So much average

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

This movie has it all: flashing blades, crispy punchlines, whirling monstrosities, fast paced-combat, incredible heroes and incredibly foxy heroines; it also has chaotic plot diversions, incoherent dialogues, some of the crappiest special effects to date (a great Chaos beast is actually a very recognisable red rug with metal plates attached), random explosions, more than one character that just vanish inexplicably, more than one character that learn to fly and save the world. It is a wonderful, frantic vision from a children's dream, where ordinary things come alive and threaten to eat us, where any component of the game can be immediately dismissed (preferably with a boom) in favour of whatever has just caught our attention.If you like stories of swordsman army drop-outs who walk up the mountain with mentors who fight evildoers who bring up the great chaos beast which grows a double of the mentor that kills the mentor who gives his powers to his student who meets more swordsmen who join him to learn to fly up above the mountain to join the magic swords to banish the evil, this is your movie. Oh, I forgot about the temple where they tried to heal the master who got ill but the queen failed who got encased in ice when everything exploded... sort of. If you are appaled by an idea that a movie with this plot (not one part of it did I make up) could actually be made a have a cult following, then, well, you'd better not watch it. The chances of you enjoying it are truly minute.

"Zu Warriors" certainly pushed wuxia to its limits; it has such a relentless air of enthusiasm, especially given its limited budget, that its incredibly easy to dismiss any faults it does have just because of its overwhelmingly extravagant nature. Its glorious, vivid production design and intentionally camp attitude makes it very difficult not to be totally drawn into its colourful images while completely forgetting the film has a plot.Tsui Hark has included just about everything in this one. The special effects may not be up to much but that is a sideline; the wonderful swordplay starts almost immediately and the films rarely lets up as it jumps from one operatic martial art display to another, helped by an impeccable cast featuring iconic stars such as Sammo Hung and Brigitte Lin.Unfortuantly it still took some work before films of this sort were appreciated in the west. Despite the efforts of John Carpenter, it still took over a decade and Crouching Tiger to truly bring this wonderful form of entertainment to the masses. There's only so much praise you can give a film before saying it has to be seen to be appreciated fully. This is certainly a landmark in wuxia and an essential showpiece of Hong Kong action at its finest. (A testament to this is the fact the DVD has a Bey Logan commentary.)

What you'll take away from this film very much depends on your own experiences and preferences towards cinema. It is heavy on special effects, the plot is somewhat confusing (no more so than most kung-fu fantasy movies) and due to CGI in 2006 being so good, it does look rather dated. Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It made me reminisce on those Saturday / Sunday morning films I used to watch as a kid (like Sinbad)which were great fun without being particularly thought provoking or cinematic masterpieces. The actors do their bit and the film has a genuine comedic edge to the dialogue, and some excellent visual comedy too. The music is suitably dramatic, stirring and heightens the feeling of awe caused by the special effects and snappy camera-work. Groundbreaking in terms of special effects (1983!!)and a real comeback for fantasy kung fu, but a little light in characterisation and looks a bit dated. I also prefer martial arts films with conventional fight scenes so would have liked a few more of those. Worth seeing.

Frankly, I am confused that this movie has such a high rating from other users. I am a huge fan of Hong Kong period action/fantasy/swordplay movies, but I just couldn't get into this movie. I kept waiting for it to get better, but unfortunately, it just got worse! So much is said about the "ground breaking" special effects, but I felt like I was watching a Saturday morning cartoon. On paper, this movie should've been great. Produced by Tsui Hark, and an all-star cast... Too bad the plot was so silly/bad. I would definitely recommend the movie Deadful Melody (aka Deadly Melody) over this one. Better fight scenes, better humor, colorful-well-played characters, and a plot that makes sense.