San suk san geen hap (1983)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Hark Tsui

Writers:

Shui Chung Yuet (writer)
Jerrold Mundis (writer)

Release Date:

5 February 1983 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Horror | Adventure | Action | Fantasy

Plot:

Chinese soldiers in an ancient civil war get caught up in a fantastical quest to save the universe.

Plot Keywords:

Mountain | Magic | Ghost | Ancient China | Soldier

Awards:

5 nominations

Cast

Biao Yuen	...	Ti Ming Chi
Hoi Mang	...	Yi Chen (as Hoi Man)
Adam Cheng	...	Ting Yin
Moon Lee	...	Mu Sang, Countess's Guard
Brigitte Lin	...	Countess
Damian Lau	...	Abbott Hsiao Yu
Sammo Hung Kam-Bo	...	Fat Man / Chang Mei
Judy Ongg	...	Li I chi
Norman Chu	...	Heaven's Blade
Hark Tsui	...	Guy fighting Fat Man
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hark-On Fung	...	Evil Disciple
Kwan-Li Shen	...	Chi Wu-Shuang

Also Known As:

Warriors from the Magic Mountain
Xin shu shan jian xia (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)
Zu Mountain: New Legend of the Zu Mountain Swordsmen (Hong Kong: English title) (literal title)
Zu Time Warrior (International: English title) (dubbed version)
Zu Warriors
Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain (Hong Kong: English title)

Runtime:

USA:95 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | UK:PG | South Korea:15 (2006) | USA:Unrated

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Best of the Martial Arts Films (1990)

"The Film That Made Yuen Babo A Superstar!". One Of Baboe's Absolute Best, its a great give for those of you loving that Japanese horror!

Action choreographer and legendary martial arts director Yuen Woo Ping directed this early and important film of Yuen Babo's career in 1985. This film made Young Babo a star in almost one night, and more was to come in form of Iceage Vampire (1991) very soon, and history tells the rest. ZU stars the sympathetic old man Siu Tien Chou as the master of Wu style in kung fu. There's also a "rival" style called Blood Star style and these two styles compete together for students and power in the field of martial arts world. Yuen Babo plays a poor and orphan youngster who gets to do nothing but wash floors in the Wu Tran school and occasionally, he is also used as a human "punchbag" in the training. Soon he gets enough and meets by accident the old man who eventually teaches Babo the secrets of his Eyebrow fighting style.

The fights are indeed fantastic and they include also the magnificent kicks of the legendary taekwondo master Jang Lee Hwang, who plays the main villain in this film. The last fight between Yuen and Hwang is very long and full of adrenalin as these two masters of their own art fight for life. Also the training scenes are very memorable and look painful! It isn't easy to become a master of martial arts. There's plenty of fights in this film and that's about all this film is about and why it's been done in the first place; the dialogue and screenplay are very shallow and often meaningless and there's also some irritating use of music which tries to make the film more entertaining and funny to watch, but of course this was meant to be a comedy kung fu flick like Ghostly Cop Squad and many others. Still the film could have some depth and even message in it like many Sonny Chibas' films definitely have. But as far as one is interested in excellent martial arts fights and excitement, films like ZU are highly recommended, because there are no better substitutes in this field. If you prefer (as I do) more serious and dark martial art films, then I recommend Ronny Yu's Bride With White Hair and Donny Yen's Circus Kids, for instance. I just don't like the often stupid humor in HK films and that's why I don't appreciate ZU as highly as I wanted to.

If you want to see a comic kung fu film with the young and incredible Yuen Babo, then this film is worth buying or renting, and even I think I'll keep this in my collection because of the fact that in its own genre, this is almost unbeatable and thus a classic; the problem is the genre (comical wire fu) isn't among my favorites.