Saviour of the Soul (1991)

Director: Cory Yuen

Summary: Crazy-Ass day-glow sword fights set in the near-future where everything is made up of primary colors.

Very loosely based on the long running comic book series “City Hunter” (Which was an anime series AND an incredibly silly film of the same name starring Jackie Chan), the film centers around Kwan (Anita Mui), Chuen (Kenny Bee), and Ching (Andy Lau), a trio of goofy assassins that are attacked within the first ten minutes by Silver Fox (Aaron Kwok), a pupil of some evil guy they killed in the past. Foxy kills one of the team in a decidedly horrifying fashion and everything goes to hell from there. Would you believe me if I said much wackiness ensues? (Ed. Yes?)

For the uninitiated, Saviour of the Soul is almost the perfect stepping stone to the helter-skelter world of Hong Kong cinema. You get the over-done dramatics, the creatively choreographed action scenes and a fantastically stylized, "straight from the comic book page" cinematography. The world on the screen is pure, colored eye candy from start to finish and the wuxia (Flying Swordsman) generation is mashed together with a slightly cyber-punk one in a mix that’s refreshing after the slew of “Ancient Time” kung-fu actioners. The actors all do adequately in their respective roles, mugging when they have to and looking constipated when dramatics are called upon. Aaron Kwok and Andy Lau may be called legitimate actors (Pfffft) now, but back then, they looked and acted like what they where: Pop-stars on the big screen.

In the end, the film suffers from a problem that is common in the world of Hong Kong cinema: you get every kind of cake and the filmmakers expect you to eat it all in one sitting. The story is fuzzy and unstructured and the tonal shifts are nuts. It takes a little practice to be able to swallow a tear jerking dramatic scene followed by a silly slapstick gag where a villain gets trapped in a mirror. If you aren’t used to it, Savior of the Soul will have you scratching your head while wondering if you missed a scene or two.

A near perfect blend of Over the Top Late 80’s/Early 90’s Hong Kong entertainment in all it’s stylistically, creatively overdone, action packed style. Saviour of The Soul only misses the mark by a teensy bit.

DVD: It isn't released in North America yet, so you're best best is picking it up in Chinatown. It's a pretty common title, but be careful you grab the original and not the bat-shit crazy sequel that's as much fun as having a tooth filled with sugar.