Soul of the Sword

The young swordsman who would be the king of swords is defeated before the fight begins because he has emotional baggage that cannot be set aside. This theme has appeared in many martial arts movies but where did it come from?

In reality fighters never have this problem. There is no such thing as distraction, learning martial arts is dependent on concentration and focus. The brain actually becomes disengaged during a fight as it is mostly muscle memory. Bruce Lee said in one of his movies while making a fist, "I don't hit, it hits all by itself!" I doubt other viewers would be annoyed by that plot point.

The movie is engaging from start to finish and the fights are excellent. The fight director put character and story into all the fights and they all seemed unique.

Lead actor Ti Lung was a martial artist who worked as a tailor before he got into the movies but he was not a sword fighter. I felt his fights without the sword were much better but still his sword fights were above average. Shaw Brothers movies are known for abrupt endings and anyone can die. This one takes that style to the limit.

Another period Chinese film about martial artists battling for the rank of number 1. How is Shen Hua the obscure director of the legendary "Super Inframan" going to shake up the genre?

First of all, this film is very unlike other Shaw films. Shen Hua had a distinct visual style going here, one that doesn't really work all the times but is interesting. There are many shots with the main characters somewhere behind a lot of foreground clutter. Trying to read the subtitles and find the characters at the same time can make this a tad difficult to watch. Also Shen Hua's direction tends to hide Tang Chia's expert choreography. There is an attempt to use zooms and quick cuts to accentuate the dramatic dialog which is a very interesting concept but can be dizzying to watch.

Despite the directorial problems, the story is one of the better entries in the martial world genre. It's unusual although you might guess some of the surprises. Ti Lung and Ku Feng give great performances and the fight scenes are very good. There is a small amount of nudity, a strange sex scene and a rape by the good guy (!).

An eight for the story and a six for the direction. Recommended.

SOUL OF THE SWORD (1978) is a swordplay drama from Hong Kong's Shaw Bros. studio starring Ti Lung and featuring several superb fight sequences involving both sword fighting and kung fu. However, it's quite different from the studio's usual swordplay films, particularly those directed by Chor Yuen (THE MAGIC BLADE) and Chang Cheh (BLOOD BROTHERS), both of whom also worked frequently with Ti Lung. This one has fewer characters and more of an emphasis on the romantic relationship that grows between "Nameless" (Ti Lung), a swordsman seeking to unseat the current "King of Swords," and Ho Lien, a young woman shopkeeper (Lin Chen-Chi) with whom he falls in love. In between sword fights, the film addresses the question of how love affects a swordsman's destiny. Complicating matters is the fact that the woman is identical in appearance to a woman glimpsed by "Nameless" as a boy in the film's opening sequence. In that scene, a swordsman who challenges the King of Swords is defeated and killed and his woman companion (also played by Lin Chen-Chi) kills herself out of grief. This incident inspires "Nameless" to excel in swordsmanship so he can defeat the "King," but also haunts him with visions of the dead woman and has tragic implications later on. Ku Feng plays Chiu I, the last of the film's three leading characters, a clever doctor who befriends Nameless and offers him advice.

Directed by Hua Shan (INFRAMAN, LITTLE DRAGON MAIDEN), the film is beautifully shot and edited and includes an important cinematic feature less frequently used in the films of Chor Yuen and Chang Cheh. Hua Shan and his cinematographer provide frequent closeups of the leading performers, adding a powerful emotional lift to the story. It helps that Ti Lung is at the top of his game here, as both an actor and an action star, and that Lin Chen-Chi is a most beautiful young actress who photographs well from every angle. This is only the third film I've seen her in (the others are SPIRITUAL BOXER, also reviewed on this site, and BATTLE WIZARD), yet I find her among the most riveting of Shaw Bros. actresses. Breaking with the conventional model of Shaw Bros. beauty, she's thin and angular with a long nose and thick lips too big for a small face but balanced by piercing eyes set wide apart and a nice space of forehead. The cumulative effect is just mesmerizing and the cameraman seems to agree.

One of the small number of significant supporting characters is Yien (Norman Chu), a rival swordsman who has unsuccessfully courted Ho Lien, only to see her fall for Nameless. His attempts to settle matters are equally unsuccessful, although he gains an ally in a vengeful swordswoman who'd lost a female partner to Nameless's sword earlier in the film. (Kung fu diva Lily Li has a cameo as the ill-fated partner, with awkward shots of a nude body double spliced in.) The large number of cast members listed by IMDb for this film is presumably accounted for by the numerous quickly-glimpsed and hastily-dispatched opponents of Nameless.

The consistently exciting action is staged by Tang Chia and includes a number of sword duels and larger-scale fights in which Ti Lung faces off against multiple opponents, including one memorable confrontation in a studio-built bamboo forest. Ti is also forced to fight without sword in more than one battle and uses his kung fu skills to great effect. The fights may not be as brutal or bloody as those found in Chang Cheh's films, but they're also far less gimmicky and stylized than those in Chor Yuen's films. This is a film that relies more on character and relationships and less on tricks and plot twists. There's a very moving and evocative Chinese music score tying it all together, a welcome change-of-pace from the mix-and-match, cut-and-paste scores we often hear in these films.

Whoever wants to be the best in anything, has to accept some negative influence on the rest of their life. Mostly in the private sector of it. You have to have a crazy feeling for it and you have to be really obsessed. Something our main character seems to be ... and then some.

Ti Lung is quite the charismatic man and having him lead this movie is genius to say the least. I wasn't sure about what the movie wanted to do in respect to the moral core and theme of the movie. But it became apparent ... and there is a message here. And the movie overall is quite bleak. What joy does one have in doing what our main character does here? I don't think I had seen this before and I did see a lot of Shaw Brothers movies when I was a kid. I am still surprised by the amount of nudity I do find in some of the movies (like the ones Bruce Lee was in or this one).

It also depicts women a certain way that can be considered sexist to a degree. Try not to be to upset about things like that. The movie does not bathe in it and still sort of gives the main female a voice. Even if it isn't the biggest and best one ... but there are impacts and repercussions to any action taken ...

If you're one of those kung fu movie fans who struggle with the complex historical plot-lines of many an old school martial arts flick, then Soul of the Sword will be perfect for you: the story is dead easy to follow, meaning that you can forget about which emperor is doing what to which gang of rebels and why, and just enjoy the fighting.

Hong Kong legend Ti Lung is the star of the show, playing Nameless, a swordsman whose ambition is to become King of Swords by defeating Lu (Feng Ku), the current holder of the title. As a child, Nameless saw Lu kill a challenger, who lost his life because he was distracted by the woman he loved (following the death of her lover, the woman promptly commits suicide). After dedicating his life to swordsmanship, Nameless is now ready to take on the reigning champ; however, while waiting for Lu to return home, Nameless falls for local girl Ho Lien (Chen-Chi Lin). Will his ability to fight be compromised, like the man Lu killed all those years ago?

I've read that Ti Lung isn't a swordsman, and that the way he holds his weapon in this film is all wrong, but, to be honest, unless you're an expert in the matter, I doubt it'll affect your enjoyment: it looked pretty amazing to me, the sword work combined with lots of breath-taking acrobatics. There are some amazing set-pieces, Nameless taking on multiple opponents at once, with a great fight in a restaurant against hunchbacked swordsmen, a visually impressive battle in a bamboo forest against love rival Yien (Norman Tsui Siu-Keung) and his pals, and confrontations with several of Lu's guards - Yuen Wah with a big, wobbly sword and a group of pole-fighters (one of which is played by Corey Yuen, director of The Transporter).

After a shocking plot-twist that I didn't see coming, Nameless finally meets Lu for a stylish and bloody battle, the challenger discovering the true identity of his opponent, who has always hidden his face with a veiled hat, before delivering the death blow. Wounded, the new King of Swords staggers home to Ho Lien, but is ambushed by Yien, who is being helped by vengeful swordswoman Three Strokes Hua-Chang (Hui-Ling Liu). A final bloody fight ensues.

Not only does this film deliver the goods in terms of sword fights, but it also throws in some kung fu for those who prefer fighting with fists and feet, a little comedy (but not too much), and even a smattering of nudity for good measure, with Nameless cutting open a swordswoman's clothes to reveal her breasts, and Yien getting it on with Three Strokes (after she gets him going by tweaking his nipples!). It's well-paced, energetic, and entertaining, and it won't have you Googling ancient Chinese history and politics to try and figure out what happened.

7.5/10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.