FLYING DAGGER is a Hong Kong comedy made at the peak of the craze for the wuxia genre. It's replete with characters jumping and flying in the air and dashing through treetops with sheer abandon, and the constant and frequent fight scenes are heavy with wirework which allows for spinning, jumping, flying characters. Add in larger than life characterisation and a predilection for lowbrow comedy and you have a unforgettable little movie.
I admit that as this film started out I wondered what on earth I was watching. A couple of bounty hunters attempt to claim the scalp of some renegade warrior but are interrupted in their duties by a female twosome who steal all the bodies. Undeterred they take on a new job, to capture and bring the thief 'Nine-Tail Fox' to justice, but they find their journey assailed by all manner of danger including immortals, ninjas, and poisoners.
After about 20 minutes of watching this I got into the spirit of it and enjoyed it right up to the end. Overkill is the word here: everything, and I mean, EVERYTHING, is completely over the top. The humour ranges from fun self-referencing (Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung are characters!) to the gross-out (farting and drinking urine) to general goofy slapstick. The special effects are plentiful and not so special, but you can't fault the enthusiasm that's gone into making this one. Yen-Ping Chu's direction I'm less sure about; he did well on ISLAND OF FIRE, for instance, but his attempts to be avant-garde here are just too much (he insists on shooting every scene at an angle, for instance).
Still, we do get a strong cast that includes a leading heroic role for Tony Leung (DUMPLINGS) and Maggie Cheung (POLICE STORY) playing a woman who fights with 'cat style'; Jacky Cheung (BULLET IN THE HEAD) supplies much of the ample humour, and Yuen Cheung-Yan is a hoot as an evil indestructible warrior. There's a minor role for veteran actress Pei-pei Cheng and a cameo for Lo Lieh. I guess the producers were fans of THE ADDAMS FAMILY, because a disembodied hand is part of the fun as it tags along with and helps out the heroes at various intervals. If you're looking for madcap Hong Kong awesomeness, you've come to the right place!
