Seven Swords (www.the-usher.com)

"We must go to Mount Heaven"

When the Emperor decrees that anyone who practices martial arts will be beheaded, General Fire-Wind (Hong-Lei) gathers together an army of China most violent and merciless killers to collect the bounty of three-hundred gold coins per head. After village after village is decimated, the people of Martial town head to Mount Heaven to ask the Master for help. He agrees and dispatches the seven swords.

After the success of films like 'Hero', 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' and 'House of Flying Daggers', period martial arts movies have become a Far Eastern art form for the Western audience but have they started to lose their originality?

Watching brilliantly choreographed fight scenes set against visually stunning ancient Chinese landscapes is becoming very commonplace in the cinema. With Far Eastern movies getting more theatrical releases in the West, cinemagoers run the risk of becoming slightly blasé towards historical martial arts epics. Unfortunately 'Seven Swords' suffers from this very same affliction.

Based on the famed novel by Yusheng Liang, this story is in the same vein at 'The Magnificent Seven' and 'Seven Samurai' but with a Chinese martial arts twist. We have an evil warlord who wants to destroy a village and a group of villagers who ask for outside help to defend them. This is virtually the same storyline but now we have some wirework fighting thrown in for good measure.

The seven swords of the title are mythical weapons handed to warriors of great honour and skill by the master of Mount Heaven. Each sword requires a different skill to weld as each of them has different attribute such as power, speed or the ability to cut through anything. With each sword comes a different master and they bring their own unique skill and fighting style to their sword. Again this is like the famous Kurosawa movie or the classic western.

The performances are very good however, with a cast that brings together the best of Asia's martial arts and acting talent. Donnie Yen, Charlie Yeung and Leon Lai star as the Mount Heaven masters who lead the battle with the other six sword welders. There are also some fine performances from up and coming Asian stars such as Zhang Jingchu as Yufang, Lu Yi as Han and Kim So-Yeon as Luzhu.

With brilliantly choreographed fight sequences and an excellent cast, the film only suffers from a very familiar story and an over familiarity with martial arts epics as of late. This should not deter you from what is still a good Far Eastern historical tale from master Asian director Tsui Hark.

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1 with Dolby Digital 5.1, the movie is presented well.

BONUS FEATURES

Disc 1

Further Attractions
Preview trailers for 'Iron Monkey', 'Once Upon a Time in China Part 1, 2 and 3', 'The Warrior', 'Bichutimoo', 'Ong-Bak' and 'Bang Rayan'

Disc 2

Promotional Gallery
View the 'UK Theatrical Trailer', 'UK Teaser Trailer', 'UK TV Spot', 'Hong Kong Theatrical 1', 'Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer 2' and the 'International Press Footage'

Interview Gallery
Watch interviews with director Tsui Hark and stars Donnie Yen (Dragon Sword), Lau Kar-Leung (Unlearned Sword), Leon Lai (Transience Sword), Duncan Chow (Celestial Beam Sword), Charlie Young (Heaven's Fall Sword), Tai Liwu (Star-Chaser Sword), Zhang Jingchu (Liu Yufang) and Sun Hong-Lei (Fire Wind) as they talk about working on the project, the script, the characters and preparing for the film.

Forging the Sword

The Making of Seven Swords (17.34 mins)
Director Tsui Hark and stars Donnie Yen (Dragon Sword), Lau Kar-Leung (Unlearned Sword), Leon Lai (Transience Sword), Duncan Chow (Celestial Beam Sword), Charlie Young (Heaven's Fall Sword), Tai Liwu (Star-Chaser Sword), Zhang Jingchu (Liu Yufang) and Sun Hong-Lei (Fire Wind) take you behind the scenes of the film. Here we the amount of preparation that went into both the training of the actors, the fight choreography and martial arts lessons and learning to ride a horse.

Shooting Diary 1 (5.13 mins)
Pre-production - Costume design, location scouting and the construction of the sets

Shooting Diary 2 (4.18 mins)
Production - Behind the scenes of the Martial Village with Donnie Yen and Charlie Young

Shooting Diary 3 (5.17 mins)
Production - On location for the Desert shoot, as the filmmakers try to capture emotion in extreme conditions and the cast talk about working with the director

Shooting Diary 4 (5.15 mins)
Production - Mount Heaven shoot and the crew encounter problems with the weather, cold and climate

Production Gallery (3.46 mins)
View posters, storyboards and behind the scenes images from the film

Original Version Deleted Scenes
Entitled 'The Seven Swords', 'A defiant village', 'Refusal to Sing' and 'Love Triangle', these deleted scenes suffer from the lack of an introduction or commentary to explain why they were cut.

UK Deleted Scenes
Entitled 'Heaven's Fall sees too much, 'Searching the Desert', 'Conflict Underground', 'A darker plot', 'A longer Struggle' and 'Original Ending', these deleted scenes suffer from the lack of an introduction or commentary to explain why they were cut.

OVERALL

The DVD package from Hong Kong Legends is a very good one. The interviews and making of featurettes will please fans but the lack of a commentary track is a slight disappointment.

DVD

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2006