Tsui’s Hong Kong action-fantasy cult classic is a reminder that the ‘visibility’ of VFX can be a virtue, with its retrogradely charming effects distracting from its nonsensical story of super-warriors fighting against an evil force.
Review #2,873
Dir. Tsui Hark
1983 | Japan | Action, Fantasy | 98 min | 1.85:1 | Cantonese
PG (passed clean) for some violence
Cast: Yuen Biao, Sammo Hung, Adam Cheng, Moon Lee, Mang Hoi, Brigitte Lin, Norman Tsui
Plot: A Chinese soldier in an ancient civil war flees the battlefield and gets caught up in a fantastical quest to save the world from evil.
Awards: Nom. for 5 Hong Kong Film Awards – Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Film Editing, Best Art Direction, Best Action Choreography
Distributor: Fortune Star
Accessibility Index
Subject Matter: Moderate – Good vs. Evil; Supernatural Powers; Courage & Sacrifice
Narrative Style: Straightforward
Pace: Fast/Tight
Audience Type: Slightly Mainstream
Viewed: Screener (as part of Perspectives Film Festival 2024)
Spoilers: No
I thought I had seen enough in Green Snake (1993) how effortlessly zany and delirious director Tsui Hark could be until Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain came onto my radar. What a crazy-ass film this is—there is enough visual effects work in Zu to fill up ten more movies.
Made as an attempt to close the knowledge gap in VFX use and development in Hong Kong cinema, Tsui set out to work with Hollywood advisors for his action-fantasy picture, one that has been considered a cult classic for a long time.
With its breakthrough use of optical effects in a Hong Kong film, Zu might feel terribly dated with its ‘shoddy’ effects work, but they are as retrogradely charming as you might imagine.
Chaotic in its fast and furious editing style and utterly nonsensical in its plotting, Tsui’s work tells of a conflict between warring armies of East and West in some unknown time in ancient China.
When a soldier flees from the battle, he inadvertently gets entangled in something far worse—a date with the Blood Devil as the machinations of evil threaten to upend the human and supernatural worlds.
“I sense an ominous atmosphere.”
Cue super-warriors with superpowers—three-quarters of the film are just folks trying to out-berserk one another in their fight against their common nemesis.
It is also an excuse for Tsui to overwhelm us with a dazzling array of visual stimuli, which will be a caffeine booster shot for some or utterly exhausting for others.
With curses galore and life-and-death scenarios heightened by weighty moments of courage and sacrifice, Zu is a reminder that the ‘visibility’ of VFX can be a virtue in these kinds of cinematic experiences, one marked by endless fun, (un)intentional laughs and eye-widening visual excesses.
Stay also for Yuen Biao, Sammo Hung, Brigitte Lin and a cast that refuses to take one another seriously in this wild ride.
Grade: B+
Trailer:
Music:
Eternality Tan 
[…] a year after the riotous special effects-laden action extravaganza Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain (1983), Shanghai Blues is decidedly saner in […]
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