it needs to become a true classic like the other epic films, right now it will just be a Chinese Krull to me.

I'm afraid the filmmakers behind this film had too many things they wanted to do with one film and ended up pressing all of it into it - instead of just focusing on a linear story with less characters and a clear goal. It was nice to see an early Yuen Biao and Sammo Hung is always fun, Brigitte Lin was really attractive and I would've love to see more between her and Adam Cheng's character, instead of the ending we got, that just felt awkward and disappointing. This film also have one of the worst freeze frame ending cuts - I don't think anyone can argue about that.

This film illustrates the major difference between Western and Eastern fantasy films. A western version of this same film would attempt for some level of realism, some element of grittiness and angst. This film ignores realism entirely. Hey, its a fantasy already! Swordsman and monks float and dive in aerial battle, an old man's eyebrows are deadly weapons, whole armies of guys in brightly colored uniforms run about attacking each other for very poorly explained reasons, and blue eyed jawa clones swoop about the inside of evil temples. Although the ending is almost unintelligible, the first hour of the film is just one cool scene after another. The editing of this film would certainly make an epileptic have a seizure, but after five minutes you stop caring about the plot and dialogue and just start enjoying the wacky surreal action. I wish I could see this one on the big screen.

The young director Hark Tsui grew up dreaming to be a filmmaker since tender age, then he went to Texas to study, returning aftermaths at Hong Kong making several independent short movies, soon he was invited by major Hong Kong's studio to do a boldest project, his crew were sent to Japan to learn Japanese's special effects, whereof he found it outdated, thus the studio managed to contract foreign VfX's experts from America to aid him in this picture which took a year to be finish.

Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain had a huge budge, therefore some famous Chinese actors were contracted for briefly period of time for a day, meanwhile the main newest fixed cast had to acting full time often lead to exhaustion due longest day-journey, the plot is based in Chinese folklore over a younger Chinese warrior that gets in touch with the several Chinese Prince, Princess, of heaven and the underground, to keep the peace they must help those semi-gods to uphold the harmony on the surface, this movie has a breathtaking multi-colors visual and special effects added by outstanding lightning-fast cuts between the takes, mostly of them the viewers stay puzzled about synchronicity of the long sequences.

Otherwise the plot is too much confused, letting the audience lost over so fast shot built in with too much talking disallowing a proper insight over the storyline, aside Hark Tsui be a genius he didn't get a correct assembly due each take didn't match with next, then the picture stayed mind-blogging most of time, letting the audience trying figures out over such muddled story, nothing makes sense at all.

According some hearsays this one was the forerunner of the upcoming "Big Trouble in Little China" indeed there are many commonality between them, whence the American feature was intelligible!!

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 2023 / Source: DVD / How many: 1 / Rating: 7.

Frankly, I am confused that this movie has such a high rating from other users. I am a huge fan of Hong Kong period action/fantasy/swordplay movies, but I just couldn't get into this movie. I kept waiting for it to get better, but unfortunately, it just got worse! So much is said about the "ground breaking" special effects, but I felt like I was watching a Saturday morning cartoon. On paper, this movie should've been great. Produced by Tsui Hark, and an all-star cast... Too bad the plot was so silly/bad. I would definitely recommend the movie Deadful Melody (aka Deadly Melody) over this one. Better fight scenes, better humor, colorful-well-played characters, and a plot that makes sense.

Hark's action fantasy 'Xin Shu Shan Jian Ke' is a whole lot of fun. Needless to say one can expect lots of extravagant martial arts action sequences which are well choreographed (but some of them are so long that they tend to drag a little). The movie is loaded with special effects and even though they don't look as refined as movies of today, they're still fun to watch. The sets don't look particularly authentic but they hold a certain appeal and I like the way they appeared. The story isn't told in the traditional fashion and at some points question marks will appear in the mind but there's always something happening to keep the viewer engaged. Yuen Biao and Sammo Hung are simply great as they infuse humour and energy into their roles. Energetic, funny, bizarre, wacky, magical...these are just a few words that describe Tsui Hark's 'Xin Shu Shan Jian Ke'. Forget the abysmal 2003 remake. This is where the real fun is.

This is a visual masterpiece that outdoes the special effects of later movies with sheer artistry, because it is a magical piece.

It is a larger than life movie about a fight against evil. It begins with a "scout" giving two leaders a report. They each give him conflicting orders, and then ask which he'll obey. He says "Both", so they both call him insubordinate and condemn him to die.

He finds himself on the run. This sets the pace for the film, which is nonstop action and breathtaking visuals. It helps that the visuals are perfectly placed, and logical in their Magic.

The scout finds comrades, at first another warrior from an opposing side, and then later some monks who work in a very magical world.

The film manages to be the best of all worlds. In spite of the magic, the comedy of human errors is always there. The characters fly in the air, fight demons, and do outrageous acrobatics, yet bump their noses, can't swim, and get smacked by pretty girls. They engage in battle, but play dead at the first opportunity, only to find dozens of others also playing dead.

It is one of the funniest films of all time, and also one of the most passionate.

This is how to make a masterpiece.

Tsui Hark's wire-fu fantasy Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain is hailed by many as an unmissable classic of '80s Hong Kong fantasy cinema. I don't understand the acclaim: the story is a mess, but the film is made even more impenetrable thanks to an avalanche of horribly dated special effects that make following the action nigh on impossible. Hark has the gamut of Golden Harvest's early-'80s movie magic techniques at his fingertips and by golly he's going to use them all, narrative cohesion be damned.

The film starts off promisingly enough, with 5th century soldier Ti Ming Chi (Yuen Baio) facing death from his own army after confusion about which general to obey; narrowly escaping on horseback, he meets a red army soldier (Sammo Hung) and they become friends. When the pair are suddenly caught in a battle between several factions, they try to do a runner, but Ti Ming Chi is accidentally knocked over the edge of a cliff by his friend, winding up in a strange land inhabited by evil demons.

Yuen Baio and Sammo Hung are two of my favourite HK martial arts stars, so I was really looking forward to seeing them fighting together; unfortunately, there is very little in the way of kung fu in this film, and Sammo's soldier disappears after knocking Ti Ming Chi over the precipice (Hung returns later as a different character, an old man called Chang Mei, but the only fighting he does is with his eyebrows!). Ti Ming Chi joins forces with swordsman Ting Yin (Adam Cheng) and two monks to battle the evil.

What follows is an over-indulgent mess of whizz-bang non-stop action, with lots of flying about, leaping, somersaults, and explosions, utilising utterly ridiculous wire-work and really bad visual effects (the animation is particularly awful). The incomprehensible nonsense includes big scary Jawas, a laughing fish, animated blood crows, a female demon whose head comes off, flying stone elephants, a character puffing up like a bag of microwave popcorn before exploding, and an old man chained to a massive metal ball. Sounds like crazy fun, but without any semblance of a fathomable plot, it soon becomes tiresome.

Having no idea of what was going on, and not particularly impressed by the laughable effects-laden action, I fell asleep before the end (I did finish the film when I woke up, but forcing myself to do so wasn't easy).

1.5/10, rounded up to 2 for Brigitte Lin and Moon Lee: their presence -- as members of a clan of female warriors -- made the movie just a little more bearable.

This is the best kung-fu-comedy-action-horror film I've seen since "Big Trouble in Little China". I know that Asian films a bit...off centre but this takes the biscuit. The story revolves around a Scout during an Ancient Civil War who, via the most colourful battle scene EVER, ends up a mystical mountain range. There he meets heroes who battle the vile demons who roam the mountains. Who attack with flags. Then the Blood Monstaer appears and things get a little surreal...

What you'll take away from this film very much depends on your own experiences and preferences towards cinema. It is heavy on special effects, the plot is somewhat confusing (no more so than most kung-fu fantasy movies) and due to CGI in 2006 being so good, it does look rather dated. Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It made me reminisce on those Saturday / Sunday morning films I used to watch as a kid (like Sinbad)which were great fun without being particularly thought provoking or cinematic masterpieces. The actors do their bit and the film has a genuine comedic edge to the dialogue, and some excellent visual comedy too. The music is suitably dramatic, stirring and heightens the feeling of awe caused by the special effects and snappy camera-work. Groundbreaking in terms of special effects (1983!!)and a real comeback for fantasy kung fu, but a little light in characterisation and looks a bit dated. I also prefer martial arts films with conventional fight scenes so would have liked a few more of those. Worth seeing.

I have seen this film over 5 times now , and each time I love it more and more . The fighting and the imagination used to create such a film is a credit to the director and his star studded cast. If you are a fan of chinese movies ,then dont miss this one.

Fantastic and eccentric film concerning the plight of three young students battling evil to save the world. Of course, it doesn't begin as this, (and, depending on which print you have, it may vary greatly!). This is a special effects film, and the sheer amount of effort that was put into the action sequences is astounding - (although modern audiences may find difficulty in watching some of the aged techniques).

The setting is what makes this film so unique - Imperial China. It is represented as being on the brink of annihilation, (from a general lack of goodness in the land, as well as continuous warring from the various regions). But, it is not the Ming Dynasty as you've seen in countless other films; this is a realm where demons, ghosts, priests, and warriors are commonplace.

Yuen Biao's character is somewhat naive, but with wholesome intentions and moderate ability. He is our main character, and we see this world through his eyes mainly, (and he is equally surprised by what we see). I feel he was a little under-used in this film, and his novice status played out for much too long. His dramatic performance however, is brilliant as usual. Sammo's two small roles are refreshing and comical - his appearance really does add weight to this film.

The idea of the young changing the world here is a novel and pleasant theme that I appreciate about this film. Through various dialogue and action sequences, we see that the future really does rest on the shoulders of the younger generation, and Yuen Biao's character's role symbolises this notion nicely.

This is a film that was the border of the old era in Hong Kong and the beginning of the new, effectively heralding Tsui Hark as the force of the future. The plot of a bunch of warriors taking on a great evil had been done before there was something about the way it was done here that made everyone sit up and take notice.

Personally I'm underwhelmed by this film. It is a good film but taken out of its historical context it plays rather routine. Worse it suffers from Tsui Hark's habit of stressing form of content and the plot gets lost in the second half. Truthfully, by the time I actually saw this I was so hyped up that there was no way it could ever live up to what I was expecting.

If you like martial arts film, or even action fantasies, try this, its not bad, its just not the be all and end all I know some people claim it is.

Tsui Hark is one of the most important figures in Hong Kong cinema. He is best known as a producer and has been involved with some of the biggest hits and most important franchises in Hong Kong.( A Better Tomorrow trilogy, The Killer, A Chinese Ghost Story trilogy, Once Upon A Time In China series,etc). He also is a excellent director and this film Zu Warriors From The Magic Mountain is a very entertaining and groundbreaking film. Zu Warriors... takes wuxia to different heights with clever storytelling, great camera work, insane action choreography and groundbreaking special F/x that were on par with what was coming out of Hollywood at the time. He even hired the same visual f/x team that worked on Star Wars! With all theses elements in place Zu Warriors From The Magic Mountain is brought to life by a all star cast including Yuen Biao, Sammo Hung, .Adam Cheng, Moon Lee and a early performance from the iconic and beautiful Bridgett Linn Zu Warriors From The Magic Mountain is a very colorful, unique and absolutely insane swordplay fantasy classic not to be missed. A must see film for sure and highly recommended.