Rijndri Load of rubbish!!

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Leofwine_draca SOUL OF THE SWORD is a slightly above average Shaw Brothers movie that benefits from a fast pace and plenty of sword fights to see it through; it's also less confusing than one of the, say, Chor Yuen films that Ti Lung made during the late 1970s. In this one he plays an arrogant swordsman who makes it his business to beat all his peers and become the number one swordsman. He starts the film off by impaling a budgerigar, so I wasn't exactly endeared to his character, and he remains arrogant throughout.The rest of the film benefits from the usual strong cinematography that Shaw brought to Hong Kong cinema, and the appearance of the usual players from that company: Ku Feng is an ally, Norman Chu a rival, Lily Li an assassin, Yuen Wah a white-haired master, and so on. The choreography isn't quite top tier, but the fights are brisk and violent, and the ending's a cracker, so there's little to dislike about this one.

ckormos1 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.

poe426 When Nameless (Ti Lung) witnesses the death of a swordsman at the hands of the mysterious Lu Tien Kang (who keeps his face covered so no one will know who he is; a great way to avoid answering for whatever problems you might cause others), he is shocked to see the swordsman's wife commit suicide to be with her dead spouse. Being a kid, this leaves quite an impression on him (he is haunted by visions of the dead woman) and he grows to manhood driven to meet and one day kill the mysterious Lu. He kills anyone who gets in his way (or who stumbles across his path). "My worth is my sword," he proudly proclaims at one point. "There are three kinds of people," he learns: "Men, women, and the dead." When he encounters an elderly priest, whose flexible sword "is long but flaccid," he leaves the man pinned upside down to a temple gate. "Leaves when dead will fall..." Because he is attacked while in a bath, he thereafter refuses to take a bath "without holding my sword." (...) He meets and falls for Miss Ho- but can a man driven to be the best swordsman in the Martial Arts World measure up...?

Chung Mo 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.