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T H E   D V D   R E V I E W

DVD REVIEWS | DVD ARCHIVE | IS IT ON DVD?BLOGSPOT 

Zu: Warriors From The Magic Mountain       
Distributor: Universal Home Entertainment   
Certificate: PG | 93 minutes   
Available to buy 
Director: Hark Tsui
Reviewer: Alan R

Extras: Yes   

ANYONE IN IT WE KNOW?

Barry Watson, Emily Deschanel, Tory Mussett, Lucy Lawless (small role)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT THEN?

In fifth century China a young idealist in fear of his life from friend and foe alike flees to the Zu mountains.  There he stumbles upon an underground cavern leading to a magical land where he meets a grand master with special powers and becomes his apprentice.  Soon he is off on a mission with some other warriors to recover a special weapon that can defeat the magical land's enemy, the evil sect, and their leader the Blood Demon.

Is It Any Good?

I can't really properly assess it in the context of a Hong Kong film.  Any specific fans of that brand of filmmaking will no doubt want to see this.  But is it a good film for the average film watcher to just pick up and enjoy?  

Probably not I fear.  It's an ambitious story with lots of special effects but most of them are fairly poorly achieved.  That wouldn't matter so much if the story was gripping but it's mostly one long series of battles and not particularly engaging.

 

The commentary track is interesting and is a discussion between Hong Kong movie expert Bey Logan and the film's director Hark Tsui. You can watch the film in original language with English subtitles or with English dubbing.Overall, I would say it's probably one for the fans only.

Any Special Features?

When this film was released in 1983 there were two versions.  The original shorter version told the story of the young apprentice as a stand-alone film.  The longer version had a framing sequence set in the modern day when a college student (played by the same lead actor) has a car accident and in a coma-state has a dream of times-past - and his dream is the main film.  This DVD's main feature is the original film without the framing sequence, but one of the special features presents the extra footage that was used in the frame.  There are four parts to it - the first is 23 minutes long and the other three are a couple of minutes each.  

Other extras besides the aforementioned Audio Commentary are the film's original trailers and some interviews with Mang Hoi and Moon Lee (two of the actors in the film).

 


                              

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