成也风云， 败也风云。

first of all, i need to apologise. i dun wish to do this, but i really need to (let it out).....slam this piece of storm shit. pardon my language(including grammar, haha) and my rudeness.

an angry movie review for Storm Warriors/ FengYun2.

the first movie really moved me. it's an epic tale that has done incredibly well for almost all categories (Direction, story, actions, visuals, acting etc.). I feel for all the characters! the first one is usually more interesting to tell...and definitely very tough to do as well (to adapt HK comic into movie and keeping the style)... u'll hav lots of things to juggle with, but that at least keep the movie filled with characters intro, establishment of a believable world, lots of actions and story telling...the audience has a lot to absorb and enjoy. unlike the second one...it contains air.

the big challenge for the first film is whether the audience who do not know anything abt the comic story will eventually understand this world and love it....as well as, pleasing/not offending the comic fans who know the story inside out...

1998, Andrew Lau directed , 风云之雄霸天下. He and the production team has done an impressive job. the edited story for the silver screen is pretty perfect...He made all the right moves...taking out unimportant characters, tightening the pace and maintaining the flow by chopping and stringing the events together... the adapted story is genius (sorry, i actually didn't read through the original comic yet...but i know there's alot of alterations made and since no one complained abt it, i assume tat the film adaption is good haha!)...but of cos, credits to 马荣成 Ma Wing Shing for his original comic story where everything start off from.

The casting of the actors! and this is where fate/destiny comes into the picture. Aaron as Cloud and Ekin as Wind! OMG, perfect match! LOL! but never forget abt 雄霸 (Conqueror) ! starring 千叶真一! he is another perfect choice!
if u get any other actors to act..i think the movie's impressiveness would dropped by alot!
and yea, 孔慈, 楚楚 and 文丑丑 all hav the somewhat right cast to act :)

next is the theme song! it has captured the soul of the comic! perfect theme song for me!!!
the song has stayed in my mind for 11 years till now. i love it. and there's another love song in the movie which is very nice too.

天要这部电影成功啊！

The story is somewhat deep (in a good way) when comes to the Mud Buddha's prediction, totally hilarious when comes to the jester, totally awesome when comes to all the fight scenes, super cool when the actors are posing like the comic characters and look exactly like them! really entertaining.

on a personal note, i had a france born chinese friend named Philip who actually lived with me for 3 weeks to learn abit abt Chinese painting from my mum. Philip's chinese Dad learns chinese painting from my dad. ya, tats abt that. so, on 1998 Philip got this golden opportunity to watch Storm Riders with my family in Singapore. He knows nothing about HK comic or anything abt martial art. in the end, he understood that world and loves it. i remember he likes them flying ard jus that. haha!

This is Hong Kong Cinema's future. this movie will pave a path for a series of Wuxia movies that only asians can do and excel. I can't imagine how much more wonderful things will happen 10 years from 1998...the visual effects r gonna be more realistic and fantastic, the stage will only be bigger and better...nothing is impossible.

11 years later, i encountered storm shit.

...and that shit storm is storm warriors.... the sequel of the storm riders!?
I mus have done something wrong, why is this happening? Few days after watching the show and still unable to get over it, i decided to go a little deeper to understand this storm shit...i went to youtube to search their making of...interview of the directors. and eventually going online to find the original comic to find out why/how such shit storm is created. i know almost nothing abt the story after the Conqueror is defeated and i need to understand the original for this one, becos the sequel has offered almost zero story telling to pull me back into the world of Wind and Cloud. what a shame.

i'm about the burst.

ok. the pang brothers (directors of Storm Warriors). screw u. i heard that one pays more attention to the story while the other pays more attention to the visual effects and art direction. screw both of u again. both of you have failed to deliver in both story and visuals..... fail. ...epic shit ...this is it man.... both of you have brought so much joy to everyone who watched the first show, and then both of you screw it up 11 years later. screw both of u again.

somehow, this tragedy tallies with saying of 成也风云， 败也风云。am i supposed to laugh or cry now?

lets talk abt the story. what the fuck is wrong here? the story is an empty shell. it goes right into the actions...where i dun know a bunch of characters. it started off with a lot of words that quickly sums up what happened after the first movie and what's going to happen in this movie. basically, i'm shocked that they decided to throw in so many words b4 anything happened and thus i can't absorb a single shit that the narrator has to say. (i exaggerated abit i noe) nvm, i'm gonna slowly pick up later..... sorry...let the fight begins! and then prepare for another fight. then fight to fight and fight again. there is NO character development for most of the characters! Wind and Cloud became so one-dimensional here. Predictable, boring and emo. this is really really frustrating. don't u assume that we know who they are and then u jus let them to fight fight fight so casually. you have to design and put in time to show us what they are concern with...and not just about leveling up and fight fight fight. what the fight u want? the dialogues have one million 风大哥 and 云大哥 being addressed. pretty annoying. i feel that they are trying to say out how intimate they are with each other rather then showing (the better way, but takes time). and yes, the 2 female actresses has almost zero chemistry with their 风大哥 and 云大哥.

luckily, master nameless and Godless's casting is almost spot on. that probably is the only nice thing i can get from the show. phew~

the actions? going to be the asian 300? well, if u focus on delivering a good Storm Warriors in its own way. it will be 300 times better than 300. fuck your slow motion sequence. very untimely most of the time. i heard ppl laughed and then cut off their laughs immediately becos they know its meant to be serious here. but they can't help it as the facial expressions are so ugly fugly to see in slow mo.... and then the pang bros purposely slow mo it...as if they want to magnified that flaw. the audience cut off their laughs becos they still want to respect the film. do u know how freaking sad that is? i guess neither of u pang brothers expect this. but this is the feedback.

blue screen. superb technology? well, all your fight scenes ended up having one facing another...nicely aligned...for the blue screen. so that ppl later on can have a easier time to add in the special effects. that means less wild camera movements...oh ya...i know u guys can do more if there's more money. but hey, the result is that i see nameless and Godless fought face to face without moving positions (1st scene). then i see Cloud fights nameless face to face without moving positions (on the incredibly narrow bridge which became a training grd as well wtf). then i see Wind and Cloud fighting face to face TWICE without much movement in positions. (on the wooden log and on the cliff) there is no.."all over the place, and fly to wherever u like" attitude that i find a standard wuxia show should have in this movie. they should fight all over the place like a real swordsman and not like digimons!!!! (horizontal screen and spam combos across..) instead they are stuck to some fixed locations so that ppl can insert digital backgrounds. nice. and the real backgrounds are also mainly man-made..which look freaking fake...remember the caves? oh yeah, there are many caves, rocky mountains and sand btw.
WHY? why so BORING? becos they are BOUNDED by the superb technology that they want to abuse on. thats why.

result? STORM SHIT. i'm fucking mad.

then, the theme song. shut your ears please thank you.

u know what i'm feeling now?
悲痛莫名。

and ya..talk abt memorable slow mo that can match up with 300. in the first movie, the sword saint's arrival to Conqueror's hall, freezing everyone and slowly stepped on them to reach to Conqueror and stab straight into his chest....that slow motion sequence is a classic! no many can top that. sometimes we really don't know how good we are until someone tells us. in this case, the pang brothers self pwned themselves to the max. move on brothers, reach for new height.

the sequel should only be made when there's a solid story plot that will spur the heroes back into action. from this failure, i see that it is crucial to continue to put in effort in portraying all the characters diligently. and provide a proper set up for the problem. how Godless defy the Emperor of Japan and came to conquer the Mainland. what's the importance of dragon bones. need some flashbacks to tell the story? then do so! continue to pay attention to Wind and Cloud's love life and their future/goals. Its not the fight that concerns us the most. i can accept 90% set up with 10% epic fight that will make me feel for it. Its hard to accept 90% nonsense fight with 10% story telling. i believe that the Pang brothers thought that they've smartly cut off the setting up of the story just enuff for us to understand the surface of it and went for actions. so smart...really efficient there. but for this upset, i think Storm Warriors should INCLUDE the rise of Godless, the reunion of Wind and Cloud, the terror Godless has cast upon the ppl on Mainland (the real threat) and then go to somewhere near to the actual movie. then short cut the stupid time used for levelling up...bla bla bla...epic battle against Godless, then final showdown between Wind and Cloud. that would make abit more sense and abit more story and character development.

maybe its the budget. how much more time is left for Aaron and Ekin to stay youthful? this movie is indeed a fatal mistake that i must never link to the first movie.

sigh, i'm really sad. something i really cherished has become so unacceptable.

maybe its fate.

nvm, lets enjoy whats really good. the originals!!!!!! i have found some links...enjoy the art and the story.
http://www.89890.com/comic/7040/

the interesting thing is there's a comic version based on this movie which is quite well done. thanks to Ma Wing Shing's magical touch again.
http://www.89890.com/comic/8984/1/

the art books. i'm giving the link to their first book. back track abit to link to all. any prob can ask me.
http://www.89890.com/comic/4531/1/?1

Ma Wing Shing's legendary works.
http://www.89890.com/author/126.html

the website is pretty awesome. has great research materials for me.

1998, France won World Cup and Philip is a crazy soccer fan. 1998, Blizzard Entertainment released Starcraft and Philip installed it into my computer. we completed this rather complex game without cheats!
and now I pray that 11 plus years later, Starcraft 2 is another great RTS game. please dun spoil this one..