Shen Jing Dao yu Fei Tian Mao (1993)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Yen-ping Chu

Writer:

Jing Wong (written by)

Release Date:

1995 (USA)

Genre:

Fantasy | Comedy

Plot:

The Flying Daggar brothers and the Bewitchment sisters are competing bounty hunters who unite to hunt down Red Fox. |

Plot Keywords:

Bounty Hunter | Magic | Martial Arts | Chase | Disembodied Hand

Cast

Tony Leung Ka Fai	...	Hon Chung - Big Dagger
Sharla Cheung	...	Lady Fung - Big Bewitchment (as Man Cheung)
Jacky Cheung	...	Red Fox
Maggie Cheung	...	Flying Cat
Jimmy Lin	...	Hon Lam
Gloria Yip	...	Fung Ling - Little Bewitchment
Man Tat Ng	...	Pang Ting Hong / Leslie Cheung
King-Tan Yuen	...	Fifth Lady
Cheung-Yan Yuen	...	Never Die
Pauline Chan	...	Evil Lady of Yi-ho
David Wu	...	Western Ace
Lieh Lo	...	Sudden Death
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Pei-pei Cheng	...	Anita Mui
Hung Lieh Chen	...	Old Timer Dicky Lui
Fang Fang
Bao-ming Gu	...	Retrieves wine from innkeeper
Choi-Chow Hoh

Also Known As:

Flying Dagger (International: English title)
Nerve Knife and Flying Cat Apsara (Hong Kong: English title) (literal title)

Runtime:

Germany:86 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:12 | Germany:12 (original rating) | Germany:16 (DVD rating) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Finland:K-11

Company:

Chang-Hong Channel Film & Video Co.

Movie Connections:

References Yin ji kau (1987)

Somewhat silly, but highly entertaining

Flying Dagger (1993 - not to be confused with the recent House of Flying Daggers) is a typical Hong Kong crowd-pleaser of a low-brow comedy. Yes, there are bits of toilet humor, but considering the effective entertainment value of the movie as a whole, I can look past that. It is a fun, good-natured high-speed kung fu romp, and there's literally never a dull moment. People are flying all over the place, doing battle physically and verbally, fighting outrageous villains (like "Die First", who dies first, "Die Hard", who dies after a long fight, and "Never Die", who... well, you get the idea!) and just generally cavorting. I watched this movie in the middle of the night, needing some fast-paced happy-go-lucky action to keep me awake, and you can bet this movie did the trick!

The story? Let me see - a male hero team of two meets a female hero team of two (gradually, of course, falling in love with each other), and team up to fight a husband-wife team of good-natured thieves (who live in a kind of Bat-cave), but all of them clear up the misunderstanding and join forces to fight some relatively undefined bad guys in the end (also joined by an autonomous helping hand - namely the severed one of "Never Die"!). The story is there, but it really isn't terribly important. But it's great fun. A high-spirited comedy with a great cast, well worth your time.

The female hero team - sisters, actually - consists of two of my favorite Asian actresses, the beautiful and exotic Man Cheung, and the cute and cuddly Gloria Yip. They both demonstrate a great aptitude for comedy here, and might have carried the entire movie on their own. But they are actually out-shone by the wacky husband-wife team, who consists of Nine-Tailed Fox, played by Jacky Cheung, and Flying Cat, played by Maggie Cheung (and no, none of all these Cheungs are related). They are both absolutely great. This is actually the first time I've seen Jacky Cheung, and I was struck by how much he resembles Jackie Chan. Still, he's a good actor and kung fu fighter in his own right.

8 out of 10.