Koroshiya.co.uk - Seven Swords

I had quite big hopes for this movie, it's been a while I havent seen a movie from Tsui, and quite frankly, I think my hopes were too high, I was really disapointed in this movie.

The story is quite simple; an army is killing villagers under the new law from the emperor were practicing Martial Arts is now forbidden, a small village, beign the next one on target by the army, sends out 3 people to Mount Heavens to search for a legendary Swordman, to gather up the Seven Swordsmen to fight back the invading army. Nothing quite original as of yet.

What really disapointed me is the Balancing of the movie, the pace throughout the whole movie is quite uneven. In the first 20min of the movie, everything moves way too fast; a village gets attacked, a skilled fighter humiliate the army, a village gets warned of the incoming attack, 3 people goes to mount Heavens, finds a swordman, gather other skilled swordsmen goes back to village and prevents the army's attack.... all this in merely 20min. Then comes the long parts... very long parts. At first it's all good, it's all character devellopements, but it gets quite boring after a while, love, hatred, betrayal, bravery, cowardice.... it's all ups and downs that leads nowhere from that point until the end of the movie. The Story goes from simple "defends and counter attack the army" to way too much side stories about love, spy, bravery, honor, etc... it gets all too complicated for nothing really. The actors, though quite good, seems all to take too much and at the same time, not enough place. At first we are lead to follow a young girl for a while, but then we are driven away from her and onto another character, and then another, and another... we cannot get attached to any character and also couldnt learn more about other characters that we couldnt get to follow at all because each characters seems to be quite important and had to share the spotlight. 2hours and a half was a bit too much in my opinion. Yes there was alot of materials in this movie, but the lenghs were too tiresome for me watching, nothing was holding me back halfway in the movie... really I almost felt asleep but fought on 'cuz I really wanted to see this movie. Longer movie doesnt mean good movie unfortunately.

The action is quite great, sure there's nothing quite revolutionnary, but still the standars for the fight scenes are quite high. But what really caught my attention in this movie are the visuals. You could press Pause anywhere as the movie plays, and take a screenshots of the scene and it could easily be a good material for a Wallpaper. This movie is incredibly beautiful from the first second to the last. At some point it reminded me of the beauty in Jet Li's Hero which seems to have the same backgrounds at some points.

Although disapointed, I say it's still worth checking it out, people out there looking for great fights will see something worth in this movie, those looking for a nice epic movie wont be disapointed, but those maybe looking for a deep intriguing plot might want to check for something else.

Cast: 3/5
Story: 3/5
Action: 4/5

3 out of 5
(Minus 2points simply because of the uneven pace... from a 30min non-stop action to a slow paced 2hour drama... it's just doesnt feel right.)

Seven Swords

Original Title:- Qi jian

Synopsis

Review

Review I had quite big hopes for this movie, it's been a while I havent seen a movie from Tsui, and quite frankly, I think my hopes were too high, I was really disapointed in this movie. The story is quite simple; an army is killing villagers under the new law from the emperor were practicing Martial Arts is now forbidden, a small village, beign the next one on target by the army, sends out 3 people to Mount Heavens to search for a legendary Swordman, to gather up the Seven Swordsmen to fight back the invading army. Nothing quite original as of yet. What really disapointed me is the Balancing of the movie, the pace throughout the whole movie is quite uneven. In the first 20min of the movie, everything moves way too fast; a village gets attacked, a skilled fighter humiliate the army, a village gets warned of the incoming attack, 3 people goes to mount Heavens, finds a swordman, gather other skilled swordsmen goes back to village and prevents the army's attack.... all this in merely 20min. Then comes the long parts... very long parts. At first it's all good, it's all character devellopements, but it gets quite boring after a while, love, hatred, betrayal, bravery, cowardice.... it's all ups and downs that leads nowhere from that point until the end of the movie. The Story goes from simple "defends and counter attack the army" to way too much side stories about love, spy, bravery, honor, etc... it gets all too complicated for nothing really. The actors, though quite good, seems all to take too much and at the same time, not enough place. At first we are lead to follow a young girl for a while, but then we are driven away from her and onto another character, and then another, and another... we cannot get attached to any character and also couldnt learn more about other characters that we couldnt get to follow at all because each characters seems to be quite important and had to share the spotlight. 2hours and a half was a bit too much in my opinion. Yes there was alot of materials in this movie, but the lenghs were too tiresome for me watching, nothing was holding me back halfway in the movie... really I almost felt asleep but fought on 'cuz I really wanted to see this movie. Longer movie doesnt mean good movie unfortunately. The action is quite great, sure there's nothing quite revolutionnary, but still the standars for the fight scenes are quite high. But what really caught my attention in this movie are the visuals. You could press Pause anywhere as the movie plays, and take a screenshots of the scene and it could easily be a good material for a Wallpaper. This movie is incredibly beautiful from the first second to the last. At some point it reminded me of the beauty in Jet Li's Hero which seems to have the same backgrounds at some points. Although disapointed, I say it's still worth checking it out, people out there looking for great fights will see something worth in this movie, those looking for a nice epic movie wont be disapointed, but those maybe looking for a deep intriguing plot might want to check for something else. Cast: 3/5 Story: 3/5 Action: 4/5 3 out of 5 (Minus 2points simply because of the uneven pace... from a 30min non-stop action to a slow paced 2hour drama... it's just doesnt feel right.) Review by Slave (Quebec, Canada) You can buy this movie now from sensasian.com or from yesasia