Dishonour among outlaws, John Woo style, except that the conflicts are fought with blades, spears and fists rather than guns. Woo claims that he started out wanting to make a film about Zen Buddhism, centred on internalised movement rather than physical action, but had to abandon the idea when he realised that Wei Bai (his choice of leading man) wasn’t the right actor for the concept. In the event, this is a darker and more cynical variation on traditional martial-arts melodramas. Kao recruits skilled fighters to help him revenge himself on his old foe Pai, but Kao himself is far from the paragon of wounded virtue he seems. Laced with gags but rooted in visions of chivalry, treachery, blood and the odd ‘magic’ feat. Homosexual overtones are rife. Tony Rayns
