The Storm Riders (1998)

An evil warlord takes in 2 students (Wind & Cloud) in an effort to become invincible so he can take over the world.

Director:

Andrew Lau Wai-Keung (as Andrew Lau)

Writers:

Wing-Shing Ma (story) (as Ma Wing Shing), Manfred Wong (screenplay)

Stars:

Aaron Kwok, Ekin Cheng, Shin'ichi Chiba

7 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Aaron Kwok	...	Striding Cloud / Bou Ging Wan
Ekin Cheng	...	Whispering Wind / Nip Fung
Shin'ichi Chiba	...	Lord Conqueror / Hung Baa (as Sonny Chiba)
Kristy Yeung	...	Charity / Hung Chi
Qi Shu	...	Muse / Cho Cho
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Lawrence Cheng	...	Jester / Man Chow Chow (as Tan-shui Cheng)
Roy Cheung	...	Shaolin Monk
Yue Dung Cheung	...	Striding Cloud - child
Jason Chu	...	Ming
Alex Fong	...	Whispering Prince
Rocky Lai	...	Wedding Guest
Yiu-Cheung Lai	...	Mud Buddha / Nai Pou Saat
Dion Lam	...	Crow (as Dik-on Lam)
Siu-Kei Lee	...	Wedding Guest
Tat Chiu Lee	...	Hawk

Storyline

Lord Conquer is a great and mighty warlord who wants to take over the world. To do so, he must defeat another warrior named Sword Saint; but the battle is prophesized to take place in ten years. Lord Conquer's servant, Mud Buddah, says that he can make himself invincible by then if he can make two certain children into his disciples. Those children are Whispering Wind and Striding Cloud. But Lord Conquer discovers that if Wind and Cloud were to unite against him, they could overthrow him. He tries to avoid this by marrying his daughter Charity to Wind. Cloud intervines and Lord Conquer accidentally kills Charity. Meanwhile, the time has come for Lord Conquer's duel with Sword Saint. He shows his true intentions by turning against Cloud and Wind. Now it's a free-for-all battle between Lord Conquer, Sword Saint, Cloud, and Wind. And only one will emerge the victor!

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Plot Keywords:

supernatural power | martial artist | martial arts master | asian man | asian | 

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Taglines:

Torn by fate... united in destiny

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for intense martial arts violence and a scene of sensuality

Details

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese

Release Date:

18 July 1998 (Hong Kong)

Also Known As:

The Stormriders

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Golden Harvest Pictures (China), Centro Digital Pictures Ltd., Tianshan Film Studio

Technical Specs

Runtime:

128 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film is based on the manhua comic series called 'Fung Wan' by Ma Wing-shing. Manhua is the Chinese equivalent of the Japanese Manga (Comics).

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Crazy Credits

In the credits you can see how they made some of the film's special effects

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Alternate Versions

The original Hong Kong version runs 38 minutes longer than the butchered American version. The scenes with Wind and Cloud as young children are cut the most, and the bamboo forest battle between Lord Conquer and Wind's father is one of many scenes missing altogether. The American version offers an English translation of the onscreen character names that accompany each character's first apperance in the film The cuts for violence, presumably made to secure a PG-13 rating, render much of the film incomprehensible.

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Connections

Featured in Chop Socky: Cinema Hong Kong (2003)

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Soundtracks

Insects Fly
Music by Kwong Wing Chan
Lyrics by Xi Lin
Performed by Ekin Cheng

User Reviews

Excellent

I saw the DVD of this movie in a local HMV store and on the cover it said that it outsold 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' in Hong Kong. I read the back and it sounded very interesting. The DVD contained 2 discs - the international version and the Director's cut. I opted for the Director's cut as I like to see films the way the Director intended.

So, I bought it, sat back and pressed play. I was absolutely amazed - the story was fascinating, steeped in Eastern mysticism, the acting was superb (especially Aaron Kowk as Cloud and Ekin Cheng as Wind, the two principal leads) and the special effects were mind blowing.

I won't give the story away and to be honest, the plot wouldn't do justice to the way the film's made and how entertaining it really is. Ideas are thrown in one after the other, Lau's direction is assured and there are set pieces which defy belief (for example, when Wind is fighting the fire dragon in the cave).

It's simple, if you have a chance to see this, then watch it. Watch the Director's version though - the International version is many minutes shorter and badly dubbed.