Hey folks, Harry here with a review from Anton Sirius of Andrew Lau's 1998 film STORM RIDERS. Now you may not know this film at all. But I had been looking for this movie for two years. I didn't want a shitty vhs gazillionth generation dub of the film... I had heard it was utterly fantastic. Before that, some company had sent me a DVD with some FX shots from the movie that just made me giddy. And on one dark and stormy night not two months ago I finally found the film on dvd whilst scowering the net in a frenzied attempt to locate it. I had found areas with VCDs available. I had found the VHS dubs... I wanted a perfect copy of this and I found it at Asianxpress.Net. I sat around like a little kid awaiting my treasure and finally it arrived. I instantly went to my room... put it in my DVD-ROM and watched. Wow. It friggin rules. This is a perfect example of how to do comic book action... superhuman fantasy. The acting isn't grand... but the vision is. Luckily... Andrew Lau has found a home with Chris Lee's SUPERMEGA MEDIA, so we'll see some more films produced the way they should. And for now... Read Anton Sirius' look at the movie... and then go get it for yourself...
Storm Riders (1998, directed by Andrew Lau)
There are action films, and then there are ACTION FILMS. You know what I mean. It’s the difference between Die Hard and Air Force One, between T2 and I Come In Peace, between a tap on the shoulder and a kick in the nuts. No one needs to tell you, you can feel it from the energy bleeding off the first few frames of film.
Storm Riders is a kick in the nuts.
As far as martial arts films go, Storm Riders makes Mortal Kombat look like Gymkata. The plot is your standard fantasy martial arts epic involving swords, goofy names like Striding Cloud, Whispering Prince and Sword Saint, and revenge for deceased parents, but the whole thing crackles with that unmistakable ACTION energy. From the opening set-up where Cloud’s father tells him, “Kindness is invincible” (at least that’s what the subtitles said he said) to the final climactic battle in the Sword Graveyard Storm Riders grips you and doesn’t let go. But while the plot is serviceable and the performances are good (including young HK star Aaron Kwok, Ekin Chang- who’s worked with the director before on the Young & Dangerous series- and the incomparable Sonny Chiba as Lord Conquer), it’s the staging of the fight scenes that sets this film apart. Wire work that makes Bride with White Hair look obsolete and, for Hong Kong, top-notch special effects combine with hyper-kinetic camera work to take things to the next level, maybe even two levels beyond. The fight scenes are spectacular. Rivers explode and reality ripples as insane-o martial arts powers, including tornado kicks and frost punches and Goddess knows what else, are unleashed. There are at least three “Holy shit” moments over the course of the film (moments where your jaw hangs slack and you say... well, you know.) It’s a very comic book inspired look (not surprising considering the source material is a comic by Ma Wing Shing) but on such a grand scale as to dwarf anything else in the genre. But the comic book-ishness doesn’t just apply to the fight scenes. Lau does some very clever things with his camera, and it looks to me- from the way certain shots are framed- that he took actual panels from the comic and used them as launching points for some scenes. Combined with little touches like the ‘pop-ups’ that announce the name of every important character, it’s a very cool, very consistent look.
Let me throw in a brief bio of Andrew Lau (who isn’t actor Andy Lau, BTW), since I have no doubt you’ll be hearing his name right alongside John Woo’s very soon. Lau has worked as a cinematographer with some of HK’s best- he was cinematographer on Ringo Lam’s City on Fire, for instance, and Tsui Hank’s Once Upon a Time in China III. He’s also worked with Wong Kar-Wai on two films, two of his best- As Tears Go By and Chungking Express. And although you can tell he’s learned something from all three he already has a distinct style of his own, very powerful and direct. Prior to Storm Riders Lau was best known as the director of the teen gangster series Young & Dangerous, and if you get a chance check out the first couple. They are an absolute hoot. But don’t see them expecting anything like Storm Riders- it would be like trying to see glimpses of the Matrix in Bound.
Storm Riders is one of the great ones, a film that will be looked at in the same way as Star Wars or T2. It’s a knock your eyes out adrenaline rush of a film, quite probably the best comic book adaptation ever, and something every one of you should go out and try to see as soon as you possibly can, if for no other reason than to start salivating over what Lau could accomplish with a Hollywood budget and effects by ILM. And you can see it- I recently picked up a nice clean VHS transfer, subtitled and letterboxed, in Manhattan for six bucks. Best six bucks I think I’ve ever spent.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go watch it again. “I did not teach you the final move of Cloud Palms. I will show you today so you can die in peace.” Holy shit...
