IMDb RATING
5.3/10
2.3K
YOUR RATING
A power-hungry ruler known as King Bohan seeks to obtain the long-protected "Heavenly Sword" in order to use its devastating power for evil. Why doesn't anyone ever use immensely powerful sw... Read allA power-hungry ruler known as King Bohan seeks to obtain the long-protected "Heavenly Sword" in order to use its devastating power for evil. Why doesn't anyone ever use immensely powerful swords for good anymore?A power-hungry ruler known as King Bohan seeks to obtain the long-protected "Heavenly Sword" in order to use its devastating power for evil. Why doesn't anyone ever use immensely powerful swords for good anymore?
- Awards
- 2 nominations total
Alfred Molina
- King Bohan
- (voice)
Thomas Jane
- Loki
- (voice)
Ashleigh Ball
- Kai
- (voice)
Barry Dennen
- Prophet Takashi
- (voice)
- …
Nolan North
- Master Shen
- (voice)
- …
Renae Geerlings
- Whiptail
- (voice)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
This animated adaptation really falls short in a lot of parts, the worst being the animation itself; it tends to become choppier in some moments and appears very stiff in others, it really ends up looking outdated even for its time. The folks that made this seemed to just not care about certain details, seeing as how Bohan's damaged eye seems to switch sides multiple times or how Nariko's sleeve would suddenly be on the opposite side for 1 scene.
It may have been better if this movie was a little bit longer because believe it or not, I truly believe that this movie suffers from too much action and not very good action at that. All the action left barely any room to build up the story or its characters, it really felt like nothing but action scene after action scene. Unfortunately this led to the characters just becoming bland, due to a severe lack of character development, when they were much more interesting in the video game. Bohan felt like an exceedingly bland character compared to his video game counterpart who was quite sarcastic and funny in some moments. Some changes they made to the story actually ended up ruining some very good character development that occurred in the video game, especially changes made around the character named Shen. They also added a new subplot which ultimately went nowhere and changed nothing at all. The majority of the acting performances also felt quite wooden compared to the game's, even Nariko's VA who did a much better job in the game than she did here.
I really think you'd be better off watching the cutscenes of the video game, which should be just about 2 hours.
It may have been better if this movie was a little bit longer because believe it or not, I truly believe that this movie suffers from too much action and not very good action at that. All the action left barely any room to build up the story or its characters, it really felt like nothing but action scene after action scene. Unfortunately this led to the characters just becoming bland, due to a severe lack of character development, when they were much more interesting in the video game. Bohan felt like an exceedingly bland character compared to his video game counterpart who was quite sarcastic and funny in some moments. Some changes they made to the story actually ended up ruining some very good character development that occurred in the video game, especially changes made around the character named Shen. They also added a new subplot which ultimately went nowhere and changed nothing at all. The majority of the acting performances also felt quite wooden compared to the game's, even Nariko's VA who did a much better job in the game than she did here.
I really think you'd be better off watching the cutscenes of the video game, which should be just about 2 hours.
Must watch in Blueray. Amazing action sequence. Great Visual. Great Story.
I came to this film because of the games, which I think are good. But this film has only that, a name. When I watch an animation film I expect, nowadays, the graphics will be good, the animations will be smooth, and the faces will show at least some emotion. I have not found any of these in this film. Graphics are very cheap, even pixelated sometimes. Animation seems to come from 10 or 15 years ago. Characters faces are empty of any kind of emotion. So, the technical issue is really bad. I suppose producers thought that with a famous name would be enough, so they decided to spend ass less money as possible here. When we talk about the story or the character development things are only slightly better, but just because it cannot be worse than animation or graphics. Plain characters, no development, plot full of tropes, absolutely predictable. This film is not worth your time.
I'm not a Playstation fan. But I bought one to play the game that this movie is based on. So seeing this movie was a must for me since Heavenly Sword was so amazing, especially the characters. After preparing a meal, speakers turned up, lights low I started this movie. After a small intro the action started. 10 seconds later I wanted to stop watching because the movie felt REALLY terrible.
The editing was such a mess that the movie feels all over the place and confusing. Its like if someone took all the cut scenes out of a game and made a movie out of them. Half the time I was like "Wait, what happened to the end of the last scene?" or "Now whats happenings?!?". The story is barley coherent. The animations aren't all that great and the game itself sadly looks way better then this movie does.
It felt like you were watching some low budget movie made on someones computer at home. And the voice overs were terrible too. The original voice actors from the games take up their roles again but everything feels really off when people speak. Sometimes things are not perfectly lined up to match the mouth. Other times it feels like the voice isn't coming from who you are watching, but more of a narrators voice.
Only reason I gave this two stars is because I like Nariko and Kai. And their voices. Other then that I really wished I had given up on this movie early on instead of sitting to the end. Many MANY times I found myself wanting to end it. Assuming you watch it and make it to the end.... prepare yourself as the story makes even less sense and leaves you wondering what your doing with your life watching such a terrible movie.
I feel bad about this review because I had high hopes for this that it would extend the Heavenly Sword series to new people. All it did was scare off people.
The editing was such a mess that the movie feels all over the place and confusing. Its like if someone took all the cut scenes out of a game and made a movie out of them. Half the time I was like "Wait, what happened to the end of the last scene?" or "Now whats happenings?!?". The story is barley coherent. The animations aren't all that great and the game itself sadly looks way better then this movie does.
It felt like you were watching some low budget movie made on someones computer at home. And the voice overs were terrible too. The original voice actors from the games take up their roles again but everything feels really off when people speak. Sometimes things are not perfectly lined up to match the mouth. Other times it feels like the voice isn't coming from who you are watching, but more of a narrators voice.
Only reason I gave this two stars is because I like Nariko and Kai. And their voices. Other then that I really wished I had given up on this movie early on instead of sitting to the end. Many MANY times I found myself wanting to end it. Assuming you watch it and make it to the end.... prepare yourself as the story makes even less sense and leaves you wondering what your doing with your life watching such a terrible movie.
I feel bad about this review because I had high hopes for this that it would extend the Heavenly Sword series to new people. All it did was scare off people.
"Heavenly Sword" seemed more like something that should have remained in a PlayStation game and not made it to the big screen. Especially because it looked like something from the early 2000's. The animation and textures were not up to par for 2014, not by a long shot. And it totally pales in comparison to the 2001 "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" and the 2005 "Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children".
The storyline was adequate and had some good moments, but it seemed like everything was just skipped over lightly and without going into depth with anything much really.
A lot of the animation was rigid and wooden, and the outdated textures didn't really help further the movie in any possible way. I must say that I think they could have used more resources and time on the animation here.
The characters were adequate, albeit two-dimensional and lacking personalities.
Having sat through the entire length of this animated movie, and with being very close to getting up and doing something else twice along the way, but deciding to stick with it to the end, I must admit that I had hoped for something more than it turned out to be.
I have never tried the game upon which this movie is based, but truth be told, then it felt like this entire movie should have been used as in-game cut scenes and not as a feature animated movie.
One thing I did think about though, was if this animated movie wouldn't actually have been far, far better if they had opted to continue with the cartoonish animation style that they used in the movie to tell some of the backstory. That was actually more interesting to look at and far more stylish and memorable than the outdated CGI that was this movie.
The storyline was adequate and had some good moments, but it seemed like everything was just skipped over lightly and without going into depth with anything much really.
A lot of the animation was rigid and wooden, and the outdated textures didn't really help further the movie in any possible way. I must say that I think they could have used more resources and time on the animation here.
The characters were adequate, albeit two-dimensional and lacking personalities.
Having sat through the entire length of this animated movie, and with being very close to getting up and doing something else twice along the way, but deciding to stick with it to the end, I must admit that I had hoped for something more than it turned out to be.
I have never tried the game upon which this movie is based, but truth be told, then it felt like this entire movie should have been used as in-game cut scenes and not as a feature animated movie.
One thing I did think about though, was if this animated movie wouldn't actually have been far, far better if they had opted to continue with the cartoonish animation style that they used in the movie to tell some of the backstory. That was actually more interesting to look at and far more stylish and memorable than the outdated CGI that was this movie.
Storyline
Did you know
- GoofsDuring the first confrontation of Nariko with Bohan, Bohan's scar switches from his left eye to his right (as it is shown in the flashback).
- Crazy creditsShortly after the ending credits starts, there is another scene.
- ConnectionsFeatured in WatchMojo: Top 10 WORST Animated Movies Based on Video Games (2023)
- How long is Heavenly Sword?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $6,000,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 25 minutes
- Color
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