Sword Master (2016)

Derek Yee returned to direct the remake of Death Duel, the movie he starred in as a twenty-year-old in 1977.

Peter Ho starred as the tattooed face swordsman with only one challenger left to fight before he died. Kenny Lin followed the trope of the disgruntled swordsman who refused to fight any more, gaining the name Useless Chi. This is one of my least favorite tropes because the swordsman/fighter waits until innocents are killed before deciding to stand up and take care of business.

The Sword Master felt like an old school kung fu flick only with better special effects and grander scale fights. The sets and costumes were all beautiful and believable. The characters could have been fleshed out more but for a wuxia they accomplished what they needed to.

Norman Chu who was in the original made a return as a clan leader in this one. There weren’t any good or bad clans, they were all pretty disreputable making it hard to root for anyone except the innocent civilians.

The Sword Master was not the best of its kind but it was an entertaining wire-fu wuxia with quality fights, a little romance and a bittersweet bromance. Worth checking out for a fresh take on an old classic.

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Following my beloved Hu Ge (aka Kenny Lin aka Lin Geng Xin aka Kenny). BTW he has at least two profiles here on MDL. The other I found as Hu Ge. I watched this film to see what role he portrayed. He goes through different phases in his life making it interesting as you get to understand this character. I really am going to watch it again as I finish this review. Sometimes I may think "Oh it's a shallow movie, look at the title", you imagine it's about this and that . To my pleasant surprise there is more than meets the eye. I totally enjoyed it as the characters with their own dilemmas come together and weave an intricate story.
Please give it a try.

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a CGI heavy wuxia film with traditional storyline and plot

this is a CGI-heavy, wuxia film in the traditional sense with a slight twist. it has actions, drama, jianghu intrigue, and romance. the cinematography leans more on artistic aesthetic. there are some beautiful martial arts choreography, acrobatics, string-fu, but enhanced with lots of CGIs. this film is not about hero vs villain, or about heroic achievements, but more about the fragility, dichotomy and complexity of a human being.

i would recommend watching this film on a large screen to better appreciate the CGIs and aesthetic appeal. it is actually uncommon in traditional wuxia stories to have a major character filled with facial tattos.

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