The Storm Warriors (2009) User Reviews (22)

Storm Warriors-- THE "Magic-(Kung)Fu" Comic-Book Movie

[dont_b_so_BBC · 4/10 · 9 December 2009]

Green-screened movies and manga/ anime (graphic-novel/ cartoon) adaptations are a dime a dozen these days-- so what makes "Storm Warriors" (based on a Hong Kong "wuxia" comic series) any different? Well, unlike Hollywood movie adaptations which tend to tone/ dumb things down for wider/ mainstream appeal, or Japan movie adaptations which try to stuff all the original story/ characters in, Hong Kong movie adaptations are generally about entertaining their fan-base-- even at the risk of becoming self-referential/ indulgent "B"-movies.

And the "magic-(kung)fu" style/ stance aptly known as "Mastery of Ten Thousand Swords" shows up right at the beginning, as if Hong Kong/Chinese cinema is staking its claim as the rightful home of "magic-(kung)fu" movies. Jedi Knights can only ape, but never muster up, THIS much style.

That's right, "Storm Warriors" is an unabashed attempt at THE "magic-(kung)fu" comic-book movie-- complete with comically symbolic names and philosophical kungfu-babble, as well as the requisite series of achingly slow 2-minute "power-ups/ stand-offs" followed by dizzyingly fast 2-second "fights/ contacts", etc.. By starting right at the END of the story, "Storm Warriors" shrewdly (shamelessly?) avoids any semblance of story-telling or scale... in favor of merely showcasing the "end-game" battles that are being fought-- with NO explanations for the uninitiated.

And unlike its prequel "Storm Riders", which tried semi-successfully to make a "realistic/ conventional" movie based on an earlier story-arc in the same Hong Kong comic series, this movie simply aims to realize the experience of reading/ re-imagining its "wuxia" battles-- with frequent "fades-to-black", extreme close-ups and closely-edited montages... and once I realized/ accepted I was watching a manga/ comic-in-motion, I actually had fun "interpreting/ analyzing" each "panel".

In other words, just go and do your own research if you didn't "get it"... and if you didn't have fun watching it, you're obviously not its target audience-- "wuxia" fans waiting to see the next stage in the cinematic realization of "magic-(kung)fu" battles (the opening "Mastery of Ten Thousand Swords" is now CANON in "wuxia"-fantasy cinema). Never mind if you missed (like I did) the "magic-(kung)fu" movie craze started by the "Buddha Palm" in the 1960s (filmed in black-and-white) or the "Warriors of Zu Mountain" in the 1980s (filmed with wire-fu)-- thanks to the advances in green-screen and CGI technology, "Storm Warriors" is able to show you some of the wild "magic-(kung)fu" battles envisioned by generations of "wuxia"novelists/artists with all their crazy chi/energy.

Of course, you can fault the directors/ writers for the lack of story/ character development-- or just blame it on comic fans who already know the story/ characters (the comic series ended ages ago), as well as "wuxia" genre fans who will able to figure it out (most of it "wuxia" clichés), or even the investors who wouldn't put up the money for a 9-hour trilogy upfront.... But you can certainly see where most of the money went-- though I wished more of it was spent fleshing out the first half of the movie, instead of endlessly "leveling-up" in the second (where budget limitations really show).

Personally, I admire the producers'/ directors' guts (foolhardiness?) in splurging on the EFFECTS and scrimping on the script (instead of the other way round like most films with a tight budget). Eg. The lighting/ texture of CGI-background/effects matches with the live-action actors so well/ evenly that it usually does NOT distract/ detract from the movie (always the highest compliment for CGI); and the choice/ ability to light/ color the film with "natural/ ambient" light is a welcomed sight for sore eyes strained by heavily color-corrected sci-fi/ fantasy movies (hiding their CGI in "soft sepia", "cool blue", etc.)-- so "Storm Warriors" aimed rather low, and mostly hit its mark.

In short, this movie is nothing if not "pulp/cult", and a "guilty pleasure" at that too-- the story/ characters may not resonate, but the visuals can certainly be relished... depending on how you liked them. For me, there were at least 2 things (no, not the two male leads) that they got right: "Mastery of Ten Thousand Swords" at the very beginning, and "Capricious Dance of the Demons" at the very end-- but there was really a lot of "filler" to get through...

300 the martial arts film.

[aclockworkbear · 5/10 · 23 April 2010]

I waited years for this sequel and I finally got it and I am so disappointed. It was basically 300: the martial arts movie. It was so loaded with cgi from backgrounds to character animations. it had a weak story that wasn't endearing like the first, and it was missing the action of the first movie as well as some of the more interesting 'powers'.

the original had the feel of a video game come to life and done very well. This one was like the goth version. it was dark, disjointed and didn't flow the way it should have.

what can I say? the reviewers before me pretty much nailed it and I hate to repeat. So there it is. the third movie is coming, I hope it is better than this one!

Entertaining, good try but lacks the fun elements the first one had.

[wayfeel · 6/10 · 18 December 2009]

Such a long wait since the first one. Storm Rider 1 was really good by the way - better story line, better flow, better pace, better romance, better music, more varied scenes(inside castle, forest where two groups of people meet, dragon cave, village, etc), much more character development (ie every characters seem to have decent screen time), adequate CGI - given that was some 11 yrs ago, and better acting - Yes, better acting! ie. Sonny Chiba was unparalleled as Lord Conquer. Even Wind and Cloud had deeper emotions, more expressive then, really.

I would prefer the first one if not for the redeeming factors of Storm Riders 2 - more boastful, refined CGIs, much impressive and intense fighting choreograph which I enjoyed immensely. one battle too long, one ended prematurely if only it balances up a bit.

Some scenes unnecessary, some over dramatized to a point of dragging which make you just wanna scream "just get on with it!". I suppose the script just could have been much better and more varied scenes than just those few bleak boring ones which at times, looked a bit fake. The ladies also don't have much scene impact, a little shallow.

Overall, I don't mind watching it again purely for its fighting CGIs which was sheer indulgence. Everything else, I rather re-watch Storm Riders 1.

A big disappointment

[johnmanson · 16 December 2009]

First of all, let me say that I am a fan of the comic book series and really enjoyed the first Storm Riders movie. I can only say that this movie is an embarrassment. If I put myself in the shoes of someone who has never seen or heard of the comic book, I would be completely lost as to what was going on. It is an understatement to say that the storyline is underdeveloped and that there is little character development. I also did not feel that the special effects were up to the standard for the year 2009. If you are a bit brain-dead and not looking to think at all, this movie might be right for you because there is little point in trying to follow any kind of plot and you could just sit there and stare at lots of pretty colours, but even so, I would think there are better things you can watch. I was constantly looking at my watch hoping the pain would end and the $10 cheap tuesday ticket price i paid to watch this could have been better spent too. The female characters in the movie were of no importance, and Nicholas Tse's character was quite pointless too - maybe he will be back in a yet another horrible sequel which will go for special effects over an engaging plot.

In summary, possibly one of the worst movies of all time, because its hard enjoy the special effects and to care for the characters and their battles when you have no reason sympathize with any of them due to the fact that there is absolutely no storyline.

Completely Rubbish !! Don't waste your time and money !!

[hiucheekeong · 1/10 · 21 December 2009]

I'm "storm Ridders" comic fans ever since the 1 episode, and i'm very disappointed how Directors Pang brothers has turn this "storm rider" into a completely rubbish !! This movie should be made into a 2 minutes effect show-reel instead of a full feature film !! The worst Chinese movie i ever watched for past 10 years !! Completely no story, poor in every aspect of film-making, especially the directing, acting and story !! Very boring, the movie should end right after the opening title, where after master "no name" launched his "million sword". Watsing my time and money !!

"Storm rider 1" was far more better than this empty soul "storm rider 2". For non-comic fans, the whole story making no sense, and for comics fans, it was completely a disaster !! The Pang brothers has raped all the comic fans, and all comic the characters !!

If there is "Storm Rider 3", please change the directors first !! The Pang brothers don't even know how to tell a simple story !!

This movie is probably the worst Kung Fu show, ever!

[jesliew-486-352282 · 1/10 · 10 January 2020]

This review has spoilers but dont worry cause I'm trying to save 2 hours of your life. It's not freaking worth watching, I'll tell you that.

Firstly, the script sucks. No dialog that is of substance. I thought the script writers went on strike or something cause You could practically count hows many times the character spoke in the movie. That's house stingy with words this movie was. It must have been painful to act in this Charlie Chaplin kung fu show, I'll tell you that too.

Then, the movie totally does not have any linkages with the Storm Raiders - I mean where is the palm and kick kung Fu skills that they learned in the first show? no sign of that at all in this movie. Ima

What they have instead is a bunch of dumb sword moves which are so freaking slow with no skill whatsoever - honestly, I feel asleep, AT THE DAMN FINAL FIGHT SCENE!! How i stayed awake that long was nothing short of a miracle.

Then, I don't know where storm and wind got their new squeeze. Those 2 ladies are pretty, and they were there to slow down a freaking movie which was already a damn drag.

There was no continuation whatsoever. You can safely assume that all the guys in the first movie who survived, are dead - for whatever freaking reason you like. All the new characters in here... fell from the sky.

In the first movie, cloud's Kung fu was the cloud palm (cheesy, but I can relate) and wind's kung fu is the windy kick. This show, not only they totally didn't use their existing Kung fu, their new kung fu is called - hold on to something cause you'll might kill yourself falling down laughing - the ba sword move (for cloud). Ba as in ba ba black sheep kinda ba. What a stupid name! Oh and for wind, he's new Kung fu is called the devil in disguise - all you need to do to learn this kung fu us go for a dumb petroleum onsen somewhere in the mountains. What a freaking joke. No practice needed man.

Terrible, Horrible,Atrocious, Awful

[mmushrm · 4/10 · 28 December 2012]

Terrible, Horrible,Atrocious, Awful are some of the words that can be used to describe this movie.

I was actually excited when I got this movie having seen Storm Riders and having read some familiarity with the comics. I actually thought the bad reviews were exaggerated but I was wrong. This movie is that bad.

The acting is bad, Ekin cannot act and in this movie he is more wooden then ever, the story line makes no sense and the CGI.... whoever said the CGI was good must've been living in a cave. The CGI is over (and badly) done. Part of what makes CGI good is how it blends in with the actors and makes everything look realistic. In this movie the CGI looks totally fake. Add the really bad fighting choreography and the combination is laughably bad, actually not laughably but jaw droppingly bad.The actors are not fighting as much as they are dancing, badly and in slow motion, to the accompaniment of bad CGI.

Give this a miss, I wish I did instead of wasting my money for a DVD thats now on its way to a landfill.

Storm Warriors

[helmutty · 7/10 · 19 December 2009]

The long-awaited sequel to Storm Riders is finally here. The Pang Brothers take the directing chair and turn the sequel into an action-packed filled with CGI effects. The CGI is touted as the best CGI in Chinese movies but it cannot be compared with big budget Hollywood movies. The special effects are incredible as not seen in Chinese movies.

The story: The action starts straight from the first scene. It shows Cloud and Wind not being able to defeat the powerful warlord and flee the scene. They then are trained in different ways. Cloud is taught by Nameless and Wind takes the evil way. With its fast pace, it brings you from one action scene to another without much drag. The special effects increasingly get better and by the time it comes to the last battle, the special effects are at best. With its epic score, it manages to suck me into the fantasy world. Yes, there is a downside since this is a non-stop action movie, its story is kept simple and there are even not much characters' developments.

Overall: If you are willing to watch a heavy CGI movie with no story and just be awed at the action scenes combined with CGI, you would probably enjoy this movie. If you are concerned about characters' developments, it is not for you. This movie is only for the fans or someone who wants to watch non-stop action filled with CGI with no story. There should be a part three and hopefully, every thing is in it with be amazing even its story.

So much that could be done well but yet ...

[rocketdive2001 · 3/10 · 26 December 2009]

Ouch.

That pretty sums up how i felt when i watched it. I really believed that this movie had a chance at doing justice to the comic series. I remember that the 1st one was not as bad as part 2. I am not a fan of the comics but part 1 was able to set the story decently for me to enjoy it. Yet part 2, so many years on with improvements in graphics and effects, still failed at the most critical element ... the story telling.

I was very lost at several points of the story and fought hard not to jeer at the many parts that mimics other movies. Watched "300"? If you did and liked it, you'll see how this movie "plays tribute" to it. I honestly believe there would be better ways to use those effects into their story telling and fight scenes.

The plot is really simple. You have Lord godless who wants to dominate the whole of China, and it's up to our 2 heroes, Wind and Cloud to team up and defeat him. The 2 men each train differently and that difference ended up giving them more problems than godless himself! That's it!! But the movie does showcase some decent CG that i must admit surpassed my expectations in some ways. It does go to show that Asia (not including Japan)'s CG standards have started to be taken seriously. I was quite impressed by the effects used during the duel between Nameless and Cloud. We may have seen better in other movies but that was good enough and well used to tell the power of the fight. Music and sound wise, the sound effects are pretty decent, my ears did hurt abit at certain parts of the movie, especially when there are sword blades clashing and coming into play.

If you still want to bother with the movie, i'll suggest you rent it. Skip the big screen, this movie in many ways is not worth revisiting again after one session with it. And add to that, i'm pretty sure we'll be looking at a 3rd part soon. And yes, it ends with a cliffhanger of sorts. Let's hope they learn from this mistake of a movie and get back to part 1's standard of story telling with part 2 good use of CG effects!

A Great Visual Feast With Lots Of Storytelling Flaws.

[a_karamys208 · 6/10 · 9 March 2012]

Recently seen this film on DVD and to tell you the truth this movie is superb in terms of visuals and martial arts choreography.But story wise,I find this a bit of a let down.Being no fan of the original comic books or the previous feature film(which happens to have the same lead actors),I kinda expect it to deliver more than what I have seen the trailers.Despite the film's bad script and simple execution,I still personally enjoyed watching this movie due to its unique visual feasts(yes, the spectacular fight scenes especially during the films climax) and over the top production which is similar or equivalent to Hollywood productions.Go and see it only if you are a martial arts and love fantasy cum action films!If you are the type who loves watching serious and good movies, I suggest you give this movie a miss.

It is difficult to make any sense of this truly awful kung fu, special effects film

[Likes_Ninjas90 · 2/10 · 23 December 2009]

Directed by Oxide Pang Chun and his brother Danny Pang, The Storm Warriors (Fung Wan II) is a martial arts film set in ancient China. It is a period of kung fu experts and deadly warlords. The evil warrior Lord Godless (Simon Yam) has taken a number of people, including the Emperor of China, hostage. Godless plans to break into the Emperor's tomb and rule China himself. Initially he is forced to battle a martial arts expert called Nameless (Kenny Ho) but comes out victorious, declaring himself the new ruler of China. In order to stop him, two warriors named Cloud (Aaron Kwok) and Wind (Ekin Cheng), enlist the help of the warrior Lord Wicked, who will train them quickly for a showdown with Godless. Despite knowing he could be corrupted by evil martial arts, Wind is selected for the assignment over Cloud as he is more in control of his power.

Having not seen its predecessor The Storm Riders (Fung wan: Hung ba tin ha), it is difficult to make any sense of this truly awful kung fu, special effects film. The only mildly redeeming quality about The Storm Warriors is its rather impressive visual effects. The martial arts experts in the film posses magic powers, allowing them to conduct bolts of lightning and turn droplets of water into massive balls of ice. Yet like many recent Western films, the Pang brothers have opted to over edited these fight scenes to the point where they lose any coherency and grandeur. The film also pales compared to much more visually intriguing and extravagant Asian films such as Hero and Oldboy. The computer generated backgrounds of the landscapes are a particularly painful sight. The fights are also so frequent in this film that they diminish anything that might have once resembled character, development or even just a plot. There is one particular battle that takes close to a quarter of the entire film. What remains of the story is so minimal and insignificant that some trailers would exhibit more narrative and depth. Wooden performances and amateurish expository dialogue further poison this film. However, the latter could be due to the poor translation of the subtitles from Cantonese to English. The dialogue might sound better in its native tongue. There is very little reason to see this film unless you are interested in mild visual effects, the appearance of a character that resembles Skeletor, or a credit sequence, complete with an Asian pop song, which would be more fitting in a James Bond picture.

A visual masterpiece

[grandmastersik · 8/10 · 6 October 2010]

I'm not Chinese. I'm not a Wind and Cloud comic fan-boy. Perhaps these are the reasons that I can offer an objective opinion of this film?

The first Storm Warriors (released as The Storm Riders) excited visually, taking wuxia film to an all-new level of excellence; however, it suffered from a weak, rushed plot, with references being made to characters and events non-followers just found bemusing, proving that there really is no right way to please everybody.

This sequel suffered from the same flaws, only it wasn't so much as the plot being rushed this time around as it was the characters. The problem here is that for those who aren't already fans, nothing is known - and precious little revealed - about each individual, so when it comes time that we SHOULD be caring, it's not possible. But thankfully, the Pang Brothers' beautiful direction makes it something of an over-sight. I'll come back to this in a moment.

The pacing is good for an action film, with no time wasted in getting down to the root of the story, which is basically an average episode of Dragonball Z anyway. True, action/kung fu freaks would likely pine for some more traditional choreography, but the Pang Brothers lift this film out of the chop-socky genre and into that of fine art, defeating art-house kung fu classics, The Blade, and Ashes of Time on style points by unanimous decision.

Watching the film, it's interesting to know just how big a fan of the comic the Brothers are, for each shot is so lovingly captured, at points it almost looks like paintings in motion, and with their panel-by-panel method of storytelling, comics - if well done - could almost be deemed as such. And where CGI and after-effects are indeed the sine qua non for getting their vision of the tale across on-screen, where I may have argued in the past that such techniques "kill the art of film-making", here, they AMPLIFY it, breathing enchantment into every scene, every shot, every second, leaving something of wonder to the memory come the final credits.

I could now go on about all of the awesome techniques the fighters use, and how the cinematography fully captures them - and indeed, they're well worthy of a mentioning - but instead I'll simply point out the obvious issues to address before one decides to give this a view:

• if you're uninterested by "style over substance", you won't enjoy this film

• if you want an involving story, this film is not for you

• if you want Fist of Legend-style kick arse kung fu, watch something else

• if, however, you want to give this film a real chance, you may just come away a little bit richer for having done so... I know I did.

Terrible movie. Not even worth a dollar rental. Spare yourself. So bad I requested a refund from th cable company, for the principle of the thing.

[williamcauble · 1/10 · 7 January 2011]

I expected an epic tale of some kungfu heroes versus the tyrannical Japanese Imperial conquerors, in the modus of "Ip Man" but what I got was a CGI nightmare. Seriously I watched for 27 minutes just hoping that the special effects would stop long enough for some real kungfu fighting. It was so disappointing. Even the special effects were so wild and out of it.

The director tried to piece together CGI with pseudo-anime style scenes, stitched together with a real boring plot line. I do not dislike CGI; don't get me wrong. I liked Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon although the bamboo forest flight scenes were a little corny, LOVE Kung Fu Hustle, with the guys who shoot darts off of their Chinese zithers and the lady with her Dyna-yell, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera; but this movie is a STINKER.

A Nutshell Review: The Storm Warriors

[DICK STEEL · 9 December 2009]

It has been a long wait, but better late than never. When the first Storm Rider film was released I remembered it caused a stir, for its relatively seamless combination of special effects and martial arts, and for its departure from the established mythos by creator Ma Wing-Shing. Then there is the casting, with popular idols Aaron Kwok and Ekin Cheng in the leading roles, overshadowed by the magnificently charismatic Sonny Chiba! That was some 11 years ago, and given its box office success, a sequel was thought to be expected and imminent, with big name stars like Andy Lau even thrown into the hat at one time as Nameless, but alas the project got stuck in development hell.

It was during an interview session for movieXclusive.com that my friends and I had the opportunity to meet up with Ekin Cheng, and toward the end of the interview he had revealed to us quite candidly that the next Feng Yun film would be made soon, which was why he's keeping his locks after a bald turn in the television serial Huo Yuanjia. We thought he was kidding, or we had heard it wrong, but here we are now, with the Pang Brothers taking over the helm from Andrew Lau, and no, there's no Andy Lau, but long-time-no-see Kenny Ho taking over the role of a pugilist master.

While the Pang Brothers are famous for their horror-suspense-thrillers, they had brought with them those sensibilities honed over the years and tweaked them for this sequel. Gone are colours from the first film, and in comes grittier shades, complete with plenty of metallic clang courtesy of heavy armors, and cloudy shadows possessing powers of sword energy. The story here is pretty straight- forward and had dove straight into the thick of things, with the first film having established the background of the key duo already, and here we see a more mature take probably taking place years where the earlier film had left off.

To get there though, we have to read a lengthy prologue, where Lord Godless (Simon Yam) and son (Nicholas Tse) had invaded China and are seeking the fabled Dragon Spinal Cord (or at least it looked like one to me). They magically managed to capture most of China's top pugilists including Nameless and Cloud, and basically presented a scene to demonstrate just how badass the Godless father and son team can be, which translates to an opportunity to showcase how advanced the special effects have evolved in the Chinese martial arts arena.

Danny and Oxide Pang managed to retain signature key elements from the first film, such as the CG generated, fantastical backdrops in which our heroes do battle in, and little things like the animated opening credits scene. The fights though was a mixed bag, some brilliantly executed though falling for the slow-motion fad, while others succumbed to too quick a cut and too close an angle to make out what's going on between the sparring partners.

Those familiar with the mythos would welcome both Aaron Kwok and Ekin Cheng back into their roles of Cloud and Wind respectively, and frankly I couldn't fathom how anyone else could have stepped into these roles. Simon Yam as Lord Godless unfortunately didn't bring to the table the kind of charisma that Sonny Chiba had, and struggled to fill those shoes, made worst by a very poor characterisation of what's ultimately a weak villain, though one would expect that the combination of Wind and Cloud would render all their enemies powerless against their sheer combined destructive force.

The story here took a chunk out of the fact that Wind turned evil at one point, and thus that actually became the crux of the story, although I felt this was more of a Cloud story than a Wind one because the scenes in which one had over the other, was rather obvious, with screen time significantly devoted to training montages, and rescue missions, versus Wind turning into an incredible hulk through an immersion in evil waters (yes, seriously, he just stepped into a wading pool, and voila!)

So story aside, watch this for some of the mind-boggling action sequences between Wind and Cloud which the trailers had included, and had almost the last 30 minutes solely focusing on some massive action sequences that didn't seem to want to end. One of my favourites was the Battle of the Minds sequence, where no self-respecting martial arts film can find itself shying away from using tonnes of water, though Storm Warriors had a legitimate reason to (with rain the aftermath of a wind-cloud combination). If there's a fight scene that stood out, this was it, other than Nameless Vs Lord Godless which left you wanting for more right from the start.

Alas this film is but half a movie, ending with a literal cliffhanger. But if all bodes well, we should see the next Feng Yun film hit the screens sooner than the 11 year wait that we have been subjected to. It's true about the limited dialogue here (some of which were quite hilariously nonsensical, such as the naming of sword strokes), but hey, one comes with the expectation of a flashy, style over substance sequel, and it duly delivered.

if you loved Storm Riders ignore this pathetic sequel!

[chrichtonsworld · 3/10 · 25 July 2010]

There was barely a story in "Storm Riders" but at least it was simple and engaging. The mix between martial arts and CGI was impressive. "Storm Warriors" is an overkill of CGI effects not used properly. There were a couple of sequences that looked very nice only to be overshadowed by effects that didn't make any sense whatsoever. And that is what can be said of the whole movie. There is not one thing that makes sense. it was very hard to sit through a movie that has no heart. I couldn't care less for Wind or Cloud in this mess of a production. The Pang Brothers couldn't even be bothered to put in some nice dialog to explain events. Why on earth should one waste it's time if the directors did not put in the time to make a decent movie. Avoid!

Visually stunning. The rest belongs in the trash heap

[dbborroughs · 3/10 · 27 June 2010]

Stupefyingly awful comic adaption cum remake cum sequel to earlier version is the low point of everyone concerned. This is a bad movie that would have been a highlight of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

The story of Lord Godless' attempts to take over over China only to be challenged by characters named Wind, Cloud and Nameless, among others is never fully explained. Events start in the middle and just go. Yes the fights look great but with out a sense of character and over all plot it gets meaningless instantly.

What were they thinking? I won't even get into the dialog which is full of lines so silly you may end up doubled over with laughter.(okay its an over the top comic they are adapting but what if we don't know or like the comic?)

I will take the cast to task since no one, not even the great Simon Yam, turns in anything remotely like a performance

Visually this is one of the most impressive films I've seen this year (hence the three rating) but thats all this film has is visuals. There is nothing else.

If you must see it get some friends, something to drink and eat, and have go at it in a party atmosphere.

Really bad.

DIDOMAN: Too much Pang for Your Buck - Over the top

[robdido · 3/10 · 9 January 2010]

The sequel to Storm Riders, the Chinese comic-adapted movie that broke box office records in 1998, Storm Warriors defiantly delivers more 'Pang' for your buck this time around. Based on the comic 'Fung Wan' we see the return of pop idols Ekin Cheng & Aaron Kwok who are huge teen idols sensations in Asia, although they are now much older than when the first movie came out. But I guess their audience is too.

From the opening scene...BANG... We get right into it; There are Fireballs, Flying swords and a lot of graceful martial arts for arts saké thrown in, and a few Sakés will go down well before watching the movie as it it full on and getting in the right mood with some mates will be best as this 100% action CGI OverLord of a movie is geared more towards a younger crowd.

I found the BIG orchestra soundtrack was set to OverKill throughout the entire movie, but with an epic battle scene nearly every 5min, it's expected and a little full on, I needed to come up for some air but couldn't as a new fight scene was just around the corner.

I particularly liked the Streetfighter-esq still shots placed mid battle that moved across the screen just like the video game.

The plot had Elements of Chinese folk lore and a sexy cast like Chu Chu (Yan Tang), it's got it all. A little full on for myself, but the Nintendo generation (old & new) will love it.

Good Special Effects, the rest is just a mess...

[destroyerwod · 5/10 · 10 July 2015]

I had this movie for a while in my "to watch list" , got it from a VIDEO STORE selling a while ago, i think 2 years... Yeah, been a long time. I finally decided to watch it today. I had saw a trailer back in the day and tough it looked cool, thus why i purchased it.

So let me start this review positively. The CGI is actually pretty good. I mean it does look like a video game in some point but in a way that the movie is constant and you never have this impression that it is out of place. Obviously if you enjoy the style or not, this is your own point of view, but i personally did enjoy it and i am not a fan of wired fu to say the least.

That being said, sadly the movie fail on almost every other aspect for me. Sure the music was alright but all the rest, characters, story, all movie long i was wondering what was going on. The movie start very abrupt and show us our main heroes all chain and ready to be executed. But by some mean they manage to escape, think there stronger than the bad guy, but get there a** kicked. So they then need to find a way to get stronger in order to defeat the bad guy. That part is easy to understand but all the rest surrounding this is really hard to understand. I get that this is based on a comic book, and no i never read it, and i never saw the first movie either. Actually you can blame me on jumping on the sequel and then complaining about the story or you can blame the North American distributor for naming the movie The Storm Warriors instead of The Storm Riders 2. Yeah i figured out i was watching a sequel later when i checked IMDb. So yeah i did had a hard time connecting to those characters and the lore of the movie, and especially that whole plot point which end up being a major one about a stupid dragon spine that for some reason is super important for china to stand together. Spoiler ... the bone actually get split in half and never is mentioned again... wow, what an important plot point.

I really had a hard time figuring who is who, maybe learning more about the lore would had help me, again if i knew before watching the movie, but so much character are there and you don't know too much about them. For example that Lord Wicked guy, he is supposed to be the strongest of them all, yet he cut his arms because he was evil? That plot point almost made no sense what so ever. And "Nameless" which is supposed to be such a legend, it seem the movie kinda tell us midway that he was poisoned and for that he does not have all his strength so thats why he can't defeat the bad guy. I just feel there is just too much characters with little development to really care about them. In a magic word like this, you want to know who is who and why he is so...

As for the fights... well beside the special effects which i said where pretty good, there is not much fight choreography for the martial arts aficionado, a little here and there but its almost purely a special effect CGI fest. Honestly this movie somewhat remind me of Dragon Tiger Gate done wrong. That movie had a similar premise as young pupils training to beat an almost unbeatable enemy in a martial art set up that also involved super powers. The difference tough was you cared for the characters, the special powers added to the movie but there is still plenty of great martial arts. Obviously Donnie Yen... hard to wrong. But anyway that movie was much more entertaining than that Storm Warriors movie.

This is the kind of movie i feel i will forget in T-minus 1 hour... yup already forgot.

visually inventive fight scenes, splendiferous vistas and bravura, brain-bogglingly beauteous action!

[Weirdling_Wolf · 8/10 · 17 May 2022]

The tremendously gifted film-making brothers Pang unleash an exhilarating sequel to the much-loved action-fantasy classic 'The Storm Riders'. Troubles loom large on the beautifully rendered horizon as a ruthless, and mythically powerful warlord Lord Godless (Simon Yam)is bloodily ransacking China, his merciless endgame is to locate the legendary Dragon Bone, thereby making him the omnipotent, all-powerful despotic ruler of China, his relentless ambition might only be thwarted by Nameless (Kenny Ho), dynamic elemental heroes Wind (Ekin Cheng) and Cloud (Aaron Kwok), and the macabrely mysterious Lord Wicked (Tak-Bun Wong) who can bestow upon them extraordinarily potent metaphysical martial arts skills in order that our heroic, splendidly coiffed dynamic duo might finally vanquish the genocidal Lord Godless! There's nary a dull moment in the Pang Brothers balletically beautiful, visually enthralling, soul-stirringly sensational, pulse-quickening martial arts fantasy extravaganza! With dazzling special FX, rousing melodrama, mesmerically majestic martial arts duels, and a tub-thumpingly boisterous good vs. Evil climax, 'The Storm Warriors' enthrals with its spectacular squall of visually inventive fight scenes, splendiferous vistas and bravura, brain-bogglingly beauteous action!

Sequel of a different flavour

[harry_tk_yung · 11 December 2009]

I didn't expect this long-awaited sequel to have the grandiose scope of the first and so I was not disappointed. Instead, I found the comic book look-alike GCI effect simply great to watch. The plot is simple and functional: defeat, regroup, revenge. I particularly like the asymmetry in the separate efforts of Wind and Cloud to enhance their respective power. The secondary plot which takes over at the end will look familiar to those who remember director TSUI Hark's "Zu Mountain" (1983), as Ekin Cheng's Wind is a repackaging of his namesake Cheng Siu-chow's Ting Yin. Aaron Kwok looks good, while the two women's (Charlene Choi and TANG Yan) role in this movie is more or less to look pretty. Nicholas Tse, while under-used here, will likely come back as the chief villain if they ever make a Fung Wan III. If they do, I wouldn't mind seeing it.

A CGI Extravaganza

[changmoh · 13 December 2009]

THIS visual feast inspired by comic-book writer Ma Wing Shing's 'Fung Wan' series is arguably the most highly anticipated Asian movie of 2009. Although some may see this as a sequel to the acclaimed 'Storm Riders' (of 1998), 'Storm Warriors' boasts a new storyline involving the same heroes with Aaron Kwok and Cheng Ekin reprising their roles as Striding Cloud and Whispering Wind respectively.

However, the big buzz is the helming of the film by the Brothers Pang, the maverick duo who gave the world such hits as 'The Eye' and 'Bangkok Dangerous' (both Asian and Hollywood versions). Danny Pang was also involved with 'The Storm Riders' as its co-editor.

The story arc is from the Death Battle comic book in which the evil Japanese warlord, Lord Godless (Simon Yam), wants to get his hands on the magical Dragon Bones so that he can rule China unimpeded and unchallenged. Godless manages to capture the Emperor (Patrick Tam) and imprison his warriors. Among the prisoners are Cloud (Kwok) and the elder statesman Nameless (Kenny Ho). Later, Wind (Cheng) comes to the rescue and the trio is badly wounded.

Meanwhile, the heroes seek the help of the venerable Lord Wicked (Kenny Wong Tak Bun) who advises Wind to take the 'evil path' and master the martial arts skills he needs to save his nation from Godless and his son, Heart (Nicholas Tse). This 'Evil Wind' saga presents another subplot that is pursued in the second half of the movie.

Just like the CGI-laden 2012, the Pang Brothers make no bones about Storm Warriors being anything but an expansive and expensive computer-effects film. Towards this end, the effects and stunts, backed by choral voices and thundering drumbeats, are fantastic and sometimes even breath-taking. The film-makers seem so proud of the fantasy-action pieces that they keep on repeating them, showing them in slow-motion and from different angles and close-ups. This drags the fighting sequences on a bit, making them lose whatever sense of urgency or danger they may have generated.

However, the usual weaknesses of the Brothers Pang remain unresolved. The characters lack emotional depth, the story is rather confusing, and the lines can be lame at times. Wind looks as if he is being absorbed by the same black evil web that consumed Spider-Man - but with lesser emotional effect.

Attempts at comedy flop, too especially when Lam Suet's Piggy King turns out to be underwritten. Still, the female supports, Charlene Choi (as Wind's love interest, Second Dream) and Tang Yan (as Cloud's aide's aide Chu Chu) are welcome eye-candy to offset the male-macho emphasis of the plot. All in all, a good attempt but not great. - LIM CHANG MOH (limchangmoh.blogspot.com)

Zero out of five... Why?

[counter_force · 9 December 2009]

Hi people Happy holidays and Merry Christmas to all. I wrote another comment in the discussion user board it has some spoilers so if you want to read it go ahead. First to discuss is I did not watch pang brothers movie even If I did I would not know and I did not watch part one of Fung wan. But I did hear lots of good comments for the first movie.

Overall I did not enjoy the movie it just sucked the enjoyment of movie right out of me within 30 minutes. Even if you treat me to watch this movie again I would not watch it I would rather watch Good Burger again.

The movie has no dialog 1/3 of the time, I did not understand what is going on and really most of the movie did not make sense. Maybe their target audience was comic fans but even my friend who watched part one and read the comics said it was bad. If I could take back the time I watched the movie I would. I would not want to talk too much because I really commented a lot on the discussion board and my eyes are starting to hurt.

The only good point about this movie is the effects are cool and the music is nice but there is just too much music. It was everywhere. If I can convince you not to watch it I did the world a favor.

I rather they give the money they use to make this movie to a 3rd world county that needed the money for basic food and water.

I rate this movie 0/5 really I give this film nothing.

If you (the movie) did not even have normal dialog in this movie to make me, a common audience understand what is going on. All the special effects in the world cannot save you (the movie). Really I think I would count the number of lines each person said. And the movie really really makes no sense half the time.

Even for a bad film like good burger I would give it half a point for having Abe Vigoda in the movie. Oh if you do not know who he is he was in Godfather.

I just put my point of view and what I think. If you still want to watch this movie go ahead. It has cool effects and good music. But storyline don't count on it. But I would rather wait for the DVD to be out buy it together with my friends and pass it around to watch. Just one DVD.

Just like Forbidden kingdom and dragon ball, wasted money.. all of them the money could have fed hundreds of starving children.